Alain de Botton Questions

1) To what extent do you agree with Alain de Botton's views on the News?

News is the most powerful sources and we tend to only concentrate on news that is scares us and shows fear to the audiences. The news "parachutes us to disastrous places" due to familiarity of the area. The news therefore replaces the role of religion as it tells us what to do and how to react. It controls our emotions and feelings. News manipulates  the audience as well; news also shows biased information as we always get negative news.

 2) How can you link Marxism and Hegemony to de Botton's criticisms of the News?

Marxism and hegemony can be linked to de Botton's criticism of the News due to Marxists view of society as being capitalist and class dominated. They also believe that the media promote hegemonic ideology and ensure the dominance of certain classes as de Botton argues that the elite people drown us with news in order for us to accept the status quo.

 3) How could you use Pluralism and new technology to challenge de Botton's views on the News?

A pluralist sees the control of media in an autonomous managerial elite who gives flexibility to media professionals. A pluralist challenge de Botton's view by stating that we get to choose what news we want to consume. We have the option of either watching the news offered to us or producing our own news through citizen journalism.  

4) Choose two news stories from the last six months - one that supports de Botton's views and one that challenges his belief that the News is used for social control.

•  Female technology journalists report abuse is still the name of the game
• Reviews, tweets, Instagram posts: why customers are the new marketers