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In this essay, I will be supporting the argument that states that there is lack of diversity information in Canada and how it is a threat to democracy. I will begin this paper by defining diversity of information, then provide different examples to justify my argument, and towards the end of this paper I will state few advantages of how diversity of information, is substantial for democracy in Canada.
Diversity of information from my perspective, is defined as a way in which individuals can easily access different sources of news. While democracy is “ a political system. In a democratic country, all eligible citizens have the right to participate, either directly or indirectly, in making the decisions that affect them. Canadian citizens normally elect a candidate to represent them in making decisions at the different levels of government. This is called a representative democracy”.( Parliament of Canada)Basically, democracy refers to the government that is being elected by people and for the people. Lack of diversity of information can be a threat to democracy in Canada when the citizens are not aware about politics, and the voting process. In David Taras book, “Elisabeth Gidengil and her colleagues”, states that “a majority of Canadians cannot differentiate between left-right and right-wing political parties or locate specific parties on the political spectrum” (Taras, 2015. P. 58) basically, an election study research was carried out few years back in Canada, and majority of Canadians were unable to differentiate their political leaders and the party they belonged to. This is due to the fact that Canadians have little or no knowledge about politics.
The reason behind Canadians being disconnected and uninterested in political issues, is because they are uninformed and do not understand politics which puts democracy at risk. According to Alboim in Taras book, most Canadians “have chosen to disconnect because they have decided that most public affairs is of no practical relevance to them. In short, if we are to believe Alboim, many Canadians have disappeared as citizens-they no longer constitute to the public” (Taras, 2015. P.58). This quote shows how lack of inadequate information, about politics can harm the people, government and the country. Another reason why Canadians are disconnected from politics, is because they are not enlightened about the usefulness and benefits that comes along with being a citizen that is well involved in politics. The problems that could arise with political disengagement and its effect on democracy will be that, “without a vigilant public, leaders and institutions become complacent, false assumptions are more easily accepted and problems are allowed to linger and become more intractable” (Taras, 2015. P.58). There are several news and media outlets in Canada that spread fake news and information about politics.
This quote shows how disengagement can lead to lack of being informed and believing in fake news that is being shared by this media outlets. When citizens become uninvolved about political issues Peter Dahlgren warned us in Taras book that “ without a minimal level of involvement from its citizens, democracy loses its legitimacy and may cease to function in a genuine way.” Then “we become in effect a democracy without citizens” (Taras, 2015. P.59) the information Dahlgren is trying to pass across in Taras book, is that the rate at which a large population of Canadians are uninterested in politics, is a threat to democracy. He uses the phrase “a democracy without citizens” to show that citizens who do not participate in election processes and are unable to differentiate political leaders and their parties will constitute to the failure of democracy in Canada. Derek Hrynyshys in his lecture note, states that democracy “requires engaged citizens, who at very least, periodically need to help decide who governs” ( Hrynyshys Derek, personal communication, September 24, 2019). Basically, without citizens, there is no democracy because, democracy has to do with informed citizens who actively participate in election process.
I support the argument that states that lack of diversity of information is a threat to democracy in Canada because, for several years now, Canada has been labelled a peaceful country because of their low crime rate, peaceful election, and less weapons compared to other countries. For example, the U.S is known for high crime rates. I believe the lack of diversity of information is one of the reasons why not enough news sources in Canada talk about this bad activities that takes place within the country and it is not new that Canadians have chosen to be ignorant about the fact that they are not experiencing some of the scandalous act that the U.S are facing. For example, racism is not talked about a lot in Canada, but it also does not change the fact that some Canadians are racist. The reason behind this is because, Canadians do not have wide range of media outlets that would broadcast this dangerous activity that is happening within Country.
