Sovereign influence over government hinges on mass-media enlightening quality.
Evidence
One circumstance is especially relevant in our context: the overall influence that the will of the citizens, hence of the sovereign, acquires over the decisions of the political system depends essentially on the enlightening quality of the contribution of the mass media to this formation of opinion. This is because opinion formation is sustained by the prior processing by the professional media of the topics and contributions, alternative proposals, information and supporting and opposing positions – in short, of the input fed into the public sphere via the information channels of, among others, the political parties, the interest groups and PR agencies, and the societal subsystems, as well as by civil society organizations and intellectuals. This more or less informed pluralism of opinion filtered by the media system gives every citizen the opportunity to form his or her own opinion and to make an election decision that is rationally motivated from his or her point of view. … It is only beyond the threshold of general elections that the elected members of parliament can consult and decide with each other in accordance with democratic procedures. Only in the representative bodies and the other state institutions, and in an especially formal way in the courts, are procedural rules tailored to the deliberative format of opinion and will formation that justifies the presumption that majority decisions are more or less rationally acceptable. — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 18
Categorization
- XREF: The media-dependence of opinion formation is the natural lead-in to the ‘new structural transformation’ of the 2022 essay — digital media’s shift away from these professional gatekeepers. — connects to: Media structure enabling deliberative opinion is a constitutional imperative. — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 49; Media agenda can determine which problems the public deems important. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1446; Media and government jointly determine whose suffering merits public sympathy — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race…, 813 (+8 more)
Related
- Media structure enabling deliberative opinion is a constitutional imperative. (similarity 0.84)
- Media story selection determines which standards citizens use to judge presidents (similarity 0.80)
- Media orient citizens by sifting out intersubjectively shared interpretations of the world (similarity 0.80)
- Mass daily news created the modern public sphere and public opinion (similarity 0.79)
- Media shifts made politician scrutiny constant and pushed structural issues to the background (similarity 0.78)
- Dynamic, time-series tests confirm that media attention shapes public concern (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Media agenda can determine which problems the public deems important.
#expands(0.85) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1446 - Media story selection determines which standards citizens use to judge presidents
#expands(0.85) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1575 - Media orient citizens by sifting out intersubjectively shared interpretations of the world
#expands(0.82) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 41 - News coverage prominence shifts how heavily people weigh issues in political judgments
#expands(0.82) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1404 - Media and government jointly determine whose suffering merits public sympathy
#expands(0.80) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 813 - Agenda-setting media effects hit the least-informed citizens hardest
#expands(0.78) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1628 - Dynamic, time-series tests confirm that media attention shapes public concern
#expands(0.78) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1445 - Events lacking significance can be magnified by the media.
#complicates(0.78) — Cohen, Stanley, Folk devils and moral panics, 221 - Media can responsibly inform the public by exposing hidden negotiations.
#expands(0.75) — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 96 - Global media coverage does restrain government torture and repression
#expands(0.75) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 759