Media and Politics

"Media and Politics”, a 16-page publication in the Saskatchewan (SK) Institute of Public Policy (SIPP’) Briefing Note series, explores the relationship between media and politics, including the influence of politics on the news media and the influence of the media on Canada's political life.

The articles in this publication were originally presented as part of a public forum on March 9 2007, in a series which explores the influences on political culture of law, religion and journalism. The introduction, provided by John D. Whyte and Lynn Wells, explains that: "The particular inquiry of this collection is on the political influences on media, specifically news media, and media’s role in shaping political outcomes."

In the central presentation, 'Media and Complicity, ' Rick Salutin describes "ways that media complicity with power has developed, particularly since the end of the Cold War." According this briefing, he suggests that mainstream media reflect the dominant point of view and neglect the alternative voices. Forum panellist Joyce Green then shares her response to Mr. Salutin's invitation "to ask - complicity in what, and why," in considering the premise of media’s suggested complicitous relationship with large corporations and politics and the evolution and role of alternative or left-wing media. Forum panellist Gennadiy Chernovviews, in a second response, pursues two points in the discussion of media criticism: proof or facts of what was stated by media critics and alternatives to what has been labelled as erroneous media practices.

In their remarks the authors address the questions of how media complicity is formed, who the key actors in this complicity are, and what can be done to stop media complicity. The authors offer their analysis from personal perspectives working in journalism, as consumers of its products, and from academic perspectives as scholars of media, communications, and political science.