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Press role in political awareness and political breeding

emad sroor

Prepared by: Dr. Salah aldeen Abdullah AlAbbadi

Abstract

Press does a primary role in forming a political awareness and political breeding through directing the public opinion and its leaderships towards what is better.

Role of the press in political awareness for the individuals of the community connects with the future of democratic development for the press in it, ascendely or descendedly, like the press past and present was that happens in it.

The press is considered a fourth authority in the state, beside the three constitutional authorities for its influence in forming trends of the public opinion.

The press shares in playing an effective role in the political life of the Arab peoples, especially considering it a communication means, enables its user get acquainted with incidents of the political events. And the effect of political life development in the Arab press development by entering anew stage, the press trans formed from a press of newsinto a press of opinion, and so appeared beside the news, the journals article, commentary and other types of journalese arts. Therefore, the Arab press started to play a significant and decisive role in affecting the individual with what it bears of opinions, political commentaries, issues and problems irritate citizens’ concern and preoccupy their minds. And the press become a significant tool in forming the public opinion and crystallizing, its stands. The press of opinion had been in its beginning a biased press, this press when takes an opinion and defends it, its first objective is acquiring a number of readers, and simultaneously goes too far from each opinion disagrees it.

The political role of the press had developed through awareness, education and forming the public opinion. And for a long period, states employed media as one of the formal adjustment tools of the communities, and as a rostrum for instruction with trends of the state. And no doubt that the political conditions surrounding the state and the extent of freedom and democracy it enjoys, have the great influence on the press of opinion that may confront and endure different pressures.

Introduction:

The study aimed at recognizing the role of the press in awareness and political breeding from the different media means (visible, read, heard, and electronic).

The study also showed that the degree of the press sharing in spreading the political awareness among individuals of the community came at a high degree. Also the press does spread the cultural awareness among the people and clearing the significance of the press and journalists in showing truths and exposing them in front of the public opinion, and all works on respecting the journalist and lend a hand to him to reach the truths.

Role of the press in the political awareness political breeding:

Awareness linguistically: understanding and safety of perception (Ibn Manzour, 1997). (Al-Bakkar, 2000) defines awareness idiomatically is: “oneself’s perception for himself and for what surrounds him of direct perception, and it is the basis of each cognition” and can return the appearance of feeling or awareness to three matters it is: the perception and cognition, sentiment, inclination and will.

And in accordance with political awareness concept awareness indicates to the connected factors with the human environment, and man’s cognition with that environment from all sides. Aware knowledge in order he can analyze it and recognize its results.

Psychologists define awareness that it is the (feeling of the creature with itself or what surrounds it) (Gourheed, 1990).

And concerning defining the political awareness, definitions that defined this concept due to ideological difference of human communities, where each community gives a particular definition of the political awareness due to the quality of that community.

Surely, the political awareness forms a significant subject in the political thinking from part of its influence in the political incidents and their data, but the political awareness is considered a biological necessity at the Arab community in the current period, today these communities exists a period of intellectual, and cognitive freeze, uncognitive and non-scientific in explaining phenomena, political incidents and impossibility of political participation (Noor Al-Deen, 2010).

Political awareness is formed when the individual feels that he is a citizen in his country and has his rights and entrusted with duties, he is destined to wade at all trends that contradict his own, and against all concepts that contradict his concepts. The political awareness differs from the political culture from being taking in its part and more comprehensive. It has not been done too, except by its true translation by initiative and work to achieve what can be achieved in the shadow of complicated circumstances, but the political culture is formed by correctunderstanding and knowledge of incidents and things (Al-Shaldan, 2006).

Concept of the press

Press in language is derived from newspapers, plural of a newspaper; the newspaper that is used to be written in it, and it is in this description is the book in which newspapers are collected, due to that the press is a profession of publicating papers and doing them (Ibn Manzour, 1997).

The widespread is employing the word press to indicate to two meanings, the first: corresponds the word Journalism, means the journalist profession, and the second corresponds the word press that is total of what is published in papers, and in origin it indicates to the machine of printing and became indicate to product of the printing press, and recently this term is called to papers and means printed matters meaning publication and announcement (Abu Zeid, 1999).

The term ‘Journalism’ was derived from the French term “Journee’ that means daily work and in Latin ‘Diurnahs’ that means daily or repeated everyday (Encyclopedia Americana, 1977). And idiomatically it may be difficult for the researcher to lay an evident independent definition for the press, due to what it includes in the present age of branching and enlargement, where it had numerous concepts, and opinions about the press variate and its meanings develop with the time. And from the initial definitions of the press (Marwah, 1961) definition, who defined the press as it is “Registration of the daily incidents defined the press as it is” Registration of the daily incidents accurately and systematically with response to wishes of the public opinion and directing it through collecting and spreading the news related with the human group and description of its activity. And so the press covers all methods through which news and commentaries on them reach to the public, where they will be the basic matter to the journalist, and be for the press, in this respect, a social occupation its task is to direct the public opinion by publishing information and rational good ideas through newspapers”.

(Sukari, 1984) views that press is one of the basic tools of media, because it does a great role in crystallizing the public opinion, and this role does not stop at all on transferring news, showing and commenting them, because journalism has its political, social and cultural message for individuals of the community.

Views had varied about the concept of the press, some people views that the press is a fourth authority in the state, beside the three constitutional authorities for its effect in forming the trends of the public opinion (Hammam, 1988), some others did not support this concept of the press, but considered it a popular authority, and the description of the press as the fourth authority is not correct, because freedom of the press is a right does not surpass being a branch of expression freedom about the opinion that is obliged to be guaranteed at any democratic system for every citizen (Al-l’teifi, 1980).

Considering the press one of the mediameans, the outlook at it conceals in being considered a means of popular control that is it controls the government and the authority in general, for the expense of the public, leaning on the belief that controlling the government is the occupation or the basic role of the press, that excels all its other occupations in significance, and due to this role laws guarantee politically, or financially non-intervention of the government in the press, considering that this intervention will affect the duty of control.

The press has numerous and different occupations, such as; media here its role is not confined to transfer and paraphrase information and discuss them, but extends to express opinions, ideas and points of view, and the political occupation is considered from the most important and evident press occupations, so they provide the reader with information about the actual political problems, also they show and analyze the stands and opinions, and from this point, individuals can recognize the political conditions and take their stands and show their opinions (Najam, 1998).

(Abu Shanab, 1988) indicates that some researchers connect between media and communication considered derived from the foreign expression (communication) being performed on the basis of interaction among crowds, so abundantly the meaning of med is provided intermixed in the talk about the communication.

It is its general and simple meaning is performed on transferring, obtaining, or exchange information between effecting and affected parties in respect meaning or results in changing the stands or the behavior (Ahdel Fattah, 2000). The term of political media is considered a new pattern of the media patterns, therefor the researchers varied in the domain of political media in finding a specifical definition. (Schudson, 1989) defined the political medial that it is any process of transferring the message meant influencing the authority employment or promotion of it in the community.

The significance of the political media inoreased in the present age a great deal, for it become a necessity of the contemporary life necessities. The political media is considered an authority able to influence and change, so it practices a distinguished and effective role in the political awareness for the community and by its different means of newspapers, broadcasting service, television and other new electronic means; for it does enhance and support success of the political values the political participation and make happen the awareness of the people with what circulates around them of incidents and stands, either on the internal or the external level and assists in making happen a radical change in life of the community, and it is distinguished with an excelling ability in the process of political breeding and forming a political culture, and so the happening of the political participation, especially when media is organized and moves in accordance with an accurate media policy. The significance of the political media rises during times war, peace, elections and the political campaigns in the developed communities, for it performs a primary role in transferring and flowing information from the political elite to the public, and transferring the problems and ambitions of crowds and their imagination to the political elite (Makki, 2005).

The political media takes means and numerous forms may be direct or indirect, and means of the political media cover the verbal means like the spread of the news among the citizens, and the read means, they are (newspapers, journals, books, bulletins, messages, stickers, fax and internet) and the external visible means, they are (piclures, stickers, and streets advertisements) audible means, they are (tapes, cylinders, and telephones) and the audio-visual means, they are the (television, cinema, video and the computer), and the tools of personal technology like the mobile, electronic mail (e-mail) and sites of social media and else, had assisted at a great deal, on returning the verbal personal means in transferring news and publicities among the people and the individual became able with technology to telecast news or publicities, he sees suitable, or achieves to him a certain purpose (Abdo, 2004).

It is clear that the political media has specific and drawn objectives and goals, for the politician talks to the audience through means of media to impose practicing authority, also individuals who participate in the political process, through means of media for the sake of expressing their opinions towards their issues, and so the flow of information from means of media to view-leaders in the community is considered the best means of the political media transferring those information transmitted by means of media by the method of analysis, explanation, submitting different points of view of information technology and media messages. The political media basically aims at influencing the public opinion and aims at achieving certain objectives on the national and international level.

Role of the press in the political awareness:

The press does a primary role in forming awareness and directing the public opinion and its leaderships towards the best; in condition that the democratic menstruating environment, that keeps rights and public freedoms, headed by freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of information flow and dealing are available away from restrictions and arbitrary procedures in addition to techniques of violence, and tyrant laws, but media may do an opposite role, a role of forefeiting awareness and misguiding the opinion and leading it towards the worst in addition to availability of the democratic environment and guarantees of freedom of expression and opinion, it this was a concept to media perform this opposite task at non-democratic states, so it is illogical to some of this happens at democratic states, that enjoys freedom of media, information and the press (Saladeen, 2004).

Starting off that it can be said that role of the press in the political awareness for individuals of the community organically connects with the future of the democratic development of the press in it, ascendingly or descendingly, as the present of the press and its past connected, with degrees of the democratic development that happens in it since the states of the region entered the wave of the liberal development and democratic movements, and the extraction of the press from the cloak of the ruler, getting far from his authority and sovereignty to an extent, and his direction of the formal press, subordinate absolutely to him, it is the subordination that is still till now a place of continuous argument, considered the ruling complex (Khalil, 2003).

The Arab press had shared, during the few past years in playing an influential role in the political life of the Arab people, especially through the visible press across the astronautics, considered a communication means enable their user obtain information of political events. And effect of the political life development in the development of the Arab press by entering into a new stage transformed in it from a press of news into an opinion press, and so appeared beside the news, the journalese article and commentary and other types of journalese arts. By that the Arab journalism started playing a significant and decisive role in influencing individuals with what it bears of opinions and political commentaries, issues and problems excite the concerns of citizens and preoccupy their minds. The press became a significant tool in forming the public opinion and crystallizing its stands (Al-Rasem, 1986).

The occupation of awareness, educating and forming the public opinion, that characterize the press with the political and social development in the community, the thing that called some governments to issue laws that limit freedoms of the press. And at a not too far time, the view press dominated, till the view overcame the news in it, but at present became interested in spreading the greatest number of news and incidents till some of them became completely far from showing the opinion. The press became not to do without news at all its fields, and publishing news and commenting on them became obligatory, and this commentary does a role of clarifying the trend of newspaper and its plan (Basind, 2000).

For along time the states employed media as a tool of the formal adjustment tools of the communities, and as rostrum of guidance by the trends of the state. Media lies on it the task of expressing the prevailing public opinion and to find acertain thinking and opinion at the public (Al-Mjali, 2005). And no means the political condition that surround the state, and the extent of freedom and democracy with which it enjoys, has the great impact on the opinion press that may confront and endure different pressures.

Through what preceded role of the press can be clarified within its political role in the following:

Stabilization of the National Construction and Assertion the values of Affiliation to the home land:

This role comes in the forefront occupation of the press through its responsibility in sensation of the national issues and initiating in fetching the appropriate means to approach points of view and bridge the gap of difference wherever it exists, and work on unifying troops of citizens and their coiling around the leadership. The media policy connects with the political, economical, security, social, and warlike conditions, meaning that media connects with the comprehensive powers of the state and then it seeks indirectly to achieve the national security, through the media backing and sharing in building the citizen and enhancing him against any media invasion, or hostile thinking. Media also does a significant role in developing the political awareness at citizens and their comprehension of what circulates on the internal courtyard (Abdel Ghaffar, 2003).

Supporting the actual political trend:

The press within this occupation can do another occupation aspires to support the actual opinions among the public, through influencing the existing opinions and formed trends at citizens towards political issues, and it is what can share in the political awareness, and increase information of individuals about the subjects with the political significance (Emirates Center for studies, 1999).

Changing Stands and Trends:

The sender of media messages directs towards selecting the appropriate messages to the public wanted to reach to influence its decisions, after sharing in influencing the fundamental groups to which the individual belongs starting from the family and reaching faction (Yaser, 2005).

