PHIL106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Cass Sunstein, Johannes Gutenberg, Google News
PHIL106 Lecture 9- Media, democracy and the public sphere
- Confirmation bias becomes amplified when we can select he inputs of what we see.
- The press is called the press because originally, newspapers were made by the printing
press. (Johannes Gutenberg c. 1450)
- The printing press broke the system of who could speak which was an immediate threat to
the poer of kigs. You eeded a liese to hae oe, the ere dagerous thigs eause
they threatened the control of the elite because information would get out that they
ouldt otrol.
- Contemporary controversies around the internet echo 17th century controversies over the
printing press because of the dangers of uncontrolled communication.
- Case Study: Google News. You can personalise the news that you see.
- Cass “ustei sas: tehology has greatly ireased people’s aility to filter hat they
at to read, see ad hear… you eed ot oe aross topis ad ies that you hae ot
sought out. Without any difficulty you are able to see exactly what you want to see, no more
and no less.
- The dager of this persoalisatio is eig ale to filter out opiios that e hae ot
osidered ad dot ko aout. We aret ale to push out of our digital ofort zoe.
- We set up according to our vision of the world and only reinforce our own ideas of that
world.
- Democracy was invented in Athens, Greece in the 6th-4th centuries and disappeared until the
18th century.
- All of our words to do with democracy come from Greek e.g. dêmos, arche, krátos.
- The revolutions (English-1640, American-1775, French-1789) led to a complete change of the
power belonging solely to the monarchy to the power lying with the people.
- But deora doest alas sta uorrupt ad health.
- The fourth estate: Burke said there were 3 estates in parliament: nobility, clergy and
commoners, but there is a fourth estate- the press gallery. The ideals of the press is that
the are the defeders of the pulis iterest, a idepedet athdog, report ithout
fear or favour and keep abuses of power in check.
- The public sphere: Jurgen Habermas, space in which people discuss and criticise their
society, they have a shared understanding which is the public opinion. The people have a
common concern and influence political action.
- If ou at aage things at the level of discussion, it enhances to violence. This is why
leaders should respect public opinion and be checking in regularly, not just every three
years.
- Marketig ad edia aipulatio a reate the sese of puli opiio or push peoples
views one way of the other.
- I large soieties here e at all eet to deate, e hae to rel o the edia to reflet
what people really care about.
- Ideally the press is used to serve the people and a way to get ideas out in the world but it is
instead used to control public opinion and manipulate the audience.
- The election process has just fallen into marketing: simple message, stick to talking points,
never get too deep into a debate, repeat message over and over.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Phil106 lecture 9- media, democracy and the public sphere. Confirmation bias becomes amplified when we can select he inputs of what we see. The press is called the press because originally, newspapers were made by the printing press. (johannes gutenberg c. 1450) The printing press broke the system of who could speak which was an immediate threat to the po(cid:449)er of ki(cid:374)gs. You (cid:374)eeded a li(cid:272)e(cid:374)se to ha(cid:448)e o(cid:374)e, the(cid:455) (cid:449)ere (cid:858)da(cid:374)gerous thi(cid:374)gs(cid:859) (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause they threatened the control of the elite because information would get out that they (cid:272)ould(cid:374)(cid:859)t (cid:272)o(cid:374)trol. Contemporary controversies around the internet echo 17th century controversies over the printing press because of the dangers of uncontrolled communication. You can personalise the news that you see. Cass u(cid:374)stei(cid:374) sa(cid:455)s: (cid:862)te(cid:272)h(cid:374)ology has greatly i(cid:374)(cid:272)reased people"s a(cid:271)ility to filter (cid:449)hat they (cid:449)a(cid:374)t to read, see a(cid:374)d hear you (cid:374)eed (cid:374)ot (cid:272)o(cid:373)e a(cid:272)ross topi(cid:272)s a(cid:374)d (cid:448)ie(cid:449)s that you ha(cid:448)e (cid:374)ot sought out.
