The media are the methods of mass communication and entertainment, which have developed into vital political forces with the advent of virtual total adult literacy and extensive ownership of television and radio sets in the developed world; in the countries of the European Union, for example, more than 95% of households have televisions. It might appear that literacy, with its concomitant development of large circulation newspapers, ought to have had a major impact on political attitudes, but it is possible that the greatest impact has been on the conduct of election campaigns. The spread of broadcasting, above all of news and current affairs, has given an immediacy to distant events that can also influence political opinions. Serious concern has developed over the ability of such media to be used as methods of social control and political influence. There is, however, little firm evidence that, for example, election broadcasts have much direct effect upon political choice in liberal democracies. In the 1979 British general election it was estimated that only 5% of voters read even the free party literature delivered to each household. The mass readership, and the mass television audience, are not especially interested in political information or debate, and their greater availability do not seem to have increased the demand.
Most countries have set up controls, of varying seriousness and severity, on the political bias of the broadcast media, though any extensive control of the print media is usually interpreted as unfair interference, or even as a denial of freedom of speech.
Left-wing parties in some countries have argued for a greater control of newspapers because they are seen as tools of the ownership. For example, the British Labour Party claimed that the mass circulation newspapers, almost exclusively controlled by pro-Conservative Party interests, had an undue influence over the result of the 1992 general election. Such arguments are seldom heard in systems, for example in countries like Sweden, where direct party ownership of the press is common. Italy used to be a similar case, but now demonstrates, if anything the opposite since the media millionaire Silvio Berlusconi has used his dominant media position to create an entire personal political party which has twice lead him to the prime ministership.
Enormous power is at times attributed to the media and, when they can, politicians eagerly spend very large advertising budgets on print space and air time, but it is unclear that this, or the editorial content of newspapers and broadcasts in a relatively free mass media system that is free of censorship, has any significant effect on political behaviour. Most research on the topic shows that people select a newspaper because it generally supports the political line they already favour, or for apolitical reasons. None the less, the ability of the media to ‘frame’ an issue, by selective concentration on certain aspects and by following or creating stereotypes may have considerable impact. However, the wise politician will always seek to keep the media content, particularly at the local level and where there is a strong tradition of investigative journalism.
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