Liberal democracy: Difference between revisions

Critics of the role of the media in liberal democracies allege that [[concentration of media ownership]] leads to major distortions of democratic processes. In ''[[Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media]]'', [[Edward S. Herman]] and [[Noam Chomsky]] argue via their [[Propaganda Model]]<ref>Edward S. Herman [http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/199607--.htm "The Propaganda Model Revisited"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106195120/http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/199607--.htm |date=6 January 2012 }}, ''Monthly Review'', July 1996, as reproduced on the Chomsky.info website</ref> that the corporate media limits the availability of contesting views and assert this creates a narrow spectrum of elite opinion. This is a natural consequence, they say, of the close ties between powerful [[corporation]]s and the media and thus limited and restricted to the explicit views of those who can afford it<ref>James Curran and [[Jean Seaton]] ''[[Power Without Responsibility: the Press and Broadcasting in Britain]]'', London: Routledge, 1997, p. 1</ref>. Furthermore, the media's negative influence can be seen in social media where vast numbers of individuals seek their political information which is not always correct and may be controlled. For example, as of 2017, two-thirds (67%) of Americans report that they get at least some of their news from social media<ref>{{Cite web|last=Shearer|first=Elisa|last2=Gottfried|first2=Jeffrey|date=2017-09-07|title=News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2017|url=https://www.journalism.org/2017/09/07/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2017/|access-date=2021-01-14|website=Pew Research Center's Journalism Project|language=en-US}}</ref>, as well as a rising number of countries are exercising extreme control over the flow of information<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chapman|first=Terri|date=2019-10-27|title=Liberal democracy is under threat from digitisation as govts, tech firms gain more power|url=https://theprint.in/opinion/liberal-democracy-is-under-threat-from-digitisation-as-govts-tech-firms-gain-more-power/312081/|access-date=2021-01-14|website=ThePrint|language=en-US}}</ref>. This may contribute to large numbers of individuals using social media platforms but not always gaining correct political information. This may cause conflict with liberal democracy and some of its core principles, such as freedom, if individuals are not entirely free since their governments are seizing that level of control on media sites