If you have been following the news in China and Iran and have read between the lines of articles that have been written about mass media in those countries you might notice that they are trying to control the message with varied success.
Characteristics of media messages
Interposed channels
– Different media employs different technology
to transmit and/or receive messages
– Requires access to technologies and skills to
encode and decode the message
In China they have come up with this thing called the Greed Dam Project - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8106526.stm - Its a software that filters out information that could be "harmful" to the public.
The reason I bring this up is because today because of new media like the internet, more and more people are now setting the agenda. There are 3 types that are very closely related. 1) Public Agenda, 2) Media Agenda 3) Policy Agenda. In the case of china its policy agenda first with them setting up this new program. in turn the public is making a hoo-ha about it and now the media is setting the agenda forcing the Chinese government to re clarify its regulations on the green dam project.
So, how is this related to Iran? Well over the last week there were elections there and, like Singapore the Government controls the traditional mass media and reports from the media were quite simple saying that it was a landslide victory and everything was ok. However, the public in Iran did not think so and voiced out via the internet and social networking sites such as twitter and facebook. It is quite something to see that in such it was a breaking of the spiral of silence in such that the people spoke out and said that elections were rigged and many people were dying. After that had happened the medias agenda and the world's agenda changed.
-related article- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8110877.stm
Anyway what i'm trying to say is that media's traditional role of agenda setting seems to be deminishing and that the power is shifting towards the individual to set the agenda. I think this is a very powerful thing.very. But do you think such power is a good thing? and possibly one of the reasons for the Green Dam project in China? I personally believe we are in the middle of a revolution of change in how media is changing and such questions that i have posed will only be answered many many years from now.
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It is true that an average individual now is able to set an agenda. Commenting further on the Iranian crisis, The youtube video of Neda Agha-Soltan final moments after being shot, Her death has become a symbol of the anti-government movement in Iran. It is easier to deal with the violent protest then to deal with the powerful video posted on youtube which is made available for the whole world to judge.
ReplyDeletei totally agree with you
ReplyDeletewow musa... well thought out comment...
ReplyDeleteth globalisation of media has caused nightmares for many countries like china. countries where the govt rules all. I bet there is an anti govt group in places like n.korea and cuba n such.. because of the availability of information. once these groups get out onto the net with some brutal video, we can say bye bye to communism
I think it's more a nightmare for the government than the citizens of the country. With more information gained easily from rapidly improving media technology, people are getting smarter. They know that there are other ways to revolt apart from marching the streets. You will no longer hear about The American Revolution or The French Revolution anymore. But you will hear about The Digital Revolution. And you will be able to be a part of it too!
ReplyDeleteWe can already see digital revolutions occurring all over the internet with regards to different matters in different countries, like for eg those that u mentioned in this entry.
Today, the Internet can easily unite as well as divide people across the world. You don't have to be Iranian to "experience" some bits of the Iranian revolt. The Internet transcends borders and perhaps one day, the whole earth will become one nation thanks to this creation.
i think that the agenda setting function more or less still exists even in today's society! a journalist definitely needs an angle before he can start writing the article. therefore there is going to be an 'agenda' no matter what. however, like u said, this phenomenon has already started chaining. we're more discerning now, we're more educated now. even a little boy or girl in primary school would be more educated than the kids were maybe 2 decades ago. therefore i feel that even though it still exists, things have definitely started tilting the other way a long time ago (:
ReplyDeletelonglong i totally agree with you
ReplyDeleteAgenda setting setting function CERTAINLY exists. And like you posted, it is mostly influenced by the public agenda, such as what is going with the ordinary folks. And in Singapore, whatever the government wishes to 'push' or 'remind' its citizens, it makes sure that the media covers it. In that way perhaps, media and policy agenda are very interrelated as well.
ReplyDelete"...globalisation of media has caused nightmares for many countries like China." ... lol.. so true!& while it would be gr8 have accurate news & know everything that's going on around you, I worry about mass hysteria (we've all seen too many movies).
ReplyDeleteBut yes, countries like China & Iran take it too far. Bullies! The Indian media has been coming up pretty strong & that's great!
---i love the digital revolution that Esther talked about---
I agree with Esther that this is indeed more of a nightmare for the government than the citizens. Technology is creating an outlet for citizens whose thoughts might have been supressed to the years to voice out their opinion, and in turn, make others think about it instead of just silently accepting what there is from the government. It encourages change and I do not feel this is necessary a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, for countries that are desperately trying to keep its citizens under control in this day and age, governements are facing an uphill battle everyday.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't to stop them from trying to censor information entering the country, like the banning of websites that spread political propaganda, or encourage revolt.