English Audio Request

Powers and counter-powers

Power is used both in politics and on a social and personal level so that the rules of society are respected.
However, this power can reveal conflicts, which gives birth to counter-powers because they’re a way to fight against decisions taken by the government for example. Their goal is to improve the citizens’ conditions of life. One of the most important counter-powers in a democracy is the press: radio, TV, newspapers, because it is free. The press can change a government or a president– that’s what happened to Richard Nixon, who had to resign after the Watergate scandal was revealed by journalists from the Washington Post.

We may wonder how ordinary citizens can take power.

There have always been movements against governments, to make them give in. People always have different ideas and points of view, depending on social classes or gender for example.
We can find this in the movie Suffragette, which shows women fighting to get the right to vote in Britain in the early 20th century. The main character, Maud Watts, a working wife and mother, joins the movement and throws herself into a struggle that is becoming more and more radical. She is ready to risk her life, and her family life.
It is because the media cover their demonstrations and acts of rebellion that the movement becomes better-known all around the country and attracts more recruits. There’s isn’t one day when they’re not on the front pages of the newspapers. As media coverage becomes too important, the government decide to use censorship.
That’s why the news of a bomb that explodes at the house of a politician doesn’t hit the headlines
Then the suffragettes realize they need the attention of the media, which takes them to the Epsom Derby, a horse race that was famous worldwide. During the race, Emily Davison got onto the track to wave the flag of her movement in front of the cameras that are filming the race, but she is hit by King George V’s horse and dies. The pictures of this terrible event could be seen around the country, and around the world, and over 2,000 people attended Emily’s funeral.
The suffragettes finally won the right to vote in 1918 for women over 30, and then got voting rights equal to men’s in 1928
All this show how the media helped a small movement to become bigger and make the government give in.

Today, news coverage has evolved a lot, thanks to the creation of the Internet and to the technological objects
that were created by Steve Jobs among others.
At the beginning, the Internet was only used by the army but it is now available everywhere. Today, we can read newspapers online on our phones, the news are broadcast live even when the event happens on the other side of the world. Everybody is connected 24hours a day, and sharing a piece of news without being a journalist is easy thanks to social networks.
This is shown on a photo we saw in class: we can see a woman taking a photo of the police with her tablet. She can then share this picture what she is witnessing with the rest of the world by publishing it on social media.
Nowadays, I think it is really interesting to be always connected and always informed about the latest news.

To conclude, I really enjoyed working on the film Suffragette because it made me aware of the impact of the media at that time.
Concerning the constant news coverage , I’m not sure it’s always constructive and I think it can also frighten people. For example, I found the media coverage of the terrorist attacks in France very shocking, especially the need for scoops. They try to get as close to the event as possible, risking not only their own life but also other people’s lives, and giving information to the terrorists, who can then change and improve their strategies.