WHAT IS THE 'IMPACT" OF THE MASS MEDIA ON POLITICS?.

             The mass media plays a very important role in everyday life. It is often the only form of education which is available to some, and as such has a very powerful influence over people"s beliefs and opinions. This influence is never more evident than when analysing the relationship between the media and politics. Politics can justifiably be described as THE main determining factor in our lives, the major influence over many facets of day to day living, such as finances, healthcare and employment. The media is the major source of information about political affairs, and as such has control over what we actually know about the political system and what we may never find out. As a result of this, it becomes inevitable that the media has a certain 'hold" over the political arena. The media can judge, approve and criticise. It can make or break political careers, even parties, and the information which the media provides helps the public to form attitudes, responses and opinions towards political events and actors. Thus it becomes very important for the political parties to keep the media 'on-side". It is obvious that the media does have some impact on politics, but the main question should be to what extent, how does it manifest itself and why should we care anyway?.

             For the purpose of this essay the media will be described as the press, TV and radio. On the face of it the media is there simply to communicate, or act as a transmitter of information between the political world and the consumer. However, probably since the end of the second world war, it has become clear that the media can often have a hidden agenda when reporting politics. Indeed, one of the most contentious issues over the last few years, at least since I have been 'consuming" media products, has been the debate over media ownership. This has been particularly evident in the press, the most notable case being the Rupert Murdoch 'empire" – News International.