Tube strikes causing chaos

As the tube strikes continue for a second week, we see the stations piling up with angered people, waiting for an extensive amount of time, desperate to get to work. These strikes have lead to an unimaginable build up at the underground stations, to at some points it becoming dangerous as to how crowded they are. This week the strikes are going on from Tuesday 21st of June to Sunday 26th of June with no services before 8am and delays expected after this time. And the London Overground will run a reduced service ending at 6pm. Only 60 per cent of trains are going to be running, mainly due to a delay to the start of services because signallers and control room staff are not doing overnight shifts. Traffic on the roads is also being affected due to more people having to travel by car.

But why are these strikes so necessary? Train drivers have claimed proposals by bosses that they will cut jobs, change working agreements and pensions which they believe isn’t fair. However Boris Johnson has said he “will not give in to demands from rail unions so it is unlikely we will see a stop to these strikes for now.

Subsidiary story- Boris Johnson refuses to quit. The prime minister this week has said that he won’t resign even though the Conservatives battled to retain Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton, and it’s his responsibility. He said when questioned about his decision he said “Come on, it was only a year ago that we won the Hartlepool byelection, which everybody thought was – you know, we hadn’t won Hartlepool for – I can’t remember when the Tory party last won Hartlepool – a long time. I don’t think it ever had…

‘Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.’

Where and how news is discussed about in the public

Public sphere- an area in social life where individuals come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems and through that discussion influence political action.

• the mass media has resulted in reduction of plurality (fewer voices discussing the news)
• public sphere is strengthened by new media as there is more opportunity for communication but weakens it as the quality of discussion is less and there is an impact of anonymity
• twitter is used for public debate
• people can discuss what they read on the newspaper with colleagues

 The private sphere– is the realm of family life

The watch dog- overseeing the state by revealing abuses in the exercise of state authority

• Curran and Seaton– their book helps us understand the relationship between who owns the mass media and their output
• relationship between media conglomerates and politicians
• media industries are dominated by a small number of giant conglomerates
• media industries are about profit and power
• concentrated ownership results in lack of choice
• independent diverse ownership results in more choice, creativity and diversity of products

• Livingstone and Lunt– think the needs of a citizen are in conflict with the needs of the consumer, because protection can limit freedom
• regualation of media products is hard because rules are often hard to decide
• rules include protecting the audience from harm
• regulators have to try and balance protecting people by offering them with choice
• technology has made it hard for media products to be regulated

I am aiming to create 2 print products advising young people to stand up to hateful comments and report them. In my first one i will have a picture of multiple people’s hands pushing away a hateful comment to represent how we should not let them get in the way of our lives, but also the unity that will be formed in stopping hate comments. It will be targeted a a teenage audience for those who use social media so use bright colours. It will be operationalised by asking people to post on their social media a hateful comment they have had and share it to show people aren’t alone.

For my second flyer i will focus more on hashtag #StopHateShareLove which will feature in the middle of the page with lots of different people in the background showing unity towards fighting hate comments. It will use dark colours on one side and light on the other to show how awareness helps people to feel better and that they are not alone experiencing hate comments, but equally it isn’t acceptable.