Overview of the We Media & Democracy course and some theorists we will study.

2. We Media & Democracy

3. Topic Objectives
For this topic you need to learn about the following, in relation to at least two
areas of the media:
• 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?

4. Today’s Aims
• To think about how Web 2.0 has changed the
media and the way we interact with it
• To understand Gramsci’s theory of hegemony

5. • Work in groups to discuss the way Web 2.0
has changed the media that you use every
day.
• Note down your ideas
• Production
• Distribution
• Consumption

6. Sheep!

7. An Overview
• David Gauntlett
• Find him and follow
him on Twitter!

8. Cultural Theorists and Theories
• Marxist ideology
• Gramsci, cultural hegemony
• Chomsky, media control
• Fourth Estate of democracy

9. Cultural Hegemony
• Denotes the predominance of one class over
another
• This represents not only political and
economic control, but also the ability of the
dominant class to project its own way of
seeing the world so that those who are
subordinated by it accept it as 'common
sense' and 'natural'.

10. Karl Marx
• 1818-1883
• Philosopher, political economist, theorist,
revolutionary, exile
• Published Capital (1867), and The Communist
Manifesto (1984)

11. Capitalism
• A social &

24. • Why might the news media be considered to
be an important part of a democratic society?
• What evidence is there to suggest that the
news media are not as democratic as we
think?

25. Fourth Estate
• For years, the media has been known as the Fourth Estate
of democracy, working as a channel of independent
communication between the Government and society –
being the watchdogs of a representative country
• According to Goodwin’s Low Conspiracy – Government
interference in the BBC (2005), when the BBC once
indicated they were broadcasting potentially controversial
material, the government quietly recommended those
programmes be scrapped.

26. Fourth Estate
• Many people generally agree that the fourth
estate has immense political and social power,
thanks to the fact that the press can be used to
shape societies while imparting news of note and
commentary of interest.
• Because the fourth estate is recognised as such
an important body, many nations have laws
which protect the rights of the press, ensuring
that citizens have access to reporting on matters
of interest and of note.

27. Fourth Estate
• Many journalists attempt to cultivate an air of
neutrality, focusing on reporting of the issues
as they are so that people can judge the facts
for themselves, while others focus on offering
commentary and analysis from the
perspective of a particular position.

28. Chomsky : Media Control
• People have to be atomised and segregated and alone.
• They're not supposed to organise, because then they
might be something beyond spectators of action. They
might actually be participants if many people with
limited resources could get together to enter the
political arena. That's really threatening.
• Democracy was regarded as entering into a crisis in the
1960s. The crisis was that large segments of the
population were becoming organised and active and
trying to participate in the political arena.

30. Focus Task
• How has the internet allowed the ‘bewildered
herd’ (Chomsky) to take some control?
• Create a fact page about Noam Chomsky’s
theories on the media and democracy
• Use bullet points and ensure that your info is
clear for others