Spreading the political culture and political marketing:

The press in accordance with what it acts of issuing investigations, journalese articles and news, it does educate the reader, that is, with the political information towards different issues deserve concern. And so press prepares a purposeful message to serve the community and man living in it, due to its contact with reality in which the individual lives, and due to that it achieves an integrated comprehensive systematic vision to build a politically educated community if it was invested good. The press manages doing the task of political marketing through raising personalities and different political programs and giving it a publicity nature promoted at the public; that is through showing the ideas and the stands on the receiving public intending to market it and acknowledge it, the matter that approaches these personalities and what they have of programs to the public (Al-Masalha, 1999).

Political mobilization and influencing the public opinion

It is meant influencing the people’s views and their stands through making them in agreement with the formal view, by this function the press seeks to convince the people with views and trends make them support the formal view. The press is employed by government systems to reach the public and general citizens inclarifying the policy upon which the systems are performed, the matter that shares in finding the supporting stands (Kashakish, 1987)

Control and revelation:

Through what the press does of transferring ideas, news and information, the press can reach to decision makers, bearing to them views of individuals and politicians, and groups. It is significance to share in amending and revising their policies and decisions in light of what shows of views represent the public points of view (Al-Masalha, 1999).

The press and factions:

Factions play a significant role in the democratic states and form a prop of the political life, because of what lies on them of a role and significance in the political life, for they are hoped when they reach to the parliament, to practice the role of calling to account and control, in addition to participation in decision-making. It is also supposed that factions practice their political role through seeking to reach political authority; aiming at achieving their programs and goals, in addition to practicing political, economical, and social various activities and simultaneously a group of tasks lie on them, tasks factions in the Arab states are in lack of them, and it is what increases like warmness of relationship between factions and the press, represented in the weakness of multifactionalism and factional political movement, lack of activities and political programs done by factions, the thing that led to form a superficial relationship between the press and factions.

Also the relationship of the press with factions depends on the extent of the faction activity and its role in the community through doing what lies on him of effective role and influential in the political life (Assaf, 1998).

The press performs different roles towards the factions, are represented in the following:

It performs an activating role of the factional life through submitting a positive image of the faction or the political factions and not a negative repulsive image, trustrating the development and growth of the factional movement and its effectiveness in the public life, and it is what conceals in what the press performs in this part of practicing a pressing political role on factions, and disclosing of what it tumbles of gaps and weakness in its structure.

The weakness of the relationship between the press and factions refers to factions’ undoing the goal for the sake of which they were founded, for their basis that aims at sharing in achieving political, social, economical and cultural progress and stabilizing the national unity through practicing democracy, it is what it was done by other associations without gaining it by the factions (Al-Rasem, 1986).

It can be said that the daily press to master doing a political role toward factions, the matter requires the factions to take their role in practioing their activities by democratic means; to achieve specific programs, and announced related with the political, economical, social and cultural affairs, that is across sharing in the political and democratic life; to guarantee circulating power peacefully in it through free public elections, it is what it could not master, because of its structural fragility and disability of convincing individuals to join them, the matter that negatively reflected on their relationship with daily press, that became confined to publish the negative news related with their activities, even if they were limited, and it is connected with the extent of their vitality and effectiveness in the community.

Political breeding and the press:

The concept of the political breeding appropriated with the concern of many thinkers and philosophers along ages, and it was difficult to an extent to specify the comprehensive concept of the political breeding till the fifties of this century. This domain was confined to philosophers and politicians, and both concepts of teaching and education were overlapping with it, and afterwards sociologists concerned with through their studies about the political alienation. After wards, definitions continued successively, that were laid for the political breeding, herber Hayman “defined it in his book” the social Breeding “in 1959, that the political breeding is: “Individual’s learning of social standards across the different associations of the community, in order to assist him to behaviorally co-exist with it, (Hyman, 1959), “Langton, 1999” defined it that: it a process of planting information and values and revolutionary practices, either they were formal, or informal with a planned technique orunplanned to create types of citizens, necessary to development of the community, (Langton, 1969). (Ihsan, 1983) defined it that: it is that process through individual acquires his information, facts, values and his political ideals, and by it he forms his stands, and intellectual trends that influence his behaviors, daily practices, and specify the degree of his sacrifice and his political effectiveness in the community, and assist on remaining the political system, its continuation and stability as long as it aims at passing the ideas, experiences, and the political techniques depended by the community among individuals of the people, and attempts to plant it in souls of individuals and groups at their different class and social background”.

