Cultural pessimists and the media

Question 1

What are cultural pessimists?

Answer 1

Individuals who point out the key negatives in the media that are often ignored by other perspectives
- such as fake news, increasing commercialization and the rise of echo chambers

Question 2

What is the con to more information?

Answer 2

Some of it is Churnalism
- Some of the info online may be ‘fake news’
- deliberately misleading to serve political or corporate ends

Question 3

What should the internet be?

Answer 3

A free space which allies for the free development of individual expression

Question 3

Is the media being dominated?

Answer 3

Yes, controlled by a handful of big tech companies such as Amazon, Google etc
- these companies have invested hugely in new media in the last decade thus control access to social media sites, search engines and the web servers that store our info

Question 4

What are echo chambers?

Answer 4

Social networks being increasingly isolated from each other
- it’s the isolation and polarization
- become surrounded by people similar to yourself
> leads to seeing challenges to your own views

Question 5

What are examples of media conglomerates control?

Answer 5

People who are de-platformed without earning or reason on YT or Tiktok
- typically those who hold radical views suggesting these companies who can express what on social media
- marginalized groups might be able to blog and have a say but they can only be found if these companies allow you to

Question 6

How has consumption and commercialization increased?

Answer 6

• Became a sphere of consumption where most of what we see is aimed at selling us something
• hard to read some news sites such as The Independent because of the sheer amount of space devoted to advertising

Question 7

How do companies play a role in increased consumption and commercialisation?

Answer 7

Companies such as Amazon use the data they collect to find out our preferences and sell it to advertising companies
- target at users more effectively thus manipulating them to buy products they wouldn’t normally buy
- estimate that 1/3rd of all amazon purchase are a result of ‘recommendations’ for example

Question 8

Are there any censorship in search engines?

Answer 8

Yes, most radical views are censored
- individuals may be free to express any opinions in line, some of the most radical have de platformed
Politics much less visible than entertainment on the internet
- suggesting critical political thought is ‘drowned out’ more than ever

Question 9

How do political parties control the public?

Answer 9

• Mainstream political parties now run sophisticated advertising campaigns using big data to manipulate the public into voting for them
  > eg: Trump’s campaign
• Larger political parties and corps have more money to spend on advertising to keep their biased info at the top of internet search engines (eg: google)

Question 10

What’s a thing to note about power within the media?

Answer 10

Surveillance: ex CIA analyst claimed in 2015 that British security services had the tech to access the info stored on peoples smartphones