Les différentes formes de pouvoirs (en anglais)

Places and forms of power

I am going to talk about places and forms of power

« Places » could be important buildings or institutions that represent a certain form of power, for example Buckingham Palace – a symbol of the British monarchy, the White – a symbol of the American presidency. A place can also be a country or a state – for example the USA is a state which is powerful enough to influence events throughout the world (superpower) and China is a major economic power in today’s world.

« Power » is the ability to control others, events, or resources; the ability to make things happen despite obstacles, resistance, or opposition. This of course leads to conflict between those who have power and those who don’t.

This year in class we studied several documents about places and forms of power and in particular the 4th power : the power of the media with different documents such as a video « News of the world hacking scandal », a photo about media manipulation, an article : « Is new media killing journalism ? » by Charlie Beckett, journalist of the Guardian, a video about wikileaks and we made a presentation about an event, I have chosen to talk about Sidaction.

In order to illustrate this notion, I have chosen to talk about the power of media and attempt to answer the question to what extent can the media be considered as a form of power, and even of counterpower ?

To answer this question, firstly I will present the gutter press with tabloids, News of the world scandal and media manipulation. Then I talk about quality press, wikileaks and internet.

Tabloids print articles about scandals, celebrities, gossip. They belong to the gutter press. There are The NY daily mirror in USA and The daily Miroor and News of the world in UK. The text : « News of the world hacking scandal » shows the negative aspect of the press. Indeed, i twas accusend of hacking in to the cellphones of military officers, of a missing school girl and their families. Because of this scandal, News of the world has shut down after 168 years of existence. however, some journalists play with the photos to understand what they want and not what is actually happening such as the picture of Al jazeera. It is cropped. Al jazeera only showing the bad side of the war whereas CNN only showing the good side. The soldier is helping the man in the middle by giving him water.

But the media is also good. It’s broadsheet. Contrary to tabloids, broadsheets are considered to be more serious, more intellectual. They are many in the world. There are The Times or the Guardian in UK and the Washington post or The NY times in USA. Charlie Beckett whrite an article in the Guardian. « Is new media killing journalism ? » is the name of article. The journalist think the public are becoming partners with journalists in the production of news thanks to internet. According to the author, the internet has positive impact on traditional journalism. Indeed, the citizens can use social networks such as twitter or facebook to share information and avoid censureship. Moreover acess to information is easier and more global. Thanks to internet, It’s more difficult for the government to censor informations. Wikileaks is an example. This website publishes private and governmental secrets such as environmental catastrophes (dumping of toxic waste in Africa),

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