Media responsibility

For other types of responsibility, see Responsibility (disambiguation).

Media responsibility is a term for the belief that mass media have a basic responsibility to help strengthen and support democratic processes.

Although this is a subjective concept, hard to define, arguments have been made for newspapers, television, radio, and perhaps types of Internet communication to act as a government watchdog, as a gatekeeper and instrument to disseminate necessary information, and more popularly, as a reflection of cultural interests and trends.

Because the news media typically amplifies popular backlash against unpopular groups during a moral panic, advocates of media responsibility also call for media outlets to refrain from sensationalizing related incidents. Otherwise, the resulting public outrage might manifest in ill-conceived legislation against a folk devil or in popular vigilantism against the persecuted.