Can the media influence politics?

Can the media influence politics? Can the media influence politics? If so, how? If not, why not? There are numerous academic theories as to the relationship between politics and the media, and whether or not one is a dominant partner greatly influencing the output of the other. Some purport that the media hold extraordinary amounts of power in the political arena, however many other believe that the power they wield is in fact minimal (Newton Van Deth, 2009). What cannot be disputed is the idea that the media and its audience are interdependently connected; the media will alter their message to suit a specific audience, while the public are more likely to invest in media which reflects their viewpoints. Generalisation is something which should be avoided when discussing the media’s relationship with politics, as while the term media traditionally may have been used in reference to newspapers and radio or television programmes, (Newton Van Deth, 2009) it now encapsulates social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. There are those who may argue that media simply represe nts the political views of the public, and while that may be true in the cases of social networks, many may challenge its truth in relation to mass media news outlets. In this essay I will attempt to conclude myself as to the extent of influence media has on politics, and evidence how I have come to that conclusion. In the UK, the link between media and politics is undeniable. For a major newspaper to alter its political allegiance is a sizeable change, which would be expected to dominate all forms of media. For example the decision of The Sun, Britain’s most widely circulated newspaper and therefore the focus of my study, to remove its 12 year support for Labour in 2009 created national news, and ultimately forecast the downfall of the Labour government. It is worth noting that The Sun has supported the party that eventually forms the next government in the last 7 General Elections; something which suggests that The Sun hold great influence over the political opinions of their readers. However, in 1997, 2001 and 2005, the Conservative vote was not as effected as one may imagine, with an average32% of Sun readers saying they would vote Conservative through that period (Ipsos MORI, 2010). While this research may suggest that The Sun is a newspaper which will ruthlessly alter its allegiance in order to be on the winning side of an election, I would argue that this is not necessarily the case. In the 1992 General Election for example, The Sun had been consistently anti-Labour and Kinnock, including their infamous ‘If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights’ headline, despite the polls suggesting either a minority Labour government or a very slim Labour Majority. The attacks on Kinnock in the final days of the 1992 campaign were widely regarded as responsible for Labour’s unexpected defeat (McKee, 1995), and even Neil Kinnock himself announced in his departing speech that ‘the Conservative-supporting press has enabled the Tory Party to win yet again when the Conservative Party could not have secured victory for itself on the basis of its record’ (Whitney, 1992). This would be used as an example for the theory of agenda-setting, whereby a media outlet has an opinion which it pushes upon its view ership, and attempts to influence which issues are considered important. Agenda setting is achieved by attaching priority to certain stories which may reflect the opinion which the media outlet wishes to push – in this instance the opinion that a Labour government would have been bad for Britain. Another example of how the mass media have exerted a great influence over British politics, and politics in general is the growth in the publication of scandal within Westminster. Prior to the Profumo Affair in 1963, the media and the public very much stuck to the idea that the private lives of politicians should be exactly that; private. The great public interest in this story however, meant that this affair was the watershed of political scandal, with journalists taking ever further measures in order to reveal the next big scoop. Albeit not immediately followed by a huge stream of revelations, the boundaries of privacy in the lives of politicians had been broken by the media and have not been the same since (Stanyer, 2012). This could be said to be an example of priming with, in the 1990s especially, the scrutiny over the dealings of Conservative politicians from the left-wing press leading to an environment whereby Majors administration was seen to be one full of sleaze and mistru st. This was achieved with revelations such as the Cash for Questions scandal and the backfiring of John Major’s Back to Basics campaign. This is priming as rather than directly stating the conservative ministers were untrustworthy, the media simply dripped out stories to highlight this way of thinking (Newton Van Deth, 2009).The mistrust of Conservatives created by the media environment of the 1990s is perhaps best characterised in the result of the 1997 general election in the historically safe Conservative seat of Tatton, in which the Cash for Questions tainted MP Neil Hamilton lost out to an independent, Martin Bell, standing on an ‘anti-sleaze ticket’ (Mann, 1999). The coverage of scandal can also be used in an argument to suggest that the media has little influence over political thinking. Those who believe in the reinforcement theory which states that ‘mass media can only reflect and reinforce public opinion, not create or mould it,’ (Newton Van Deth, 2009, p. 196) would point to the relatively recent shifts in what journalists publicise in relation to scandal in politics. While prior to the millennium scandal was often focused on the private lives and sexual misdemeanours of the political class, as such behaviour has become normalised in open society, the media has taken less of an interest in it. The public have gone from being shocked by behaviour that may be considered immoral, or not ‘Christian’, to now being shocked by primarily criminal activities. This has directly led to the kind of journalistic research which resulted in the Expenses scandal in 2009. The enormity of this story reflects the moral leanings o f the British people in the 21st century, and was a story picked up by media outlets nationwide – all of which will have held different agendas. Some may say that this proves to an extent that the media cannot control or influence, but merely just publish information which will reinforce public opinion. On a more international scale, it is difficult to ignore the way in which social media forms and revolution have gone hand in hand, specifically in the Arab Spring. It is not a recent idea that the new media of the late 20th and 21st centuries would create new dimensions from which politics can be influenced (Poster, 1995). In Egypt, ‘cyberactivism’ first came to existence in2004, and offered an alternative to the state-controlled media; allowing people to express opinion unpopular with the government. From 2008 onwards, in the shadow of a global economic crisis and an increasingly repressive government, there was a growing number of protests in which a key role has been played by new media forms (Khondker, 2011). It cannot be questioned that social networking was a pivotal player in the organisation and publicising of the protests across the region. One reason for this was the state control of traditional media, which left social media as almost the last voice of the pe ople. On a ground level ‘Facebook was used to schedule the protests’ and ‘Twitter to coordinate’ (Khondker, 2011), and then following on from this traditional media was utilised to present the uprisings to an international audience who in turn supported the uprising. In this case, and similar ones across North Africa, new media held great influence over politics. It mobilised opposition groups, allowing them to build a group identity as well as coherence. The influence that such new media can exert over politics in times of revolution and uprising should not, however, be overstated. It is important to point out that for such events to unfold, certain revolutionary conditions and the inability of the state to react to the actions of the people must be present. In this sense the media is merely a tool of the revolution, not a predetermined necessity for a revolution to occur (Khondker, 2011). Personally I believe that the media, both new and old, does not have a monopoly over the thoughts of the people and instead just provides them with a voice from which their ideas can be spread. The fact that revolutions have occurred throughout history in times before social media, such as the French and Cuban Revolutions, tells me that new media is more of an enabler than a driving force behind such events (Himelfarb, 2011). To conclude, I believe that the influence of the media over politics depends greatly upon the political situation in the region that it is being published. In more politically stable areas, such as the UK, while the media may have a certain agenda their consumers are likely to only access and take note of media that reflects their personal views. Mass media must cater to a certain readership in order to be sustainable as a business, and therefore cannot obviously attempt to mould public opinion. This is evidenced by the fact that in all post war elections but 1, the party with the greatest media support has formed the next government (Butler Butler, 2010). Despite this, the media can play a vital role in influencing politics, as displayed in the aforementioned Arab Spring. I believe this is a sign of the future, in which conventional media will play a comparatively small role to that of social media, in Africa and beyond.

