Abstract: Commentators often have suggested that newspapers or television should fulfill certain obligations, such as raising public awareness about AIDS, encouraging interest in international affairs, or stimulating community activism. Many believe that during election campaigns the news media have a particular responsibility to help strengthen democracy by providing political coverage that will educate the public about the major issues, inform citizens about the contenders for office, and mobilize people to turn out. If judged by those standards, the news media have largely failed in their democratic functions, media malaise theories suggest. Embedded in these claims are certain normative assumptions about what political coverage the news media should provide. But what are the appropriate standards for evaluating the roles of the news media?
Publication Year: 2000
Publication Date: 2000-09-04
Language: en
Type: book-chapter
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 21
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot