The media has immense power within the American democracy because just about
all Americans get their news from the media rather than from other people or other
sources. Media coverage shapes how Americans perceive the world and what they
consider to be important. Voters and politicians alike must pay attention to the
media. In the American political system, the media perform a number of functions
important to the democratic process. The media reports the news, serves as an
intermediary between the government and the people, helps determine which issues
should be discussed, and keeps people actively involved in society and
politics.
Reporting the News
Perhaps the most important role of the media in politics is to report the
news. As noted above, the vast majority of people must trust the media to
provide them with information. Democracy requires that citizens be informed
because they must be able to make educated voting choices.
Types of Reporting
For much of American history (until the early twentieth century),
most news media were clearly and openly biased. Many newspapers, for
example, were simply the voices of the political parties. This type of
journalism is called partisan journalism. Other newspapers
practiced yellow journalism, reporting shocking and sordid
stories in order to attract readers and sell more papers. Objective
reporting (also called descriptive reporting) did not appear
until the early twentieth century. Newspaper publishers such as Adolph Ochs
of the New York Times championed objective journalism and
praised reporters for simply reporting the facts. Although most journalists
today still practice objective journalism, more and more are beginning to
analyze and interpret the material they present, a practice called
interpretive reporting.
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