Media and Democracy (All) Flashcards
(28 cards)
What is Liberal Pluralism?
Concept that calls for limited government, protection of individual liberty and a free-market economy.
What role does the media play in a liberal pluralist society?
Media as watchdogs/adverserial.
Media as impartial, objective and independent brokers of information.
What evidence is there for a crisis in public communication?
Newspaper readership and party membership down, lack of citizen engagement in politics and general distrust of government.
What are the underlying social structures causing a communication crisis?
Societies are more fragmented and diverse.
Politicians have a new frame of visibility.
Increased electoral instability.
What are the problems with political reporting?
Emphasis of politics as a game.
Political communication shaped by competition.
Adversarialsim of reporting politics.
What is meant by “single-issue” politics?
A party or organisation that campaigns on one issue. (e.g PETA = animals)
What is meant by the term “slacktivism”?
Online activism that usually has little or no effect, with minimal effort required on the part of the user. They can feel a sense of gratification for doing their part.
Give 3 conclusions about the crisis of public communication:
- some evidence of decline in political participation as conventionally defined.
- changes in the nature of political life.
- new emerging forms of political life may generate a more healthy public sphere.
What is Hjarvard’s definition of mediatisation?
The intensified and changing importance of the media in culture and society. Culture and society become increasingly dependent on the media and their modus operandi.
What is the mediatisation of politics?
The requirements of the media to take centre stage and shape the means by which political communication is played out by political actors, is covered by the media and is understood by the people.
What is meant by the personalisation of politics?
The personal lives of politicians become central to campaigns. Politicians almost like celebrities, have no privacy and disclose their personal lives to the public.
What is meant by the presidentialisation of politics?
Leadership is becoming more central and more powerful, but also more dependent on successful public appeal.
What are the disadvantages of the personalisation of politics?
Personality more important than policies.
Trivialising politics and alienating citizens.
Rise of unaccountable political professionals to manage a politicians image (e.g Blair/Campbell).
Give the 5 elements of a scandal:
1) transgression of values, norms and codes.
2) element of secrecy, but believed to exist by others.
3) some non-participants disapprove.
4) these express their disapproval in public.
5) may damage the reputation of the involved parties.
Why are scandals central?
Against the backdrop of liberal democracy, politics is competitive and reputations matter greatly.
Give 5 reasons why scandals are central to contemporary politics:
1) transformation of visibility
2) changing technologies
3) changing media cultures
4) changing political culture
5) growing legalisation of political life (e.g Leveson Inquiry).
What are the 3 types of scandal?
1) Sex/Private Life
2) Financial
3) Power
How can a sex scandal be characterised?
a) Hypocrisy
b) Conflicts of Interest
c) Second-order Transgressions
How can a financial scandal be characterised?
Misuse of money, or other financial irregularities.
More likely to have legal ramifications than just moral ones.
How can a power scandal be characterised?
Involve misuse or abuse of power.
The ‘purest’ type of scandal.
What is Thompson’s alternative approach to scandal?
Scandals are struggles over symbolic power in which reputations and trust are at stake.
Who came up with the idea of the ‘filter bubble’ and what does it mean?
Eli Pariser noticed that Google searches returned different results depending on the user, and theorised that people online only see what they want to see in enclosed circles, thus not ever seeing the full picture.
What is meant by “post-truth”?
Post-truth means that facts are less influential in shaping public opinion compared to appeals to emotion and personal belief.
What did Banducci and Stevens find out about post-truth and Brexit?
That only 11% of Remain supporters believed the ‘NHS 350 million’ claim.
Evidence of a polarised public sphere.
