Notion Anglais Places Ans Formes Of Power

I’m going to talk about the notion of places and forms of power. We may wonder what is the power of the Press today. Power means the control over people. Power can be exerted by a government, a group or a person having great influence over others. Democracy relies on three Powers: executive, legislative and judicial. The Press has become so influential and so powerful that it’s referred to as the Fourth Power.

In the first part, l will analyze the power of the British press today. So we may say that it’s still powerful. Indeed, British people are great readers because many of them read newspapers every day, even on Sundays.

•There are 2 categories of newspapers in the UK: the quality papers which are serious minded and the tabloids which focus on scandals and murders. Millions of British people read tabloids. They attract so many readers because these newspapers take the reader’s minds off things. Readers are passionate about celebrities’ lives and they are easy to read.

•However, I think the Internet is not really a menace to the British press because on the one hand, there are fewer readers of the printed press but on the other hand, readers pay to read the news online.

•Moreover, we have studied an article from a quality paper, The Guardian, written by a lawyer which denounces the behaviour of tabloids. It denounces the intrusion of their journalists into the private life of people and the defamatory attacks on their reputations.

In the second part, we may wonder if we should impose controls on the media to limit their power.

•On the one hand, journalists working for tabloids argue that the editors put pressure on the journalists to write scoops in order to increase the sales and make profits, and that the readers have the right to be informed about murders. But, on the other hand, reporters who work for quality papers argue that reporters should remain neutral, they should stick to the facts. They should respect people’s privacy.

•We have watched a news report about News of the World broadcast in 2011. The newspaper has been published during 168 years before being closed because of a scandal about journalists who listened illegally to the phone conversations of victims of murders (=phone hacking). The journalists wanted to be famous, to be promoted and to get richer.

•Judging from this case, there are some arguments for the control of the Press. Indeed, it could avoid scandals like that but on the other hand, the freedom of the Press is essential in a democracy so it should not be censored.

In the third part, we may wonder if there are counter powers to avoid such scandals or punish the people who have been involved.

To conclude, I think there are newspapers which can influence public opinion by distorting the reality and the media have the power to make the innocent guilty. They can also destroy a reputation. Furthermore, when people are tracked down, they may feel so desperate that they commit suicide. So, in short, we can say that the Press has a big power on people today. However, I think that political words which can be heard in speeches are also very powerful because of their influence on people.

For me, the notion was very interesting because we were able to realize how the press

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