Lesson video

Hello.

How are you doing today? My name's Mrs. Tomassi and I'm gonna be working for review on your citizenship lesson.

Hopefully you're settled, you've got everything that you need for the lesson, and if you're good to go, then we'll get started.

The title of today's lesson is How does the Media Limit the Power of the Government? And this one's part of the unit on synopticity.

How do different ideas and concepts in citizenship interconnect? By the end of the lesson today, hopefully you'll be able to explain how the media can limit the power of governments.

There are gonna be three key words to look out for in this lesson.

These are media, which is the different ways we share and receive information on a large scale.

This includes things like television, radio, newspaper, and the internet.

The next is government.

This is the group of people with the authority to govern a country.

In the UK, the government is chosen and led by the Prime Minister, sometimes known as the PM.

And then finally you've got press freedom, which is the ability of the press to give information and express opinions.

They will be in bold throughout the lesson.

So if you're ever like not too sure and need to refer back to them, they're always gonna be here.

We've got three learning cycles today, so we'll make a start on the first and we're gonna look at what role does the media have.

So Laura says here, "Does the media just involve social media?" What do you think about this? Is the media just social media or is there other types of media as well? Hopefully that you are aware that there are other types of media.

So it refers to lots of different types.

These things like newspapers, radios, and social media, as well as things like television, podcasts, lots of different ways now, and it's all about ways that citizens can receive information.

It plays a crucial role in making sure that citizens are aware of what's going on in the world around them and provides information at a local, national, and international level.

Hopefully you can think of some different forms of media that each work at those different levels.

Laura says now, "What other role does the media have?" So is it just about giving that information to people and making citizens aware of what's going on or do they play other roles? What do you think about this one? Hopefully you'll know that there's at least three main roles.

So yes, they do inform and influence the public.

So that might be, you know, news channels reporting on party manifestos during general election.

They also allow for the exchange of ideas and opinions.

So it's not just reporting and nobody else gets a say.

It's ensuring that you can hear different viewpoints and different opinions on topics.

So this is a bit like, Liz, when you've ever listened to debates in the media.

Then the third main role is about holding those in power to account.

It's making sure people are held accountable for what they are doing.

And this is all plays in part of a democracy because then it's helping to ensure that there's that scrutiny and that people are aware if any issues are going on.

So an example would be investigative journalism is a really good way to uncover any issues and then to help hold those accountable.

So which is an example of how the media informs the public? So thinking about those main roles, which one here is informing the public? Is it a, a journalist uncovering a scandal involving a government minister, b, a news website publishing a summary of each political party's election promises, a, a radio phone-in where listeners debate whether school uniforms should be banned.

It is b.

Can you think what the roles are for a and c? So a, that's about holding those in power to account and c is about allowing that exchange of information and opinions on different issues.

Now you might find that some of them do cross over, but each example tends to have one main role that they're looking at, but then it might also have a secondary role as well.

So Laura says now, "How does the media provide a checking function?" So how is the media checking what those in account are doing? What do you think about this one? So the way that it checks those in power is like we said earlier, this investigative journalism.

So there might be documentaries, reports that's all about forcing accountability, exposing actions, and then uncovering anything that has gone wrong.

There's also live reports and fact checking.

So you might see sometimes like breaking news maybe and then it's being reported live exactly what is going on.

So it's allowing citizens to see and happens and uncovers what is actually happening.

With this, actually social media and online news has allowed this to happen a lot quicker as well and we can get a lot more information and that's great.

However, the downside to that is that it could mean that misinformation can get out there a lot quicker as well.

So this is where it's really important that citizens should also be critical in the way that they take the news and able to look at different sources and find out what's going on to try and avoid some of this misinformation.

Another way is through opinion pieces.

So this is where leaders or those in power might be critically analysed their decisions and it can spark public debate.

This way, that actually maybe, if there's an issue to do with a specific topic, you could get people that have been impacted by it, but you could also get experts in there and you can hear a wide range of voices on the issue, which can then help the citizens to make an informed viewpoint on what is going on.

Then finally, tough questioning.

So actually, debates, broadcasters, they can ask questions.

When something is happening, a lot will allow the press in to ask questions.

So those journalists will ask questions on behalf of the public and really find out and dig deep into what is going on rather than just getting a surface level response.

So Laura says now, "How does the media hold the government to account on big issues such as climate change?" Well, what do you think about this one? Can the media hold the government to account? So if the government is thinking about those decisions to do with climate change, what impacts could the media have? Now you might be aware that the UK hosted the COP26 summit in 2021.

Now this is a global summit which involves countries from across the world and it's all about tackling climate change.

The government there made promises including things like reducing carbon emissions, investing in renewable energy.

Now the media had extensive live coverage of this so that the citizens could be informed and see exactly what was going on.

There were then investigative reports, expert analysis on what was being discussed.

So like we were saying, when we are about allowing for those debates, the space allowed for that.

And in turn, this helped to increase public awareness and it allowed for scrutiny of the government's actions, which helps to make it more transparent.

Laura says now, "How has the MP expense scandal 2009 example of the media holding politicians to account?" Well what do you think about this one? It held politicians to account because the media used the Freedom of Information Act in 2009, which is really important part of having a free press in democracy.

And this allowed them to publish details on some MP's expenses.

What they uncovered was that some MPs were spending public money on personal luxuries that were not related to their role.

At the time, the Prime Minister apologised, and following this there were new regulations, some MPs resigned or lost their jobs.

Some actually even got custodial sentences.

So what this shows is how the media have investigated, found out something has happened, and then they've used that, they've published it, which in turn has then meant that the politicians involved had to be held accountable for what they had done.

Can you identify two mistakes in Lucas's statement? Lucas says, "One role of the media is to hold the public to account.

An example of this would be the MP's expenses scandal where the public uncovered details about some MP's expenses." There are two mistakes in there, can you identify them? Did you work it out? It isn't to hold the public accountable, it is to hold those in power to account.

And it isn't where the public uncovered details, it was the media that uncovered details about some MP's expenses.

So this moves us on to the first task for today.

Explain two roles the media plays in a democracy.

For each role, give a brief example to show your understanding.

Now, if you remember back to the start of this learning cycle, we've had a look at three roles.

So you only need to do two of them.

If you'd like to, you could always do the extra one as well.

But when you're ready, if you unpause and then we can go through the feedback together.

How did you get on? Hopefully you managed to identify those different roles.

So it's that idea of informing and influencing the public, then allowing for the exchange of information and ideas, holding those in power to account.

So you could have had something like this.

So the media plays an important role in a democracy by informing the public and holding those in power to account.

It helps people make informed decisions, especially during elections by explaining key issues and party policies for news reports and broadcasts.

The media also acts as a watchdog by investigating and exposing wrongdoing in government.

A clear example of this is the MP's expense scandal where journalists used the Freedom of Information Act to reveal how some MPs were misusing public money, which led to resignations, rule changes, and criminal charge.

So here, if you have a look at that structure at the start, you've introduced it, so you've clearly identified two different roles.

Then there's a bit of detail about how they do each of them with an example.

This is a really good structure if you are looking at the GCSE and you get those explain type questions.

And by getting those examples in there, you're really demonstrating that you understand exactly what the question is asking.

Now we're gonna take this and we're gonna start to think now about this power of government side of the lesson.

So what power do governments actually have in a democracy? Now Lucas says, "What do governments do?" And this is a really good thing to think about 'cause actually we're talking about how the media limit the power of government.

It's really important to understand what the government actually does.

Can you think of some of the roles of government? Hopefully you've managed to think of some things like they make laws, they decide how public money is spent, they run public services, look at foreign policy and defence, and enforce the law.

Now if we're looking at these, would you want somebody to be doing all these different roles without anybody checking or focusing on what they are doing? Sometimes it's good to ensure that you've got people keeping an eye on how this is happening.

So can you list at least three main powers of government? Did you get some of those ideas that we just looked at? So they're making laws, deciding how public money is spent, running public services, foreign policy and defence, and enforcing the law.

Now Lucas says, "Don't governments have all the power then? They make laws and run the country so they can do what they want." What do you think about this? Can they do what they want? So they actually can't.

This actually depends on where the governments are based.

So governments actually might have more power in a non-democratic society.

However, in democracy, so as an example, in the UK, the government's power is limited by things like the laws, constitution, courts and the media.

Now the media helps by investigating government actions and reports on problems and informs the public.

This is some of the roles that we looked at earlier, isn't it? And this puts pressure on the governments to act responsibly and stay accountable to the people.

Because think about it, if the government wasn't doing what the people have asked, what do we have? Well, we have the general election and it changes at least every five years.

So if you think about it, if there was somebody who was in charge of decisions and you didn't like what they was doing, when it came to vote again, are you likely to vote them in? Probably not.

So this is how the media can help support by showing what is going on.

And then this allows the citizens to make an informed decision and for the governments to be held accountable to them.

So Lucas says, "How is power limited in a democracy?" Well, you might be able to use some of what we were just talking about there to think about this.

So in the UK, power is divided amongst three different branches.

These are known as the legislative, executive, and judiciary.

The reason there is this separation of powers to make sure there is scrutiny, accountability, and checks and balances.

