we media week 3

8/14/2019 We Media Week 3

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We Media Week

3 –

Marques of Queensbury

Week “The

Gloves are Off”

Lesson Aim:

Learn 10 big concepts you need for your exam and be able to talk about

them.



10 Concepts You Need To

Understand1. Democracy

2. Free Speech

3. Free Press

4. Ideology5. Hierarchy

6. Egalitarian

7. Hegemony

8. Power Elites

9. Monopoly

10. Oligarchy

THE DEAL

Don’t want to write a wiki on one of these

concepts?

Talk more – Wiki Article duties this week

go to the least involved in class room

debates.



Round 1

Democracy

Free SpeechA Free Press



Democracy

• A system of government in whichindividual freedom is protected bygiving all members of that societythe right to decide how the societywill run.

Traditionally organised by giving allcitizens* the right to vote in regular election of officials and the right toFree Speech.

*By “traditionally” we mean from the 20th century

onwards previous to that if you were a woman,

a different colour, disabled or just generally

different you DID NOT have this right.



Democracy and The Media

• Democracy relies on aninformed set of voters who

can make the best choice.

• For most voters this

information comes from

the information media –

the press.



Free Speech

• Free Speech: The right of a member of ademocratic society to speak out against thedecisions of the government in an appropriate

way.

IT IS

– The right to protest

– The right to disagree with government policy

– The right to form your own political groupsNOT

– The right to slag off whoever you like

– The right to promote racism or bigotry of any kind

– The right to be listened too



The Free Press

No government ought to be without censors & where the press is free, noone ever will.

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), letter to George Washington, September 9,1792

• A news-reporting service that is protected by law fromgovernment interference or censorship. – The ability to write and tell others about the facts you KNOW about

Gordon Brown that he doesn’t want everyone else to know.

• Old Year 13 Press Regulation Wiki

• Press Complaints Commission• Reporters without Borders – Freedom Index

http://13pressstudy.wetpaint.com/page/Press+Regulation

http://www.pcc.org.uk/

http://www.rsf.org/en-pays130-United_Kingdom.html

http://www.rsf.org/en-classement794-2008.html

http://www.rsf.org/en-classement794-2008.html

http://www.rsf.org/en-pays130-United_Kingdom.html

http://www.pcc.org.uk/

http://13pressstudy.wetpaint.com/page/Press+Regulation



The Free Press at Work

• Watergate Scandal – Five men are arrested while

planting audio bugs in thedemocratic offices of theWatergate Hotel. They are found to

be linked to the President of theTime and leader of the RepublicanParty Richard Nixon – whichultimately ended in his resignation.

– The Washington Post is credited for investigating the story andbringing out facts that forced theevents that led up to theresignation.

http://hnn.us/articles/6813.html

http://hnn.us/articles/6813.html



End of Round 1 Discussion

• What are the advantages/disadvantagesof living in a democracy?

• In what ways is our press free/not free?• Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.

A. J. Liebling (1904 - 1963)

• How does the informationrevolution/web 2.0 contribute to a:

– Free Speech

– Free Press

– Democracy



Round 2

Ideology

Hierarchy

EgalitarianHegemony



Ideology

• The body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture.

THOUGHT:

“I like cheese”

IDEOLOGY:

“Cheese is very good, it’s

important, everyone

should like and enjoy

Cheese”

What ideologies are evidently a part of Chadwell HeathFoundation School? Your Family? England?



Egalitarian Vs Hierarchies

• The theory of Egalitarianism - (Heath, Patel,

Birdi 2010) : this suggests that Media

technology is infinate and enables everyone

to work together as equal contributors.

Egalitarianism – a group of people or a

society in which all are equal in

contribution and rights.

Hierarchy - any system of persons or things ranked one above another.



Hegemony

• Karl Marx 19th century philosopher whose ideas influenced the labour movement (unions) and socialism(communism) states that – those who

rule society control both: – The means of production (food, land,

factories etc.)

– The production of ideas (newspapers,books, websites, search engines)

Karl Marx – “The

Philosopher’s haveonly interpreted the

world in various ways,

the point is to change

it.”



