The Role of the Media in the

democratic society (Situational

analysis in the countries of CA)

Thomas Jefferson once said that if he

had to choose between a government
without newspapers or newspapers
without a government, he would pick
the latter.
Media must be free of the following
 Censorship
 Self-censorship
 Control of the government
 Physical and moral pressure
 Political prejudice
 Service to the people
 to inform responsibly
 to challenge those in power (government, parliament, local
authorities)
 communicate and maintain social relations between social
groups effectively
Main principles
 not to mislead the public
 reproduce events accurately (reflect
the most accurate picture of
happenings)
 the right for freedom of expression
vs.
the right of individual for private life
 The only right criteria in
deciding ethical dillemas
or/and legal issues is PUBLIC
INTEREST!!!

6
In the democratic societies
journalists are agents of the public

 taking to account those in power misusing it

 being in-between the political parties and
society
 being in opposition to government when it
concerns human rights protection
In the Central Asia the media used
for propaganda of interests if
parties, government officials,
businessmen, MPs, criminals etc.
via:
 promoting reforms, ideas, desicions
favourable only for those in power
 creating positive or negative images
 biased coverage
busВ ЦА СМИ не являются
бизнесом
busВ ЦА СМИ не являются
бизнесом

 Why not?
 Who benefit having the media?
 How media keep themselves?
 Custom journalism
 Social Media in CA
 work as alternative source of information
 allow to communicate actively and openly
 allow to call to account those in power

Accordingly the social media partly function

as traditional media should function in the
democtratic society.
However…
 Limited access and coverage of the
social media can not allow use them
widely for the purposes of promoting
democracy.
THANK YOU!!!
THANK YOU!!!
THANK YOU!!!

12