Mass Media and Politics: An Organic Relationship

Libertarian theory is the opposite of authoritarian theory. This philosophy advocates that people should be left free and given access to all types of ideas from which they should freely choose. Also known as free press theory, it posits that media should be owned by anybody who has the means and the desire to do so, and that media should be liberated from government control so that they can provide a free market place of ideas for the enlightenment of the people. In other words, this theory believes in total freedom of the press. One great philosopher that contributed to the libertarian theory of the press was John Stuart Mill in his book titled On Liberty. He argued that if we keep silence on an opinion, we might be silencing the truth and a wrong opinion may contain a grain of truth. Another person who contributed to the libertarian thought was Thomas Jefferson. In his defense of freedom, Jefferson said that if he were to choose between government and newspaper that he will rather have Newspaper than government.

Soviet communist is also called the Soviet-communist theory. Soviet communist theory is referred to as the new authoritarianism because of its similarity with the authoritarian theory. This theory believes in strict control of the press. The theory is of the argument that the press should support the government and not oppose it. In the societies where the Soviet media theory is in operation, all mass media; Newspaper, magazine and broadcast stations are owned and operated by the government. This means that private ownership of the press is forbidden in the Soviet communist Political system.

Logic holds that the government is run by persons within that society. It is also a common truth that everybody is simply egocentric and has the tendency to be protective. It is also a self evident truth that man when elected to power tends to guard that power jealously. Because of this, government does not waste time to trample on the freedom of any institution that offers challenge to it, and one such institution is the press.

Relationship between the government and the mass media could be seen in terms of control and ownership. Control in the sense that government uses a lot of measure to control the affairs of the mass media to avoid being ridiculed by the mass media. Again, ownership in the sense that government owns the mass media or is in partnership with mass media, thereby influencing each them. Government in a bid to have absolute control of the mass media, venture into media ownership with the view of bringing the media to serve as propaganda tools for them. The media practitioners under this sort of media control may not be entirely objective in handling issues of government policies for fear of falling into the hands of the law. They live by the popular maxim which holds that “he who pays the piper dictate the tune” and in this way, throwing professional demands of objectivity, accuracy, balance e.t.c. to the winds.

Even in United States, mass media is still been influence by government although not authoritatively but with appealing force. Although, their relationship seems dynamic, improving as the years goes by, becoming more symbiotic than parasitic. In developing countries, especially in war torn countries in Africa, a journalist can lose his life if he dare attack the government with his pen. REFERENCES

Aloa, Dayo (1997). News Reporting. london: Unique Publication.

Anim, Etim (1960). Editorial Writing. Port Harcourt: Sunray Books.

Amafili, Chidi (1993). “Introduction to Radio/Television Production”. In C.S. Okunna, et al. (eds.), Theory and Practice of Mass Communication. Enugu: ABIC Press Limited.

Nwosu, Ikem (1993). Mass Media and the developing countries Society. Nnewi: The Reader’s Choice Press.

Beltran, Ramiro (1978). “Communication and Cultural Domination USA – Latin America Case.” Media Asia.