Media & Democracy

Week 2

How are the Isms related to

Democracy?

They provide the ideological basis for the organization of societal power, serving to structure the formation of that

power through principles and policies which are (in varying degrees) binding legally and psychologically

How are the Ism’s related to a

media system?

They serve to structure how the media operates and provides information about the system of power in

society to its citizenry

What is the Media’s relationship to

Democracy?

Serves as a conduit to inform the public regarding the play of power in society, as well as a means of a public to

articulate its own power

What is the individual’s responsibility

to

Citizenship/Democracy?

Thomas Paine: Age of Reason Controversial Patriot and Tactless Progressive Supported estate taxes (in 1791), progressive taxation, welfare, government work programs (paid for

by estate taxes), public education, international organizations (useful for preventing future wars), animal rights, feminism, and freedom from religious tyranny

Common Sense: sold 500,000 and twenty-five editions in the first year alone; Paine later paid for the publishing of six thousand copies out of his own pocket and eventually allowed reproduction of the pamphlet by anyone who would cover the costs.

Paine donated his royalties from Common Sense to George Washington's Continental Army, saying: “As my wish was to serve an oppressed people, and assist in a just and good cause, I conceived that the honor of it

would be promoted by my declining to make even the usual profits of an author”

Glen Beck http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPW2webeJz4&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUzNNOeO3is&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0x-DOiDzp8 18-50 million/year

Plato: The Allegory of the CaveThe Matrix, Cultural Boxes and You

What is Critical Thinking?

What does it mean

To be a

Critically Engaged Citizen

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: 1939

Nominated for 11 academy awards A quintessential whistleblower film Attacked by Washington Press/politicians as

anti-American + pro-communismA portrait of grassroots activism and

mobilizationEmblematic of American belief that one

person can make a difference Ending?

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: 1939 Themes

Idealism/Belief in American principles vs. Democracy in “Action” Naïve/Nostalgic vision of America vs. “the whole rotten show”

Power Business – interests direct government (capitalism)

Political manipulation (government/media/people) Press – aligned with business interests vs. public watchdog

Media manipulation (framing/censorship) People and their role

Accountability – government/media/people Education/Entertainment = muckraking Contemporary Implications

Inspire reflection on our current situation

What is the contemporary state of

Political Participation? Individual/Group/Community power? The Principles and Practices of “Democracy” How we collectively understand Democracy as our

Rights and Benefits? Responsibilities and Obligations?

Tuned Out: Why Americans under 40 don’t follow the News?

MindichThemes

Increased Complacency Declining

Civic Involvement and Political Awareness Trust Social Capital

 Imagined Communities  “The Public Sphere” Community/Media/Democracy under Commercial

Imperatives  Trends in Media:

Rise of Entertainment Media and their Logics Internet Local Engagement

Youth voters a force in '08 race

Susan Milligan An explosion in political activity among youth The Role of New Technologies

Internet, Cell phones, email cheap and efficient tool to organize rallies, recruit volunteers, and exchange

information about issues and candidates. savvier organizing techniques = changed dynamic for getting people involved Passions about big issues (war, poverty, national security, global warming, Darfur,

etc.) rather than conservative social issues (abortion, gay marriage, etc.) 1990s = "People checked out. And we got selfish. I realize now that there's too

much at stake around the world to check out.“ Trending democratic, Less partisan, Less self-interest

more involved in volunteer work/community service although the impetus for the activity was sometimes rooted in improving college applications.

What is the state of Democracy and Political Engagement today?

(1 year later)

Democracy A form of government in which power is held by “the people" under a free

electoral system. Derived from the Greeks in the 4th century BC Political theory:

Democracy describes a small number of related forms of government a political philosophy.

no universally accepted definition of 'democracy' Two principles:

All members of the society (citizens) have equal access to power

All members (citizens) enjoy universally recognized freedoms and liberties.

But what do these mean?

Democracy Several varieties of democracy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_types_of_democracy

“Power to the People” If a democracy is not carefully legislated to avoid an uneven

distribution of political power, then a branch of the system of rule is able to accumulate power in a way that is harmful to democracy itself.

The "majority rule" is often described as a characteristic feature of democracy, but without responsible government it is possible for the rights of a minority to be abused by the "tyranny of the majority".

Necessary: competitive elections that are fair, both substantively and procedurally freedom of political expression, freedom of speech and freedom of the press → citizens that

are informed, able and willing to act/vote in their personal interests.

What are these personal interests?

What Democracy Means To MeJohnny Carson

Democracy is people of all races, colors, and creeds united by a single dream: to get rich and move to the suburbs away from people of all races, colors, and creeds.

Democracy is buying a big house you can't afford with money you don't have to impress people you wish were dead. And, unlike communism, democracy does not mean having just one ineffective political party; it means having two ineffective political parties.

Democracy is welcoming people from other lands, and giving them something to hold onto — usually a mop or a leaf blower.

Democracy means our elected officials bow to the will of the people, but more often they bow to the big butts of campaign contributors.

Democracy means fighting every day for what you deserve, and fighting even harder to keep other weaker people from getting what they deserve

Democracy is the eagle on the back of a dollar bill, with 13 arrows in one claw, 13 leaves on a branch, 13 tail feathers, and 13 stars over its head. This signifies that when the white man came to this country, it was bad luck for the Indians, bad luck for the trees, bad luck for the wildlife, and lights out for the American eagle.

The US and its Constitution US = Liberal Democracy (or Constitutional Democracy)

Representative, rather than Direct features constitutional protections of individual rights from government power; Rousseau and Hobbes

The Constitution of the United States of America = the supreme law of the United States. The foundation and source of the legal authority underlying the existence of

the USA; its Federal Government and all the State & Local governments and Territorial Administrative bodies contained therein.

Provides the framework for the organization of the United States Government. The document defines (but does not identify the overall architecture) of the

three main branches of the government: Provides for the general organization of these branches, and carefully

outlines which powers each branch may have, and exercise. It also reserves numerous rights and powers for exercise by the individual

states, and for exercise by the people of the United States; thereby establishing the United States' federal system of government.

It is a living document.

How do you know your rights if you have never read it?

The US and its Constitution Adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

and later ratified by conventions in each U.S. state in the name of "The People"; Amended twenty-seven times; first ten amendments = Bill of Rights

The Constitution has a central place in United States law and political culture Its Meaning In your life? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIKhRERqPS4

Information = An Agenda (Economics/Politics + Framing (Representation) Sanford Levinson (2006)

Our Undemocratic Constitution: Where the Constitution Goes Wrong (And How We the People Can Correct It)

Democracy is an “essentially contested concept” vitally important to engage in a national conversation about the Constitution’s adequacy

rather than automatically assume its fitness for our own times Constitution is both insufficiently democratic, in a country that professes to believe in

democracy, and significantly dysfunctional, in terms of the quality of government that we receive = we should no longer express our blind devotion to it.

It is a human creation open to criticism and even to rejection.

Discovering What Democracy MeansBill Moyers

We are all “institutionalized” in one form or another, locked away in our separate realities, our parochial loyalties, our fixed ways of seeing ourselves and others. For democracy to prosper it requires us to escape those bonds and join what John Dewey called “a life of free and enriching communion”—to become “We, the People.”

James W. Carey: “the very concept of “public” could once be defined as “a group of strangers who gather to discuss the news.” (= Imagined Communities Affirmed). The commons— places where people gathered to discuss what they were reading. These places of public communication “provided the underlying social fabric of the town.”

The media’s role was humble but serious, and that role was to take the public seriously.

What is the media’s role today in building public discussion?

Discovering What Democracy MeansBill Moyers

Our public conversation is mediated by politicians who have mastered “sound bites” sculpted from polling data, by “pundits” whose credibility increases with the frequency of exposure despite being consistently wrong, and “experts” whose authority depends not on reason, evidence or logic but on ideology and affiliation. The public, J.R. Priestly observed, “has been transformed into a vast crowd, a permanent audience, waiting to be amused.”

