‘We Media’ & Democracy

Topic Points:

• What are ‘We Media’?

• Where / how has ‘We Media’ emerged?

• In what way are the contemporary media more democratic

than before?

• In what ways are the contemporary media less democratic

than before?
 In The Exam:
• Historical – dependent on the requirements of
the topic, candidates must summarise the
development of the media forms in question in
theoretical contexts.
• Contemporary – current issues within the topic
area.
• Future – candidates must demonstrate personal
engagement with debates about the future of the
media forms / issues that the topic relates to.
 What is Democracy?
• Democracy is the situation where the people -
‘demos’ - are able to vote for and make
decisions about the direction of the society in
which they live. It is strongly connected with
ideas about liberty, freedom and choice.
• Many believe that a requirement for
democracy is to have informed, educated
citizens – the media therefore plays a key role.
 Tony Benn on Democracy
• “If one meets a powerful person ask them five
questions:
• ‘What power have you got?
• Where did you get it from?
• In whose interests do you exercise it?
• To whom are you accountable?
• And how can we get rid of you?’
If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you,
you do not live in a democratic system” – Tony Benn
World Democracy Map
 Democracy
• Majority rule is often listed as a characteristic
of democracy. However, it is also possible for a
minority to be oppressed by a "tyranny of the
majority" in the absence of governmental or
constitutional protections of individual or
group rights.
 Democracy
• An essential part of an "ideal" representative
democracy is competitive elections that are fair.
• Furthermore, freedom of political expression,
freedom of speech, and freedom of the press are
considered to be essential, so that citizens are
adequately informed and able to vote according
to their own best interests as they see them.
• It has also been suggested that a basic feature of
democracy is the capacity of individuals to
participate freely and fully in the life of their
society.
 David Gauntlett: Web 2.0
• Tim Berner’s Lee invented the Internet with the vision that
people would be connected and creative
• “He imagined that browsing the Web would be a matter of
writing and editing, not just searching and reading” –
Gauntlett
• Web 2.0 invites users to play
• We are seeing a shift away from a ‘sit back and be told’
culture towards more of a ‘making and doing’ culture
 Web 2.0
• Includes a social element
where users generate and
distribute content, often with
freedom to share and reuse
• Has resulted in an increasing
‘globalisation’
• The birth of a more
‘participatory culture’
• Moving from a communication
model of ‘one-to-many’ to a
‘many to many’ system
Keith Bassett: Cyberspace Democracy

• “The public intellectual of

today must now be much
more alive to the
possibilities for
participating in what could
become a new ‘cyberspace
democracy’ – an expanded
public sphere which is less
academic and less elitist”
 David Gauntlett: Web 2.0
• In the case of the media, there is
obviously the shift towards internet-
based interactivity
• At least 3/4th of UK population are
regular internet users
• More than 1/3rd of people have a
Facebook account
• More and more people are writing
blogs, participating in online
discussions, sharing information,
music and photo, and uploading
video.
 New Media
• Increased interactivity of audiences
• Poststructuralist theory sees the audience as
active participators in the creation of
meaning
• In a postmodern world consumption is seen as
a positive and participatory act
• An increased ‘democratisation’?
 Dan Gillmor: Citizen Journalists
• ‘Big media’ have enjoyed control over who gets
to produce and share media
• Effect on democracy
• Who owns these companies?
• Are we represented?
• Gillmor sees the Internet as a catalyst for a
challenge to this established hegemony
• Gillmor calls bloggers ‘the former audience’:
news blogs a new form of people’s journalism
 Citizen Journalism
• Theorist Mark Poster says the internet
provides a ‘Habermasian public sphere’ – a
cyberdemocratic network for communicating
information and points of view that will
eventually transform into public opinion.