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Introduction to Anglophone Cultural Studies. Session 8: Media and the Public C. Meyer & O. Simons. “Media have become the primary focus and force for today‘s public sphere” (Butsch 3). “It is because the media are the eyes and ears of the general public.”. Free Speech Jurisprudence….
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Introduction to Anglophone Cultural Studies Session 8: Media and the Public C. Meyer & O. Simons “Media have become the primary focus and force for today‘s public sphere” (Butsch 3)
“It is because the media arethe eyes and ears of the general public.”
Free Speech Jurisprudence… Jeder hat das Recht, seine Meinung in Wort, Schrift und Bild frei zu äußern und zu verbreiten und sich aus allgemein zugänglichen Quellen ungehindert zu unterrichten. Die Pressefreiheit und die Freiheit der Berichterstattung durch Rundfunk und Film werden gewährleistet. Eine Zensur findet nicht statt. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The English Bill of Rights • 1689: English Bill of Rights, • one of the fundamental documents of English constitutional law • intended to address the rights of citizens as represented by Parliament against the Crown. “That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.” • http://www.constitution.org/eng/eng_bor.htm
Freedom of Press in the US • During the American Revolution: free press identified as one of the elements of liberty • The Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) proclaimed that • "the freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but by despotic governments." • Similarly, the Constitution of Massachusetts (1780) declared, • "The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state: it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this commonwealth."
The Bill of Rights (US) • The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution • First Amendment: • Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. • James Madison • 1st US Congress in 1789; came into effect on December 15, 1791, when they had been ratified by ¾ of the States
The Bill of Rights… limits the powers of the federal government of the US protects freedom of speech, […] the heart of the constitutional debate was not what freedoms Americans held sacred but whether the government proposed by the Constitution would protect or usurp them the First Amendment cares nothing for a fair and balanced press Freedom of expression: legal concept distinct from the right to “open justice” Press freedom: constitutional right or cultural assumption?
Questions of Today’s Lecture: • Term: Medium/Media? • Early modern media, modern media… developments? • What are public spheres? • Are media “Public Spheres”? • What is the role of the media and/in times of war? • “Do the media enjoy a status separate and distinct from individual rights of free expression, exercising those rights collectively?”
The Media… The press/ The media (metonymy): • The print media (e.g. newspapers), • Also: electronic media (e.g. television, computer), optical/visual media (e.g. photography and film), • “The main means of mass communication, esp. newspapers, radio, and television, regarded collectively; • the reporters, journalists, etc., working for organizations engaged in such communication” (OED). • public function of certain media
Medium/Media Polysemy of signs (more than one meaning); the lexem medium Medium – Etym. (from the OED): • classical Latin medium middle, center, midst, intermediate course, intermediary • Something which is intermediate between two degrees, amounts, qualities, or classes; a middle state • intermediary • carrier of signs… • carrier: a means of, for example, saving information (Speichermedien) • communication • producing/saving/mediating/constructing knowledge
Media Examples Primary media: • Voice, gestures, our senses, mimic (and natural media such as light waves or sound waves, etc.) Secondary media: • E.g. Images, print, letters Tertiary media: • Media that are dependent on technical devices and innovations, e.g. telegraph, telephone, radio, television, computer
Media Media: • processes of thinking (and understanding) • ideas of community (Price 64) • Transmission/distribution of information • lifestyle • storage of information (trans-generationally) • production of knowledge Media: • Economic consequences • Cultural consequences • The military
Medial (R)-evolution(s) 3500BC: Papyrus (Egypt) 775BC: Greeks develop a phonetic alphabet (written from left to right) 950: folded books replace paper rolls in China 1200: European cloisters communicate by means of a postal letter system 1298: Marco Polo describes the usage of paper money in China 1309: paper is imported to England; paper makes possible a market for cheap ‘books’ – supplied by writing manufactory 1423: Chinese method of block printing is established in Europe; 1448: Johannes Gutenberg; in England: William Caxton
From Paper to Parchment: Beginning of Book Market • Before paper parchment (skins of animals) were the expensive medium of book production • Paper led to commercial book market (monasteries and professional scribes copied books on demand) in the 15th century • Printing followed to mechanize the production in the 1470s
Early Modern Media: 1) Printing & the Book • Printed book the first mass product • Editions (of identical copies) can be quoted by naming title, publisher and year and page • Critics can refer to books • Readers can buy the same books • They can (with scientific titles) access them in libraries • The sciences and theology created debates with roles like author and critic • Reformation spread with the new book market
Early Modern Media: 2) Pamphlet, tract • A small publication • Typically without author • Often referring to other another recent pamphlet (“entitled…”) • Advantages • Published within a day or two – medium of direct reaction on recent publications • Irresponsible: if the edition turns out to be problematic, publisher can claim • He bought the copies from a colleague • Someone brought the manuscript and even paid for the publication without leaving his name • Disadvantages • Libraries do not store these tracts, long term influence needs other media
Early Modern Media: 3.1) The Newspaper(s) • Develops out of individual news sheets printed on individual occasions (a recent catastrophe…) to papers exploiting the post traffic three to six times a week • Netherlands: become central market of French papers read all over Europe • Monarchs and political groups inform papers to create European public sphere on their behalf • Papers print news without editorial commentary • Evaluation offered in political journals and daily analysis of the papers • Papers copy each other • First line: place and date (tells you how long the information needed to reach you) • The Hague to London a couple of days • Paris to London a week
3.2) The Newspaper, cont’d • 1620: first English-language newspaper, • Corrant out of Italy, Germany, etc. published in Amsterdam leads to Corante, or weekelynewes from Italy, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bohemia, France and the Low Countreyspublished in England 1623 • 18th century: Several papers on British isles, several in London, 3-4 issues per week • Censors can close shops (newspapers re-appear, are hence vulnerable as censors know where the next issue is to appear): foreign news are the safe business • Special situation in London • free press of 1690s allows daily papers to become platforms of press wars: 1702-1735 : The Daily Courant London’s first daily newspaper • Morning an evening papers invented to have reactions within a day (early 18th century)
Early Modern Media: 4.1) The Journal • Develops in the 1670s and 1680s as a medium reflecting the print market • Three branches of journals • Scientific (“literary”): offer reviews of latest scientific publications (including history and religion) • Political: offer reflections on latest politics (cf. Defoe’s Review), focus on newspapers • Fashionable: Mercure Gallant (gossip, songs, stories, entertainment) • Journalist as commentator not responsible for subject matter
Early Modern Media: 4.2) The Journal Read Defoe‘s Review at http://www.defoereview.org/ • In the hands of single persons offering their views • Resemble modern blogs • Personal viewpoints even if author remains anonymous (“Mr. Review”) • Early modern journalists: • Pierre Bayle, Rotterdam (Sciences, Theology, History) • Daniel Defoe, Delarivier Manley, Jonathan Swift, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, London (Politics, Fashion, Society) • MagareteDuNoyer, The Hague, international politics • Several German university scholars who lead from sciences to belles lettres, “schöneLiteratur” as topics (from Gundling to Lessing)
Early Modern MediaProblem 1: Cope with omnipresent Censorship • Division of work • Papers specialise on foreign news • Journals offer commentary on news and books • Pamphlets create direct fast interaction • Books (take longer to be produced) react on each other (read prefaces) and are reviewed in journals • Options to deal with censorship • Use a Dutch publisher (untroubled by censorship laws) and publish in French • Publish in neighbouring territories of same language (Germany) • For authors: to use a pseudonym or write anonymously • For publishers: to offer misleading (published by Pierre Marteau, Cologne) or no imprints (“sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster”) • Development of further division of work with mere print shops (who do not act as responsible publishers) and trade-publishers who take responsibilities (without having any machinery the authorities could confiscate)
English Freedom of the Press “That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament.” http://www.constitution.org/eng/eng_bor.htm • 1641 Star Chamber abolished – end of licensing system that had kept print in check • 1689: English Bill of Rights, • one of the fundamental documents of English constitutional law • intended to address the rights of citizens as represented by Parliament against the Crown.
