Developments in new/digital media mean that audiences can now have access to a greater variety of views and values. To what extent are audiences empowered by these developments?
In my opinion audiences are not empowered by the developments of new and digital media and instead the media has provided a convenient platform for the elite to control the masses.
A pluralist view however would argue that the internet and new media has empowered us, providing a platform for anyone, irrelevant of race or social standing, can express their views online and therefore empowering us by giving everyone a voice. This is highlighted by the emergence of social media sites such as Facebook, twitter and blogger in which people can express any views or information they wish to share. The recent dapper laughs incident in which the internet star had his show taken off the air on ITV2 due to sexist and offensive remarks proves this, as it was an online petition and social media outrage that heavily influenced the decision to pull the show.
However I believe in the marxist and hegemonic view that this idea of empowerment online through free speech is false, as it is the elite, major institutions who hold the opinions that are actually recognised and viewed by people. New media may enable people to express their views on various issues, but how many people are going to view, and be influenced by a view expressed by someone's blog, as opposed to one expressed on a major institution such as The Guardian or the BBC. Therefore most opinions online are insignificant and have almost no affect on the majority of people, instead it is only the elite who have their voices heard and influence people. An example of this is the BBC's coverage of the Scottish referendum. The BBC, supposedly an impartial organisation, was heavily criticised for its coverage which heavily sided against independence. This highlights the power of major institutions and their influence on people, as being such a large institution the bias coverage surely would have influenced people to be anti independence, as opposed to a tweet or blog of someone pro independence, who's views will have barely influenced anyone. Also it can be argued that any blog or social network message can be easily removed and deleted by the major institution the message was posted on, without the publishers knowledge or consent highlighting the hegemonic structure in place online.
Another pluralistic argument of new media empowerment would be that the internet provides us with an array of information almost instantly, with websites such as Wikipedia allowing us to be enriched my information on virtually every subject online.
However much of the information available online is false, with websites such as Wikipedia negatively impacting younger students by not only providing them with false information, but introducing a culture of plaguarism in which online material can be easily copied and handed in as someone else's work. A marxist would argue this is a ploy by the elite to keep the masses on a lower level than themselves, limiting their intelligence by creating this culture of plagiarism and as a result solidifying their status at the top.
No comments:
Post a Comment