The Media as a Watchdog: Role, Responsibilities, and Challenges

Running head: CASE STUDY 1
Case study
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

Running head: CASE STUDY 2
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................2
What is a watchdog from a media perspective?.........................................................................2
The watchdog role of the media................................................................................................3
Informing the public..................................................................................................................4
Market regulation......................................................................................................................5
The watchdog and the career....................................................................................................5
Modern democracy........................................................................................................................6
Features of modern democracy................................................................................................7
Citizen rule..............................................................................................................................7
Rights and freedoms of individuals......................................................................................7
The successes and failures of watchdog role...............................................................................9
The Watergate scandal..............................................................................................................9
The failure of the media's watchdog role...............................................................................10
References.....................................................................................................................................12

Running head: CASE STUDY 3
The media as a watchdog
Introduction
In modern democracies, transparency, fairness, credibility, and accountability form the
basic component of any governance structure. The governing authority has to be as accountable
and responsible as possible in order to win the trust of the populace it governs. There exist
government agencies, private entities alongside rules and regulations that govern the manner in
which the governing body operates, these bodies play an important role in keeping the
government in checks and balances. Members of the fourth estate, often referred to as the media,
form the basic component of entities to keep the governing authority on toes. According to Gill
(2018), the media is referred to as a fourth estate because of its power and influence it has on the
outcome of various processes in a nation. Actually, Gill (2018) notes that despite the government
structure especially in most democracies having three arms, that is the executive, legislative and
the judiciary, the media forms the fourth arm due to the powers it has on any issue the
government faces, hence the term “fourth estate.”
What is a watchdog from a media perspective?
Neelakantan (2010) notes that in a free democracy, the media is fundamentally tasked to
be an independent watchdog. To this effect, therefore, in the media perspective, a watchdog
refers to the role of the media in passing on of information relevant to the public with regards to
practices and institutions that in one way or another would invite the public’s call for a change.
Franklin et al, (2018) identify that the watchdog role depicts the media as a podium for
defending the truth, democracy and freedom of all nature is in line with a nation's rule of law.
Cressman (2012) is keen to observe that watchdog journalism is simply the act of the media to be

Running head: CASE STUDY 4
the third eye of the most vulnerable and powerless in the society so as to tame the influence of
the powerful in the same society.
The watchdog role of the media is founded and should be regulated by a number of
theories that govern the operation of the media and mass communication in general; McQuail
(2010) identifies ideal mass communication theories that define the role of the media in a
modern society; the social scientific theory of mass media aims to govern the media's action in
relation to adequate research in the course of reporting. This is aimed at regulating the conduct of
media personalities and houses in the relation they submit to the public arena.
McQuail (2010) also identifies the normative theory of mass communication which is
ideal in determining the manner of operation of the media in a system which upholds social
values. He notes further that normative theory finds its applicability with a specific society which
subscribes to the ideals. The democratic space given to the media, for instance, varies for each
nation as determined by the people and the governing authority.
Operational theory on the other end does not have a thick line when compared to
normative theory. This theory parts from normative theory in the sense that it defines not only
how the media is supposed to operate but also covers how best the media ought to operate to
achieve its role as a society's watchdog. It covers areas such as how the selection of news ought
to be, how best to satisfy your audience, good practice of advertising among others.
The watchdog role of the media
Francke (1995) points out that the watchdog role of the mass media emanates from the
influence that the media has on public spheres and the role is quite critical in defining