Media influence, power, Marshall McLuhan, media sociology, freedom of expression, democracy, billionaires, media ownership, infobesity, Rémy Rieffel, totalitarian regime
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Abstract
The media play a significant role in shaping society, influencing individuals, and serving as a tool for power and control. This document explores the concept of media and their impact.
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[...] Do media, as a means of transmitting information, really have a utility? In a context of geopolitical, economic, and ecological crisis, can we really continue to live under the influence of the media? " To what extent can we say that the media are really useful? If it appears at first glance that the media are an essential tool, at the heart of daily environments and lifestyles, they are also often a source of discomfort and conflicts. Humanity is drawn to the media because of its functions that seem, a priori, positive. [...]
[...] Their uses are multiple. In fact, the media, as they are normally the product of freedom of expression, allow in a contemporary framework to ensure a move towards democracy, or the respect of it. Alexis De Tocqueville in De la démocratie en Amérique, [...]
[...] The effects of the medium depend on the scale change produced by each new technology. [...]
[...] When they are under the influence of a state or an important personality, they are no longer truly free. In fact, in the documentary "the B system" which shows the situation of the media owned by Vincent Bolloré, we realize the change that has taken place since their takeover. Thus, Bolloré declares thatthe management of a company of this size requires a bit of terror ». He thus accounts for a vision almost totalitarian of journalism. Since the takeover of iTélé in 2016, then Europe 1 in 2020, V. [...]
[...] Finally comes 'the digital age',the Marconi era», that of electricity and electronics, which extend the nervous system and the brain. It is the era in which man and society are translated into information and in which audiovisual technology enables instantaneous relations between men on a planetary scale. Moreover, this era in which we live today gives birth to what M. McLuhan calls a 'global village'. This implies that new technologies and globalization have created a generalized interdependence. We can no longer live without the media; we need to be 'superficially' in permanent contact with each other. [...]
