Liberalism and the Freedom of the Press - Essay Example

Research Portfolio By (Name) Course Professor’s name University name City, State Date of submission A QUICK OVERVIEW The paper is a portfolio made of three entries written in the form of mini-essays. The first essay entry is on liberalism and the freedom of the press. It critically examines and look at liberalism and its connection to the media, liberal ideas, the theory of neoliberalism and the freedom that the press has in a country. The second essay entry is about media convergence. The essay analyzes media convergence by narrowing on the types and forms of media convergence. These are technological convergence, cultural convergence, and Industrial convergence. The second essay also looks at the relationship and connection existing between the new and old media. For the third entry, the essay is on who controls the internet. The essay determines the origin of the internet, internet governance and the role played by governments in controlling the internet. Finally, the essay further looks at what ICCAN and internet back born involves and their role in the internet service. ENTRY ONE Liberalism and the freedom of press Liberalism is not just the general outlook of the people, but they are clearly defined institutional choices and principles passed by particular politicians and movements in a country. For many years, Liberalism has dominated many debates on the press freedom. It has also been among the amendments of the press in the last decades. The arguments that have always been there are that the courts need to develop the press as an institution not within the government to check on the government branches. Thus, freedom of the press has been a dominant factor in activating the new ways of controlling and activating the needs of a country that is unaccountable. Presently, the liberal doctrine of media practices and institutions have been powerful enough in shaping people’s expectations of its role in the society. The media is considered as the key ways of developing a democratic nation and a system that serves the citizens of a country[Sea141]. The main media facet in the society is openness and pluralistic. When it is privately owned, it is unaffected and not hindered by the regulations and laws of the government that are excessive. Liberal ideas The liberal idea is the main term used in politics around the world and a way to free people see oppression, unnecessary constraint, and arbitrary. It became very powerful and strong as it is common among economists and philosophers. Today, a social vision involves people in a voluntary and contractual relation with a particular government. The theorists who defined liberal aspirations like, Milton and Spinoza, were deeply involved in contemporary arguments. They responded to the challenges, stirring for critical reforms and struggling with constrained problems[Ger11]. Therefore, liberty is the major social right that an individual can have, and it is also the fundamental dignity that a person can possess. Liberalism disallowed the notions of hereditary privilege, absolute monarchy, state religion, and the Divine Kings rights[Jul131]. John Locke, an early liberal thinker, is credited with the development of liberalism as a distinctive philosophical tradition and developed the characteristic of natural rights[Jul131]. Defending the liberty of religious practices, political institutions, artistic and intellectual expression is the responsibility of a state, and it should not impede such freedoms. It only has influence on democratic society’s development. Liberalism thus, has good economic core and encouraged the opinions that any given state need to keep out the societal, economic life. Neoliberalism There has been positive turn in neoliberalism in political thinking and practices. Neoliberalism is a philosophy and not an economic structure. It is very clear in the societal attitudes, the employment, and individual. By referring to nations as corporations is characteristically neoliberal, instead of liberal[Tho11]. Neoliberalism, therefore, is the first case a theory of political-economic practices, which proposes that the wellbeing of human beings can be advanced by liberating personal entrepreneurial skills and freedom within a formal basis described by private property rights, free trade, and free markets[Tho11]. Neoliberalism thus, as a consistent philosophy ranges over an extensive expanse in respect to square bases and normative conclusions. The Freedom of Press Press freedom in the Western world started in the early 1600s and the printing press during the 1400s played a significant role in championing of the freedom of the press. The freedom of expression has, until today been grounded in law[Sea141]. Thus, the free press has been a key liberal idea and an important part of the rights of people. The media function must be evaluated in liberal democracies as a result of changes in political economy and democracies. A liberal democracy is needed as a point of reference for the role of media in the society. Stokes and Carter developed a model of the key elements of democracy that is liberal. For example, the accountability of a government to its citizens and a parliament that can carry out control over the state[Ter11]. All this must be within the rule of law and the media operation need to be examined, looking at the manner in which it connects to the individual freedom. The common opinions on liberal democracies are that the press represents the individuals