Lesson video

Hi everybody, and welcome to "Citizenship." My name is miss Elmi and I'll be your teacher for today.

So if you're new here, welcome.

I just want to quickly recap what we've been learning about, over the last few lessons we've been exploring the concept of democracy.

And in the first two lessons, we looked what democracy is and the different types of democracy that can exist.

Last lesson, we then looked at one key feature of a democracy, which is the concept of free and fair elections.

And then today, we're going to kind of switch it up and we're going to look at a different key feature, which is the role of the media.

Okay.

So by the end of this lesson, I want you to really be able to just explain what we mean by media freedom and why having a free media is important and necessary in a democracy.

So that's the focus for today.

And just before we get started, I just want to make sure that you have everything that you need in front of you.

You have a pen, you have a notepad and you're on a quiet space we can focus and concentrate.

Okay, so if you're ready, let's get started.

So I want to just quickly get started with a brief recap of what we did last lesson and what did we learned in last lesson? So last lesson we learnt about the role of elections in a democracy.

And in particular, we focused on voting systems and we looked at the first past the post voting system here in the UK.

And we looked at the advantages and disadvantages.

So one of the advantages we identified in last lesson was that the first past the post system is a simple and clear way and very easy to understand.

And then we looked at the disadvantages, being that sometimes votes are wasted, because it's a system where, it's a plurality where only the candidate with the most votes wins, that may lead to some votes being wasted.

We then contrast that with the use of proportional representation, proportional representation, meaning essentially that the votes that a candidate receives or a party receives reflects the seats won.

So it's equal to the seats won.

So essentially elections are a vital part of a healthy democracy.

And without them, we can't necessarily say we are a strong democracy.

But there is another aspect which ensures, and reinforces a strong democracy.

And that is the role of the media.

Because the media play a really vital role in a democracy.

So in order to understand that, we need to firstly know what the different types of media are.

And feel free to just note these down also, but just so I can explain and so you can remember and understand.

There are types of media, okay? There was print media, broadcast media, and new media.

Print and broadcast media have been around for a long period of time.

Print media, when we talk about print media, we're talking about anything that is in a written form, and that is published.

That refers to things like magazines, books, newspapers, these are all in a written form and then published for public consumption.

So for the people, for people to read and learn.

Broadcast media to refers to anything that is seen or heard.

So things like TV, film, radio are all forms of broadcast media.

New media, however, unlike print or broadcast, has been brought about only in the last 30 years.

So it's a new form of media.

And it's been brought about mainly due to the creation of the internet.

The internet allowing for new forms of information or access to information to be achieved.

So when we think about new media things like social media is a good example to think about.

And so Twitter, Facebook, these are all forms of new media.

Why? Because essentially there are new ways of getting information out to a large group or a large audience in a quick and simple way.

And it's done through the internet.

And it's considered new because it's only been around for around 30 years.

So, those are the three types of media.

So make sure you note those three types down.

Now we need to think about why the media should be free.

What do we mean by a free media? So media freedom or freedom of the press is the principle that all forms of communication and expression, through various media should be excised freely.

So just to simplify that, so you can understand.

Essentially all it means is that the press or anything that is written, anything that is said, should be done freely without any real restrictions.

And it's this freedom that is essential characteristic of a healthy democracy.

So think about this question, how would society be if everybody's views and opinions was controlled or what we said and did was restricted or limited or stopped in some way or shape or form? It wouldn't be allowing for our rights to be expressed.

And one of the key rights that we have is freedom of speech.

So, what free media essentially means is that there should be an absence, there should be no restrictions to we can say or write and have published.

And those rights should be protected by the law.

So if it's a fundamental human right to have freedom of speech and for the media to be able to express themselves, their ideas, their views, their values freely, that should be protected by the law.

So now that we understand what we mean by free media and the different types of media, I now want you to firstly, pause this video and think about this question.

What is the role and purpose of the media? Just note down or brainstorm what you think the role and purpose of the media is.

And just try to note down at least five points.

And once you've done that, come back and we'll talk through what the role and purpose of the media is.

Okay and welcome back.

So essentially the media have four key purposes.

Four key roles.

Now, if you noted all of these keys role down, well done.

I'm just going to explain what that actually means and what that looks like.

