Blog Post #3

Lecture Reflection

Source: Missouri Communication

Week 4's lecture taught us about the advantages, disadvantages and the differences
between authoritarianism and libertarianism. These terms are used to distinguish the 
types of media system in democratic and communist countries. 

First and foremost, it
was the first time most of us came across these terminologies .It took us a while to get 
the pronunciation right but we got around it, eventually. To distinguish between these two words 
in a simpler form, authoritarianism is the communism system whereas the libertarianism is the democratic system.

Source : Frugal

Authoritarianism serves the government and the society that follows this system believes that their government is infallible. Almost all or everything that are published goes through censorship process called the pre-publication censorship.

Source: Media Sanctuary

 Censorship always takes place during wartime. Everything is filtered thoroughly, the media only feeds what they wish their audience to be aware of. News are not published raw; lack of press media freedom. In the olden days, audience only knew what they’re told by this media system, but with the Internet at the end of our fingertip, everything spreads within seconds.

Source: The Reformed Broker

 However even then, China has created a system called Chinese firewall which works as a pre-publication censorship that monitors and censors every form of communication and information.

Source: Comm Basics

As for the libertarian system, they are rather flexible with their media publication. Theoretically, the society that follows this system is considered to be a free country. Malaysia for example, it is a democratic country. As much as it is being denied, everyone is aware that what is being broadcasted in the media has been filtered as to what the government wants the audience to hear. Though it’s democratic, the country has a prime minister, a royal family, political parties and the public participates in decision making. Same as the United Kingdom; a constitutional monarchy.

Source: Trendline Interactive

In my opinion, media should be transparent, free, and independent especially when it comes to sensitive issues like nation and political issues because the truth will come to light one day. Although media has wide ranging influence on society, people still have the right to decide what they choose to believe. Nowadays, society can get their hands on any information from social media and Internet. Therefore, the action of restricting media is not a very efficient idea as it does not last long.

Libertarianism is individual freedom right; Authoritarianism is built against freedom. My two takeaways from this lecture is that regardless of how rationed media is, there’s always alternative to receive news. Even in the most conservative or clergy society, there are various alternatives to news.

- GRANDEUR -

Researchers: Raaveeniya, Zaid, Yin Peng, Bernard, Yao Qing

Writers: Raaveniya, Yao Qing, 

Editor: Yao Qing, Bernard, Raaveniya