Media functions

The functions of the media in politics today are extensive and multifaceted, which allows us to talk about the media as another branch of government. Being the direct distributor, the bearer of important information, they have a sufficiently powerful degree of influence on the masses. Due to this they perform different tasks and acquire different functions.

The media first of all receive, process and deliver information about the most important events for the authorities and the people. In this case, we are talking about information containing, among other things, evaluation and comments and endowed with public significance. These functions of the media are called informational.

Of great importance is the method of obtaining (fragmentary or sequential) and the quality of the information. This determines the qualification of the further actions of political agents. In this case, they talk about the educational tasks that bearers and distributors of information face. The media function, of course, does not include a deep and systematic assimilation of knowledge. For this, there are special institutions. Nevertheless, the educational function of the media is quite large. Disseminated information affects the formation of certain views and positions, expanding the assessment and cognitive capabilities of citizens.

It should be noted that the educational and social functions of the media have a fairly close relationship. In this case, often the first grow into the second. By political socialization we mean the assimilation by the individual of certain norms, patterns of behavior, of any values. Thanks to this assimilation, adaptation to the public reality takes place. In accordance with the information received, the public begins to form an opinion on the activities of parties, parliament, government and other institutions of power, as well as on the cultural and economic life of people.

Of great importance in the development of society are such functions of the media as control and criticism. In some countries, carriers and distributors of information differ in the certain unlimitedness of their object. At the same time, the control functions of the media in such states are very effective, as there is not only a legal but also a moral assessment of those or other events or persons. In these cases, the assessment criteria are laws and public opinion.

In democratic states, direct control over the activities of the media takes place only in extreme cases, emergency situations (during the war, for example). In other situations, media activities are quite independent. Moreover, it is often thanks to the conduct of journalistic investigations that special parliamentary commissions are formed, decisions that are of great importance for the life of society are taken, criminal trials begin. According to many analysts, the control functions of the media are particularly necessary with weakened opposition or imperfection of state control institutions.

The most widely manifested journalistic activity in democratic countries. The media are now considered an integral component of the mechanism of democratic functioning. Mass Media provides representatives of different groups with the opportunity to express their opinions publicly, to seek and rally people of like mindedness, to unite them by common beliefs and goals, and to present clearly formulated interests in public opinion. In other words, the media are in a sense the roots through which any political structure gets its life force. Assessing the role of Mass Media in the public life of the state, one should keep in mind the complexity and multifacetedness of this structure, which in turn has a great impact on the tasks that are put before this institution.