The Role of the Media

On April 1st, 2009, newsvendor Ian Tomlinson collapsed and died on a London street - an event that, in itself, would not ordinarily have attracted any national media attention. On this occasion, however, Tomlinson’s death occurred during a protest demonstration, aimed at the G20 talks in London and covered by every UK national news media.

Given the number of news, radio and television reporters present at the demonstration it would be surprising if readers, listeners and viewers were not given a full and clear explanation of the incident – as indeed, after a fashion, they were. However, the way the incident was initially and subsequently reported and explained raises a number of interesting questions of the sociology of crime and deviance

This Textra (“Text-Extra”) publication combines text and embedded video to provide materials to illustrate two related areas:

1. The Role of the Media in Contemporary Society in terms of:

a. Domination discourses.
b. Democratic discourses.

2. Surveillance and Sousveillance.

This section briefly discusses the increasing role of new media as both a check on official power and a potential extension of that power..