Comparative Global System


Reading: Voltmer (2014) ‘Making Sense of Press Freedom: A Comparison of Journalists’ Perceptions of Press Freedom in Eastern Europe and East Asia’ 

This week we will discuss the Western model of media and politics and Eastern alternatives, with a focus on Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.  You will find it useful to read this week's text in its entirety before class, but at least bring a copy along (either a print out or on your laptop/tablet) and read it in full afterwards. 



“In the libertarian tradition the state is seen as the main adversary of a free press, and indeed individual liberty.  The press is therefore regarded as a ‘watchdog’ that monitors political power on behalf of the citizens.” (Voltmer 2014: 160)

Q1. Why would the state constrain the freedom of the press?  In whose interests?

Q2. In what way is it helpful for citizens to have a watchdog media monitoring state power?

Q3. Are there are any problems with complete freedom for the press, with no oversight or accountability? 

Have a look at the Media Reform Coalition website for further arguments on the problems of unaccountable media, especially their agenda for 2018 and their arguments on ethical journalism and recommendations for regulatory reform. 




“In contrast, the social responsibility paradigm asserts that the press is guaranteed freedom and independence for a purpose.  In other words, rather than being an end in itself press freedom is seen as a means to promote the common good” (Voltmer 2014: 160)

Q4. How can the press serve the common good (also referred to as the public interest)?

Q5. Do we all agree what the common good is, even within one country?



“Rather than drawing a dividing line between a democratic free West and the rest of the world, evidence shows that all cultures and languages incorporate discourses of freedom (Kell and Reid 1998; Taylor 2002).  However, these ideas are often based on philosophical, religious and social traditions that differ from Western ideas and therefore carry with them connotations that alter, ever redefine the meaning of freedom.” (Voltmer 2014: 161)

Q6. With reference to p160-2 of the key reading, try to place on the diagram below:

-       The western libertarian model of the press

-       The western social responsibility model of the press

-       Asian / Confucian thought

-       Eastern European societies

If you have knowledge of specific countries and would like to add them, please do!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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)
Read more

The 'watchdog' role of news media

Reading: Gurevitch, Michael (1995) ‘The Crisis of Communication for Citizenship: In And Out of the Ashes’ in Blumler and Gurevitch (eds) The Crisis of Public Communication .   London: Routledge  This week we will examine the watchdog or ‘fourth estate’ role of journalism in more detail, exploring the ways in which political elites have tried to secure favourable media reporting without direct control of the media, and journalists’ responses.   The key question is whether this tussle between journalists and politicians ends up serving the public interest (e.g. by informing voters) or not, and therefore whether it is democratically functional.   Does this even matter in the contemporary digital media environment? In this week’s reading, Michael Gurevitch notes problems with this model of the press that became apparent when he was writing in the mid-nineties: “This is not to allege that occasions when people, politicians and the press have engaged in ...
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...
Read more