3. Media Systems Flashcards
Media system
the overall configuration of the most important media in a country (mainly commercial versus public broadcasting)
configuration /most important media
old classification
four theories of the press
- libertarian media systems
- socially responsible media
- authoritarian media systems
- soviet communist model
libertarian media system
free marketplace, no state intervention
socially responsible media
educate and inform + entertain (public service broadcasting)
authoritarian media systems
journalists are subservient to the state
soviet communist model
the party dominates
Criticisms on the old media classification
continuum = degree of state intervention
overlap between 3rd and 4rd category = authoritarian / soviet
heavily ideological = two good / two bad
sign of times = cold war
new classification media system: 4 criteria
four criteria - comparing media systems
- degree of state intervention
- extent of political parallellism
- historical development of media markets
- extent of journalistic professionalism
political parallelism
the extent to which the content of the programs mirrors the political power balance (for each of the political parties there is a broadcast like Fox News and CNN)
three new classifications - comparing media systems
- liberal model
- democratic corporatist model
- polarized pluralist model
democratic corporatist model
links between media and socio-political groups, like political parallelism (Sweden)
polarized pluralist model
media are the vehicles of parties, strong role for the state
three crucial clusters of actors within political institutional context
- media themselves
- political actors
- public opinion and civil society
Impact media system on individual media
matters for content
matters for trust in media
Impact media system on individual media: matters for content
hard and soft news
Impact media system on individual media: matters for trust in media
The quantity of soft news you have in your coverage, that has an impact on trust in media. More hard news conveys the message to readers that media has to be taken seriously. Too much ‘funny’ soft news might undermine the credibility of media.
soft news = undermines media
hard news = media taken seriously
soft news = undermines media
hard news
factually based and timely, appears more often in public broadcasting
soft news
background information, easier, already processed, more accessible (also entertainment
Impact on political actors
matters for campaigning (weekly interviews)
matters for campaign financing (ad costs)
Impact on political actors: matters for campaigning
for example a weekly interview with prime minister. It helps the current politicians in power because it gives them a platform.
Impact on political actors: matters for campaign financing
In a public broadcasting system you don’t need to spend too much money on campaigning because there already are so many chances to broadcast yourself in the media already.
Therefore you don’t have to buy many expensive campaign ads (mostly expensive in a liberal highly commercialized media system).
public broadcasting less expensive, not in need to buy ads
public broadcasting –> dont need to spend money on ads
commercialized media system –> expensive ads
Impact media public opinion and civil society
Any good news in soft news = conveys the message of what is going on, but with something good in it.
Hard news is un-mistakenly better, because it gives you more information and less entertainment.
fake news
news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false, and could mislead readers. It makes news more clickable
fake news is influenced by …
by media systems like democracies / hybrid regimes and dictatorships.
older people are more likely to spread fake news because they don’t see the difference very well.
Verisimilitude
the degree of truth
example: authors of fake news articles will make the article look truthful by mimicking the appearance of factual news / fact checking
‘Bad apples, but happy endings’ paradox in Chinese media
that the system is not corrupt, but the people are corrupt. Therefore some critique is allowed, to remove those bad apples
the way to promote in China
Complaining is allowed, but file it officially, so through courts. You can use the system, because the system is good, to cleanse itself. The regime wants to show that it is responsive and listens to you
paradox in China
liberty vs. control. You use the liberty to complain to control people. So the liberty serves control.
liberty used to control
Three pillars of the Chinese internet censoring
- the great firewall of china
- keyword blocking
- hand censoring
sites blokken / woorden blokken / zelf filteren
keyword blocking
whenever a message uses a certain word, it is automatically blocked and referred to a review process
hand censoring
blocking websites by hand, this works better because websites change a lot