So one of the first key roles is to represent different views and opinions.

So when we think about the media, we should think about the idea that actually its purpose is to reflect different ideas and beliefs, right? To understand different perspectives and viewpoints.

So the role of the media is to represent those ideas and those views and those beliefs.

The second role of the media is to inform, to educate citizens about what the government and what's happening in wider society.

And if you reflect on this, actually we learn a lot through watching the news or reading a book or going online and listening to different discussions and debates.

We learn a lot from that.

So one of the key aspects of the media is to inform and educate the public.

And part of that is to educate the public about what the government and our representatives, our elected officials are doing.

And the reason that is an important role is because it does a vital job, which is to check on the government and hold them to account.

So here I have an image where you can see that Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister is answering questions from journalists.

Now, journalists are those that report the news, that give information, that asks questions, important questions to the government, so that we get that information and understand what is happening.

So here we see a daily briefing, one of the first daily briefings that happened when the Corona virus took place.

And this daily briefing was to answer key questions around COVID-19 and to inform the public about what the actions of the government would be.

So one of the key roles of the media is not only to educate the public, but also to hold government accountable, to be a check on government power, to make sure that they are doing what they said they would do, and they're doing it in the right way.

And the fourth and final role of the media is essentially really to encourage public debate and discussion.

And a lot of people can express their views and opinions freely without any restriction.

And so what that essentially means is that it can encourage dialogue to take place.

So if we look at new media forms like social media and Twitter in particular, we see that a lot of people engage in different debates and different discussions.

So for example, when the government was announcing schools should be reopened this term, there was a lot of discussion around whether that was the right thing to do.

So, that essentially is the role of the media.

How then, and why if the media controlled? So whilst in a democracy it's important to have a free media, it's important to ensure that the media are allowed to express themselves in a free way and able to present that information.

With that right, comes a responsibility.

So with every right comes responsibility, so we might have the right to say whatever we like, but it also comes with some certain responsibilities to ensure that what we say is, A, truthful, B, doesn't bring about any harm, and C, ensures that it follows the law.

And why is that important? Well, it's essentially important because it ensures that society is protected.

That people for what is said or done, understand, and society is protected.

And so information that comes to us should be true and honest, and we should be able to trust it.

That there is integrity, meaning that the information that we get and that is reported is accurate.

And we can check that it's true.

Because if we don't trust what is being told to us, we might not want to follow it.

And then the final one is in terms of it being fair.

It needs to be fair because it allows people a chance to respond.

If we silenced society, if we silenced everybody and stopped allowing people to express their views, then people might feel like they're being treated unfairly.

So in a healthy democracy it's vital to have freedom of speech, it's vital to have these rights in place, however, with these rights come responsibilities.

So in order to ensure those responsibilities are met, there are ways that the media is controlled.

And the three key ways, and feel free to note this down, the three key ways the media is controlled is through regulation, censorship and laws.

Regulation essentially means rules are in place that are being put in place by an authority.

Rules that say what you can and cannot do? So those regulations are aimed to ensure that the things that the media presents, is presented in the right way, that it protects the public and ensure there's fairness.

So a good example of this is Ofcom.

Ofcom is essentially the body that regulates the media.

Ofcom stands for the Office of Communication.

And Ofcom puts in place some rules that the media have to follow.

For example, no newspaper can present or write anything that is untrue.

So a newspaper has to present information that is accurate.

And so Ofcom make sure that the newspapers and broadcast agents and the news represent things that are true.

The second point is censorship.

There are some places where some things have to be censored.

Censorship, it means suppressed or restricted.

So something that is stopped, suppressed or restricted.

Censorship happens in different ways.

So for example, some films or books can be censored in a way that it only allows access to adults.

So some children cannot access or watch certain films because they are too young.

So in order to protect them, that particular film or those particular books have been censored.

And then the final one refers to laws.

Now there are laws in place to protect and ensure that there is fairness in society and that the media represents, does things in a fair way.

So what are the laws that ensure that its done? So there are two laws that do that.

Defamation laws and privacy laws.

So I know these words might be a bit complicated and it might be really difficult to understand.

So I have put a glossary in the worksheets just so you can refer back to.

But if I explain it quickly, defamation law really just refers to the fact that no media outlets should say or write anything that could hurt the reputation of an individual.