These are all the different roles that we were looking at and how the media helps to limit the power of government.

Do you know what those three branches are? So we've got legislative, executive, and judiciary.

So we'll have a look at them now.

The executive, that is the government and it is led by the Prime Minister.

They put the laws into action.

That's not it though, because we also have the legislative branch which makes the laws, and this is UK Parliament.

And then finally you've got the judiciary, which interprets and enforces laws and is made up of courts and judges.

Why is it important that we've got each three of these? It's because they can also ensure accountability and scrutiny between them.

So the government is being scrutinised and held accountable by the legislative and judiciary branches.

To give you a bit of an example, the government creates a bill.

The legislative branch debate it, investigate, suggest changes and vote on whether it should become a law.

And then when passed, the judiciary ensures the government actions follow the laws and respect the rights.

This is really important as well because now when we're thinking about the media, you haven't just got the government.

It is also the legislative and judiciary branches that are being held accountable and then they are also holding the government accountable.

So you've got all three of those branches, they run a bit of like a cycle.

So they're all scrutinising each other, which means they all need to be held accountable as well.

True or false? Power is divided amongst two branches in the UK to stop the government holding all the power.

That's false, why is it false? Power is divided amongst three branches and it prevents any one group or person having too much power.

Can you remember the names of them? So you've got the legislative, executive, and the judiciary.

That moves on to the second task for today.

Laura says here, "The UK government has loads of power because they run the country.

No one can stop them from doing what they want." Explain to Laura what power the UK government has and how this power can be limited.

If you pause it and then when you've got your response, unpause and we'll have a look at the feedback.

How did you get on? So you could have said something like this.

The UK government does have important powers like making laws, collecting taxes, running public services and making decisions on defence and foreign policy.

However, it cannot do whatever it wants.

In a democracy, the government is held to account by parliament, which debates and votes on new laws.

The courts, judiciary, can also step in if the government breaks the law or violates rights.

This is called a judicial review.

Now hopefully you can recognise where the power comes from in the government, what power the government has, and also how that power can be limited by other branches.

This is really important as we go into this final learning cycle, which is how does the media challenge governments.

Because here when we talk about challenging the government, remember that we've got those other branches as well that can also be challenged because they also scrutinise the government and need to be held accountable by the public.

So Laura says, "Can the media make sure governments do not get too powerful?" Hopefully by now we recognise this is yes, but can you think of how they do this? What examples might you have? So the media can prevent the governments becoming too powerful, but this only works in countries where there is press freedom.

What is press freedom? We had a look at the keyword at the start.

So press freedom is the right for the media to report news, express opinions without government censorship or interference.

Why might we not want the government interfering or limiting what can be said? Really it's gonna be because it's not gonna allow the main roles of the press that we saw earlier.

There wouldn't be an exchange of ideas or opinions and it would be hard to hold those in power to account.

So press freedom helps to protect freedom of expression, keeps citizens informed, holds those in power to account.

Without this, the media cannot help to support democracy.

So this is a really important factor.

Laura says, "How does press freedom support democracy?" So what do you think about that? Obviously we've said yes about holding those in power to account and we've said it's allowing those ideas, but what specifically can it do? What do you think about this one? So the media plays a vital role because it informs and influences the public.

Now this allows reports on broad range of political views and then in turn it's allowing those members of the electorate to have informed decisions because they're getting a wide variety of information.

Exchange of ideas is upholding freedom of expression, which is a fundamental human right.

So that links in with human rights as well.

And then it's free from government interference.

Like those examples that we looked in the first line in cycle with COP26 and the MP's expenses scandal, it means that those in power can be held to account because they are not involved and the press is free and independent from them.

why is press freedom important for holding governments to account? A, it allows governments to control media messages.

B, ensures all media supports government decisions.

C, it lets the media freely investigate and report on government actions.

Did you get it? It is c, and that's a really important one there.

So Laura says now, "If the media's role is to hold those in power to account, then can it challenge governments?" So that's really important.

How might they actually challenge the government? What do you think about this one? So Lucas says, "Yes, one way the media do this is through investigative journalism such as the MP's expenses scandal.

It challenged government by forcing them to change policies, making leaders answer to the public.

The Prime Minister had to publicly apologise and it showed that politicians are not above the law." Laura says here, "Well remember when the media exposed politicians breaking lockdown rules?" Lucas says, "Yes, that led to the exposure of the partygate scandal where some politicians had secret government parties during lockdown.

A few got fined and it caused a huge media storm." And Laura says now, "That was another example of the media challenging the government." So here you are seeing actual case studies of how the media does challenge the government and the impact it has.

