Session 8: Political Culture and Legitimacy - Mass Media

Political socialization is a process which allows people to acquire political beliefs and values. In order words, it forms ones political culture.

There are various agents of socialization; each agent influences political views to different extents.  One such agent is ‘mass media’ – there are mainly two forms of media, print and electronic.

The media provides a vast amount of political information; but one must be wary as not all information is truthful. Therefore, we can say that media is the most powerful yet deceptive agent of political socialization.

“Media is the most powerful entity on earth. It has the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power.” – Malcolm X.

So do the pros of mass media outweigh the cons? Perhaps the best thing about mass media is that it provides the general public with heaps of information. Therefore, not only are the people more aware of the events going on, they also know more about their rights. However, the problem is that lies creep in to reports – this creates confusion and uproar.