John Lloyd claims that in his opinion the media far from maintaining its role as the 4th estate is undermining it.
He argues that
the media are now everywhere undermining democracy – by proposing and boosting a “democracy” of their own, through votes for winners in talent contests, or for those who must leave a Big Brother house or island. Or through making a game of politics. This is contentious: but the proofs lie in the use by television, and the internet, of the means of democracy – voting, association in groups for common purposes, political argument – for the ends of show business.
and
The nature of the democratic systems operated by democracies both old and new, are based on two types of citizenship involvement. The first is minimal: it is the once-in-a-while vote for a representative, for a chamber either near or distant. The second is intense: it is the labour put in, by activists, to ensure that parties continue to exist, to operate and to attract support.
and Lloyd claims both are in decline
For Lloyd the evidence is everywhere
1.the rapid spreading of networks of relationships, through Facebook and MySpace, in which the currency is the revelation of the private self, not participation in the public sphere
2.the dominance of television – not new, but always growing – in national elections, and in the ever greater importance, to the political class and the politically active and aware, of the analysts and opinion-formers who judge performance
3.the explosion of websites and blogs and the creation of a world of commentary, one of whose major themes is contempt for politics and journalism which puts boundaries on the investigation of public figures’ private life
4. the enormous and still spreading popularity of the “platforms” – for game shows, reality TV and celebrity programmes, most of these containing some element of voter choice, and usually involving the continued participation of one or more of the participants in the programme
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