We Media and Democracy

•How far can the media in 2010 be considered to be democratic?

•Assess the claim that the media is becoming more democratic.

•Discuss the meanings of the term ‘we media.’

•Explore the claim that the ‘new’ media are more democratic than the ‘old’ media.

•Explain how some features of contemporary media are more democratic than others.

•What is ‘we media’ and what difference does it make to citizens?

•‘We get the media we deserve.’ Discuss, in relation to the role of media in a democracy.

•As a citizen, to what extent do you feel that the media provide you with a democratic service?

So as you can see, several previous questions focus on old media v new media, some on what might be defined as we media and some very specifically on notions of democracy

 

If we look at the bullet points in the Specification, which defines what should be studied, we should be able to relate them to the questions set so far:

•What are ‘We Media’?

•Where / how has ‘We Media’ emerged?

•In what way are the contemporary media more democratic than before?

•In what ways are the contemporary media less democratic than before?

This part of the exam asks you to do three more specific things, whatever topic you answer on:

1. You MUST refer to at least TWO different media
2. You MUST refer to past, present and future (with the emphasis on the present- contemporary examples from the past five years)
3. refer to critical/theoretical positions

           For this topic, since a lot of what you look at is likely to be online, a comparison between online media and any form of traditional media (newspapers, broadcast news, film) would ensure you quickly meet the criteria for no.1

For no.2, the main thing is to ensure you have a majority of material from the past five years. This really should not be a problem when using online media, and to be honest I think you could use material from the last few months to construct a really good answer!

And for no.3 you should have a range of writers that you could use- for example Dan Gillmor who coined the term 'We Media' or sceptics of the power of social media such as Evgeny Morozov or some of the advocates of people power through social media such as Clay Shirky

 

Key Theories;

§Dan Gillmor and ‘We the Media’

§Alan Rushbriger – Democracy in the decade of Google

§David Gauntlett: Web 2.0

§Karl Marx – Marxist Ideology and Capitalism

§Antonio Gramsci – Cultural Hegemony

§Noam Chomsky – ‘Manufactured Consent’

§The Fourth Estate of Democracy

§Clay Shirky and people power

§Evgeny Morozov – ‘The Net Delusion’

§Graeme Turner – ‘Ordinary People and the Media’

§Public Sphere Theory & Hypodermic Needle Theory

 

Examples of Case Studies - Look for Contemporary Equivalents.

 

§Facebook’s influence on the Arab Spring.

§Facebook in Egypt – bypassing ‘old media’.

§Student protests in London

§Worldwide ‘Occupy’ protests

§Role of BBM and Twitter in London riots

§Ryan Giggs super injunction – Twitter and privacy

§Blogs from soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan