Author(s): Slaviša Orlović / Language(s): English
Issue: 20/2021
In this text, I deal with the question of how much the media, on the one hand, are an instrument and a source of power, and on the other hand, a means and mechanism of limiting power and authority. Numerous theorists of power have pointed to the dimensions of ersuasion, indoctrination, media manipulation and propaganda as processes of acquiring or manifesting power. The media play a key role in these processes. From the original role of the media to present the program and candidates and to inform the citizens, today the boundaries are shifting, so there is more and more talk about “managing the press”, “constructing reality” and “producing consent”, diverting or distracting from important issues (spinning). The media has been and remains a significant tool in creating meaning. Today, it is not only the question of availability and dissemination of information that is important, but also their interpretation. The media are the basis of criticism and control of the government, but always an important point of support for any government. The media can also be partners in shaping the public good, a means of democratization, but also propaganda and manipulation. Journalists are, on the one hand, a “supervisory body”, a “watchdog”, and on the other hand, they are in the function of promoting, advertising and affirming certain political actors. It depends on the professionalism and ethics of the journalistic vocation to which side this vocation will prevail. It is difficult for the media to operate outside the realm of politics, and it is increasingly difficult for politics to operate without media mediation. And politicians go where the media are and the media go where politicians are. Politicians use the media and the media politicians. Both of them, on the way to the majority, more and more often indulge in he lowest tastes. The media have more and more power and less and less responsibility. If we are aware of all this, then we will find it easier and more careful to use opportunities as customers, consumers and citizens. Voters, seemingly, hold everything in their hands, but they have lost power. Citizens and voters are given the illusion of power, while their role and power is diminishing.
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