The functions of the media in politics today are vast and multifaceted, which allows us to talk about the media as another branch of government. Being a direct distributor, a carrier of important information, they have a fairly powerful degree of impact on the masses. Thanks to this, they perform various tasks and acquire different functions.
The media first of all receive, process and communicate information about the most important events for the authorities and the people. In this case, we are talking about information containing, among other things, an assessment and comments and endowed with social significance. These media functions are called informational.
Of great importance is the method of obtaining (fragmented or sequential) and the quality of information. The qualification of further actions of political agents depends on this. In this case, they talk about the educational tasks that face information carriers and disseminators. The functions of the media, of course, do not include a deep and systematic assimilation of knowledge. There are special institutions for this. Nevertheless, the educational function of the media is quite large. The disseminated information affects the formation of certain views and positions, expanding the assessment and cognitive capabilities of citizens.
It should be noted that the educational and social functions of the media have a fairly close relationship. Moreover, the former often turn into the latter. Under political socialization is understood the assimilation by a person of certain norms, patterns of behavior, any values. Thanks to this assimilation, adaptation to social reality takes place. In accordance with the information received, the population begins to form an opinion on the activities of parties, parliament, government and other institutions of power, as well as on the cultural and economic life of people.
Of great importance in the development of society are such media functions as control and criticism. In some countries, media and disseminators of information are distinguished by a certain unlimited nature of their facility. Moreover, the control functions of the media in such states are very effective, because there is not only a legal, but also a moral assessment of certain events or persons. In these cases, laws and public opinion act as evaluative criteria.
In democracies, direct control of media activities takes place only in extreme cases, emergency situations (during the war, for example). In other situations, the activities of the media are quite independent. Moreover, often thanks to the conduct of journalistic investigations, special parliamentary commissions are formed, decisions that are of great importance for the life of society are made, and criminal processes begin. According to many analysts, the control functions of the media are especially necessary with weakened opposition or imperfection of state control institutions.
The most widely manifested journalistic activity in democratic countries. The media are today considered an integral component of the mechanism of democratic functioning. Mass Media provides representatives of different groups the opportunity to express their opinion publicly, to seek and rally like-minded people, to unite them with a common belief and goals, and to represent clearly articulated interests in public opinion. In other words, the media are, in a sense, the roots through which any political structure receives its vitality. Assessing the role of Mass Media in the public life of the state, one should keep in mind the complexity and versatility of this structure, which in turn has a great impact on the tasks that this institute poses.
