Places and formes of power: The power of media

Places and forms of power

I’m going to deal with the notion “Places and forms of power”.  First, I’d like to give a definition of the notion. Power is the ability to exercise authority and influence over others. It can be exerted in different spheres: economy, politics, media… In relation to the notion, the topic of my presentation will be the power of media. We know that Medias or press have a huge role in our society. They in fact have a strong power. Press is often called the “fourth power” and we use this expression because the media have become so influential that they can be considered as a power in itself. But we may wonder, is the press using her power in a good and healthy way or in a bad and dangerous way.

First, I’d like to take the example of the scandal Watergate. Watergate was a huge political scandal that happened in the seventeens. This story started with a breakup that occurs in the Democratic Party headquarters. It than occurred that this robbery was ordered by Nixon. It than leaded to Nixon’s resignation of the white house.  

The Medias had a huge role in those events. Indeed, thanks to an unknown informant named “Deep throat”, the Washington post journalist have been able to lead an investigation and revealed it to the public. It became a huge political scandal that forced Nixon to leave his job as the leader of the USA.

Here, the press had a huge impact in investigating and showing the world what was really going on at the white house. In this story, the Medias had a stronger power than the president and in this case, we can safely say that they did a great thing. The brought forth something illegal done by the state leader himself.

Secondly, I’d like to work on what we can call the dark side of the Medias.

To begin, let’s talk about the documentary “Outfoxed” which is about the TV channel Fox News. In this movie, we see many technics used by the channel to distort the information that Medias are supposed to give. The purpose of their action is to create an atmosphere of fear and anger against every single viewer.

For example, we see how O’Reilly keeps swearing using the word “shut up” to prevent his guest for saying something that he don’t want in his show. It’s simply a limitation of the right of speech which is one of the most important right. O’Reilly is doing something illegal; he shouldn’t interrupt somebody just because he doesn’t like what this person says.

        In a more political way, I’ve studied an opinion poll         showing the differences between what an American watching Fox News and what an American using a different Media thinks of the Iraq War. In fact, the one watching Fox News is more likely to think that the USA found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In fact, the American haven’t found a thing during this war. Knowing that 33% of the Fox News audience thinks the opposite is quite disappointing. The purpose a media is to tell the truth, here, it’s not the case.

This TV channel is in fact, more linked with propaganda for the Republican Party than with a media that gives clear and reliable information.

To conclude, I’d say that Medias have a very strong power. They have to use it properly and to respect their audiences. Any kind of media has to be relevant and reliable.

Idea of Progress

I’m going to deal with the notion “Idea of progress”.  First, I’d like to give a definition of the notion. Progress can be defined as an improvement, a development or a change which contributes to make the world a better place. Indeed, progress can be associated with many different topics. I’d like to study progress in technology and more precisely in space exploration.

During the cold war, the US and Soviet armies developed high technologies to control space. The idea was to go further than the other. First the Soviet sent a satellite, than a man and then the US went on the moon and won this technology race.

This can be considered as progress. Our days, new technologies such as Internet, use satellites that won’t have ever been send if this race had not happen.

However, space exploration is not happening anymore. We often hear “By 500 years, we will live on Mars” or we often see movies talking about huge spacecraft going outer space. The only motivation during the cold war was to make better than the other camp. The cold war is now over, space technologies are extremely expensive and the economic impacts are very small.

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