Media as an educative tool:   * Educates people on government affairs   * Ordinary people understand complex issues   * Interprets important policies   * People learn every day   * Personal and mass education Media plays an important role by educating citizens on the various ways through which the government operates. It also analyzes important topics; for instance, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the media keeps on educating people on the various ways of dealing with the disease according to government directives. Media and political decisions:   * Participative role   * Takes a stand on issues   * Makes government take interest   * Criticizes the government   * Arms citizens with relevant information The media plays a participative role in influencing political decisions. The media follows closely all the political decision-making processes and keeps the citizens informed to know the inner workings of the government. The government could easily bow to pressure from the media and address certain issues affecting the citizenry. Media as a watchdog:   * Creates a forum for discussion   * Investigates improprieties   * Keeps the government under check   * Defends the truth, freedom, and democracy   * The fourth estate The media creates a forum through which governance issues could be discussed coupled with keeping the government under check by investigating improprieties to keep the government under check. As the fourth estate, it defends the truth, freedom, and democracy (Rodny-Gumede et al., 2017). Media and curbing corruption:   * Investigates corruption cases   * Reports to the citizens   * Compels the government to act   * Demands accountability from the government   * An institution of checks and balances Corruption is a global problem and it is entrenched in governments and public service. The media investigates, exposes such cases, and demands those involved to take responsibility. For example, the exposure of the Panama papers led to the resignation of Iceland’s Prime Minister (Starke et al., 2016). Media as an ideological apparatus:   * Used to keep status quo   * Used to champion certain ideas   * Rhetorical manipulation avenue   * Campaigns tool   * A tool of control The government could use the media to maintain the status quo in society by being converted into ideological apparatus to advance certain ideas. Politicians could use rhetoric to promote their ideologies, whether for public gain or personal advancement. An agenda-setting tool:   * Influences salience of topics   * Takes away citizens ability to think independently   * Creation of new agenda   * Shaping and filtering reality   * Focuses on topics of interest The media could be used as an agenda-setting tool whereby it controls the salience of certain topics and shapes the way the public thinks. For instance, during election campaigns, different candidates use the media to sell their manifesto to the public. The just-concluded US elections underscore this argument. Media and public opinion:   * Shapes public opinion   * Public opinion is not universal   * Could manipulate data   * Creates “new” forms of “truth”   * Highly influential The media shapes public opinion significant