This is really important as well because any case studies can be used in the exams. Laura says here, "In 2024, the media reported that millions of pensioners would lose their winter fuel allowance." And Lucas says, "Yes, the media reported that it was unfair and the impact it would have due to rising living costs." "In 2025," Laura says, "the government responded to the pressure.

They restored the allowance for most pensioners.

The media supported change by influencing public opinion and encouraging politicians to listen and act." So again, it's not all about investigative journalism.

Sometimes just by reporting on the facts can influence public opinion, which in turn can then encourage the politicians to listen 'cause remember, the members of the electorate are so important here because they are the ones that are gonna vote for the members of parliament.

So in turn, for the next government that's gonna come in.

So if the governments aren't listening, then it's unlikely that the members of the electorate will revote them back in.

But this can really help for the media challenging the government.

So the media hold lots of power due to the number of people who access it.

And this helps to shape how public understand politics and influences how the governments are held to account.

A bit like we were saying a minute ago.

However, it's really important to recognise that there are limitations in how the media can do this.

This is because of things like disinformation and misinformation.

It spreads fast, and then obviously if you're getting lots of dis and misinformation, then maybe the trust in the media will start to reduce as well.

A lack of access to government data.

So if the media can't access it, then they can't report on it.

And an important one as well, like social media narratives can be biassed.

Do you remember what we were saying earlier, what's really important about the people taking in the information is that they are critical thinkers and searching for different sources of information to ensure you're getting that wide range of opinions.

And then finally as well, liberal laws restrict what journalists can publish about individuals sometimes.

So Laura says now, "If people don't trust the media because of false information, will the media still make a difference when it tries to challenge the government?" So what do you think about that one? If there was a lot of distrust in the media, is it gonna help to influence the government? Actually maybe it might impact it.

Now, what the media has in place to try to prevent things like this is called regulations.

Now these regulations help to ensure that the news is accurate, fair, and responsible.

It's bringing some of that accountability back onto the media as well to make sure they are aware of what they can and cannot do.

By doing this, it helps to keep the public trust and protects the media's ability to hold those in power to account.

So just before we go on to the last check for understanding and task, it's really important that these synoptic links are really clear.

So we're just gonna do a final little recap just to show exactly how the media is linked to the government.

So political decisions and government actions are regularly challenged, shaped, or influenced by the media, especially in democracies where there is press freedom.

Remember that's really important.

So in turn, the governments may respond to media pressure by changing laws or addressing public concerns.

So it's a two-way thing, isn't it? The media can help to shape the government.

Tn turn, they change their response back.

So this highlights how the media and government are closely linked in a democracy with each having the power to influence and respond to the other.

So if you are ever unsure or can't remember how they link, this is a really good recap slide for that.

Check for understanding now.

Can you match the media limitation to its effect on holding governments accountable? So you've got there false information spreads fast, lack of access to government data, social media narratives can be biassed.

And then the other side, you've got can mislead the public and lose trust in the media, creates one-sided views that influence public opinion unfairly, and prevents full and accurate reporting of government actions.

Did you work them out? So the false information can mislead the public and lose trust in the media.

Lack of access to government data can prevent full and accurate reporting of the actions.

And social media narratives that can create one-sided views that influence public opinion unfairly.

So we'll move on to the final task for the lesson, which is to explain how the media can influence government decisions and limit their power.

Again, if you're struggling to remember those synoptic links, remember that recap slide that said that you can have a look at that to help you structure a response.

Remember also what you're saying is thinking about examples and real-life case studies are really good to add into your GCSE responses as well.

So if you wanna take some time to structure your response, when you're ready, unpause, and we'll go through the feedback together.

How did you find that? So you could have had something like this.

The media can influence government decisions and limit their power by holding those in power to account.

For example, investigative journalism can uncover wrongdoing such as in the MP expenses scandal, which led to new rules and some politicians resigning.

The media also informs and influences the public by reporting a broad range of political views, helping people make informed decisions.

This public awareness puts pressure on the government to act responsibly.

For example, public pressure from the media coverage helped force the government to make a U-turn and restore payments to most pensions.

However, the media's power is limited by issues like false information spreading quickly and liberal laws that restrict what journalists can publish.

These limitations can make it harder for the media to fully challenge the government and hold it accountable.

So now hopefully you've got those links and how they link together with just a quick summary before we finish.

So the role of the media in a democracy is to inform and influence the public, allowing exchanges of opinions and hold those in power to account.

The government is responsible for making laws, but a separation of power exists to ensure no single branch becomes too powerful.

The media also challenges the government to prevent it having too much power.

This can only happen in countries with press freedom, which allows the media to operate independently and keep government power in check.

Thank you so much for working with me today and hope you enjoy the rest of your day.