Media and the Government

Media and government each have their own power over each other. The government is able to manipulate, regulate, and use the media to reach the public, while mass media keeps the government in check.

Although laws differ from country to country, government has the power to control what the media can and cannot reveal to the public. It is because of these regulations that people may not get a true view of reality, or unknowingly receive limited information. We only know as much as the media tells us about a story or issue.

The government also uses and has the power to manipulate the media. Information can be leaked to the media to destroy a political campaign, people can pay to have biased political advertisements and attack ads displayed, or people can refuse to communicate with the media altogether by not answering questions and meeting with reporters. The government can also provide the media with an overwhelming amount of information about an issue so that reporters don’t have time to sort everything out, formulate difficult questions, and produce their own angles of the story. This minimizes the chance that reporters and the media can dissect a story and reveal everything to the public.

The media, on the other hand, has its own power over the government. The press is considered the “fourth branch” of government, in addition to legislative, judicial, and executive. It is able to perform its job as the people’s “watchdog,” monitoring the other government branches to keep them in check and keep them honest. The media can be manipulated by the government, but it can also reveal things about the government that are not protected by regulations.