@ 30.11.2022

The paradigm of interaction between government and society has changed over the past few centuries, and this began to emerge especially clearly in the 20th century.

The development of the means of transmitting information is to blame. Telegraph, telephone, radio, television, and the Internet, including in mobile form, have made a qualitative breakthrough in the development of the media industry.

The media has really begun to claim the role of the fourth estate, especially in the developed democracies, where the influence of the media on the minds and souls of people can be clearly seen in the results of parliamentary and presidential elections.

And since the very attempt to shut up the media in democratic countries can automatically bury the career of any politician, publishing houses, TV and radio companies and Internet resources enjoy a certain immunity from persecution by the authorities for expressing their opinions.

The situation is not so rosy in countries that are not afflicted by the "disease of democracy. In the most "correct and fair" states, newspapers and television are run by the authorities in pedal mode, and represent on the one hand a parody, a caricature of the authorities themselves, and on the other hand a kingdom of crooked mirrors, where the right is represented by the left and the white by the black, under the unfading glory of some permanent ruler, who guides people to a better future with his steady hand.

Freedom of speech and honesty of the media can be used as the first indicator that there is some balance in the state and society between permissiveness of power in the state and the ability of society to influence the power as it sees fit, so that a chain dog on a collar would not determine where the owner should go for a walk.