Gamson uses in his article the theory of Mansbridge to explain that collective identities can act as informal “enclaves of resistance” to the global public identity of the nation. For me, we clearly need those alternative collective identities in order to have an idealistic “good democracy”, where each one can express his own views, and where a real debate can be established. The multiplicity of the collective identities should be represented in the media, in order to prevent the political life from being only a dialogue between the two “main voices”.
The problem is that today, the media seems to have failed in reflecting those alternative identities, if they still exist. Martin Gilens, Lynn Vavrek and Martin Cohen explain in their article that most of the opinion of citizens about candidates running for election are now based on the political ads that they have seen on TV, rather than on news report. I think that this is very dangerous, because more than just questioning the integrity of the candidates -who have to attract funders-, it completely prevent the dialogue between the two main parties. Moreover, since the revolution of cable TV, people can choose their sources of news according to their political opinions. We must not forget that this is also very dangerous because the citizen doesn't have both sides of a question, he doesn't have to criticize the information that is given to him, he just has to listen. It is also dangerous, as said in the article of the Journal of Communication, because if there are no more general news, we can face a corruption or a lack of integrity of the government because it won't have to hide from the media. Of course, it's not that easy, but it clearly closes the space for the alternative voices again.
So where should those voices express their ideas? Where can we have debate?
I hope that the new media provides a space for these discussions. As we learn with the article “Goodbye to the age of newspapers”, new medias on Internet are often very specialized too. New media won't change the state of the media, it will reproduce the same strategy of specialization of the audiences. My hope is that this specialization of the new media will offer a voice for the alternative collective identities. Indeed, if there is specialization of the blogs and on line newspapers it is problematic, but if this specialization includes liberal view, consevative view and alternative views too such as environmental views, ect., we can say that it is a progress.
To conclude, I don't think that new media will revolutionate the American system of medias, but I hope that it will provide a space for all the citizens, and allow more democratic debate because the two main views will have to deal with those publicly emerging voices.
Marion, I also agree that the media should represent a multiplicity of views...and certainly Tocqueville believed that newspapers offered this multiplicity. I also share some of your hope and optimism regarding the role of the new e-media, but in order for citizens to take advantage of the vast network of information they need to be motivated to do so. Unfortunately, I'm not certain that we have any answers yet on how to motivate the citizenry without implementing some compulsory measures.
ReplyDeleteAlan, it seems that both of us are focussing on the same subjects in our posts.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, we don't have any answers to reach this un realistic model. Citizens need to be motivated to do so.
I have an idea, not an answer: remember in one of our discussion class we focused on how high school can educate the students to be more involved in citizenry. Many of you explained that during high school they had to do community service or to participate in a political campaign. Thanks to those experiences, you are more likely to participate in democracy. Maybe we can imagine the same process for the interest in information? Do you think that training students to watch/read/read online the news can help them later to be more likely to take advantage of the vast network? Do you already have this type of training in high school?
Marion,
ReplyDeleteYou write that you don't have an answer, but you just might have one. For example, I remember watching Anderson Cooper and Lisa Ling cover the 1991 Gulf War on Channel One news at school when I was in 6th grade. That source of information sparked my interest in the military and our government, and it also had a significant impact (along with family expectations) on my decision to enlist in the military six years later. So yes I do believe that training and informing our youth are methods that would work to some extent to instill a sense of responsbility for engaging in our democracy. I don't know if Channel One still exists, but I do remember that after each broadcast the teacher would lead a discussion about the events just covered. I do believe it works.