and hold democracy. The media sell their thinking ways, the way that the word can be talked of. The concept that the freedom of press can restrain the states from suppressing any political comment in traditional or written form in the western countries. For example, in the U.S, the Constitution provides that the Congress cannot make any law respecting an initiation of religion, or barring the free exercise that abridge the freedom of the press or speech[Sea141]. In Australia, there have been many changes in the media. There has been no media role in the federal constitution. However, there is recognition that the media has an essential part to play in the country. The media commercial nature in Australia can compromise the public interest though some individuals complain that cannot happen since the popular form of newspapers started many decades ago. It was acceptable for people to promote freely their social and political views though with some competing media outlets. Tthere were competing and conflicting points that were presented to the public. For example, News Limited in Australia owns 60% of the newspapers in the country[Ter11]. While the plans of the media corporation owners may affect the economic necessities linked with advertising, revenue assists in shaping our media. The main argument existing on the role of media is that under the pressures of new technology, pressures from conglomerate ownership and advertisers is focused ever more on entertainment instead of providing critical information to the individuals of its state. This has raised questions about the legality of the liberal republics if citizens are not able to make a well-versed decision because the press has failed in their responsibility to provide comprehensive and independent information using their constitutional freedom of expression[Mic131]. Therefore, to prevent this, first, the media as a public sphere must provide a forum where people can discuss freely and pinpoint societal issues to influence the public sphere. The distance between the government and the media need to be secured by the use of private conglomerate media ownership. However, the media also need to be regulated especially by the government to reduce and prevent unscrupulous practices so that they can maintain their general standards. The only recognized free media role are the watchdog role, provision of essential information and public sphere facilitation[Ter11]. The media is liable for questioning the state government on the behalf of the citizens. ENTRY TWO Media Convergence There are much disagreement and difficulty in defining the concept of media convergence. Some theorists think that generally, media convergence means a way of bringing together two or more things. Jerkins described media convergence as the flow of different contents in many media platform and maintaining that presently, most media audiences play a significant role in developing and distributing content[Ter10]. Therefore, convergence needs to be seen as a base on technological and social changes in the society. Media convergence is a way of continuing process that is displacing old media. Supporting the argument, Deuse described that media convergence is a collaboration, cooperation between independent media platforms. Marshall and Burnett explained that the concept of convergence is the way media is blended and a ways of uniting the media platforms into digital forms. Terry Flew explanation of media convergence is that it is the interconnection of ICTs, computers, communication networks and the content of media that resulting from the development of Internet popularization and the products, activities and services emerging in the digital space media[Mic131]. However, media convergence is well defined as the interconnection of computer information networks, communication technologies, and media content. It involves the three C’s of computing, content, and communication. This is the effect of media content popularization and digitalization of the internet. Media convergence changes services, industries and work practices to enable new form contents to occur. Thus, media convergence is an ambiguous term describing and analyzing the process of change in various disciplines towards union or uniformity. It involves important approaches to describe, understand and characterize the digital creative economy. Forms of Media Convergence 1. Technological Convergence The technological convergence as a media convergence is well understood. With the global smartphones, the web, computers and smart televisions plus other digital services, many people can today access the content of media that were once tied only to particular communications platforms and media[Ter10]. Instead of concentrating media content in one device, the present convergence expression on multiple devices, continuous connectivity and wireless access to preferred networks of work and personal contacts and entertainment and leisure resources. This has brought liberal freedom in the world today as mass media content is today available in many social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and other social services[Ter11]. Since many media content can be accessed using many devices, the media organizations have created cross-media content. For instance, new organizations are today providing only audiovisual and print content but make the materials available for video, podcast, and text[Mic131]. Such advancement in the media sector has changed journalism through the breach of who is not or is a journalist, between other times and deadlines, between editors and journalists and in content platforms. 