Media reform

Public OpinionMedia reform refers to proposed attempts to reform mass media towards an agenda which is more in tune with public needs and away from a perceived bias toward corporate (or, in many cases, government or political) biases. Media reform advocates also place a strong emphasis upon enabling those who are marginalized or semi-marginalized by their individual incomes, immutable characteristics or desperate conditions to possess access to means of publication and dissemination of information. They do not come from a concern with policy, or with a desire to democratize federal bureaucracies and regulations.

A related concept, media justice, refers to an analytical framework and a regional, grassroots movement led by historically disenfranchised communities to transform media and cultural production, rights, and policy in the service of social justice. The Media Justice Framework offers a new way to understand and redistribute media power to achieve a fair and accessible information and cultural apparatus that fulfills its promise to inform the public, watchdog power, and serve all segments of the public equally. The Movement for Media Justice believes that media production and distribution must be under the control of communities, not companies; and that achieving social justice victories requires a secondary strategy for media policy change.

Media reform movement coincides with media democracy as a concept and is interlinked with the agenda setting theory. In 1922, in his book, Public Opinion, Walter Lippmann argued that the mass media are the principal connection between events in the world and the images in the minds of the public. He stated that the media has an ability to influence the thoughts and opinions of the members of public consuming the content. He did not use the term agenda setting but scholars have come to agree that was the core concept.

Under the media reform movement there is the traditional media reform movement which has its roots in the broadcasting and freedom of press movements and has been linked with the feminist movement as well as racial and gender justice. However, mainstream media reform groups have so far steered clear from acknowledging media reform’s roots in content work, including the legal victory by the United Church of Christ that forced changes in hiring and reporting practices in Mississippi television journalism. This is said to be done in order to maintain the support of conservative patrons and to downplay the importance of more controversial critical junctures that have shaped the way media reform movement is today.

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