The government is the body that is very important in a country. It controls most of the things that happen. A society without any guidelines can merely do anything productive to a country. No farming, industrialization, education, technology etc. due to lack of social cooperation. The government is required to provide protection and development to a country. It can do this because people give up their freedom and give the government the mandate to set up rules and regulations governing them.
Participating in the government involves standing for government election, voting, consulting members of parliament and being involved in other government activities. Good government requires citizens who are actively participating in government policy formulation and implementation. These policies govern the lives of the citizens. There are various forms of government of which democracy is the most common. In this form of government, the people select the governing power either by-election, direct referendum or consensus. Freedom and equality are practised in this form of government.
Pluralism theory explains why people do not participate in government. Here are multitudes of people, not all people govern the country. The minor part of the public is allowed to participate thus most people act as bystanders. Pluralists believe that direct democracy cannot work because the public doesn’t have information about good governance and have their life dedicated to other activities like work, family health etc so they should not be involved in government. In pluralism, the people who make policies are the top government officials and they don’t involve the public.
People do not participate in government because they are too busy. They feel that they have more important work to do than being involved in elections that will benefit the politicians who have their special interests in government. The politicians do not even talk to them so why should they vote. Lack of trust hinders people from participating in government; they feel that their decision will not change the functioning of the government. Unawareness of the importance of participating in government should be addressed. People are not informed of the activities they should be involved in. The use of TV, newspaper, politician campaigns and involvement of families help provide information about the government activities and thus more people participate. The relevance of involvement in the implementation of government policies is not clear to the citizens. They feel these issues are of no importance to them and so they should not be involved in them (Schmidt, Shelly & Bardes, 326).
Male chauvinism in various countries prevents females from participating in government. Only males are allowed to vote and stand as candidates for elections. The females are threatened if they want to be involved. The cultural and traditional believes p that women have to serve men prevents them from standing for parliamentary or even presidential seats. Tribal discrimination also may prevent people from certain tribes whether males or females from participating in government. They are seen as inferior tribes that command no respect and so can not be appointed in government.
Politicians are usually available to the public during elections. After this, they just lose any connection with the people they are representing. The public, therefore, does not get a chance to consult their representatives as part of participation in the government. They are there just because of their selfish benefits and this makes the public lose trust in them.
The nature of the government and the governing people determine the public’s freedom. Some governments impose their citizens to terrorism, unfair trials, and criminal injustice. They use the media to fulfil these acts. The media sector is used to expose the acts that happen in the community. They analyse it in form of whether the incident is against the law or not and whether it is ethical. Ethical factors such as fairness and accuracy are used for judgment in courts leading to fair trials and elimination of criminal injustices. The law also addresses terrorism issues where the people involved are held responsible.
The freedom of the press and other communication media is a fundamental freedom for all the citizens of a country. The press can be used to report various issues to and by the public as a form of expression. However, there are restrictions to how far the press can go in its reporting. In the case of criminal laws like terrorism they should not reveal the source of their information to prevent being used as witnesses, they are restricted on how far they can cover a trial. The press people should have a warrant to search newsrooms and other people’s houses. The press is also restricted in gathering and publication some information due to anti-terrorism acts, elections laws etc. The press acts as a mediator between the public and social institutions like law, religion, education, family etc.
The press is usually utilized by the few who direct common people’s opinions. The government should accept criticism from the press. Usually, the governments are not ready for this and use the press for their benefit. The citizens rarely use it to express themselves thus they are robbed of their rights. Some issues like unfair trials and criminal injustices when are about to be published and the government discovers about it, they are usually stopped. This is altering press freedom.
Restrictions to publication are only acceptable in case of insecurity issues such as terrorism and war secrets. Terrorism is an issue that affects a countries security and information about it should be kept secret. The government secrets are also inhibiting press freedom where certain matters are not supposed to be published.
These cases are very sensitive and because the public needs the information about trials, the press is allowed limited access to gather information. Full freedom to access in criminal cases would lead to a lot of information to the public before the trial is over. The judges in a court allow varied freedom to the press. During the trial, some allow the press in the courtroom to get information and also comment on the nature of the trial while others do not allow the press presence.
Media freedom is usually supported by the educated people who feel that the media should be able to report without control from the government, they should be able to get information from other countries despite the countries relationships and should have access to the internet. In the countries where there is insecurity and political instability, press freedom is limited and it is under government control.
Thus the governance of a country should be the role of every citizen by participating in various activities in the country. The government should provide security and equality to all its citizens. Various issues such as press freedom should not be solely controlled by the government to cover up some issues. It is the right of the citizens to get all the information thus press freedom is very important.
Work Cited
Schmidt, S. W., Shelly, M. C & Bardes, B. A (2008). American Government & Politics Today, 14th Ed. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, Boston, MA.