Posts

Media representation of publics

Image
Lewis, J., Inthorn, S. and Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2005).   Citizens or Consumers? What the Media Tell Us About Citizen Participation .   Maidenhead: Open University Press [Ch 8] This week we will examine the role of the public or citizens in political debate in the mediated public sphere.   Drawing on this week’s key reading, we will consider whether the public are represented and addressed as active and engaged citizens with opinions on policy choices, or as political consumers making passive choices between leaders and their agendas. Claims about public opinion in the news “While the news makes frequent references to citizens and public opinion, it does so with very little reference to any identifiable source of evidence […] only 3% of references to citizens or publics on television news in the USA or Britain make any reference to polling data.   “If polls are the only systematic form of evidence available to journalists about what citizens think or feel, protests o
Post a Comment
Read more

Corporate power

Miller, David, and William Dinan (2007) ‘Public Relations and the Subversion of Democracy’ in Miller and Dinan (eds.) Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy: Corporate PR and the Assault on Democracy . London: Pluto Press Miller and Dinan outline Grunrig’s four-part model of PR, which acknowledges undemocratic practices, but suggests that PR has moved on to more legitimate approaches: “It distinguishes ‘press agentry’ , which is most commonly identified with promotional media work; ‘public information’ , which uses one-way communication to promote a given message, perhaps in the public interest; the two-way asymmetrical model , in which feedback and perhaps market research and public opinion polling are used to manipulate audiences more effectively; and a two-way symmetrical model which is alleged to help ‘create mutual understanding’ between an organisation and its publics.” (Miller and Dinan 2007: 16) Which of the above categories would you place the followin
Post a Comment
Read more

Could populism actually be good for democracy?

Image
Here is an interesting article Rubin brought to my attention from The Guardian newspaper's series The Long Read.  If the 'long' bit puts you off, it's also available as a podcast audio version
Post a Comment
Read more

Populism in Brazil

Image
Here is the item I mentioned in today's lecture about populism in Brazil's upcoming election: Inside Rio’s Cracolandia – amid Brazil’s dramatic political shift
Post a Comment
Read more

Populism

Barr, Robert R (2009) 'Populists, Outsiders and Anti-Establishment Politics' in Party Politics 15(1): 29-48 To what extent and in what ways were the following political figures / parties populist in their campaigning, according to Barr’s three dimensions (plus the ‘secondary’ stylistic feature of charismatic leadership)? Dimensions of populism Donald Trump (Republican) when running for president Nigel Farage (UKIP) when campaigning for Brexit Jeremy Corbyn (Labour) in 2017 general election Political outsider Anti-establishment appeals Plebiscitary linkage Charismatic leadership Can Trump continue to be a populist whilst in government?   ( Here and here are a couple of articles as food for thought)
Post a Comment
Read more