ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the role of media in promoting efficient governance with special reference to South Africa. It discusses that the media has the power to break the barriers of information and can initiate a conduit relationship with society to improve the efficacy of administration and the status of government. The aim of the media is to bring awareness through the transfer of information to the targeted population. The media-government-society nexus can be supported by the evolution of media influence theories, notably the hypodermic needle theory, the two-step flow of communication theory, the limited effects theory, and the spiral of silence theory. Any study of democracy in contemporary conditions is therefore also a study of how the media reports and interprets political events and issues, and how it influences the political processes and shapes public opinion. The changes in communication mechanisms for improved participation in the affairs of governance have advanced the role of media required for good governance.
