MEDIA, POWER AND POLITICAL CULTURE

There are four factors of change that have affected media, power and political culture:

1.       The changing character of political publicity and news management: Contemporary television systems with added visual performance have made television a ‘theatre of political performance’. It is not only a ‘theatre of voices’ but also one of faces, bodies and actions.  Politicians and their aides work to get their actions and  their views into the news frame in the most positive possible way and try to limit the impact of opposing views or the damage that follows from reporting of ‘bad events’ that reflect negatively upon their policies and decisions. Television has become a crucial space within which aspects of the political contest become visible and heard by the general public.

2.       The changing profile and tone of political journalism within a changed media economy: Political mediation, including that through journalism, is reflecting some of the broader changes in the media industry, as it becomes more market-driven, competitive and linked to the provision of entertainment. As there is increased emphasis on political personality, there is also increased scope for stories of scandal and flow of political gossip. Combinations of traditional ‘hard’ and new ‘soft’ stories and the extensive use of Internet-based sources, together with email linkage, greatly increases the number of informal routes through which a story can develop. Thus, the relationship between publicity and journalism is an interactive one involving uncertainty and struggle in contributing to relative power, benefit and concession.

3.       Shifts in the nature of ‘citizenship’, in the way that people relate to their rights and obligations within the political system and use the media in this relation: Due to economic development and shifts in social structure and popular culture, the relationship of ordinary people to the official political process has changed in many democratic countries. The increasing emphasis on consumer identity, purchase of goods and services, are significant. The ‘citizen’ role and the ‘consumer’ role have been brought into new kinds of alignment or convergence due to changes in the economic character of everyday life. This has led to a stronger emphasis on ‘consumer identity’.

4.       The consequences of new communications technology: New media technology like television, with its multi-channel system, the internet, etc, play a vital role in the propagation of politics. e.g. Today bloggers have wider independent use of information and commentary to their story building. The broad idea of ‘political culture’ is a useful one for relating different elements in the complex politics-media-people pattern. It gives emphasis to questions of value and meaning and to the baselines of popular experience that the activities of politics and of the media help form and from which they also take their cues and fashion their appeals.

Ref: Media, Power and Political Culture – John Corner in Media Studies – Eoin Devereux,  Sage Publication, 2007.

PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE & TREATY OF VERSAILLES

PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE

The First World War came to an end with the Paris Peace Conference (1919). The representatives of almost all the countries of Europe met at Paris to draw up the peace treaty, but in reality, everything was monopolized by the representatives of the four powers, England, France, Italy and America. President Wilson of America, Prime Minister Clemenceau of France, Lloyd George, Prime Minister of England and Orlando of Italy were the big four of the Peace Conference.

The Paris Peace Conference was made up of five treaties. These were:

The treaty of Versailles – between the Allies and Germany.

The treaty of St.Germaine – between the Allies and Austria.

The treaty of Trianon – between the Allies and Hungary.

The treaty of Neuilly – between the Allies and Bulgaria.

The treaty of Sevres – between the Allies and Turks.

TREATY OF VERSAILLES

The treaty of Versailles is the longest on record. It was signed by Germany on the 28^th of June 1919, in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles. The terms of the treaty were dictated. The German delegation was not allowed to discuss it with the allies. They were simply called to receive it and sign it. The chief provisions of the treaty were as follows:

-        Germany was subjected to a huge war reparation of 300 crore dollars.

-        Germany lost the territories of Alsace and Lorraine to France

-        A lot of territories were taken away from her

-        Germany lost all her colonies. These were distributed among the allies

-        The main aim of the allies was to destroy the military strength of the Germans so the German army was to be reduced to 1-lakh men and officers.

-        The number of guns and battleships were reduced and no submarines to be built

-        The German navy was destroyed

-        German industries were destroyed

-        Germany was charged with war guilt

-        As a guarantee to the fulfillment of the treaty, the Allies were to occupy the left bank of Rhine for a period of fifteen years.

CRITICISM OF THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES

-        The terms of the treaty of Versailles were very severe.

-        There was no representative from the defeated nations. So there were no negotiations.

-        The treaty of Versailles humiliated the Germans. As this treaty was forced on her she started nursing a feeling of revenge, which later leads to the rise of Nazism.

-        The treaty sowed the seeds of the Second World War.

MEDIA & DIASPORA

A diaspora (comes from the Greek word ‘diaspeirein’ which means ‘scattering of seeds’) is a scattered population with a common origin in a smaller geographic area. Diasporas are viewed as comprising members of ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious groups who reside in a number of countries to which they or their ancestors migrated. The identities of these groups are formed over time by complex historical, social, and cultural relationships within the group and with other groups. It is characterized by practice of ancestral customs, language, religious practices and marriage patterns and ease of communication between various parts of the dispersed community.

Communities scattered around the world establish contact with each other and the homeland. Various modes of communication such as postal services, telephone, radio, email, internet, film, television etc have been used over time by diasporic members to keep in touch.

Ethnic Media – While some migrants lost touch with their homeland others almost completely assimilated into larger societies into which they settled. With the development of communication technology, even members of earlier generations who had lost touch with their diasporas now revived relations with the help of new media. Thus they maintained aspects of their ancestral customs and traditions, forms of music and art and at the same time began to integrate into their new settlements.

Newspapers are the most common form of ethnic media with large variations in the form, quality and frequency. Some have well established dailies that compete with mainstream papers; these print media usually have full-scale production facilities and strong advertising revenues.  A good example of this is Diasporic Chinese newspapers such as Ming Pao, Sing Tao and The World Journal. There are estimated to be 55 million ‘overseas Chinese’ living outside China and they are well served in Chinese languages by a variety of media, such as, newspapers, radio, television, film, music and the internet.

Satellite television provides remarkable opportunities for diasporic communities. Al Jazeera has in recent years turned out to be a popular transnational Arabic-language broadcaster. The commercial success of ‘Bollywood’ (Mumbai’s Film Industry) has become known for annually producing the largest number of films in the world. It has responded by including storylines and characters that reflect Indian diaspora. Strong diasporic subscriber bases exist for competing channels such as Zee, Sony, Star Plus and B4U, all of which carry material from ‘Bollywood’. Cable and satellite television providers around the world have realized the viability of ethnic channels and are making them an integral part of their services.

Internet based media suits the needs of diasporic communities the best. Apart from the increasing numbers of linguistic fonts that can be accommodated through developments in software, the structures of electronic systems are able to support ongoing communication in the widely-separated transnational groups. The contents of diasporic electronic communications largely consist of cultural heritage, genealogical, religious, and institutional information.

Thus we can say that print media, satellite television and the internet have provided unique opportunities for inter-continental communities to develop worldwide communication networks. Diasporic connections have become integral to the networks of transnational trade and thus become an intrinsic feature of contemporary international relations and key participants in the contemporary unfolding of modernity.

Reference: Media and Diaspora by Karim H. Karim in Media Studies by Eoin Devereux, Sage Publications Ltd,