Question

The first piece on offer is a TED talk by Lawrence Lessig who rather sceptically examines the impact of the rise of a media age upon the functioning of representative democracy. hi Chegg could someone help me understand this piece

Answer 1

Without the mass media, industrial societies could not be imagined. The main sources of information for citizens around the globe are television, newspapers, radio , and the Internet. None will suspect that the mass media helps to preserve the current power system in authoritarian regimes which are usually closely governed by the State. One need only think of the omnipresent state propaganda spread by North Korean media in order to keep the citizens of the country in line. This is also generally acknowledged that mass media lead to democratization processes, as seen, for example, before and after the fall of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe

Media democracy focuses on empowering individual citizens, and promoting democratic ideals by disseminating information. Additionally, in its own construction the media system itself should be democratic, shying away from private ownership or intense regulation. Media democracy requires the use of media to promote democracy, as well as the conviction that media itself should be democratic; concentration of media ownership is not democratic and can not serve to promote democracy, and must therefore be critically examined. The definition, and a social movement that supports it, has evolved as a reaction to the increased corporate control of the mass media and the perceived decline of the media

Media democracy advocates that corporate control and market interests manipulate media content, drastically restricting the scope of news, views, and entertainment receiving people. Accordingly, they call for a more equitable distribution of economic , social , cultural and knowledge resources , leading to a more educated electorate, as well as a more democratic, inclusive political debate.