Media in Democratic Societies

First I will define what political communication is and its relation with the media in order to be able to talk about the role of media in democratic societies, which is the point that touched me while reading the assigned chapter. To begin with, political communication is the exchange of messages to a purpose between formal authorities and society or citizens through media. In democratic societies, media plays an important role in informing citizens of what is happening around them. Not only this, but also it protect objectivity and provide a platform for public political discourse, facilitating the formation of public opinion. It also gives publicity to governmental and political institutions. As well as it serve as a channel for the advocacy of political view points. But what will be the role of media if all media channels or tools are politically affiliated. To exemplify, all Lebanese TV channels are politicized and affected by political events or problems, so can we say that it will protect objectivity? How we can say about Lebanese channels providing a platform for public opinions if each one of them is defending a politician or a political party or ideology. To exemplify, in one event in Lebanon we can see each TV channel reporting it in a different way, and according to its political views. This is really a very important problem, that will affect on the Lebanese elections soon.