2. Cultural Convergence Cultural convergence look to connect the new territory where the old and new media intersect, where corporate, and grass root media collide and where the media producer power and consumer power interact[Ter11]. The explosion of the forms of agency and creativity has been termed as a transmedia model since many people today have the tool to annotate, achieve and appropriate media content. Henry Jenkins, an American media analyst, has dealt with the new media to open up the essential cultural changes taking place in media coverage. He describes that the internet uses their knowledge and intelligence to unearth the secrets of a particular show before being revealed to the public. He further claims that the convergence struggle redefines the face of the popular culture in the U.S. The leaders of industries see opportunities to direct media content across different channels s as to broaden markets and increase revenue. On the other hand, consumers see a liberated public sphere where there is free network control in a media environment that is decentralized. Sometimes grassroots and efforts reinforce each other, constructing closer and more rewarding dealings between media consumers and producers. Sometimes the two forces between media consumers and producers are at war. Jenkins brings a fascinating world introduction where stories get told and sold across many platforms of the media. He describes that the cultural shift that is taking place is because consumers are fighting for control in different channels and transforming the manner in which business is done. 3. Industrial Convergence The industrial convergence can be defined as the blurring between the boundaries manufacturing, medicine, and media[Ter10]. Such blurring process continues to occur as the world continues to go digital. The manner in which companies have emerged, especially from media telecommunications has formed alliances so as to develop new models of businesses, which can profit the increasing consumer expectations and engage in digital media space. The industrial convergence is strongly linked to the singularity concept. The industrial convergence in future medicine may lead to an artificial technology for the human body. However, also the case of future media and manufacturing, where technology will be less and maybe will not be made using plastic or metal chips. Instead, future technologies may be organic, grown instead of being manufactured. A mutual reliance on digital schemes and majorly, the Internet, will continue driving industrial convergence years to come. Old/new media Most media companies have entered into new media environments via acquisitions, mergers and strategic partnerships. Media convergence has always been wrongly celebrated as a marking the early media demise and the emergence of the new internet and social media. The establishment of old media has been dominant as a result of experience and expertise in producing content, aggregating and attracting audiences and expecting changes in consumer expectations and demands[Mor13]. There is many to many and one to one distribution of content in old media compared to old media today or compared to one to many broadcast systems in traditional mass media. Jenkins describes that the proliferation and the growing nature of communications and computing have enabled the world to enter an era where media and media content is available, and people will utilize all the types of media by comparing one another. News skills have been created and developed to manage information, develop new structures for passing information through different channels. Presently, the world is living in a transmedia world, where the media content occurs in all platforms of the media[Mor13]. People watch media contents on screens, read the same contents in magazines, books, digital devices and blog about stuff. The new media has brought new competition and vitality into news, and there has been a diversity of viewpoints and ideas. The old media has therefore been long detached, slow and monolithic, unlike new media where most facts are done online. Thus, the old and new media are converging leading to transformations. ENTRY THREE Who controls the Internet? The internet for many years has revolutionized the communication and the computer world. The invention of the telephone, radio, telegraph set the phase for these capabilities integration[Jef12]. The internet has been a global broadcaster capacity, medium for communication and a mechanism for disseminating information. The internet, therefore, represents the ever notable instances of the commitment and benefits to development and development of information structure. The internet history revolves around the technological changes that started with research on the ARPANET and packet switching[Jam11]. Today, the internet is an extensive information infrastructure. Its history is multifaceted and include many aspects, for example scientific, community and organization. Its influence also reaches the technical computer communications fields and throughout society. Internet Origin The first social interaction that occurred through networking were memos by J.C.R. Licklider. He came up with the concept of Galatic concept that envisioned interconnected computers through which everyone could access programs and data from any site. In 1966, Roberts developed a network concept and put his plan for ARPANET in 1967[Jam11]. The Agency, which was responsible for ARPANET, was DARPA, a branch of the U.S defense department. Robert later refined the structure of ARPANET for the development of Interface Message Processors. SRI was later linked to the ARPANET, the first host to host message. By 1970, four computers were linked into ARPANET, and the growing internet revolution began[Jam11]. By 990s, the facets of the internet looked positive, and the manner in which Internet could be used was so much extended. In 1995, Negroponte Nicholas saw the internet as an essential part discretizing digital and technological revolution[Sea141]. In 1999, the term web was coined to be used in describing the website, which use technology[Ter11]. Internet Governance Most people are familiar with the internet web though some people give thoughts to how the internet is controlled and maintained. Presently, ARPANET as a network of computers is housed in different universities, research facilities and government agencies[Jef12]. People often think that the Internet is a vast network of free information, and few of them pay attention to the protocols and policies that make it to function. However many states feel that this is one thing that need to be controlled by using the laws that govern its use. The web has its way of offering little interference by states and hosting the free contents. Most information policy specialists stress that internet governance is not an institutional hierarchy product, but it arises from the devolved, bottom-up organization of thousands of private-sector units across globally. Often stated as internet stakeholders, it includes server and network operators, domain name registries and registrars, IP address, Internet service providers and standards organization. Civil organizations and governments function alongside the stakeholders in subsidizing to the industrial policies development[Mar08]. The Role played by National Governments Different countries control Internet-related strategies within their borders, for example, prohibiting gambling, protecting intellectual property and blocking or filtering access to particular content. Some dictatorial governments expurgates social and political content as in traditional media. A report by Johnathan Umbell found that Cuba, China, and Iran are the most authoritarian countries based on Internet freedom[Jam11]. More research carried by Umbell provide that most countries in the world experience a decline in the freedom of the internet, including the U.S[Sea141]. It is true to say that most of the people using the internet in the world experience some form internet censorship online. Apparatuses of censorship are the functional websites of websites, search result elimination, legal takedowns, and induced self censor ship. From example, there are human groups in China that state that bloggers create an environment of dread, which discourage radical internet activism. ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers as established in 1998 in contract to the United States Department of Commerce. It is always referred to like the phone book of the internet. ICANN is directed by international directors, who is elected by ICANN community members and has final decision-making authority[Jam11]. Some information plan experts restrain the importance of ICANN in the broad range of Internet-related strategy issues, nonetheless others recognize its characteristic geopolitical import. Thus, ICANN represents a revolutionary parting from out-of-date approaches to global governance. It suggestively reduced the national governments power and intergovernmental organizations power over information and communication policy. ICAN is transnational and one of the points that are controlling the internet. The Internet Backbone The internet backbone is referred to as the physical network that carry the traffic of the internet among different computer systems. In the 9190s, the ARPANET is the one that operated as the backbone of the internet system[Jef12]. For instance, Backbones today are the fiber truck lines. The trunk lines have many fiber optic cables join together to escalate the capacity. The cables of fiber optics are selected OC for the ocular carrier, for example, OC-3, OC-48, and OC-12[Jam11]. There are many corporations, which operate their high capacity backbones, and all interconnect at several NAPs globally. Thus, every person on the Internet can talk to anyone in the world irrespective of their location. The whole Internet is an enormous, sprawling contract between corporations to inter-communicate freely. In conclusion, for instance in Australia and China, the set of websites that have been blocked have been static, and the list of the website are clearly often updated. The Internet filtering exertions has remained opaque, and with no government cooperation and control, the filtering and blocking of the particular website will always remain. This prevents freedom of the internet. The primary and conventional means used in blocking is at IP address level and router level[Jam11]. The government and network authorities across the world are continuing to experiment with other types of blocking and filtering. Bibliography Sea141: , (Aday & Farrell, 2014), Ger11: , (Gerhardt, 2011), Jul131: , (Petley, 2013), Tho11: , (Thorsen & Lie, 2011), Ter11: , (Liu, 2011), Mic131: , (Latzer, 2013), Ter10: , (Flew, 2010), Mor13: , (Morris, 2013), Jef12: , (Tyson, 2012), Jam11: , (Curran, 2011), Mar08: , (Powell, 2008), Read More