The Untold Story about Journalists We Love and the Politicians We Hate…

In today’s times it would be nearly impossible to separate the media and politics; you can’t have one without the other. Even though the two may be as inseparable as peanut butter and jelly, it still is nice to know what makes them that way. My years at Kennesaw State University (Mass Media and Politics) have taught me that there are 3 distinct ways that the media (journalists) themselves use politicians and actually become political actors.

The first way that the media and politicians feed off each other is through journalists acting as surrogates to the politicians. The journalists actively participate in a situation in order to shape government action. Think of it this way, you’ve heard the expression “if you want something done you have to do it yourself,” well it’s true. If the journalists want to try to shape government action, they may sit in at a rally, participate in a demonstration, etc, in order to get their point across. Basically they’re just using their job to promote their beliefs…. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me.

The second way that journalists try to take on the role of political actors is through inside scoops. This is done more on the part of the politicians through inside information leeks. Sometimes unhappy government officials will leak information through hungry, eager journalists. This then gains the support of the journalists and media—we all know that it is never a bad thing to have the media on your side. In the end, all this really does is allow the government officials to gain access to the public that will in turn build their support base.

Government officials can also shape political action by framing the news as well. The media and the government official team up and report the news to us in a particular way. This is turn totally slants the information and the message as well. This is where I personally have a problem. It’s ok if the journalists use the media to get what they want through acting as a surrogate. It’s even ok to me that the government uses the media to get what they want through inside information leaks. What I have a problem with is the inside corruption effecting me as a citizen. How much are we going to let the media and politicians get away with before something is done?