The Power Relations and the Evolution of the Press

      Since the day the printing press’s invention, the press has been one of the most powerful tools of controlling the public opinion. Has the nature of the press changed in the modern times? Obviously, along with the technological advancements of the modern era, the press, as well as other mediums of communications, went through in various stages of evolution. Along with the press’s evolution, the power relationships over the press have also been changed. The press of the modern era is comparably free of bias and subjectivity and the individuals are empowered to contribute to; however, the governmental control over the press which was almost absolute during the 19^th century is still apparent even today.

Three articles, “How Lincoln Played the Press” by Garry Wills “Lessons of Abraham Lincoln’s war with the press: Commentary” by Fred Hiatt and “How the Civil War gave birth to modern journalism in the nation’s capital” by Paul Farhi all illustrate the biased press of the 19th century, absolutely controlled by the governmental authorities. “Every bit of that information was blatantly biased in ways that would make today’s Fox News blush”, – writes Wills and describes the process of how the politicians cultivated their own party’s papers. According to Farhi the politicians usually established close, corrupt relationships with the reporters, while the reporters wrote the flattering accounts for them. Wills and Hiatt both illustrate Abraham Lincoln as one of the most successful “players” in these dirty games.Lincoln understood the power of the press in molding the public opinion and worked hard to have a total control over what was written on him. According to the articles Lincoln secretly financed the “Illinois Staats-Anzeiger” and had his own scribe, Robert R. Hitt, who was making the records that favored him. What was written in the 19^th century’s newspapers was greatly depended on what the politicians wanted to be written and the free press as a phenomenon was completely unknown.

What has changed in the relationship of the politics and the press since the 19^th century? As Farhi points out in his article “not much has changed in 150 years”; however, this statement is strongly arguable. It is clear that the government’s control over the press still exists even in the modern times. Every country owns the state media and it is influenced and controlled by the governmental authorities; however, the power of the modern free press which did not exist in the 19^th century cannot be neglected. Since the 19^th century major power shifts happened in the newspaper industry.

Along with the technological advancement – creation of the social media and the internet, individuals are empowered to contribute freely to the press without any governmental restrictions. In the modern era everybody can be a journalist, expressing his/her opinions through the internet medium. The power over the press is shifted from the authorities to the ordinary people. The raise of the private or the independent media, which has no direct control from any political party, loosened the authoritative domination over the press. In contrast to that of the 19th century, the press of the today’s era is much more liberated from the governmental ties.

Despite the fact that the majority of the democratic countries promote the existence of the free press which is liberated from the state’s interference, there are still many, non-democratic countries in the modern world in which the government has the absolute power over the press. In these non-democratic counties like North Korea the freedom of press is a totally unknown phenomenon. All the mediums of communications are state-run organizations, promoting the existing ultimate political authority or the power. Similarly to the 19^th century’s press, the politicians have the absolute domination over what is written in the press and the level of corruption in the media industry of these non-democratic countries is extremely high.

From one perspective it can be argued that the relationship between the politics and the press has not been drastically changed since 19^th century, since in the majority of countries the governmental power still controls the media; however, from another perspective the raise of the free press is also considerable. In contrast to the 19^th century’s press which was fully controlled by the authorities, the modern press of the 21^st century is more liberated and individualistic. The emergence of the social media grants the power to individuals to contribute to the press and thus diminishes the absolute governmental domination.