What is democracy?
Democracy is everybody having a voice. It is derived from two Greek words: 'Demos' meaning the people and 'cracy' meaning rule. So in basically means the people rule, and is commonly practiced by people voting and a government and leader of country being elected by the results of the vote.
What are some of the problems with our democratic systems? Is there any way we could solve them?
Some problems with our democratic system is that elections only happen every 5 years. Whilst this makes sense in terms of law making and governments having impact, creating change, it does mean that the same people can stay in power longer and abuse this power for longer maybe making changes that negatively affect the public. So maybe 5 years is too long to wait for a decision that could impact us massively. A solution to that is the people having the power to call elections instead of parliament. Having elections more regularly like every 2 years or even every year, would limit a government's impact and would most likely create instability, however 5 years is too long as it means a corrupt government can stay in power and change things, without the people having the chance to oust them. Therefore, if the people had power over calling elections, they can change governments that are not helping them to a government that will. This could be done by having a referendum regularly, every year or every 6 months, that is made easy, so a government that abuses power doesn't stay in power for too long.
Explain the separation of powers. Why is it important?
The separation of powers can be displayed in the three pillar model. The three pillars are Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. Legislature describes the power to make laws, Executive describes the power to apply the laws and Judiciary describes the power to make legal judgments.
What is the role of journalism in a democracy?
Journalism is vital to inform people about politics and also hold people accountable in a democracy. Journalism can be referred to as the fourth pillar of democracy, which would mean that the press is free, it is independent of government and is a tool for holding those in power to account. However, journalism may also be called the fourth branch of democracy, which means the press isn't independent of government and it is a tool for those in power to influence and control.
Which do you think is the best description of journalism: the fourth pillar or the fourth branch? Explain why you think this.
In my opinion, the best description of what journalism actually is in the modern day is the fourth branch. Whilst in theory journalism should be the fourth pillar, it shouldn't be controlled and journalists should be able to report on anything, and hold those in power accountable, its not. There are many journalists out there that do practice the fourth pillar journalism and I definitely think investigative journalism is the fourth pillar, as it seeks to uncover abuses of power and reveal the whole truth. However, journalism is controlled and not free. News companies are owned by billionaires, who choose what is reported on, the only journalists who are free are independent journalists, but even then they face the struggle of going up against corruption and people with a lot of power and money. In this day the truth is often hidden, and those who try to reveal can be stopped whether that's by the law, by censorship or even sometimes by endangering their lives. In the past journalists have been killed in an attempt to try and reveal the truth and hold people accountable, and those were the fourth pillar journalists. Nowadays many journalists work for big companies, so report on the things they are told to report on, and many of these people are just doing their job, earning a minimum wage and staying in the system because there are massive risks with honest journalism. The most common form of journalism nowadays is churnalism, where news is released at such a speed that there is little depth into the stories, its about getting the story out there due to how much social media has sped up the consumption of news, but also trying to generate clicks which means money, so with this fast, constant news, there are many eye-catching titles and a massive use of senastionalism in the industry, which provokes emotion from people, whether that be fear, sadness, happiness or sympathy, all of this keeps this system of fourth branch journalism going. The famous George Orwell quote 'Journalism is printing what someone else doesn't want printed; everything else is public relations.' This is what journalism is mostly today, public relations, talking about celebrities, politicians, products, promoting them, and at times covering the truth, to get views to get clicks, there is no honesty or freedom in journalism. A Reporters Without Borders report says in the last 20 years nearly 1700 journalists have been killed, an average of more than 80 a year, a lot of them dying in warzones, when trying to report the truth and reality. So if you ask me, I'll tell you that journalism is in fact the fourth branch of democracy, but should be the fourth pillar. Also, Orwell did not write that quote, it was in fact Alfred Harmsworth, so my message to you is don't always trust what the news tells you, always endeavor to find the truth yourself!
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