Newspaper Portrayals of Boris Johnson in the British Newspapers Literature review

Newspaper Portrayals of Boris Johnson in the British Newspapers - Literature review Example Naturally, the arms of government are defined as the legislative, judiciary and executive. Each of these has a constitutional role that they play in the democratic practice of government. To this end, it is these three arms of government that are officially accepted for all or any former duties (Angel, 2012). But as times went by in the practice of freedom of expression and freedom of the press through the provisions of democratic governance, the media was one area that was seen to have taken so much advantage of the provision, making its impact felt in almost every aspect of British life. It was for this reason that the media its self and the public started referring to the media as the fourth arm of government, necessary for undertaking the role of correcting and directing the society; especially government. Research has showed that one of the best and most favorable conditions that make it possible for the British media to have such influential role in British society is because m edia practice has been clearly diversified in Britain (Gunter, 2000). What this means is that in almost every aspect of social practice, there is a line of media practice that caters for that aspect. For example in it will be noted that Britain is a socio-cultural community with the people following social passions such as religion, sports, politics, economics, tourism, show business, education, and the likes. For each of these areas also, there will be a kind of media outlet that clearly distinct itself in providing the needed information that followers of the said passion seek after (Williams and Carpini, 2000). There is another school of thought that states that the role of media in British society could be grouped into three major key functions and these are to entertain, educate and inform society (Berger, 1991). What this means is that the media in Britain is responsible to offering entertainment to the society through the combination of a number of society paradigms including show business and sports. The media is also expected to educate the society by providing authentic and unadulterated facts that correspond to current and historic issues. Finally, the media informs the public by bringing them up to date with what takes place in Britain as a country and the international world. 1.2 Media and politics In Britain, the media and politics are both considered as independent and interrelated. As far as independence is concerned, it can be said that both the media and politics are considered as two agencies that have extremely different roles to play in society (Dimmick, 1974). Each of these can also play its role without necessarily needing support or help from the other. Between the two agencies, this phenomenon of independence of the media and politics has generally been in place as a means of ensuring fairness in the delivery of their duties. Studies have actually showed that when the media does its work in a manner that it needs no support and assista nce from any political personality or political party, it is possible that the media can go about its tasks more fairly and devoid of any political favouritism and biases that may be seen in various reportage as a form of payback for any good done to the media by the political agency (Dennis, 2000). In the same way, when politicians go about their roles in a manner that clearly shows that they do not need any assistance from the media to survive, it is possible for