The media have a unique power in any political system. This power stems both from their role as key sources of information about cultures, people, and events on a regular basis and their multiple functions in politics. As studies of media effects have demonstrated, the media wield an enormous influence on the audiences’ attitudes, opinions, and behaviours. With the complexity of societies, speed of events, and enormous diversity of information and news, as well as the limited ability of audiences to follow up on information, the media have the power to formulate our understanding of the world and affect our behaviours. The media help correlate our response to the challenges and opportunities in society to reach consensus on actions and to transmit the culture of our society to new members. Also, the media’s power relies on the relationship between media and policymakers. The influence of the media is much more pervasive now than it was some decades ago, and their role in politics has become a major topic of discussion and controversy in recent years.
The characteristics and values of a particular political system are usually reflected in its media practices and contents; the state usually plays a vital role in affecting these contents. In some cases, governments can define the amount and nature of the news that may be rejected or accepted for dissemination. In others, the media contents are direct responses to government policies and practices. While these are only examples of how the media-politics relationship can affect the media contents, numerous scenarios exist as a result of the interactive media-politics relationship that differs according to the various media systems (liberal, authoritarian, developmental, etc.) and political environments (democratic, dictatorship, communist, etc.).
The refereed papers in this issue of the Global Media Journal -- Canadian Edition discuss the role of media and organizational communication in relation to politics and the public’s interest. In doing so, issues of media portrayals, ethics, and organizational leadership and public relations are investigated. The papers cover recent events in various regions around the world, including the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia, the Arab Spring, and the Turkish-Middle East politics, discuss media ethics in Spain and India, and challenge social media and public relations in the political sphere and the organizational communication.
The first paper is titled “The Interference of Politics in the Olympic Games, and How the U.S. Media Contribute to It”. Anthony Moretti investigates the political undertones of the 1980 Summer Olympics, hosted by Moscow during an ice-cold period of the Cold War, and examines whether similar undertones will be on display in February 2014 when Russia will host the Olympic Games for the second time. Explaining how the boycott of the 1980 Games demonstrated the power of the White House and the American media, Moretti contends that despite the absence of a boycott in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, a negative portrayal of Russia and its athletes is anticipated due to Western news media discourses of a tepid diplomatic relationship between Russian President Putin’s government and American President Obama’s administration.
Banu Dağtaş, in her paper titled “Constructing the ‘Arab Spring’: News Discourses in Turkish Newspapers”, discusses how six Turkish national newspapers have been covering the Arab Spring developments. The paper explores that the most prominent news actors are mainly political leaders, who were mostly quoted. The protests are portrayed as positive, the Mubarak/Gaddafi/Middle East regimes as oppressive and authoritarian, the Muslim Brotherhood as the most important opposition group, and Turkey as the role model country for the Middle East and Arabs.
The next paper is titled “Journalistic Ethics and Standards in the Spanish Constitution and National Codes of Conduct from the Perspective of Andalusian Journalism Students”. María Ángeles López-Hernández and Rubén Domínguez-Delgado conducted a survey on the opinion held by journalism students about the ethical standards set out in the Spanish Constitution and Spain’s codes of conduct. The paper demonstrates that journalism students have embraced a fairly solid ethical system of values; however, they believe that the strong influence that economic and political powers currently exert on Spanish media corporations makes it difficult for journalists to cultivate their own work ethics. Therefore, López-Hernández and Domínguez-Delgado reflect on the need to reinforce ethical values in the lecture hall as a way of curbing the deterioration of journalism in Spain.
Bheemaiah Krishnan Ravi, in his paper titled “Ethics and Indian Television Content Portrayals: A Critical Study”, critically reviews the contemporary debate over ethics and television portrayals in India. The paper concludes that there is a dire need for self-regulation and training for media personnel regarding ethical standards and portrayals. Ravi also suggests that personal ideologies should not interfere in the program production, which should be guided by societal values and ethical standards.
Within organizations, communication plays fundamental role not only in the quality of the relations among their members but also in the leadership. Sophie Ménard, Xavier E. Kauffmann, and Natasha Mantville, in their paper titled “Communication intentionnelle dans le domaine du leadership”, argue that communication has an impact on the development of employee competencies, company productivity, strategic visibility in the political sphere, and attraction and maintenance of a qualified and involved workforce. Social media adds a layer of complexity and challenge for managers who strive to develop good work relations. Ménard, Kauffmann, and Mantville suggest an alternative for a conscious leadership focused on the modern organizational challenges.
In the same vein of suggesting alternatives for better organizational communication, in the final paper titled “Les relationnistes peuvent-ils devenir des facilitateurs et les publics se transformer en parties prenantes?”, Martin David-Blais and François Miville-Deschênes discuss changes concerning the way of practicing public relations. Instead of working on behalf, and as representatives of organizations, standing between them and their stakeholders, David-Blais and Miville-Deschênes suggest that public relations practitioners should detain an intermediary position and their role should evolve from representation to facilitation.
The book reviews section of this journal issue starts with a review article, “Women and Politics in the Media”, by Heather McIntosh. This article reviews the three books: Political Culture and Media Genre: Beyond the News (2013), Women Political Leaders and the Media (2013), and Woman President: Confronting Postfeminist Political Culture (2013). Finally, Geneviève Boucher Boudreau reviews Al-Qaida par l’image: La prophétie du martyre (2013).
