Media play the crucial role in determining which topics we consider, discuss and talk about. By selecting and presenting topics and speakers they influence our participation in public debates and co-shape our decisions about matters that aff ect our lives as members of the local community, country, international community and the world in general. Media demonstrate their power by choosing not to cover certain topics that might initiate a public debate threatening to harm the interests of media owners or advertisers.

In addition to determining the topics that will be discussed and speakers who will discuss them, the media also explain events and actors, attribute meanings to them and defi ne these meanings. In this way they co- create the image of social actors and contribute to the distribution of social roles and shaping of power relations.

The media can encourage our understanding of the situation of other people,
our empathy with the members of ethnic or religious groups, or groups organized by gender, sexual orientation, age, education, occupation and the like. On the other hand, a biased and stereotyped presentation of the members of specific groups may incite hatred or intolerance. In modern society, most media are owned by private persons and are profi t-oriented. The media ownership concentration infl uences media content and the quality of journalistic work. In profit-oriented media, many types of content are just a cover for the promotion of advertisers’ or sponsors’ products or services. Investments in the media are frequently closely interrelated with other economic and political interest of various centers of power.

Freedom to express ideas, opinion and viewpoints is a fundamental right of every individual and does not belong to media owners or individuals who produce media content.