User talk:SteRos7/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge/Seminar 1/Power

Power in Journalism
Perhaps it is worth noting the significance of the media? Try to contextualise the use of power in the academic discipline of media studies instead of journalism.

Re: Power in Journalism
I did not see this topic when I decided to write my post on the power of the fourth estate. I was pleasantly surprised because your post on journalism serves as a nice complement to my post on the power of the fourth estate. While I talked about the powers of traditional media and journalism, your post talks about the limitations of journalism and the press and its dwindling power in modern times. I believe it is good to understand both sides of the coin. While we should understand the power of journalism, we should also be cognizant of its flaws and its limitations. To add on to your point, I think something to think about is that many people do not trust the news anymore, and it is interesting to think about this shifting power dynamic and landscape.

Power in filmmaking
It could be worth mentioning the power that filmmaking has on a subconscious level, that even though the film might not explicitly be dealing with specific topics, it can still have influences on the audience. E.g. the power that films have to reenforce gender stereotypes by how characters are presented. In the documentary 'Miss Representation' it mentioned that between 1937-2005 there were only 13 female protagonists in animated movies, and only 1 of their story lines didn't involve looking for love. This will have a profound impact on how audiences few female's overtime.

Power in History
To expand a little on your point about history not always being written by the victors, I think there's lots of evidence from even further back, such as the Vikings and Genghis Khan. Contemporary history like the Vietnam War is something that different people definitely have different views on. I feel like it would make a stronger case to bring up more ancient history, because we tend to see that as more set and unchanging.

Also, something interesting I came across was the idea that history is written not by the victors, but by the writers, which sounds silly but is meaningful because very few people were literate throughout most of history. That might be worth addressing as well. Pacific23

Power of Law
Hello, I read your section and found it pretty interesting. Respectfully, there may be a point missing though: 'It is claimed that people are more likely to obey the law when they think the law is legitimate and fair', what if not ? You could maybe post one example of that kind of problem and its resolution (briefly).