In terms of structure, it would be organized and controlled by ordinary citizens or their grass roots organisations....As regards function, a democratic media will aim first and foremost at serving the informational, cultural and other communications needs of members of the public which the media institutions comprise or represent.
Robert W. McChesney, writing for the Boston Review in 2008, commented: First, media perform essential political, social, economic, and cultural functions in modern democracies.
Democracy requires a media system that provides people with a wide range of opinion and analysis and debate on important issues, reflects the diversity of citizens, and promotes public accountability of the powers-that-be and the powers-that-want-to-be.
Allowing this mass participation through democratic media could cause the people to become more involved in their own democracies and bring light to the issues that they care about.
[9] Some argue that these large media outlets have also had a detrimental effect on our society as they sometimes care more about the ratings and money than reporting the facts.
Individual medias can utilize the power they hold over the public's perception to influence their opinions and choices.
[13] These believers argue that a country who considers themselves a democracy should not have a media controlled by the powerful and privileged elite.
[13] A system run this way could have catastrophic effects on society and the publics perception as they will only be told what the elite want.
[15] These news outlets were all shut down by the government for various different reasons such as violations to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act and for hiring unaccredited journalists.