Journalism and Democracy

Journalism and democracy are two such components which rely mainly on each other.The proper functioning of each of these are not possible until the existence of the other.Let me now describe journalism and democracy individually and show their interconnectedness while doing so.

Journalism has various definitions but defining it in terms of democracy is the matter we need to do here.So, journalism according to Mcquail, is the profession related with news.Various experts refer journalism as “the product or the work of professional “news people”.As product it typically means informational reports of recent or current events of interest to the public. Journalism is a special branch of mass communication and is playing the vital role in the modern society.Previously journalism meant writing for the newspaper or magazines but now its meaning has broadened and in these days journalism also includes reporting and editing in radio,television and online too.Journalism is mainly intended to inform the audiences regarding what is happening around them.The journalistic writing is in fact a contemporary report of changing scene in the society.

Now let us talk a bit about democracy. Democracy is a form of government in which power is held indirectly by citizens in a free electoral system. Democracy has certain principles.First, principle is that all members of the society (citizens) have equal access to power and the Second, that all members (citizens) enjoy universally recognized freedoms and liberties.So,in a democratic state each and every citizen enjoys his/her full power with their boundless freedom leading them to be free from the governance of the state in their fundamental as well as other rights.

The press or the media that exists in a country is directly related to the political system of that country.There are four major theories regarding the relationship between the government(lets say democratic government) and the press( journalists). They are
Social Responsibility theory,Libertarian theory,Authoritarian theory,Soviet communist theory.Each of these theories have their own set of rules and their guiding principles which affect or enhance the free flow of information.The press(or journalists) have to deal with the government because firstly government is powerful so it may use its power and become corrupt.So, press needs to play a role of watch dog against the government.Secondly,the government is running the country so it has to cooperate with the government.It has to act like a bridge between the government and the public.Its like a mediator.The government has significant role in regulation of the press.Sometimes the government facilitates developing the press.The government continuously needs to be in touch with the public and the only way is through media (indirectly through journalism).So if it a democratic government then the process would be much easier.we can see various examples of the connection between journalism and democracy in our country too.Like in royal regime the king had control over the radio and television transmissions.He would telecast the news content on his interest only.Certain radio stations were also closed down by his troops after it tries to speak against his rule.we can also take the example of the Myanmar where each and every piece of news story has to be firstly approved by the government before being published or broadcasted.

So through the above discussion we can make it out that journalism,if has to function in a unbiased way giving the factual news,than has to run parallel with democracy.We cannot think of a Utopian state of journalism without the existence of democracy.Concluding, we can say that the vehicle for the press freedom and journalistic process would be “democracy”.