Central role

News media have always played a role in spreading political information, but many argue that their role is now greater because of the decline in other sources such as discussion with family and friends.

The central role of the media is reflected in the term ’fourth estate’, a metaphor that suggests a key role and also a separation from other important groups.  The term again relates to the terminology of the French Revolution.  In the meetings of the 'Estate General', the three groups or estates present were the nobles (the first estate) the clergy (second estate) and the commoners (third estate).  Calling the media the fourth estate came some time later but is built upon this idea of estates to describe the core groups involved in society’s decisions.

The health of a representative democracy rests on the public’s access to crucial information, first, during an election campaign to discover what candidates promise to do if elected, and second, throughout a government’s term to check whether they keep their promises.  The media plays a vital role in passing on this information.  It is through the media that the link between the governed and the government is maintained; most voters ‘meet’ their representatives, not in person, but through the media.  Increasingly the media are also seen as the most effective ‘watchdog of government’ – holding it to account for its actions.

News media responsibilities

The news media are the voters’ eyes and ears: their job is to ‘watch’ government with a measure of skepticism, and to report back to the public.  According to Sir Geoffrey Palmer, the media have a constitutional role to play.  They have:

• an obligation to provide the public with information about the functioning of the executive government, the decisions it takes, the inputs to those decisions, the public debate surrounding them, and the consequences
• a similar function in relation to Parliament – reporting what is done and said in Parliament, the work of its select committees, scrutinizing government legislation, policy and expenditure
• an obligation to provide the public with information about political parties, their caucuses, party organizations on policy-making, and the selection of parliamentary candidates
• a responsibility to provide more than information to the public, but analysis and comment is needed too.

Editorial approaches

In New Zealand the press gallery are the online, print, radio, and TV journalists who keep a close eye on Parliament.  They are based at Parliament and cover daily what happens there.  Coverage of Question Time, for example, is prime fodder for the evening news.

The media have a responsibility to provide the information needed to allow individuals to scrutinise the actions of decision makers and to hold them to account.  Much of the information also needs to be interpreted for the public to make the amount manageable or to put it into context.

As professionals, journalists believe in being objective but this is interpreted in a number of ways.  One definition is that a story reports what each side of the argument has to say.  Another approach attempts to report a cohesive story but takes a middle path without favouring either side.  A third approach is to place emphasis upon the use of multiple sources and corroboration of facts.  Whilst stressing objectivity, journalists recognise how hard it is to be totally neutral or impartial because they do have personal views.  Most journalists consciously detach their work from their own views, while some go so far as to refrain from voting and expressing any political views.

Rather than striving for objectivity, another approach is for balance, either within one story or across a series of stories.  When balance is sought in overall coverage it can contain a number of pieces which each truthfully report on one side of the argument.  This concept of balance is the aim when reporting on elections where, overall, coverage must cover all sides of an issue or argument but individual stories or interviews can concentrate on one party’s view.

Some critics argue that an objective view that relies upon reporting existing sources will favour those who are in power and those with the resources to get their message out.  Another group which questions objectivity is advocacy journalists.  They put an emphasis upon finding the truth and following a story to uncover what people do not want to tell them. 

There are also strong arguments that in overall coverage objectivity is not possible.  In particular there will be a bias in tone and language, and in deciding which stories are run and which will get a full front page or two centimetres on page 12.  Such decisions are made by editorial staff based on assessment of newsworthiness.  The question is the extent to which ideas of newsworthiness reflect a particular view or the interests of a particular section of society.  At its most basic, newsworthiness refers to the assumed interest people will have in the story, including whether a headline or photo will make them buy the newspaper or stay tuned to that radio or TV channel.  For many media outlets, reader or viewer numbers are important in attracting the advertising dollars that sustain the business.  Even for media outlets that are funded by the state, ratings are an important consideration.

Factors that will lead to a story being seen as newsworthy are drama, immediacy and relevance to the audience.  For TV, a story with pictures has an advantage and, for all media outlets, a story that breaks in time for inclusion will have an advantage over one that breaks in the middle of the night.  Stories that unfold slowly are less likely to be covered than those that occur suddenly.  Bad news is reported more often than good news because the shock and drama creates more interest.  Stories about ‘people like us’ are more likely to be covered because the audience can feel some connection with the story.

Given the importance of advertising revenue for print and broadcast media, one argument is that media reflect the views of their audience to ensure readership and viewing numbers are maintained so that advertising rates are maintained.  This view is particularly strong in terms of choices of what to cover, based on what is deemed to be of greatest interest to the readers and viewers.  Rather than reflecting the views of the publics, the other argument is that the media seeks to shape those views.  In the USA and Europe it is commonplace for newspapers to have a known political viewpoint and to argue in favour of particular policies and try to influence their readers in their views and how to vote.  For instance, British newspapers often have front-page messages on how to vote on election day.  With a large number of daily newspapers available, the argument is that individuals can choose a paper that aligns with their own views.  The political position taken by the newspaper may reflect the views of the owner or may be part of the marketing strategy of that publication.  Such views will permeate choice of stories but are also evident in editorials and commentary pieces.  New Zealand media tend to have columnists from left and right of the political spectrum to provide balance between views, rather than the paper or channel taking an explicit view.

Political actors use the media

Political parties, politicians and advocacy groups recognise the importance of the media in spreading their message.  Press secretaries assist politicians in communicating with the media and getting their view across.  Many politicians do training in being interviewed so that they can ‘stay on message’ and avoid being ‘ambushed’ by questions that they do not want to answer.  Careful crafting of the message to give a particular view, when taken to extreme, is often called ‘spin’.  Another ploy is releasing stories that they want to hide on a Friday evening or when media attention is consumed by another story.  Such behaviour is often referred to as ‘managing the news’.  Taken to an extreme, the way in which a news item is presented to the media will have the intent of influencing views and responses.  Often such presentations provide a selective portion of the facts with only one interpretation.  Such behaviour is called propaganda and is aimed at creating an emotional rather than a rational response.