So defamation law aims to protect people and individuals from being slandered in any way, or something being said that is untrue or something being written that is untrue.

And then you have privacy laws.

Privacy laws just means that individuals in society, information is protected.

So for example, if you're online and you go on different sites and you write down your address and your details, that is your personal data, that is your personal information.

And there are laws in place that ensures that information should not reach the public.

That information should be kept private and should be protected.

So, whilst we do have a free media, in order to ensure freedom of speech, with every freedom there also comes some level of responsibility.

And it's the responsibility of government to ensure that society is protected, that there is integrity and that there is fairness.

So, to illustrate that and to look at the contrast, I want us to look at the different examples around the world.

So in front of you, you should see the World Press Freedom Index of 2020.

Now what the world press freedom index outlines, are the top five countries that ensure a free media, that ensure the freedom of the press.

And it also outlines the bottom five countries, sorry, that doesn't do, it doesn't have a free media as much as other countries should have.

Or has a really, a lot of controls over the media.

Now, what are the key differences here? Well, we have some really interesting contrast.

So the top five, one of the key things they ensure is, the freedom of journalists to report information in a way that is truthful and honest and without restriction.

So what is a journalist? A journalist is someone that reports and investigates things that happen in the community and in society at large.

They are the ones that bring information to the public.

So in the top five countries, you will find that journalists have a lot of freedom to report on the things that are happening.

They also have a lot of freedom to question the work of government.

So they will question the things that they do, in order to find out and uncover the truth and report it back to the public.

Whereas in the bottom five countries, there might not be that journalistic freedom.

So the ability for journalists to print and say and write and investigate things freely, would be restricted.

So for example, in North Korea, sometimes journalists are told what to say and not necessarily allowed to say, or ask or question the things that are happening in society.

And in some parts of the world, journalists who do question the role of government or criticise the government are sometimes punished.

So we have two very different examples here.

One is an extreme example where there is lack of freedom of the press and another which shows that there is a lot of freedom of the press.

And in a healthy democracy, what we want to see, is the characteristics of the top five.

We want to see journalists having freedom to report, question and scrutinise the government.

And what we don't want to see is journalists being punished or imprisoned for the things that they say or write.

Now, what if you're not at the bottom five? What if your country is not at the bottom five, nor are they at the top five? What does that look like? So I want to draw your attention to the United States in particular.

Now, in the United States, under President Trump, and there's been a lot of criticism about the freedom of the press in the USA.

And the main question comes because the Trump administration, or the presidency has heavily criticised and harassed to an extent some journalists or some news outlets, for example, during press briefings.

And President Trump has sometimes harassed or criticised the journalists that were asking questions.

Now in a healthy democracy, journalists should be able to ask any question that they like.

They should be free to express and question and challenge those in power.

And the reason they do that is to ensure that they are held accountable.

That they are held responsible for the things that they say and do.

Another criticism is when Donald Trump discredit some news outlets and calls them "fake news." That can be damaging.

And the reason why that can be damaging is because what it does, in the eyes of the public, it means that those news outlets or those journalists may not be trusted.

And then the third one is essentially the access that the news outlets and journalists have to question those in power.

And in America, what we've seen under President Trump is that at times access to briefings, like we saw in the UK where the different news and journalists had the opportunity to attend the COVID-19 briefings that the Prime Minister had, they had full access to that.

In the US, that access has been limited.

Or has been restricted.

And in a healthy democracy, what you want is all forms of media or most mainstream media, traditional media, to have access to question those in power.

And the fourth and most controversial aspect is the tweets that are sent out by the President.

And many have criticised the tweets that have been sent out because they believe that as a president, you have a responsibility to ensure that any information that goes out to the public is done in a way that does not harm the public and that also ensures fairness and honesty.

And some people have criticised some of the tweets that Trump has made, because some people believe that that information is not truly fair.

And also, some people think that is not completely true.

And so, as a result of that Twitter being the first online new media, took a step to challenge that information, took a step to try to inform the public of the facts.

And what they've done as you can see from this image, what they've done was to introduce a fact checking system where they get to check the information that Donald Trump tweets and ensure that the public have access to information that they believe is more accurate.

So I'm just going to pause for a second.

I'll want you to think about this question.

