4.2.3 - The role of the media, including social media in law reform

Question 1

What are three roles of the media in law reform?

Answer 1

• inform and raise awareness
• asses levels of community support
• influence community opinion

Question 2

What is ‘inform and raise awareness’?

Answer 2

• can be regarding a need for law reform in social, legal and political areas
• can provide a platform for parliament, government and political parties to explain to the community the need for law reform
• media can reach large numbers of the population
• media organisations can use more deliberate/direct ways to inform or generate interest in, or seek themselves to influence law reform

Question 3

What is ‘assess levels of community support’?

Answer 3

• use of traditional polls to gauge what the audience thinks about an issue
• the results can be used to assess peoples support for and against an issue
• other methods include: letters to editor, measuring number of likes, shares, comments

Question 4

What is ‘influence community opinion’?

Answer 4

• some media organisations are high profile
• media can investigate local, national and international events/issues
• can seek to inform and generate interest in an interest
• can try to influence community opinion or government to take action

Question 5

What are three limitations of the role of media?

Answer 5

• media concentration
• spread of misinformation
• Use of algorithms

Question 6

What is ‘media concentration’?

Answer 6

• can depend on who owns the media outlet what message they project and how it is delivered which can create bias

Question 7

What is ‘spread of misinformation’?

Answer 7

• online environment is less controlled and regulated compared to traditional media
• misinformation can be spread about a topic, causing bias and opinions not based on facts

Question 8

What is ‘use of algorithms’?

Answer 8

• can influence what information is being exposed to people creating bias