ComGAP: Do We Trust the Media Enough?

Among the various roles news media play in governance, that of gatekeeper is one of the more problematic. According to Pippa Norris and Sina Odugbemi in Public Sentinel, “as gatekeepers, the news media have a responsibility to reflect and incorporate the plurality of viewpoints and political persuasions in reporting, to maximize the diversity of perspectives and arguments heard in rational public deliberations, and to enrich the public sphere.”

In its simplest definition, gatekeepers let some in and keep others out.  Journalists, editors, and media organizations are supposed to exercise this function to advance diversity in the public sphere.  There are at least two ways in which this can be organized.  First, each and every news outlet can be tasked to reflect diversity.   Second, diversity can be reflected in the country’s overall media system.

If the former, individual news media outlets ought to be internally plural or diverse.  If a media outlet were, say, a hotel, everybody must be allowed to rent a room or and nobody shut out, space allowing.  This world would look like the Netherlands’ pillarisation model, which mandates proportional airtime in public broadcasting, even for small political parties.

If the latter, the media system as a whole ought to be plural.  That is, it’s OK for one hotel to cater only to liberals insofar as other hotels serve other groups.  Privately-owned U.S. cable news networks are extreme versions of this, with Fox News being to conservatives what MSNBC is to liberals.

It was World Press Freedom Day 2010 last week, and media freedom adds another important consideration to the question of diversity.  From a policy perspective, it would be interesting to know whether news media free from government control tend to be more plural and diverse or whether plurality requires government intervention.  If agreement on the news media's gatekeeping function can be assumed, we are essentially asking whether we trust the media enough to do what’s “right” on their own volition or if they must they be compelled to do so.

- May 10, 2010 by Antonio Lambino

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Source: blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/do-we-trust-media-enough (accessed on 11.05.2010)