1. The mass media
The mass media have an important role in modern
democratic society as the main channel of
communication because the population relies on the news
media as the main source of information and the basis on which
they form their opinions and voting decisions. According to
cultural selection theory, any selection of messages in the mass
media will so have a profound effect on the entire society.
Competition has become increasingly keen in the area of the
mass media as they keep fighting for the attention of the readers,
listeners, and TV-viewers. The life and death of each newspaper
and TV station is at stake here when the income from advertising
and sponsoring is proportional to the number of readers or
viewers. The printed media have problems competing with the
electronic media as sources of news. In order to survive, they are
increasingly turning to other strategies such as entertainment,
scandal mongering, and spreading fear - and spending fewer
resources on serious researching of news.
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The production of news often goes through several steps:
informants and sources, press agents, reporters, news agencies,
journalists, and editors. Many media are citing other media or
opinion leaders so that the complete chain of information flow
becomes quite long. Selection and distortion may take place at
every link in this chain of information transmission. The main
selective forces that shape the production of news are the
following: sources, journalists and editors, audience, owners,
advertisers, political consequences, personalization.
