Are the media becoming more democratic?

Are the media becoming more democratic?

In today’s day in age the internet and blogosphere can now provide enormous opportunities for the expansion and increase of progressive journalism ideals in the United Kingdom and globally. Media theorist Stuart Allan celebrates the blogging that audiences use, commemorating the “extraordinary contribution made by citizens offering their first hand reports, digital photographs, camcorder video footage, mobile telephone snapshots or audio clips,” which is evidently a form of ‘citizen journalism.’ Clearly, the internet and blogosphere often appear to be fascinating when they serve to challenge the mainstream media as elements in social and political movements, which are just many of the examples of the use of We Media which make it more democratic.

Media theorist, David Gauntlett explains that when creating media in the past you needed large equipment, for instance, big recording devices, big camera’s and if you wanted to distribute it all you needed a big broadcasting company or movie studio which is not as easy as most people believed it to be as most individuals did not own these forms of equipment and could therefore not do it. However, these days we can produce and share media using inventions of digital convergence such as small, reasonably cheap devices, for example laptops, mobile phones and camera’s which can be used to record footage and then become distributed on sites such as ‘YouTube’, where the work of many thousands of directors is seen by truly millions of people where they manage to gain a wider audience. Additionally, he puts forward the idea that websites such as ‘YouTube, Myspace and Wikipedia’ are sites whereby content is provided by the user and is then distributed very widely by other diverse users around the world, however there is still of course competition from big media corporates.

Furthermore, according to publisher Morozov who recently published the book ‘The Net Delusion’ which discusses and outlines his scepticism of new media. He explains that social media is not a catalyst for social change and should not be credited for strengthening democratic movements in the media today. Instead, he argues that social media helps dictators and some governments by scrutinizing and oppressing the public even more than they already do. Nevertheless, he does not completely rule out the idea that new media technology promotes democracy but that new media has led to a sort of “cyber-utopianism”, that is, a world in which information nowadays rarely remains as private and governments now have the power to dominate citizens by constantly monitoring the content of their online interactions. For instance, according to an article which was published by the Guardian illustrating that “Twitter are now able to censor tweets in individual countries,” journalists explained Twitter is beginning to refine its technology so that it can censor messages on a country-by-country basis. They also announced that the censorship is likely to raise fears that Twitter’s commitment for free speech may be weakening. However, Twitter have responded to this, by releasing a statement saying, “we see the censorship tool as a way to ensure individual messages, or tweets, remain available to as many people as possible while it navigates a gauntlet of different laws around the world,” explaining and reassuring to their audience and users that Twitter will simply post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed. They explain how it is similar to what the internet search engine Google has been doing for years when a law in a country where its service operates, requires a search result to be removed.

Nevertheless, by referring back to Morozov he also acknowledges that sites like Facebook and Twitter make it easier for people to join campaigns, but he argues that it also makes activism more “trivial.” Morozov makes a good point here explaining that whereas being an activist in the past meant joining the front lines of a march, picketing, or staging “sit-ins,” in today’s day in age social media users may consider themselves part of a major social movement by either tweeting, blogging, or “liking” links, without necessarily having to leave the comfort of their own home.

However, thanks to the advancements in technology which has brought to us, the users, the internet and web 2.0, it has also brought to us websites such as ‘Facebook, Twitter and YouTube’ which appears to make media more democratic due to the fact that we, the users, are those who decide what appears and goes up onto the internet from first hand reports such as mobile phone footage, camera’s laptops and so on. Additionally, the internet starts to become more accessible and interesting when we as an active audience decide which footage we want to post and which of it will interest other internet users in our community, causing it to spread across the internet globally and therefore making it more democratic.

Clearly, this can be linked and applied to the music industry as music can now be made by anyone and music videos can be created by artists who have access to equipment where they can film and upload their work onto websites such as ‘YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.’ Evidently, in today’s climate it is no longer a problem for people to get hold of recording equipment to produce and record music and it is now far more easier for anyone to distribute their music and get it out there to people to try and create a buzz. The big music labels and record companies are no longer in control over what music is distributed out into the world as anyone can upload the music which they have created over the internet, which in the long run allows us to make comments and forward music onto others thanks to use of peer recommendation on websites such as Facebook, which can earn artists fans and if all goes well even a recording contract. Websites such as Myspace and YouTube have been huge in hand in helping young musicians find fame, such as Lily Allen who was spotted on Myspace and Justin Bieber on YouTube.

All in all, it is clear that social media has allowed the word of democratic movements and freedom of speech to spread far quicker than every before, yet the issue of unethical, government surveillance is becoming more of a concern. However, media today allows ordinary citizens to take matters into their own hands and allows them to communicate their ideas and thoughts openly and freely and I don’t know what is more democratic than this, so yes I do believe that the media is becoming more democratic in today’s society.