國家、媒體和民主參與

Stab, Media and Participatory Democracy

如果說，新聞媒體的天職是為民喉舌，監督時政，那麼新聞媒體與國家或政府機構的關係是值得重視的間題。本文宗旨在詮釋國家介入新聞事業的方式，並提出因應之道，以便讓新聞媒體能充分發揮社會教育功能。在任何一個社會中，新聞媒體均不能獨立於政治領域。首先，無論是為了壟斷或活潑言論市場，國家機構均可以透過法規政策，來管制新聞媒體的運作。其次，國家或政府機構也可以運用公共關係策略，以壟絡或操縱新聞媒體，繼而影響民意。民主政治是民意政治，如果為政者能隨意利用新聞媒體，以「收買」民心，輿論監督將形同虛設；如果新聞媒體不能鍼砭時政，涵化民主素養，街談巷議將無由產生。因此，除了新聞媒體要反躬自省，發揮專業精神，讓政治事務更公開外，或許社會大眾也要反躬自省，更積極地「督促」他們一下。

The democratic role of the media is to serve society by cultivating people for participatory democracy. The media are central to the public sphere which has the function of supervision of the conduct of the state. Drawing upon current writing, this essay presents a theoretical perspective in an attempt to interpret the democratic relationship between the press and politics and its relevance to the democratic process. The state and the media are two of weapons that the people who rule us used to ensure their continuation in power. Theoretically, the democratic process is enhanced, if the press is independent of both the state and the market. The state is viewed as a potential threat to the press, because of its increased involvement in the practice of journalism through legal censorship and news management. Furthermore, the state manipulation of the press shifts from regulation and censorship to news management. Finally, we suggest that unless the press is willing to rely on professional judgement and to energetically pursue facts, even to make things more public, the press will exercise little impact on making the state more accountable to the public. In order for democracy to improve, the bottom line is that ordinary citizens must demand better standards in government and journalism.