The Significance of Independent Media in Modern Democracies

This essay examines the critical role of free and independent media in contemporary democracies, particularly in the age of social media. The author argues that independent media is crucial for ensuring citizens' rights and access to unbiased information, which is fundamental for a functioning democracy. The essay references several research articles that compare the impact of traditional media and social media on political interest, participation, and democratic processes. The author highlights the potential for manipulation and alteration of information on social media, emphasizing the importance of traditional media's role in providing authentic and reliable news. The conclusion reinforces the need for free media to protect human rights and provide citizens with the information necessary to make informed choices, contrasting it with the potential biases of social media platforms. The essay stresses the importance of media independence for a well-informed electorate and a healthy democracy.

Running head: DEMOCRACIES AND DICTATORSHIP
DEMOCRACIES AND DICTATORSHIP
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Holt, K., Shehata, A., Strömbäck, J. and Ljungberg, E., 2013. Age and the effects of news
media attention and social media use on political interest and participation: Do social
media function as leveller?. European Journal of Communication, 28(1), pp.19-34.
The prime aim of this research article was to determine the role of independent media to
in political results in the age of social media as maximum of decisions are being published
through social media \nowadays. The authors used different traditional media and social media
comparisons in a four-way process while Swedish election process and determine the use of
social media by different age groups. Further, they assessed the result of election by the usage of
the political parties and then relates to the use of social media by the citizens to understand the
effect of traditional media and social media on the democratic process of Sweden. While
researching about the topic, the authors were able to measure the effect of traditional media and
compared that to the used social media campaign. However, in the process, use of new media
underscore the most significant findings of this study. Further, they just included the online data
but missed the influence of the traditional media on offline population determining democratic
process. Hence, the study depended on the younger generation that uses social media in higher
proportion. Besides that, the result was able to provide a comparative study that determines the
importance of traditional media in a democratic nation in the presence of social media.
Gil de Zúñiga, H., Jung, N. and Valenzuela, S., 2012. Social media use for news and
individuals' social capital, civic engagement and political participation. Journal of
Computer
‐Mediated Communication, 17(3), pp.319-336.
In this research, the researchers were determined to find out the reach of social media
compared to the traditional media to get news and information’s related to democratic processes.

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Nevertheless, it was an important research to conduct as in the context of today's socially‐
networked‐society, the rise of social media applications such as Face book, new perspectives
need to be considered and addressed. They conducted a literature review on social capital and
participation and collected information related to social network sites, for news, media, and
motivational information rather that traditional media options. Further they conducted survey in
the USA from December 2008 to January 2009 and found that due to social interaction and
communication issues, people preferred social media over traditional media. Age and location
was also an important aspect for this purpose. However, the researchers were only open for pre-
predicted issues and did not included newer consequences of the use of social media they only
tested the possible effect of social media use for news and intrapersonal political efficacy.
However, the article was able to determine the comparison of these two media in a democratic
country likes USAQ and hence, the efficacy of the research increased. Further, it arises several
future implication of research hence, it is included.
Whitten-Woodring, J. and James, P., 2012. Fourth estate or mouthpiece? A formal model
of media, protest, and government repression. Political Communication, 29(2), pp.113-136.
The role of media is to provide resourceful information to the citizen so that flow of
communication can be managed in the democracy. However, usage of social media by political
leads creates a stoppage in the process. This was the discussion in the research by (). The
research discussed the Advocacy of human rights to provide media with enough independence so
that they can they can honestly report information to communities. To understand the process,
the researchers conducted survey in the community to understand the independent of media in
the age of social media. They also created a model in which impact of interaction, among and
between the news media, citizen and government was discussed. The first model was given a

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role of watch dog model to understand government repression, the second model was developed
to understand public reaction to the news media coverage of government repression and third
was the solution to the repression. The candidates in the survey were asked to fill these aspects.
However, in the survey, maximum younger generation included that provided only partial data
regarding the society. However, due to the scale of the survey and implementation of such
models, the effectiveness of the research remains intact and it has been included.
The question
Is free and independent media important for contemporary democracies in the age of
social media?
Main argument
In the democracy, it is very important for the traditional media to have independent
reporting process as the social media is a personal media through which, manipulation and
alteration of data and information may affect the democratic nature of the process. Therefore, in
the age of social media, independent media and their reporting hold prime importance for
security of the human rights as modification of information can violates the rights and regulation
of a democracy.
Introduction
It is important for a democratic country and its independent citizens to know about each
situation without any modification and adjustment. This is the basic democratic right of citizens
to know about their nation directly from the government (McCombs, Shaw and Weaver 2013).

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However, in the age of social media, people have started losing their focus from traditional
meida and are completely dependent on social media for each information. However, as the
social media a personal platform, the authentication of the data cannot be guaranteed. This is the
primary reason this topic has been chosen for the discussion (Ogbondah 2017). Democratic
rights are important for personal as well as communal growth and if this right is hampered, the
fundamental human rights are hampered as well. Therefore, through this discussion, the
importance of independent media houses, in the age of personalized social media has been
discussed. As this discussion provides a legal information of the citizens, and provides them with
their right to know about each strength and weakness of their nation (Young 2010).
Key points
 There is a strong link between individual liberty and democratic independence of
media. Media is a reflection of the society and hence, if the independence of
media is intact, the community of the nation is intact as well.
 Social media is a common personal place, where the information provided can be
modified and hence its authenticity cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, the news
provided by social media cannot be authentic that the news provided by the
traditional media (Sunstein 2017).
 If the independence of media can be assured, the rights of minorities, and
deprived can also be assured. This is because media helps to protect the rights of
each individual in the society.
 The role of media to shape the human minds towards right by providing them
correct choices, and correct data so that without any bias, citizen can s\chose their

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correct candidate for election. However, social media is biased and cannot
provide authentic and correct data to shape human mind.
 Social media is liable to the person it belongs to, whereas the independent media
belongs to the nation and helps to provide correct data to the citizen (Sunstein
2017).
Conclusion
In a democracy, each individual have equal chance and rights. Therefore, it is the duty of
the government to provide chance to free and independent media to cover stories that can shape
the mind of individual. However, due to interference of social media this proves has g\faced a lot
of issues. The key issues mentioned in the paper discusses the issues because of which, each
democracy requires free media rather than social media.

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References
Cass Sunstein. 2017, “The Daily Me”, #republic: Divided democracy in the age of social media,
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017, pp. 1-30.
Gil de Zúñiga, H., Jung, N. and Valenzuela, S., 2012. Social media use for news and individuals'
social capital, civic engagement and political participation. Journal of Computer
‐Mediated
Communication, 17(3), pp.319-336.
Holt, K., Shehata, A., Strömbäck, J. and Ljungberg, E., 2013. Age and the effects of news media
attention and social media use on political interest and participation: Do social media function as
leveller?. European Journal of Communication, 28(1), pp.19-34.
McCombs, M.E., Shaw, D.L. and Weaver, D.H., 2013. Communication and democracy:
Exploring the intellectual frontiers in agenda-setting theory. Routledge.
Ogbondah, C.W., 2017. Media laws in political transition. In Media and democracy in
Africa (pp. 55-80). Routledge.
Sally Young. 2010, “Election Reporting in the 2000s”, How Australia Decides: Election
Reporting and the Media, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-20.
Whitten-Woodring, J. and James, P., 2012. Fourth estate or mouthpiece? A formal model of
media, protest, and government repression. Political Communication, 29(2), pp.113-136.

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