NDM: Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony

1) Research the Ian Tomlinson case. What would the traditional, hegemonic view of the police be in a case like this? How did new and digital media create a different story? What does the police officer's subsequent acquittal suggest about the power of new and digital media?

The traditional hegemonic view of the police in this case would be a Marxist approach, where the media would've portrayed the police positive and Tomlinson as negative, as the police are seen as the elite class, the more powerful individuals and therefore they would have control over what goes on the media and control how they are being portrayed, this was done on the newspaper. The new and digital media created a different story due to the access of user generated content, where an individual was able to shoot what happened and post it on social media. This therefore showed audiences a reality view of what actually happened at the scene and therefore created a pluralist approach where the elite people in this case were portrayed negatively due to the user generated content that was posted on social media such as YouTube.

 

2) What does the author argue regarding whether hegemony is being challenged by Web 2.0? 

The author argues that the balance has shifter and that Web 2.0 has not switched power from producers to the audience. The author therefore argues that the audience have no longer got to rely upon token access traditional media offered us, such as newspapers or radios. the article states how easily individuals can produce texts themselves such as posting videos on YouTube that therefore become viral, and posting news on social media such as twitter or Facebook which then becomes viral and it becomes shared and viewed or it becomes a trend and many people are then aware of the story you would've published. However, the author argues that it is still early days in the development of user-generated content, where in a few years’ time a net-based audience-produced text would have started having a more distinctive impact on the internet; where user generated content would develop its own codes and convections which differ from traditional media.

 

 3) In your opinion, do new and digital media reinforce dominant hegemonic views or give the audience a platform to challenge them?

 

I believe that new and digital media gives the audience a platform to challenge them, as they now have the power to update stories and use photographic or videos to prove their side of the story which is then taken to be viral. For example, if there was a case of racism, and the elite portrayed the story negatively and was the wrong, any individual as the scene would've taken a photographic view of the issue and proved it online to be wrong and therefore they have the power to challenge stories that have been posted online and therefore becomes a pluralist society where individuals are economically determined, and they have been given a platform to challenge the elite and make it a classless society.