Early Modern MediaProblem 2: Irresponsible Market • Who is responsible? • Authors sell manuscripts, not connected to the rest of the process • Publishers responsible, yet difficult to sue • How do you protect individuals against anonymous personal attacks? • Libel law not prepared for private calumnies spread by press (personal duels fought illegally, law suits were legal platform to react on personal attacks) • News difficult to verify due to long travel times
Early Modern MediaExample 1: John Dunton’s Private Affairs John Dunton, publisher in London in the 1690s publishes (among other things) • the problems he has with his wife (both divorce and reconciliation) • the conflicts he has with colleagues of the Dublin book trade • a little book on himself – The Art of Living Incognito (1700) in which he poses as man who loves his privacy
Early Modern MediaExample 2: Defoe’s (Ir-)responsible Pamphleteering Daniel Defoe • Publishes The Shortest Way with Dissenters (1702) in which he (a dissenter) poses as Tory and recommends to hang all dissenters • Tories have to distance themselves from the anonymous party member • 1703 Defoe punished at the pillory after turning out to be the author • …writes A Hymn on the Pillory in praise of his courage
Early Modern MediaExample 3: Delarivier Manley’s Personal Attacks Delarivier Manley‘s 1714 autobiography in which she reveals how she handled the press in 1709. Frontispiece: the narrator and his young French guest who has come to London to meet Manley (and to have sex with her as a lover of her sex scenes) Delarivier Manley publishes the New Atalantis(1709) with insinuations of how John Duke of Marlborough became the leading politician (he was allegedly the lover of the mistress of Charles II), Marlborough resigns a little later • Publisher reveals name of author • Manley claims it was all fiction dealing with the island Atalantis • Whigs in trouble: shall they prove that the accusations are non-fiction, truth, so that they can sue Manley? • Manley continues with three more volumes of personal calumnies
Early Modern MediaExample 4: Case of the 15.000 Palatine Refugees An offcicial document listing German refugees arriving in London in 1709 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/longview/longview_20020924_readings.shtml William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, sends two agents to Europe to recruit more settlers 1708/09: • The agents use German press to publish a promise in the name of Queen Anne • Queen Ann will offer free ship passages to all settlers who make it to London • 15.000 Germans arrive in London in 1709, Queen is baffled by their expectations, she has never promised a word • Defoe writes in his Review on the case and proposes to found a German town in the north (Londoner’s fear that wages drop with the new competition)
The 18th and 19th century Market Reform • Creation of a responsible market of serious media (and a low market of irresponsible media, tabloids etc.) • The option needed freedom of the press so that “journalists” working for newspapers could offer news with their personal evaluation • The option needed faster channels of communication, so that dubious news could be immediately checked • 1830-50s telegraphy • 1860s cable connection between Europe and Northern America • Development of new moral code • A decent private individual does not use the press to manage his/her affairs publicly • Politics become the stage of dirty public press wars • Authorship protected by new copy right laws – authors made responsible for all written publications
PHOTO/FILM: 1826: first photographic image, Niépce; 1837: Daguerre 1887: Muybridge (galloping horse); later: Etienne-Jules Marey: chronophotographic rifle 1895: brothers Lumière build the first portable film camera http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Muybridge_race_horse_animated.gif
1831: electro-magnetic telegraph (Joseph Henry, NY): 1 mile 1837: Morse and the telegraph 1840: first stamp sold in England 1851- (submarine) sea cables 1866- transoceanic cables 1873: Remington and the type writer A run through 20th century: Infra-red thermal images Color films Television Radar technology, […] more to come Consequences of these medial revolutions? Mediatization of life…
Advancements: News Media • New technological devices: 1) influenced everyday “lives”/ transformed channels of communication; 2) became means of disseminating the news • (submarine) sea cables and transoceanic cables • Telegraph (written communication): • Telephone (oral communication) • Photography and film • increasing pace of modern technological advance • terrestrial television versus satellite television • web-based publishing (e.g., blogging) vs. traditional publishing
Media & War... The 19th Century • Roger Fenton, Crimean War (1853-1856), • early war photographs (no battles; aftermath, or post-battle images) http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/coll/251_fen.html
The American Civil War “A Harvest of Death“: The battlefield of Gettysburg, photograph by Timothy O’Sullivan, July 1863 African Americans collecting bones of soldiers, Cold Harbor, Virginia, photograph by John Reekie, April 1865. See also Gerhard Paul, Bilder des Krieges, Krieg der Bilder. Die Visualisierung des modernen Krieges (Paderborn et al.: Schöningh; München: Fink, 2004).
