西方民主政治视野下大众媒介的功能异化及后果

大众媒介是西方宪政民主的重要基石，是维护资本主义民主政治不可或缺的有机部分，而保持相对独立性是其发挥民主功能的前提和关键，自由化和私有化是其必然逻辑。但种种迹象表明，大众媒介的私有化并不必然带来民主的结果，媒介的私有化和市场化，虽然在表面上获得了相对于政治权力的独立性，但其结果却难逃市场化商业逻辑的宿命，被形象地称为“挣脱了铁的枷锁，却陷入了银的枷锁”。因此，解读西方民主政治下大众媒介异化的表现、原因及其带来的政治后果，对于我们破除西方新闻政治的神话，了解媒介与民主之间复杂的互动博弈关系，具有重要的指导意义。

A Study on Functional Dissimilation and Negative Results of Mass Media in View of Western Democratic Politics

Mass media in Western democratic politics is considered as an important foundation for constitutional democracy. Maintaining the relative independence is a prerequisite for democracy function, so liberalization and privatization is the inevitable logic. However, the privatization of mass media does not necessarily bring benefits to democracy. Contrarily, the private and market-orientation policy, although making mass media relatively keep independent of political power, could not escape the fate of the business logic. The excessive competition in the market has made mass media gradually deviate its normal track, which is vividly said as ＂getting rid of the shackles of iron, while stuck to silver chains＂. So, understanding the complex interaction between the media and democracy is of great guiding significance to us.