The role and influence of commercial logics “messages beamed across the public airwaves courtesy of

huge media conglomerates whose intent is not the informing of citizens but the maximizing of profit through the delivery to advertisers of mass audiences addicted to consumerism” 

Discovering What Democracy MeansBill Moyers

Trust/Belief in our leadership? Socrates: went about casting doubt on the

knowledge of wise men and trusted officials by exposing their received opinions and unexamined assumptions…exposing and confronting the ignorance of the leaders

“The wisest of men … is the one who is most conscious of his own ignorance, most aware of the limits of knowledge which are introduced by our limited methods of obtaining knowledge.

How “educated” is this society?

Why Civic Knowledge matters? Political tolerance Active participation Consistency The Ability to Identify Interests and Rights The Ability to Act on Interests and Rights Democracy’s first principle is that all members of the society have equal access to

power and the second that all members enjoy universally recognized freedoms and liberties 

News/Information is empowering

Without it, you are being manipulatedWithout thinking about it and its place in your

life … Your Citizenship, to the powers that be, looks

like this: http://www.planetpinkngreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/cow3.jpg

The Role of the Media Media = your window to understanding/framing this debate Curran: What Democracy Requires of Media

Media need to be understood in relation to the wider political environment and power relations

Media Representation Media Forum Division of Labor Media Watchdog Informational Role Rival Models of Democracy

Democracies are devolved systems of power that entail responsibilities as well as rights and obligations

You have an obligation to be properly informed and concerned about major government decisions that are done in your name

Self-government Politics and Entertainment

Our Commercial Media System: media entertainment + politics = fact of life Public Service = conflict : requirements of the market/requirements of

democracy  Economic priorities/pressures undermine media’s role in democracy

Media Democracy Media democracy = promotes a mass media system that informs and empowers all members of

society, and enhances democratic values. The mainstream media should be accountable to the publics they serve.

In response to the increased corporate domination of mass media and the perceived shrinking of the marketplace of ideas.

Key Themes: the health of the democratic political system depends on the efficient, accurate, and complete transmission

of social, political, and cultural information in society; the media are the conduits of this information and should act in the public interest; the mass media have increasingly been unable and uninterested in fulfilling this role due to increased

concentration of ownership and commercial pressures; this undermines democracy as citizens are unable to participate knowledgably in public policy debates.

Key principles: Media ownership concentration Public broadcasting Alternative and citizen media New Technologies

Raises serious questions regarding how we get ‘educated’ at the intersection of Market/State/Civic Impulses and how we understand Power in a Society

Criteria for Democracy Democracy

assumes that all are equally well qualified to participate in decisions provided they have adequate opportunities to learn about the matters confronting the electorate

uninformed electorate is beholden to those who control interests and agenda of “democracy”

Interest = Informed; Information = Power No State has ever fully measured up to the criteria for Democracy

Democracy IS ALWAYS A/IN PROCESS Reflection on it = a means to measure principles, achievements and

possibilities of Democracy Guide for (re)shaping democracy’s concrete arrangements,

constitutions, practices and political institutions Political Reality = tougher (trade-offs and compromises); messy

What Does It Mean to say A Country is Governed Democratically?

Political institutions of democracy on a large scale must be present political arrangements→ practices→ institutions to insure democratic criteria and

broader popular inclusion in government and political life

Large Scale Democracy Requires: elected officials (representation)

effective participation & control of the agenda free, fair elections

voting equality & control of the agenda freedom of expression

effective participation & enlightened understanding & control of agenda alternative sources of information

effective participation & enlightened understanding & control of agenda associational autonomy

effective participation & enlightened understanding &control of agenda inclusive citizenship

full inclusion

Freedom of Expression = right to speak and hear what others have to say

→ enlightened understandingCivic competence = all citizens

1) expressing their own views

2) learning from one another

3) engaging in discussion and deliberation

4) reading, hearing, and questioning experts, political candidates and persons whose judgments one trusts

5) Realizing what freedom of expression entails and what is at stake

= influence on government agenda

Disinterested Citizens are perfect for Authoritarian Rule and a Disaster for Democracy

Our Challenge: To Nurture

An INTEREST to SEEK OUT/Check Information Effective Participation Conceptions of Group/Community power The Ability to Explore/Confront the principles and

practices of “Democracy” An understanding that Democracy is about

Communal Responsibilities and Obligations as well as Individual Rights and Benefits