Censorship

Does censorship really protect society? Or is it just another convenient way for the government to conceal information that may effect society's thought on the matter? Take for example the Vietnam war, with all the media censorship being carried out, the citizens at home were mainly informed of victories and less about the tragedies and amount of soldiers who perished, leaving society with patriotic views about the war (the syringe effect). Because of all this censorship, the American society was, in other words, "blinded" into thinking that they were winning the war with almost no loses of lives, and when Pearl Harbour was hit, the citizens didn't understand how that was possible and only then started questioning the government and its objectives

Contra Flow in Global Media

As communication technologies develop, so do the different trends in the way of world communication. We can look at four main trends such as Digitalization, which talks about the technologies for the proccessing and transmission of information in a computerized and identical language, for example, the internet. Another trend we can look at is Consolidation, the way in which signals that may use the same language are able to change their exteriors and transfer information from one technology to the next. For example, third generation cellular phones having the option of using the internet through them. The next type of trend is Deregulation, bringing communication to a global level by having different countries surrender their regulations and accept information flow from other countires. Finally we have Globalization as the last trend, resulting in Culteral Imperialism from the enormous flow of global information

Public vs. Commercial Broadcasting

The main goal of public broadcasting is to improve society by keeping citizens informed and involved. This is a type of broadcasting were the viewer decides what information he/she is exposed to, it is free of government and advertisers interests, and in this way, serves minorities and leaves the broadcasting accessable to all citizens including minority groups. We can connect this with the Libertarian Model which talks about the ultimate way in which the media and the government cooperate with one another with cultures being intertwined and the main aim of the media is to inform. This is a model which leaves the govermnet and media open to criticism

Minority Media

Every society has its minority groups but it is found that the presentation of these minority groups can be improved. For example, the gay society in Israel is considered a minority, but in comparison with the Orthodox minority, or the Ethiopian community, most people in the gay community are of high economic status, giving them more power to represent themselves, as done so in the "Love Parade" that was held in Tel-Aviv in May, receiving a great amount of media exposure. The main way in which minorites are able to present themselves and make majorities more aware is mainly through media exposure. Making majorities aware of the minority communities, slowly increases the acceptance in society

Criticism on Media

Does the media reflect what serves society's best interest or is it a mere diversion to present information that is convenient and serves the media's needs? Society, media and the government are all linked in that they all serve one another and help one another exsist by contributing information to society. We can ascribe this problem with the problems of the Libertarian Model which talks about multiple ownerships by organizations and a clash of interest dictating an opinion over another opinion because its suits the ownership more, and not because it is a relevant argument. This minimizes the freedom of the press, for example, a journalist that was part of Ma'ariv wanted to publicize an article giving negative information about the owner of the newspaper, Nimrodi, and because of that he was fired

Authoritarian theory

According to McQuail, through the normative theory, the linkage between society and the media is presented with explanation of how the media is required to present itself. One of the main problematic features with this is with the numerous sources of media, and its concentrated ownership, the information and opinions are reduced. Before South Africa entered a new democratic era, during the Aparthied era, British colonialists first imported the concept of free speech, but this was not really the case. Free speech was only allowed when exalting the Apartheid regime. Anyone who tried to oppose this was usually brought to the supreme court (government controlled by the Apartheid) and given an exaggerated sentence, example: Nelson Mandela imprisoned on Robben Island for eighteen years, or "dealt with" and never seen again. This coincides with the Authoritarian theory which talks about the press being subordinate to the goverment and the ruling party