I believe to achieve a complete democratic society freedom of speech and press are a quintessential asset. The rise in public sphere action, in Habermas’ view, will help “achieve a higher level of moral and political maturity, that is, to constitute itself as an open, just and egalitarian community” (Dodd, 1999, p. 110).
The public sphere’s opinion is by far the most important view in a democratic society. Governments that listen to the community are a legitimate democratic and free union. The Australian election is a great example of how the media has influenced its society. In the image above, it can be seen how the Australian community was potentially swayed in voting. The media and its limited ownership are obstructing independent thought and opinion.
Rupert Murdoch’s media empire illustrated its strong alliance to the Liberal party. Considered to be the Fourth Estate, which is meant to be free of government or market persuasion, clearly displayed a particular political view during the vital federal election.
This is why I believe that blogging, social media and public art, such as Banksy, can provide a great outlet for independent thought and opinion. Without an authoritarian voice, these platforms can achieve a truly liberal society. Contrastingly major newspapers that possess an obvious political persuasion are not being true to their readers. People turn to newspapers to create their own opinions and for newspapers to provide an impartial view on politics and other issues. However in this economic climate, newspapers are driven by the market and thus are not providing impartial views. In my opinion, cyber libertarianism is a powerful and effective way to express free and uncontrolled opinions. It is the next wave of democracy and this can be seen through the recent Egyptian revolution, which was achieved through the use of social media platforms.
Dodd, N 1999, Social theory and
modernity, Polity & Blackwell, Cambridge, UK, pp. 110
Hey India!
ReplyDeleteReally quite enjoyed the professionalism and outlay of this blog post. It was interesting to see the statistics on the election for Australia, showing how biased it can look in blatant colour. I wonder, though, if the Labor party put more money into the pamphlets I seemed to receive a lot of about how (pardon the French) shit Tony Abbott would be and not into a newspaper? That aside, it did show a sway in the apparently unbiased Murdoch Empire.
I liked that you validated your opinion in the end with the Egyptian revolution, however a source or even a link to another site would have been more helpful to spur on the research of that particular subject.