In David Taras book, he explains that voting, “ is a key litmus test of a country’s political health because it not only determines the shape of governments and policy decisions but also has great symbolic value. Voting is an expression, perhaps the ultimate expression, of participation, and equality” (Taras, 2015. P.60). This quote explains how voting is an important factor that strengthens politics in a country. He also went further saying that voting shows a country’s strength and how much citizens, are willing to participate and want equal rights. In the case of voting in Canada, the citizens are not willing to participate. In Derek Hrynyshys lecture note, he shows how “fewer that 50% of Canadians know who the first prime minister was, only 56% of youth recognize photo of the prime minister” ( Hrynyshys Derek, personal communication, September 24, 2019). Derek uses this to show that the percentage at which Canadians are not willing to participate in election is very low due to lack of dervisity of information. There is Only 56% of youth participate in election, because it is been a norm for several years in Canada.
There is no relevance in voting when “government win with less than majority support most of the time which means that 20% is enough to win an election when it is only 25% or so of electorate”( Hrynyshys Derek, personal communication, September 24, 2019). When only a small number of Canadians are willing to vote, it simply means that they have failed democracy. What is very disappointing is when this youth become adults, they will also install this idea that politics is of no use and importance to their kids. In Taras book, he states that “becoming a politician is hardly on the bucket list of most Canadians because politics has never been the most attractive profession” (Taras,2015. P. 63) I personally believe that Canadians are not to blame but instead the media is to blame because clearly the newspaper, magazines, radio, and internet are shying away from talking about politics and this is why Canadians are not informed. Because voting plays a vital role in politics, and politics involves democracy, it is very clear that with the rate at which uninterested Canadians are in voting, democracy is being affected.
One important thing to note when talking about lack of diversity of information, and its effect on democracy in Canada, is the media. This is because the only way information gets to the audience, is through the media and when the media shys away from putting out political information, to educate their viewers, it then becomes a problem. “in the context of the contemporary Canadian media scene, media analyst Kenneth Goldstein has also challenged the view that having a wide diversity in points of view is necessarily helpful to democracy” (Soderlund, Brin, Miljan, & Hildebrandt, 2012. P.6). Goldstein believes that the media is a great boost for Canadians to have different types of news about politics and be up to date about politics. The reason why this media outlets might not want to share any information with regards to politics, could be because of media convergence. Media convergence is defined as “combining of television and newspaper properties under one corporation owner, can lead to content sharing strategies among its different media platforms-in fact, content sharing is an often-stated intention and purpose of convergence” (Soderlund, Brin, Miljan, & Hildebrandt, 2012. P.6). media convergence is a situation when a television and a newspaper company come together, in order to become one company.
Media convergence can result to “reduce the overall number of divergent view-points available to Canadian citizens as they make decision regarding political leadership and questions and questions of public policy”( Soderlund, Brin, Miljan, & Hildebrandt, 2012. P.6) basically when two different media outlets come together, there will be limitations to what can be shared or talked about. This is due to the fact that before they decided to be one, they had different set of rules, on what they want their audience to see. Now, when news regarding political issues in Canada are being pulverized, democracy is at risk because the news media puts out information that might not be of great importance to the society due to the fact that they do not want to put their brands at risk concerning political issues. The disadvantage of media convergence in the Canadian context by David Taras, “ having a larger assortment of the same thing is not the same as having many different choices” (Soderlund, Brin, Miljan, & Hildebrandt, 2012. P.6). This quote when reflecting it to my main argument about how lack of diversity of information affects democracy in Canada, says that people will not have variety of news to choose, no enough media outlets to educate the public about politics.
There are both advantages and disadvantages of diversity of information in Canada and its effects on democracy, but the benefits are more than the downsides. The benefits of Canadians participating in election, politics and the reduction in media convergence, is that when they participate in voting process, which involves them being educated about politics, they get to pick the best candidate to become their own government and feel secured in their country. Another benefit is Canadians being able to be aware of the update on politics, because without politics, there is no democracy. And also, there should be reduction in media convergence, or more news should be formed to increase diversity of information.
In conclusion, this essay has been able to state the reasons why there is diversity of information in Canada and how it is affecting the country’s democracy. The beginning of this essay showed how lack of diversity of information is a threat to democracy because Canadians do not care to vote or educate themselves about politics. Another reason is that different media outlets have decided to come together to provide news and information to the public, which in the essay is known as media convergence. The disadvantage of media convergence is that Canadians do not have wide range of information to choose from which is why they continue to be uninformed and all these reasons have contributed to why there is threat to democracy in Canada.
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