Democracy, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary: “a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity…are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by voting to elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly…”
Democracy, one of the most romantic political notions in existence. This fanciful idea that the people of a country can participate and be properly represented by their political institutions. There are many democratic governments throughout the modern world, but many of them are missing two key pieces for a truly representative government: transparency in the motivations and decision-making of government officials as well as accurate and honest journalism. Journalism is key to informing people on the government’s operations and is one of the primary tools of the population to keep the government and elected officials honest. Transparency is essential because the people must know what they are actually voting for and not just be force fed the propaganda most political campaigns run on today.
In order for a democracy to truly serve the people, journalistic standards must be raised in order to maintain the government’s integrity. By critically and honestly reporting on government officials and their actions, journalists can be a driving force behind democracy by keeping the population informed and ensuring that government officials operate with the awareness that their policies will be put under the spotlight. Unfortunately, the demise of journalism is one of the many factors contributing to the decay of our democracy. Media has become a key cog in the establishment apparatus; its role being to misinform and distract the population over government policies and decisions. By ensuring that the majority of the population has been robbed of easily accessible information, the media can assist in manipulating the vote of millions of people.
If journalism is to have the ability to inform the people, a certain level of transparency must be established in the government. Without transparency, the information is unavailable for either journalists or the people to inform themselves on government operations. Along with the deterioration of journalistic standards, the beginning of the 21st century has witnessed the dramatic decrease of transparency within government institutions, at least in the United States. This is not to say that the entire government hides behind a veil of sinister secrecy. Bills are available for the people to peruse and the votes for or against these bills are also available. However, the motivations and the ‘behind-the-scenes’ politics of whom finances the legislators pushing for those actions are pretty well shrouded. Behind-the-scenes politics have always existed and are natural to a democratic system in which negotiations and compromises must be reached, but there must be some sort of peep-hole through which the people can have some idea of the deals in government.
Transparency and journalism are key factors to democracy that allow the people to remain informed and keep the government in check. In order for a democratic form of government to truly serve its constituents, the people must have the means with which to monitor the government. Along with developments in campaign finance, the decline of journalism and transparency in government has led to the majority of the population being easily manipulated. This has ensured that the people are separated from actual policy-making decisions while also transforming campaigns into soap operas instead of chances for discussion over policies and their possible effects. Without those two pillars, a government of the people, by the people, for the people is a virtual impossibility.
Cleisthenes 