To understand the role of the media in society it is useful to use the concept of the public sphere as an ideal serving as a model or guide for what the media could potentially be. The public sphere is a concept said by Habermas which he says is a realm within social life in which public opinion can be formed and which is accessible to all. In this exploration we need to examine the following: what purpose does the public sphere serve? What is need for its success and what critiques are held about this concept. Habermas says that the public sphere had weakened the twenty first century. However the role of new media in the Syrian uprising shows that this idea can be refuted.
One way in which the new media has strengthened the public sphere is the introduction to web 2.0 and convergent devices. Web 2.0 has allowed easier access to the internet from any source of device. Mobile phones now have features where you can record in HD and this can be uploaded to the internet within seconds. Syrians have shown the world what is going on, through a mixture of eye witness accounts and amateur footage of protests and their violent aftermath. Photos were taken whilst the protest was happening and uploaded using 3G internet. This allowed a much quicker upload and allowed the rest of the world to see. Cameras were also smuggled into the country. Pictures and videos being uploaded to social networking sites allowed people to promote more democracy. One person said “I went over as I thought someone was injured, but it was a man with a computer using 3G to upload videos”. This shows how technological convergence made the protest even bigger and known worldwide.
Furthermore by the government banning some news stories, this allowed the public sphere to bypass censorship. Hebermas believes that the mass media and globalisation has reduced the effectiveness of the public sphere. The mass media has resulted in a reduction of plurality. With the new technology Syria riots were taken to a whole new level. Twitter and Facebook were the main sources of where others received information. It is highly accessible as now, most people have internet access and a twitter or Facebook account so they can easily inform everyone about the riots. Consumers can now comment on videos and pictures uploaded, which allowed greater debate over the riots. Videos were taken of the army abusing dead bodies which was also realised on the internet. This could be debated worldwide and allowed the public to open up and comment. This strengthened the public sphere as more people where involved on the internet. Pictures and videos uploaded attracted people to from debates and share opinions which also increased democracy
However new media can also be said to weaken the public sphere as misinformation can take place where people are biased and also anomimity as some people can pretend to be someone there not. False information may lead to other things arising such as conflicts on the internet or to the news. An example of this is the man that was associated to be a lesbian blogger but actually he lived in Edinburgh and was married. When the blog was first released there were many followers and people commenting on it. On the blog there was a post by Amina’s cousin talking about how she was taken by armed men on a Damascus street. The news sparked internet campaigns to realise her, until activists in Syria and beyond began voicing doubts. This has weakened the public sphere as anomimity can occur within new media and therefore encouraging people to write unrelated comments.
Moreover, some information within the new media may not be entirely valid, not all the information seen on the public sphere can be reliable. This can be evidential as the case of the Syrian lesbian blogger who was actually a 40 year old man. This shows how easy it is to create a false identity on the internet and that not all information on the internet is valid. The evidence that he was a 40 year old man was gathered on social networking sites such as Twitter and Blogger.1,000 emails where exchanged to Amina by a French Canadian women who believed herself to be in a romantic relationship. This weakened the public sphere as there was less democracy within the media. As people know are aware that most information on the internet is not valid, they hold back to comment and share their opinions.
In conclusion you can clearly see that the positives outweigh the negatives of the public sphere. Information can now be posted by anyone all over the world in a quick and easy way. The development of technological convergence has allowed people to comment on videos and pictures on social networking sites. Everyone’s opinion is read on the internet now, which creates more discussion and debate thus increasing democracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment