Media and Politics Fall 2017

Quiz with answers

2.1. Democracy

1. Explain what «the public sphere» is

The public sphere is an open (physical or virtual) space,

between the realm of government and the domestic and

commercial spheres of society.

Citizens participate in free discussion and deliberation on

matters of significance to society and its future.

2. Define «imagined communities» and give some

examples

An imagined community is constituted by a sense of shared

identity and membership in a group, as well as of “others”

outside the group.

It’s an imagined communion because the members will never

meet most of the other members of the group.

As such, a nation is an imagined community.

3. Why might the «old» media have a centripetal effect

and “new media” a centrifugal or fragmenting effect?

The “old” represents the days of media scarcity, leaving little

choice for audiences. People read, heard or viewed basically the

same media texts, for instance watching the same TV-programs at

the same time.

Hence; “old” media had a centripetal effect in providing a

common frame of reference, discussion and reflection. Which is

important for the establishment of a public sphere.

“New” media provide an abundance of choice for audiences, as

opposed to the scarcity of the “old” media technology. The

centrifugal effect appears as users choose according to their

diverse and immediate personal interests.

4. What are the main ingredients of “populism” and the

“populist” communication style?

Populist actors use words, signs, and images to present

themselves as as the ultimate outsider / antipolitical superhero

defending an idealized “us” – the people – against a demonized

them/other consisting of established elites.

The discourse in the populist communication style is

characterized by a war-like ethos and plain language that provide

a sense of closeness between leaders and their politically

disenchanted publics, trigger off controversies and and feed on

“elite” reactions, besides reconstructing national narratives to fit

the populist purpose.

5. Explain what is meant by a shift from “regimes of truth”

to “regimes of posttruth”?

“Each society has its regime of truth, its ‘general politics’ of

truth,” according to Foucault.

Hence, “truth” reflects the power to define what it is, as in news

media controlled by elites.

However, in the new media ecology the power to define truth is

fragmented, and therefore there are lots of “competing truths”,

including fact-checkers.

Regimes of “posttruth” appear, as there is no main venue in

which a trusted (by all) authority can definitively debunk false

truths and establish truth.