The political breeding appears in individuals (Hafez, 2000) through their ability to transfer their culture and their political values for others, and perception of individuals of the significance of accepting the view and the other view, and respecting the fundamental freedoms, starting from freedom of expression, showing the view and listening to it. And ability of the community individuals to merge in associations of the different civil community, in addition to factions to have a role in the process of development.

It is acknowledged that media means and communication had become at a great degree of advancement and effectiveness, and due to that communications among different communities had become more easy, the thing that made it the most dangerous of the political breeding souvees, that is due to its exploitation positively or negatively, the matter that made governments attempt dominating those means, in order to guarantee the track of the ideological and political trend in the direction it wants and with what conserves continuation of the actual regime and the present social structure, for the press is a means of expression for the community and not a means of expression for certain persons and it can never be possessed to specific person (Al-Tayeb, 2001).

Media means does a role not less significance than other social associations in the process of political breeding, and what relates with the press considered one of the media means; that it does transfer values social standards agreed upon among individuals of the community, bside influence in the individual’s behavior through changing these values and standards and impose others in their place, the matter that may negatively or positively influence the personality of the individual.

The press and media relationship in the political violence:

Media is considered the main mover to form the ruling political elite as a result of being media one of the primary makers of the public opinion, therefore the politicians, organization and the political powers attempted to limit the negative affection of media on their political future by any possible means (Al-Lawwah, 2003), and they did exploit the press and threaten the journalists and practice violence against them, that is to form the trends that enhance trust of the public opinion with theirpolicies, and put asid who attempts to misshape their image or unmask their practices and transform them to an issue of public opinion. Where the media had never been a tool belonging to the political work, but became enter in the sole of political operations at the local and external level, and became participate in the political process through concentrating attention on certain issues, for communication affects a great deal on decisions-making through the technique, by which showing facts is done (Abu A’rjah, 2000). And the press with its message, subjects, techniques and its responsibility towards the community is considered acusative of the political violence and one of its exciters, but it will not be responsible alone abasic responsibility about it, it is a part of a political, social, economic and a cultural system share altogether in finding violence may refer to the congestion state that prevails the Arab atmospheres, that is represented in the social, political and economic state, for most of the Arab systems does not allow the opposers with freedom of expression and movement. And who ever was the party that practices violence, so refuge to violence against the press, because of its media coverage of incidents indicates, to existence of true crisis in the community, its sharpness sits the level of the press freedom, level of restrictions or adjustments on practicing violence on both levels; quantitative and qualitative in the state. Violence against the press and journalists is considered the possible last addressing language with the reality to impose domination and power, and after stabilizing the satisfaction at the doer with failure in convincing the other parties with recognition in his entity and value.

The Conclusion:

The press is considered a fourth authority in the state beside the three constitutional authorities for their influence in forming trends of the public opinion.

Considering the press one of the media means, the outlook at it, conceals considering it a popular control means, that is it controls the government and the authority in general for the expense of the general public depending on the belief that controlling the government is the function or the basic role of the press that overlaps all its other functions in significance and due to this role laws that guarantee non-intervention of the government politically or financially in the press were legislated considering this intervention will influence the control function.

The press have numerous and different functions, of them; media..its role does not confine to transfer and explain information and discussion, but extends to expressing opinions, ideas, and points of view, and the political function isconsidered from the most significant and evident functions of the press, it grants the reader information with the actual political problems, and also shows and analyses stands and views, and from here individuals can know the political conditions and take their political stands and show their opinions.

And it is clear from what preceded that the political media has objectives, specific and drawn goals, the politician talks to the public through means of media to impose practice of the authority and so the individuals who participate in the political process through means of media for the sake of expressing their opinions towards their issues, and so the flow of information from means of media to opinion leaders in the community is considered the best means of the political media in transferring those information transmitted by means of media by the method of analysis, explanation and submitting the different points of view of those information and media message. The political media in the basic degree aims at influencing the public opinion and achieving certain objectives on the national and international level.

By that the press does a primary role in forming awareness and directing the public opinion and its leaderships towards the best, in condition that the incubator democratic environment, that maintains rights and the public freedoms, and in its front the freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of information flow, streaming and circulating them, far away from prohibitions, arbitrary procedures, and techniques of violence and tyrant laws, but media may do a complete opposite role, a role of counterfeiting awareness and misguiding the opinion and its leadership towards what worse, even with availability of the democratic environment and guarantees of opinion freedom and expression.

References:

Arabic References:

http://www.markosweb.com/www/ebaa.net.

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