The Medium PhotographyStop & Think: • Medial break • beginning mediatization of perception • new form of news coverage in the press • Visualization of war; “a new way of viewing war” • “iconic images“ • influence on (cultural) visual memory • dissemination of war images: newspapers (reaching the masses) • War entering the domestic/ private sphere • New York Times, 20.10.1862: “The dead of the battle-field come up to us very rarely, even in the dreams […] Mr. Brady [war photographer] has done something to bring home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of war.”
Media and the Military (examples)Reference: Paul Virilio • The Entrepreneur: first battlefield observation balloon • During the American Civil War, Union forces equipped balloons with an aerial-mapping telegraph • camera-kites; • camera-pigeons; • camera-balloons predated the intensive use of chronophotography and cinematography on small reconnaissance aircrafts (WWI) • use of film sequences in aerial reconnaissance (WWI) • After WWII: spy-satellites, drones and other video-missiles • “winning is keeping the target in constant sight”
Cont‘d • By 1967: US Air Force used pilotless aircrafts to fly over Laos and send their data back to IBM centers in Thailand and South Vietnam • Host of new devices: • sensors capable of detecting vibrations; • light-enhancing television cameras, • infra-red flashes, • thermographic pictures, etc. • From photography to satellite photography, to film (and television), to the Internet • Laser technology; laser systems “scan, freeze frame.” • Simulators • Digital cameras • […]
Wartime and Free Press Wartime situations often present challenges to the legal limits of press freedom. “Civil liberties are rarely more endangered than in wartime, and none is more at risk than freedom of the press. The press is called on to rally patriotic fervor. It is expected to be the voice of the government and the voice of the people—the voice of the country at war. If instead it challenges the government, if it questions the rationale for war, it provokes the government’s impulse, already strong in times of crisis, to repress liberties in the name of security, and too often the people acquiesce. This is the paradox that threatens the freedoms we take for granted in peacetime. […]”
Media and WWI; Freedom of Press • Official/professional press photography and amateur photography • Beginning of filmic ‘texts’ about war • Propagandistic possibilities of photography USA: • attempts to impose restrictions upon the press • During World War I: “Espionage Acts” (1917) and the “Sedition Act” (1918). • limited freedom of the press • censorship exercised against pro-German publications • against German-language publications and those advocating socialism or pacifism Coming to terms with the past… • Effects in war images, anti-war book, Krieg dem Kriege! (1924) by Ernst Friedrich • http://www.greatwardifferent.com/Great_War/Kriege/Kriege_00.htm
Freedom of Press during WWII (selected) • “Office of Censorship”; director: Byron Price • newspapers and journals cooperated • campaigns against secrecy in government, maintaining that the withholding of public records threatens freedom of the press; • e.g. The Washington Post: called the “Manhattan Project“ the “super hush-hush” and Byron Price: “chief headache.” Recapitulating: Manhattan Project = top-secret government program that led to the development of the atomic bomb • For those interested: Michael S. Sweeny,Secrets of Victory: The Office of Censorship and the American Press and Radio in World War II (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2001).
The “Living-room” War • “In the Vietnam war, the press demonstrably played a key role in the shifting public opinion from supporting the government’s war policy to opposing it.” (Cooke 165) • Effects of photojournalism on protest movements • Legacies of the Vietnam War: U.S. government restricted the access of reporters in combat areas in subsequent military encounters • This practice, used during the 1983 invasion of Grenada and the 1991 Persian Gulf War, was resented by many reporters
The Gulf War – War as “Surgery”? • First “electronic” war • “smart” weapons • during the first air raid on Baghdad, CNN were the only service broadcasting. CNN reporters broadcast live from Baghdad under attack. • British Prime Minister John Major and President Bush both watched the start of the war on television • 24-hour television: viewers had access to 'news' at any time of the day, although the quality of coverage was often poor • Television news: dominated by American news corporation CNN • “many nations, one image”
Video-War? • use of computer-animated graphics to show maps of Iraq and the locations of air strikes • Entertainiziation of war? • effect on the public: “deadening….it made them think that war was a game” (Cooke 171) • For those interested: Susan L. Carruthers, The Media at War. Communication and Conflict in the Twentieth Century (London et al.: Palgrave MacMillan, 2000), esp. p. 133.
