Fiche notion Places and Forms of Power

PLACES AND FORMS OF POWER

For me, the power represents the possibility for someone to control everything and everyone. We can see a link between the notion and the unit on the press in the USA, because the press is important in the public opinion. What are the power in the USA?

First, we’ll speak about the US government, and then, we’ll speak about the press.

First,  according to the document One U.S Government, the US government is shared in 3 powers, represented by different institutions and persons. First, there is the legislative power, detained by the Congress. The congress is himself divided in 2 parts, there are the House of representatives with 435 representatives and the Senate, with a 100 senators (2 for one state). The legislative power’s role is to make the laws. Then, there is the executive power, detained by the president and his vice president. Their role is to enforce the laws that the legislative power created. And finally, there is the judicial power, detained by 9 justices and the Supreme Court. The role of the judicial power is to interpret the laws and hear cases. As president, the president of the USA has many roles, he has to attends ceremonies, he represents his country, he is the head of the USA, he gives speeches, he has to handle the foreign policy, the army,... The US Government is based on the system of Checks and balances, which is a system that allows each branch to amend or veto acts of another branch, to prevent any branch from exerting to much power. But sometimes, the US Government can be denounced for several reasons. First, the government can denounce things in media with mottos, then, the government diffuse ideas that are not real or true. The informations are biased, mislead to promote a cause. This are the fake news. But, the press can also be used in the opposite purpose.

The press can be used to denounced the Government, this is like the 4th power of the USA. Indeed, like we can see on a document, the president Richard Nixon said in his speech “the press is the enemy”. He said that because the press published confidential informations in newspaper about the government and its ideas. We can also say that Donald Trump’s attitude toward the press is sometimes contemptuous, during an interview, he refused to answer to the journalist, because he asked something about fake news. There is a shape of censor. The press has an important role in the USA. In fact, thanks to the press, the Pentagon Papers were revealed to the people. First, in 1967, the writing of the Pentagon papers begins, they are completed in 1969, The New York Times gets the papers in 1971 and the first instalments are published. Like we can see in the document Vietnam archive, the article denounces the acts of the different presidents during the Vietnam war and their decisions : Truman gave military help to France, Eisenhower rescued and helped South Vietnam, Kennedy sent soldiers and equipment to Vietnam and Johnson intensified the war.  In the movie The Post, we can see that the press touches government secrets and that the government tries to stifle the case that embarrassed him, like the war in Vietnam. The press is in fact very powerful, because it can thwart the government. Indeed, the Congress asked the senators to published the Pentagon Papers in the Congressional Record, which is a website where everything that happens in the congress is made public, but the congress refused. So, Daniel Ellsberg, gave the papers to the New York Times, who revealed the case to the people. For some, the freedom of press is now in danger, because the government tries to take control of the press, like we can see in the document why a free press matters. More and more ways are used by the people to get inform, there is a rise of social network to get in touch with the actualities.

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