Preview

The Relationship Between Media and Politics

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
6855 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Relationship Between Media and Politics
MEMORANDUM on The Zimbabwean Access to Information and Privacy Bill by ARTICLE 19 Global Campaign for Free Expression London January, 2002

Introduction
The Access to Information and Privacy Bill, 2001 (Media Bill) is currently being considered by the Zimbabwean Parliament. Passage of this Bill, which is part of a series of restrictive measures proposed by the Government, was recently delayed when the parliamentary legal committee failed to report on it in advance of the second reading, as required by the Constitution of Zimbabwe. This Bill, if passed into law, would severely restrict freedom of expression in Zimbabwe. The timing of the Media Bill, just prior to the presidential elections scheduled for March of this year, makes ARTICLE 19’s concerns about it all the more poignant, given the crucial importance of freedom of expression to free and fair elections. As the name of the Media Bill implies, it does formally establish a right to access information held by public bodies, something ARTICLE 19 welcomes. However, this right is so limited by exclusions and exceptions that its practical impact is likely to be extremely limited. The Media Bill does also impose limits on the collection of personal information by public bodies and the uses to which such bodies may put this information, again something we welcome. However, the bulk of the provisions in the Media Bill have nothing to do with access to information or privacy. Instead, they impose a range of harsh restrictions on media freedom. This gives the impression that the name and information/privacy provisions have been included simply to draw attention away from the real import of the Media Bill. Key problems with the Media Bill are as follows:

the exceptions and exclusions to the right to information are so comprehensive as to effectively negate the right; all media outlets and any business disseminating media products or even video or audio recordings must obtain a registration certificate from a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    R Toulson, ‘Freedom of Expression and Privacy’ (Paper presented at Association of Law Teachers Lord Upjohn Lecture, London, 9 February 2007), 7.…

    • 2506 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    MEDIA AND POLITICS

    • 2803 Words
    • 8 Pages

    We all agree that a well-informed public leads to a more open, just and civic-minded society.…

    • 2803 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    For the past twenty or so years information has largely been stored in digital form, providing the current generation of digital natives with access to more and more information in recent years. With this new flow of information available to the public has come increased censoring by the government. However, this is not a new issue as some might believe. Since the first primitive government was established information has been shielded and manipulated from the every day citizens of the world by those in power. The cause fought against information censorship enjoys the same past. For as long as information has been censored there have been those who have fought against it (Newth, 2010). This issue has arisen particularly in the United States, as some believe access to any information that exists is a right protected by the Constitution.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    3) A ________ is staged by a campaign primarily for the purpose of being covered on television…

    • 5812 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bias in Political Media

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Bias is defined as prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group in a way considered to be unfair. Meet the Press is a weekly American news program known to be very non-bias. But with David Gregory, being his 5th consecutive year as moderator, I found that Gregory demonstrated bias during the Sunday episode of Meet the Press. The top stories this episode were the “Obamacare Rollout” and “Sticker Shock”. The Obamacare Rollout discusses how the public is upset with the federal government mainly because of the turn out of the Obamacare website. Sticker Shock deals with 100,000’s of people receiving notices that their health plans are being canceled due to Obamacare guidelines when Obama said no such thing would happen.…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Voter predispositions, political naivety and persuasive advertising: voting is no longer based on policy and beliefs…

    • 1365 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Media Bias In Politics

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Not only is the media biased in sports, but the bias seems to be more recognizable in politics. A rule of thumb, never debate religion and politics. Both topics will most likely end with some form of physical or verbal altercation. After working for the same company for the last decade, our breakrooms always show the Fox News channel. They seem to be bias with anything related to politics. No matter if the situation is good or bad, they always are in favor of Republican Party. The Democratic Party could find a way end world hunger and Fox News will be one of the first news channels to make mockery the Democratic Party for winning the battle of world hunger.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There has been much discussion about how mass media presents and can determine the outcome of presidential elections. The media has been accused of focusing on subjects such as the politician's personal life and their characteristics rather than looking at the political issues of the election. The voter's views can also be altered by political advertisements that do not focus on issues. This can cause the voters to believe that certain issues are important when in reality they are trivial concerns. Elections often become popularity contests because of the polling that is done by newspapers and TV news programs prior to the actual voting. Politicians then can have a difficult time guiding voter's opinions on their concerns.…

    • 1298 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The major effect of the laws is to prevent the common ownership of newspapers, television and radio broadcasting licences that serve the same region. The purpose of the legislation is to encourage diversity in the ownership of the most influential forms of the commercial media: the daily press and free-to-air television and radio. The justification for the rules is that the effective functioning of a democracy requires a diverse ownership of the daily mass media to ensure that public life be reported in a fair and open manner.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The media can easily change opinions of the American public just by choosing what it tells them. This is because the media plays an important role in policy making in America.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In today’s politics the Political Parties, Voters, The Electoral Process and Mass Media are all connected to one another. An example for this is the incoming elections in the United States. There are political parties that have their own ideas on how to change the government for the better of the citizens. Political parties are defined as an organized group of people with the same political aims and opinions, who seeks to change the public policy by having their candidates elected to the public office. Even though most of the people believe that the United States has only two political parties, we actually have more than six main political parties. The two most popular parties are Republicans and Democrats.…

    • 401 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Citizens must actively participate in formal political decision making to uphold Australia’s democratic values. Yet, as my research unfolds, mainstream media predominately holds the power to influence public opinions on the political class. Mainstream media suggests that politicians use their power and authority to benefit themselves, rather than upholding their purpose of representing the people . Due this interpretation on the political class by mainstream media’s, loss of public trust and confidence in the government system develops; leading to the perception of politicians as out of touch .…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Echr

    • 2905 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Under present international Conventions, state obligations in relation to freedom of expression are absolute and immediate. At the same time, as with other forms of liberty, completely unrestricted freedom of expression may lead to the infringement on the rights of others. The freedom of expression has been hedged in by a number of limitations and restrictions, often more extensively than other rights. Historically, most…

    • 2905 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the 1960’s television has influenced the decision of many presidential elections, but what are these influences, and how have they affected politics in America? Television in the United States greatly impacts the results of political debates, by allowing the audience to get a deeper insight in political campaigns. Although many would argue that television has had a negative impact, the truth is, television has allowed the United States to further pursue its role in politics through both positive and negative tactics.…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The following essay will concentrate on the reciprocal relationship between the media and society, focusing on journalism in particular. A brief overview of the terms used in this essay will be used first to create a common understanding. This will be achieved by discussing theories regarding mass media and journalism as separate entities. The two will then be combined to discuss how mass media affects , and is affected by society. This will be done by referring to the many theories regarding journalism and mass media and how thy correspond with society using theories such as the normative press theories.…

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays