Week Eight - Big Politics

In recent years, media has become less of an outlet for free speech and an investigative force, but rather, another cog in the wheel of big business third parties. The recent media take over bids by mining magnat Gina Rinehart demonstrate the power the media holds in the political landscape. Modern politics runs with the media cycle, with all political figures having their own media teams (see images) who monitor the politico-media atmosphere intensely. I feel this relationship between the media and politics has it's advantages (encouraging transparency, enhancing the spread of information) but I also feel that there are serious implications that have dramatically impacted on the way in which politics is being run, and will continue running (Lessig 2010). There is great concern that modern politics is turning into a contest of personalities, not a contest of national interests and social growth. Politicians are now constantly on show, all their actions, both public and private are under public scrutiny.

Image 1
John Howard with media minder before a live TV interview in Melbourne 1987.
Source: Chapman (2007), Campaign.

Image 2
Paul Keating with media minder on 'The Today Show' 1996.
Source: Chapman (2007), Campaign.

Image 3
Kim Beazley receiving advice from MP Stephen Smith and staffer Tracey Aubin before the 'Sunrise' show 1998.
Source: Chapman (2007), Campaign.

Image 4
Julia Gillard with media minder. Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Image 5
Tony Abbott with media minders. Source: http://samuelgordonstewart.com/

Politics has become its own media industry, reinforcing its values through the use of new media and public campaigns. Most notably, this campaign:

Source: http://galusaustralis.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/kevin07.jpg

Which subsequently became this after the election loss:

Source: http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2010/06/21/1225882/345211-kevin-o-039-lemon.jpg

But how has all this changed the political landscape? Both in Australia, and abroad, the relationship between media and politics has had a dramatic effect. The role of the media internationally has been credited as the driving force behind change in unstable nations such as Egypt, Syria and Russia. Through these global examples, Karl Quinn, in his article in the Sydney Morning Herald, highlights how the shift in focus from politics to media has meant that it is now the media that dictates our social, political and cultural agenda. He cites the recent Kony 2012 phenomenon as an example of the "transformative power" (Quinn 2012) of the media, and how the media behind this campaign has triggered a political response. The power shift has bore a new form of politics; big media-fueled, third-party-backed politics. Our world is no longer shaped by the decisions of our politicians, but by the decisions these politicians make on the basis of the media surrounding them.


It has always fascinated me when people post their political views on social media. I find announcing one's political views to be tantamount to announcing one's salary. I'll use elements of the 'Big Politics' topic in my research project as social media users who announce their political inclinations often do so to appeal to a certain audience and to shape their online persona around this audience. The awareness of the online persona and the ways in which social media users self-censor in an attempt to form their online persona shows the link between the media, the media-user and the world around them.

Just as a side note, it is interesting to see that on the Kony 2012 site, there is a section called "The Culturemakers". It looks like this;

The images are captioned by the phrase "When they speak, the world listens". It seems bizarre that people who are famous for singing lines such as "she woke me up daily, don't need no Starbucks", "I want whatchu want" and "rah rah ah ah ah roma roma ma" have more political sway and a greater ability to organise global movements than any of the world leaders (even Obama doesn't appear on the Culturemakers list).






References


(Images 1 - 3) Chapman, A. (2007) Campaign: a photographic odyssey through Australian political campaigns from 1971 to present, Tandem Publishing, Victoria.


Lessig, Lawrence (2010) ‘Against Transparency: The perils of openness in government.’<http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/against-transparency?page=0,0>

Quinn, K. (2012) "The good, bad and ugly of social media", March 10, <http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-good-bad-and-ugly-of-social-media-20120309-1upv3.html>

(Image 4) http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/day-1-as-pm-hopefuls-list-priorities-20100820-138yi.html


(Image 5) http://samuelgordonstewart.com/2012/02/the-view-from-the-lawns-of-parliament-house


http://www.kony2012.com/