Medialne autorytety i idole [Media authorities and idols]

An important role in showing and propagating authorities is played by media. It is already observed in popular view that media culture shows that media in their functioning “use” both authorities and, even to a larger extent, “idols”. The problem, however, is that media more and more often not so much endorse authorities but, rather, media designs in the style of “idols” and “stars”. An assertion can even be made that media are being “ideologised”, which consists in creating idols by means of media. The present study is an attempt to enlighten certain shades of the phenomenon and simultaneously show differences between an authority and an idol. Media have an enormous opportunity to discover and promote authorities. There are a lot of media types which are successful at that. The study underlines that the process of becoming and being an authority and the process of recognizing and accepting an authority both have a personal character and takes place in the area of interpersonal communication, which is why media are incessantly obliged to shape and promote genuine authorities.