Should President Trump's tweets be controlled? Now, when you think about this question, I just want you to think about the idea of controlling the media or regulating the media.

We know that like Ofcom, they have some rules in place to ensure that the media are able to present information in a accurate, honest, truthful way.

And online media can be very difficult to control.

So the question here is, should President Trump's tweet be controlled? Have a moment to think about what would your response be? Okay, so let's look at the different arguments.

Should President Trump's tweets be controlled? Some people say, "Yes, it should be controlled." And the reason why they say this is that, President Trump has a position of power.

And with that power comes responsibility.

So he has a duty, and that duty is to present accurate information.

And when there is inaccurate information, the platform i.

e Twitter, has a responsibility to ensure the public are given accurate information.

And so fact checking is therefore necessary to achieve this.

Others, some others also argue that Twitter is a forum to express personal views and not policy.

So some of the key criticisms of Donald Trump's tweet is that, he's a president and he shouldn't be introducing or announcing policies or laws on Twitter.

It should be done in a formal way.

Twitter is just a way to express your own opinion and your own views.

So when a public figure presents information that is policy, then there is a responsibility to ensure that is controlled.

And then the third argument to argue in favour of this question is some views can be harmful, even if it's unintended.

Some people have argued that President Trump's tweets has resulted in people being harmful.

Now, others disagree.

And they disagree simply because firstly, when we talk about freedom of speech, freedom of speech is a fundamental human right.

Everybody's views, opinions should be respected and should not be controlled.

The second argument that is made is that media sources like Twitter exist to provide a platform for people to express and share their views, not control them.

And it is not right for a platform like this to start censoring or limiting the ability for people to express their views freely.

And then the final argument is that regulating tweets can be problematic.

And the reason why it can be problematic is because, who's to decide which tweets are accurate and inaccurate? And when you are fact checking who's to decide and understand that that information is essentially honest and true and not necessarily leaning towards one particular viewpoint.

So, sometimes when you start censoring or regulating people's views, it can become very problematic and it can also be very time-consuming.

Now that we have completed them, and we've now come towards the end of the lesson, I just want you to answer the following three comprehension questions, okay? And when you answer this, I want you just to ensure that you bring in your answer, that you use the question at the beginning of your sentence.

So take a moment, pause the video and answer those three questions and then come back and we'll go through some of those answers.

Now let's go through some of those answers.

So the first question is, what does media freedom mean? Freedom of the media, including print, broadcast and new media should be able to express views freely.

So that's a really simple way of explaining free media or media freedom.

If you have an incorrect answer down, or if you haven't caught some of those key terms written down into your notes, just make sure you correct that in a different colour pen and write down the correct answer.

The second question is, how is the media controlled? So a possible answer could be, one way the media is controlled is through censorship.

This is when the free flow of information is suppressed, meaning stopped or restricted.

For example, some films are labelled adult content to protect children.

In the same way, just double check that you have a similar answer and you used some key terminologies like censorship, and you have given an example.

Okay, let's go on and move on to the third question.

Now, the third question asks, why is media freedom important in a democracy? Media freedom is vital in democracy because it allows for scrutiny of government decisions.

This means keeping a check on what the government is doing and holding it to account for his actions to ensure there is no abuse of power.

So double check that you've answered that question and you've used some key terminology, like scrutiny, and keeping a check on government action, holding government to account.

So "scrutiny," "account," these are some key citizenship terminology that you should be using in your response.

And if you haven't got that answer correct, I have provided for you a glossary where you can go back and review some of the key terminology.

Okay, so, just to recap what we have learned today, and to go through some of the key points that we've explored.

We learnt about the media and its role in a democracy.

You should be able to now explain what do we mean by media freedom and the different types of media that exists and the role of the media in holding government accountable.

Holding those in power accountable for their actions.

And how and why the media is controlled.

So those are the key concepts we've explored today.

And now that we've done that, I do want just to say, well done for getting this far.

I know there were some really difficult concepts to get your head around.

But I encourage you to just keep going, keep trying and persevere.

So if you finished or if you've gotten stock at some points, feel free to just to go back to the video and go over some of the key concepts that I've talked about.

But if you feel ready to move on, feel free to go on to completing the quiz.

And I will see you next lesson.

Thank you.