舆论权论纲：意义与功能

在现代民主社会中,舆论与舆论权有着越来越重要的地位和作用,公共舆论的形成需要有质素的市民社会、独立和自律的大众传媒、对舆论权的法治保障和政治宽容、开放的新闻媒介和政治公开,其最基本的要素是舆论权。舆论权既具有权利意义,又具有权力价值,它首先是一个权利体系,与知情权、思想与言论自由、新闻自由等密切关联,其次构成一种特殊社会权力,即政府之外的第四种权力,产生广泛的政治和社会功能。在民主政治和社会文明进程中,舆论权的主要功能在于社会稳定作用与民主政治效应。

Right of Public Opinion: Meaning and Function

In the modern democratic society,public opinion and right of public opinion play more and more important status and function.Only when several constructive elements are ready,can the public opinion come into being:highly developed citizen society;independent and autonomic mass media;the political tolerance and legal guarantee;open press medium and politics.Its most basic element is right of public opinion.The right of public opinion not only has its right significance,but also has its power value.It is a right system related to right to learn the truth;speech freedom;freedom of press in the first place.Secondly,it is a special power of society;i.e.the fourth power out of the government,which produces broad political and social function.The most important function of the right of public opinion in the progress of democratic politics and social civilization is to stabilize the society and push the process of democratization.