Essay on Escape Mechanisms in The Glass Menagerie -- Glass Menagerie e

Escape Mechanisms in The Glass Menagerie      Ã‚   In Tennessee Williams' play, The Glass Menagerie, each character attempts to escape the real world by creating their own â€Å"reality†. Laura hides from the world by magnifying her illness. Tom convinces himself that his needs supersede the needs of his family. Amanda focuses almost exclusively on the past - when she saw herself as a desirable southern belle. Even Jim focus his hopes on recapturing his good old high school days. Each character transposes their difficult situations into shadows of the truth.   Laura, our fragile daughter-figure, finds herself escaping life at every turn. She induces sickness in her typing class and even as the Gentleman Caller awaits her in the livingroom. Unable to deal with those difficulties, Laura goes to the zoo and walks aimlessly around the city to waste time. Frightened of interacting with people, she looks to her collection of glass animals as a place of secure acceptance. Laura clings to the fear that she is strange and crippled though she herself exacerbates the reality of that. Magnifying ...

Child Development Through Education Essay -- School Teaching Education

Child Development Through Education One important aspect of any person’s life is their education. Children start with their education as early as the age of three. They are put into some form of schooling. The general pattern of schooling for all children is preschool, elementary school, middle school, highschool, and some may choose to go on to college. Each level of schooling is very important for its own particular reasons. The entire education process plays a vital role in each individual’s life. People grow emotionally, socially, psychologically, and intellectually throughout their childhood and adolescent years. Factors that lead to this are their enrollment in school, the people they come in contact with through school and the success they achieve over the years. Each level of education will be examined and the development of a child through each of these stages will be further explained. Children can be labeled the term preschoolers when they are between the ages of three and five. Even though they still seem like babies, this is a time when all young children are most rapidly growing and going through many changes in all areas of development. Most motor skills are mastered. They start to cognitively understand classes and relationships. They absorb an abundant amount of information about their social and physical worlds. At the early childhood stage, the cognitive development is language acquisition. This involves both oral and written communication. Physical development is of large and small muscle groups. Large muscle development is the development of motor skills such as running or throwing, which involve the limbs and large muscles (Slavin). Small muscle development is the development of dexteri... ...wer kids show up late for class (Hopkings). With all this information documented it shows the true importance of parent involvement in education. The more involved the parents are, the better off each child will be. Throughout the years spent in schooling, a lot of changes occur. The development process is particular for the many stages throughout one’s education. Each level builds on developments from the previous level. Support from family, friends, teachers and fellow classmates is needed for the proper development of each individual. Because this process takes up much of your childhood and early adult life, it makes it even more important to get off to a good start at a young age. Each child should be given the opportunity to go to preschool and continue through high school. Support is needed all the way through in order to reach success.

Essay --

I believe that each and every child is unique and special in their own way. No two children are the same, therefore their behavior will not be the same and the way they respond to guidance will not be the same. However, all children want and need to be treated with love and respect. How you treat at child from a very early age will create the foundations of their self-esteem and self-worth. Children need to know that they are cared about by their teachers and they also need to feel safe and secure when they are at their school. As an early educator, it is my responsibility to demonstrate the rules of the classroom and continue to enforce them. I believe that if children are aware of the rules and know the appropriate way to treat one another from the very beginning, you will have a positive classroom environment with minimal misbehaving. I strongly believe that a child should never, under any circumstance, encounter emotional, verbal, or physical abuse. They should, at all tim es, be treated with respect and kindness. I believe in positive guidance and discipline strategies, having a supportive physical environment that can guide children’s behavior, and learning about feelings, friends and that their teachers are supporting them. Positive discipline strategies begin with the adult’s behavior with good limit setting and clearly communicating those limits to the child. They also include teaching more appropriate behavior such as, giving clues for the new behavior, giving choices, and supporting children in their new behavior. Positive guidance and discipline also include changing something about a situation, and ignoring behavior when it is fitting. Setting limits with children can be difficult and time consuming. Doin... .... It is also very important to build a strong feeling vocabulary because emotions can be very hard to understand. As teachers all we want for our children is to be cared about, respected, and successful. Implementing the proper discipline strategies has a giant role in this. I cannot express enough how important it is to show your children respect and love while still showing them that there are rules and limits that they are to follow. How a child is treated at a young age affects them for the rest of their lives. As an early educator you are creating the foundations for that child’s future. Using positive behavior strategies will help that child excel in academics and everyday life. Disrespect and abuse are never the answer; there is always a positive and respectful way to handle any behavior situation. Children are little humans, they deserve your best!

Playing Sports Essay

Ever since I started playing tennis, I noticed that I have been less aggravated and also a feeling of â€Å"calm† after each game. Whatever was bothering me that day becomes a faint memory. Have you been looking for a way to relieve stress, get some exercise, and make some new friends? Then try playing a sport. It does not matter if you are a child or an adult. Becoming involved in sports is an excellent way to stay fit and relieve stress. You can get out and have some fun while getting healthy. It also can be a way to bring your family together. Playing sports together and being health together. Playing sports can be beneficial for your mental and physical health. Playing some sports can be fun and help support your physical and mental health. Participating in most sports can help reduce stress, promote physical and mental health, and encourages social skills. Involving yourself in a sport strengthens your heart and all your other muscles while having lots of fun. First, let’s talk about how a person can reduce stress by playing a sport. No one has to tell you how stressful day to day life is. Stress is a major health concern to everyone. Every day people in the world battle with stress and look for ways to relieve it. Being active in a sport is one of the ways to reduce stress. According to the Mayo Clinic, â€Å"one way to take control of the stress in your life is through physical activity. Being active can boost your feel-good endorphins and distract you from daily worries. † While playing sports, a person can focus on the game being played and not on their worries. Getting into the game and taking out your frustrations on the game can also manage stress. I personally know from experience that stress can be relieved through exercise. I exercise 4 to 5 times a week. I feel great before and after the workout. Exercising just makes you feel good about yourself! Playing sports sometimes changes your mood and puts the focus on the game. Physical activity helps to bump up the production of your brain’s feel-good neurotransmitters, called endorphins. (Mayo Clinic)The physical activity of sports can reduce tension and help the player relax and get in a better mood. Playing a simple game like ping pong can get your mind off of what’s stressing you. Next, physical and mental health can be maintained through playing sports. Playing sports can provide a form of exercise. Depending on the exercise what kind of benefit your body receives. Exercise through sports can improve your heart health. When playing sports, your body receives exercise needed to build endurance and strength. (Isports2012) Staying active helps keep health problems away from your body. Playing sports can also help maintain weight, strength, and increase stamina. (Manali Oak2012)Sports like soccer are good for your heart and improve body tone. When playing a game like basketball, dribbling, changing direction quickly and passing are performed at different rates of speed which can improve some one’s body coordination, agility and balance. Kicking the ball and receiving the pass from someone improves your hand to eye coordination. According to the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace states that young people can benefit from physical activity as it contributes to developing healthy bones, efficient heart and lung function as well as improved motor skills and cognitive function. Mental health can also be helped through playing sports. It encourages you to be your best, help with concentration, build confidence, and build leadership skills. Playing sports can help a person deal with loss and disappointment. Sports also help boost self –esteem. (Rachel Nelson2011) Also playing a sport can produce many opportunities to increase your confidence and self-esteem, and help to reduce anxiety. Playing sports can also reduce depression. When becoming active in sports, a person has to focus on the game and does not have time to think or worry about outside issues. All of the person’s energy is focused on the game. According to Vanderbelt, â€Å"In a study by DiLorenzo, Bargman, Stucky-Ropp, Brassington, Frensch, and LaFontaine (1999), the conclusions showed that exercise helped with depression both short-term and long-term. The experiment took 111 adults randomly assigned them to two groups. One group was to use bicycle ergometry twenty-four minutes a session, four times a week for twelve weeks. The other group was to do the same exercise but forty-eight minutes a session, four times a week for twelve weeks. By the end of the twelve weeks, DiLorenzo et al. were able to conclude that not only were physiological benefits occurred, such as a stronger heart, but also psychological improvements were made, specifically with depression. The long-term effects of this experiment showed an overall improvement both physically and mentally which was still present a year after the experiment had occurred. It is important to note that in most experiments the findings suggest that exercise helps minimize one’s depressions but there is little scientific evidence stating that exercise can prevent depression. † Sports also play a positive role in emotional health, and helps build social connections, often having opportunities for fun and self-expression. Sports teach you to interact with people, communicate with them and work together as a team. Playing sports can be beneficial to learning social skills. When participating in a sport, working as a team, helping each other out, having good times and the bad times are ways people learn how to support and help others through sports. It helps maintain focus on team goals, instead of personal goals. Building a great team and having fun at the same time is a great reason to play a sport. Sports can improve social skills in adults through leadership and making and keeping new friends. Being a captain on a team or the coach can help with leadership skills. Team mates can become friends. Improving social skills in children can be a task. With sports, it can become a little easier. Playing sports improve teamwork, which can help children learn to work better with one another. While playing sports, people learn what is best for the group instead of just for themselves, and they learn to be friends with people from other backgrounds. When participating in a sport, teammates can be from different races, have different personalities, religions, and sometime genders. Interaction with different teammates can result in lasting bonds. Eventually, a person can move forward and accept a person who may not look or act the same as themselves and treat other teammates as equals. Participating in sports helps adults and youth with the excitement of winning and the bittersweet feeling of defeat. When a team loses a game, a player can have some ill feelings, including disappointment, frustration and anger. Sports allow adults and youth to better handle non positive feelings. After learning how to manage some of these emotions, players can use the same skills learned in sports in apply them to other situations in their life. Also confidence can be improved in adults and children through playing sports. Winning a game is an example of how sports can increase confidence. Playing a sport helps a person feel like they are a part of something. That alone can help motivate and help boost some ones confidence. Being a part of something or a team can boost the confidence in anyone. As you have read, playing sports can increase your overall physical and mental health. Playing sports increases your health, while having fun, being active, and making new friends. Just a few hours a week can be beneficial to your health. There are many types of sports to play that will offer health benefits. People, who have not been active in a while, should contact their doctor first, before participating in high impact sports. You can hurt your body when you just jump right into a high pact exercise. It does not matter if it is tennis, football, or soccer. Being active in sports helps your body. Playing sports affect your health long term when you stay active. Sports help keep your heart and mind healthy. Overall, sports help personal abilities, general health and self-knowledge. Getting out at least 3 days out of the week to play a sport is a reasonable way to stay active through sports. You can contact your local sports club, recreational center, or YMCA for information on playing sports, joining a team, and the benefits that they offer. Everyone needs to relieve some type of stress or be in better shape. Why not pick up a sport and have fun doing both! References 1. http://www. sportanddev. org/en/learnmore/sport_and_health/the_health_benefits_of_sport_and_physical_activity/ 2. http://www. onlymyhealth. com/health-benefits-playing-sports-1290074521 3. http://www. acefitness. org/blog/412/americans-coping-with-stress-anxiety-find-relief, Americans Coping with Stress & Anxiety Find Relief with Exercise, Posted September 12, 12:00AM in ACE Press Releases 4. KOLATA,G. ( 2008, March 27). Personal Best, Yes, Running Can Make You High, The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com 5. DiLorenzo, T. M. , Bargman, E. P. , Stucky-Ropp, R. , Brassington, G. S. , Frensch, P. A. ,& LaFontaine, T. (1999). Long term effects of aerobic exercise on psychological outcomes. Prev Med, 28 (1), 75-85. 6. http://www. un. org/wcm/content/site/sport/home/unplayers/coordinationmechanisms/interagencytaskforce 7. http://www. djlah. net 8. http://healthpsych. psy. vanderbilt. edu.

The Art Of Beautiful Women

ProposalI give attempt to display the comparison of the acculturations that promote the Barbie doll and the goals that produce the Venus de Willendorf. piece talking ab let out the two glossinesss, I get out describe some fire but common themes the Paleolithic grows and the advanced culture encounter what our upst wile culture has embraced and those things that it has deserted of which the Paleolithic culture in high regards. Meanwhile through my proveions I willing show how practically of our field projects assume changed from an era of the Venus de Willendorf to the new-fashioned world quite a little of what the root wordl charr should look like and how the view of salmon pink should not be as monotonic as the modern culture makes it out to be.OutlineIntroductiona.) Only the eye beholder female genital organ see the maneuver of handsome women, this notification can be proven by looking at different cultures passim the history of our times. The art of be autiful women is much more that what she looks like, it is also what a womans frame can stand up as well as what her body can produce. Womens bodies are moreover the expression of the women we allow to live intimate them. permit that woman be free. Let her shine. And know that the house in which she lives will always be as beautiful as she believes it to be. Previous cultures shows us what our modern culture tends to ignore. frameb.) Common ideas amidst the Paleothic culturess view on beauty verses our modern social clubs view.I.) A common idea on the views of beauty between the Paleothic culture and our modern guilds view is that both cultures tend to admire a womans beauty to each one in their own way. c.) A fight of differences between the views of beauty of the Paleothic culture and the modern world.II.) The main difference between the culture of our past and todays golf-club is that of surface and shape of a woman. In the Paleothic culture, the ideal shape of a wome n is believed to have been rather a large size woman, she would be considered volumpsous. Although todays society dictates that women of this era should be thin, big converge and well preserved. ConclusionThe main prey that was intended for discussion of this paper was to discuss the different women idols that are famous in todays era as compared to the Paleothic era. The significance of women has changed with the passage of time on with the roles and responsibilities that were fulfilled by them previously. There is a major difference between the idealizations of art of beautiful of women in the Paleothic culture and the art of beautiful women that is referred to in todays society.Some of the roles that women share from both eras were that women were depicted as some illuminate of sex symbol, and important enough for world child bearing. The role that the Barbie play in todays society will be researched in order to look for the societal, political implication of idols to ident ify the similarities and differences between the earliest known civilization and the culture of today s era.

Animal Farm, Snowball Essay

He conduct a revolution, became a scapegoat, and was exi lead from his home lane. This person was Leon Trotsky, a Russian Marxist revolutionary. In the novel fauna Farm, Trotsky came out through and through a pig named Snowb every last(predicate). throughout the novel, Trotsky is brought up more and more through snowball. Leon Trotsky is repre moveed through increase by the many vitality events they had in common. increase was chased international from the kick upstairs and became an exile by cat sleeps trained dogs. In Trotskys life, he too became an exile from his home.He sent away and banned from returning. In addition, Napoleon claimed that all the ideas that had come from snowball were actually all his cause creations. One of them all but closed his jaws on Snowballs tail, but Snowball whisked it free just in time. Then he put on an senseless spurt slipped through a hole and was seen no more(68). This is a quote from the scene where Snowball becomes banned from the fa rm. After Snowball takes charge oer the farm for some time, his comrade, Napoleon comes to despise him.Snowball and Napoleon never agree on anything. Napoleon did not want the animals to side with Snowball, he of all time argued against Snowballs ideas and was never friendly towards him. What also went on was Napoleon, presentation his hatred for Snowball, examined the layouts Snowball had made for the aerogenerator and urinated over the plans. Napoleon showed his disgust by urinating on something that was central to Snowball. looked closely at every detail of the plans indeed suddenly he Napoleon lifted his leg, urinated over the plans, and walked away(65).Obviously the action that Napoleon just commit shows hatred for Snowball. After Snowball was gone from the farm, he became a scapegoat for Napoleon. It was suddenly Snowballs fault that the windmill had collapsed. Napoleon needed a reason for it to prevail fallen, and who better to blame than Snowball, that way the animals would want penalize by building a stronger one scarcely what Napoleon wanted. In addition, it was announced that Snowball had been mouse onto the farm to steal corn, break eggs and what not. whatsoever bad thing that occurred was automatically put on Snowball by Napoleon. Whenever anything went wrong it became usual to portion it to Snowball(88). With hardly ever any proof, Snowball was always the scapegoat. In conclusion, it is obvious how Snowball went through the events of Leon Trotskys life. From having his ideas stolen to becoming a scapegoat, he led the life of a famous revolutionary leader, though it wasnt a very good life, he made a big impact on all of his comrades and will never be forgotten.