Hegemony• Coined by (Gramsci, A – a Marxist Theorist)

The influence of ideology of one dominant group in society over others in a way that makes it seem right and just.

EXAMPLES:

– The Monarchy

– Capitalism

• Often described as a

– ‘hierarchy of ideologies’ – where one point of view is held up as better than others



False ConsciousnessWith thanks to Stacia and Charan

Fredrich Engels (Another Marxist Philosopher)

• Suggests that the power of Hegemonies creates aFalse Consciousness on

individuals in a society,influencing them to adoptideologies that they maynot willingly have chosen.



How Hegemonies are Maintained

• Althusser (another Marxist theorist)states that control can happen in twoways:

– Repressive State Apparatus (RSA) –

laws, armies, police – Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) –

media, religion, education

• He suggests that if you have an

effective ISA to control a population youdon’t need as much RSA – would youagree?



Implications of Hegemony

• The dominant group’svalues and needs arealways listened to.

• Alternative minority viewpoints are not heard.

• This kind of system is veryhard to change.



End of Round 2 Discussion

We like to think that our

democracy promotes

egalitarianism and eliminates

hegemonies – does it?

Who is our society create the

dominant hegemony? Who’s

voice is not being heard?



Round 3

Power Elites

MonopolyOligarchy



Problems with Democracy

• People don’t feel involved or that their voice is heard.

• People are not informedabout who their leaders areaccurately and so don’t votewell or vote at all.

• Information that is passedthrough the press could besubject to bias and be

unreliable.

Recent years have seen arguments

made against free speech as critical

and unhelpful in tough times



Power ElitesThe powers of ordinary men are circumscribed by the

everyday worlds in which they live, yet even in theserounds of job, family, and neighbourhood they oftenseem driven by forces they can neither understand nor govern. 'Great changes' are beyond their control,but affect their conduct and outlook none the less.The very framework of modern society confines themto projects not their own, but from every side, suchchanges now press upon the men and women of themass society, who accordingly feel that they arewithout purpose in an epoch in which they are without power.

(Mills, C W 1956)

• Those in a society who have disproportionate

control of wealth, influence, access to decisionmaking processes.

• These people often share a similar ideology (they arethe hegemony in society)

• Who are the power elites in your society?

aka “The Ruling Class” aka “The

bourgeoisie” aka “The Man”



Monopoly and Oligarchy

• Monopoly – Where oneindividual controls all access toa particular resource or servicewithout competition

• Oligarchy – Where a smallgroup controls all access to aparticular resource or servicewithout competition.

• How much competition isenough?

• Is this different for “real world”

and online businesses?



We Media and Democracy

Traditional Linear Model

– Producers passinformationto audiences

- Oligarchy/Power Elites- Little democracy

New Media Model

– Audiences as Producers

– Greater democracy?



Weekly Discussion:The US is spending hundreds of billions on a war tobring democracy to Iraq. Yet only 4% of people in the

Arab world have broadband access. The most potent way to promote democracy in the Middle East would be to get that figure above 50%.

Leadbeater 2008

Considering the importance of Free Speech to aDemocracy, would you agree with Leadbetter’sstatement that broadband access is the “mostpotent way to promote democracy”? Or is theinternet simply another part of society controlledby a hegemony and power elites?

Post your ideas using some online examples in thediscussion forum “Broadband and Democracy”. Makesure your post does not simply repeat previous postsbut comments on them and reacts to their ideas.

Aim to draw on some of the key words and theorists wehave looked at in class to lend your arguments weight.

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u188/natparry/iraq-vote.jpg&imgrefurl=http://consortiumblog.wordpress.com/2007/05/14/no-more-purple-fingers-gop-disappointed-with-iraqs-government/&usg=___eqKynEOx9xdMScUiV84FoJudcM=&h=410&w=313&sz=14&hl=en&start=1&sig2=uNS2kzTM0Wp750bo7-SHnQ&tbnid=sAKVTTsls3asHM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=95&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddemocracy%2Biraq%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den&ei=Pf9fS9GcFo794Ab_3f2wDA

we media week 3

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