In this article
Democratic representation and media influence
In representative democracies, as in Albania, citizens are asked to express their political opinions or positions through their vote. Through voting they choose a body of representatives, members of parliament, who have first pledged to protect their interests. In this way, citizens decide not only their own fate but also the country’s future.
This happens once every four years, or whenever citizens’ representatives cannot reach agreement, as well as in other cases where the issue is of particular importance and a majority more demonstrable than one expressed through representatives alone is needed: referendums.
Democracy depends on elections and representation, yet both remain vulnerable: “elections may not be free and, therefore, representation may not be genuine”[1] writes Sartori (Giovanni Sartori, 2010), describing and identifying one of democracy’s vulnerabilities. Faced with this vulnerability, the idea of the media as a fourth estate, a counterweight or “watchdog” of the system has become a cliché. The meaning of this pillar of democracy has been lost over time through the capture or corruption of the media, to the point that these very “institutions” give rise to a greater danger to “genuine representation”: elections based on “manipulated sympathies”.
Elections thought to be free but in fact not free, because voters’ opinions have been manipulated, likewise make democracy impossible.
[1] Giovanni Sartori (2010): Ç’ është demokracia [What Is Democracy]. Translated by: Kujtim Ymeri. DITURIA, Tirana. p.31.