Pluralism...

Pluralists view society as a system of competing groups and interests, none more predominant then others it is a theory that can be seen as opposition the Marxist theory. The theory implies that all audiences are capable of manipulating and have access to the plural values of society, which allows them to conform, accomodate or reject the values presented to them throughout different media textts. The pluralist theory challenges the idea of hegemony and the 'hyperdermic needle' theory that suggests that their is one dominant force in society and they pump their values and ideologies out to the masses through various types of media.

The pluralist theory also believe that the media takes on the role of the fourth estate. The three estates consist of the government, legal system and the church. Each has major power and influence in our society. The media is considered by puralists as the fourth estate and it has a role to keep the public informed about what is happening in relation to the three other estates i.e. BBC question time, gives the public the information they want and need to know about politics etc.

A few examples of some programmes that could be considered fourth estate media: BBC's Question Time, Panorama and Channel 5's The Wright Stuff.