Media’s Role in Shaping Society and Nationalism in Israel
Media’s Role in Shaping Society
Definition: A fixed arrangement that organizes relations between social roles, guided by rules and norms of its own. It is a key concept of the structural-functional theory, which sees society as composed of various institutions that play different roles.
Definition: A fixed arrangement that organizes the relations between social roles.
Importance: Informs us of relevant information and keeps us up to date.
Factors that shape it: Other institutions, geographical features, technology, culture, economy, and politics.
Metaphors:
- Media as a Mirror: Society can see itself through the media content. It is a reflection of our world. Disadvantage: The mirror doesn’t always show a full or accurate story.
- Media as the Watchdog of Democracy: Media analyzes the decisions of the government and exposes undemocratic actions. Disadvantage: The creation of fake news and people no longer trusting the news because it’s political.
- Media as the Nervous System of Administration: Refers to society as a human body. We can’t live without it. Media should encourage the vitality of society. It is an integral part of society.
- Media as Mediators: Media mediates between the government and citizens, enabling dialogue. Disadvantage: A mediator should stay neutral, but media often takes a side. A biased mediator is often harmful to dialogue.
- Media as an Arena for Confrontations: Media covers confrontations and allows people to argue, debate, and have public discussions. Disadvantage: Not all issues that happen in society get to the arena, so we don’t know about them. Agenda-Setting Theory: If an issue is not on the media’s agenda, it doesn’t exist.
Development of Printed Media in Israel
Two phases:
- Up to the 1980s: One public channel, two public radio stations, and newspapers. All under government control.
- From the 1990s: Independent, rich, and vibrant media.
Reasons for change:
- Economy: Economic growth, consumerism (private money).
- Politics: Shift from socialist to capitalist society.
- Technology: Improvement of existing media, new media, digitalization.
Media in Israel
- Newspapers: Played a key role in building the feeling of Jewish nationality (they showed achievements of what a state reached). Went from being loyal to the government to independent (the rich can be associated with politicians like Netanyahu and Sheldon Adelson).
- Radio: Went from the Voice of Jerusalem (government control) to the Voice of Israel (Voice of Peace: private, unfiltered by the government). IDF stations.
- TV: Ben Gurion was opposed to TV (believing it corrupts the youth), and the economy couldn’t afford commercial TV. Israel is the only country to have an educational channel before a general TV one. In 1967, during the Six-Day War, for the first time, Arab countries broadcast pictures from their side, and we only had educational TV, so we couldn’t show our side. In 1968 came the first broadcast in Israel. In 1993: Channel 2. In 2002: Channel 10.
- New Media: Israel is very addicted to online platforms, especially teens. We are a news nation, and media is connected to news (it’s dangerous because we want to be the first to inform, and we don’t always check the facts properly). Israeli media is heavily filtered due to security. There is a high status of news (a lot of news for the size of the country). It is a saturated media society.
Media in Israel expresses local and global phenomena.
- Local: Memorial Day ceremonies, Independence Day, etc., are broadcast directly. Programs in Hebrew, printed newspapers in Hebrew, etc.
- Global: Broadcasting channels from other countries, international advertising.
Is This the End of National Solidarity in the Media?
We live in a hybrid culture with glocal elements; the process doesn’t necessarily lead to the weakening of nationalism.
Nationalism
Loyalty and devotion to a nation (sense of national consciousness, valuing my norms and cultures over others). Media development is related to the construction of nationalism (relation between people and their nation). Benedict Anderson: Imagined community that exists in consciousness (sense of belonging without knowing each other, sparked by printing). If it’s something that everyone feels and believes, then it’s real.
Newspaper and Nationalism
They structure a narrative of the group by telling the story for them and others.
- News began in Europe in the 17th century.
- Plays a central role in nationalism (with the narrative, you can control a nation’s feeling/position of nationalism; written language is a tool for defining a collective).
- Newspapers cultivate a national narrative using symbols and myths (who is “us” and who is “them” can build national feeling).
- Simultaneous: Many people read the same story at the same time (share the same agenda = nationalism).
- Create joint public and closeness between people who don’t know each other.
- Newspapers contributed to the assimilation of the Hebrew language.
- Newspapers remain a medium with more national characteristics than any other media because it’s primarily location-based, most important in agenda-setting, and global influence penetrates the national press (glocal trends).
Radio and Nationalism
The most paradoxical medium because, despite it being present and heard everywhere, it has low public visibility and receives little attention in academic forums.
- It is a secondary medium.
- It is a marginal medium.
- It uses only one sense.
- Contributes to the imagination of the nation because it distributes the message to a larger geographical area.
- Simultaneous listening.
- Enables a lot of people to listen to their leaders’ voices.
- Creates imaginary “Israeliness” (central in establishing Israeli nationality, an educational tool for teaching the Hebrew language and national symbols during broadcasts).
TV and Nationalism
Structured nationalism by simultaneous exposure to the same TV content that came from the same source. Cable TV bridged over areas and assisted in the national imagination of the nation. Media events (live broadcasts of major historical events that cause people to come together and experience a sense of unity).
- Israeli TV: Influenced by global content and formats but also emphasizes Israeli characteristics (the three main Israeli networks see themselves as the “Israeli campfire”). Until 1994, Israel had only one channel (contributed greatly to social solidarity in Israel). We are witnessing the expansion of internet TV broadcasts, digital broadcasting, and interactive TV (content and time depend on the viewer, reinforces individuality, and can lead to damage in the national imagination).
- Netflix: Influenced the way we watch TV, creates imagined communities but emphasizes individualism. There are still family viewing programs. During wartime, TV is still a central platform for receiving information. Glocal programming.
Internet and Nationalism: Is it the End of the Era of National Media?
Yes: It’s a global medium: Has the potential to create a global community, not a national one. It is a non-territorial medium: Open to everyone in each country. Individuals can decide when and how to use it.
No: It is a powerful tool to distribute information and connect the nation. Language: Many people don’t speak two languages, and they can translate websites and use them to connect with people who speak their language (very important in creating nationalism). Studies indicate that the internet doesn’t weaken nationalism; it changes it.