The Print Media as a Handmaiden of the Neo-liberal Regime

A vast body of theories of the media, known popularly as 'media theory', has evolved and developed into separate, distinguishable and often contesting paradigms with osmosis between the distinct schools of thought taking place at regular intervals. A number of schools have emerged questioning the traditional orthodoxy of state-media-audience relations. These have been drawn from several sources: anti-statist liberalism, market liberalism and the many variants of Marxism. Several other questions like are the media changing something, preventing something, facilitating something or reinforcing something and reaffirming something are integral to the direction of effect that media messages might take. It is important to state that the media do inhibit as well as promote change.