Pluralizm w mediach a wolność wyboru jako fundament liberalnej demokracji

Abstract

Modern member of the audience in Poland and elsewhere is not a subject of ethics thus he/she does not have a free choice in the philosophical (exclusively liberal and democratic) sense. He/she is surrounded by information smog as nearly identical news is provided by different sources. The journalists the audience trusts first select the important pieces of news before publishing them; secondly they process and comment them thus providing the audience with the description of the facts as well as with its in- terpretation and assessment. The journalists are significantly dependent on the owner who tends to treat his/her newspaper or station as a profit-oriented enterprise. By this token the owner is directly dependent on the advertisers, who need to be attracted to the same extent as the audience does. As a result, the actual freedom of choice is purely de- ceptive, which is not to mean it is unattainable. An individual may try to take advantage of it, yet the ultimate result depends on him/herself.