Marxism, Pluralism and Hegemony

1) Research the Ian Tomlinson case. What would the traditional, hegemonic view of the police be in a case like this? How did new and digital media create a different story? What does the police officer's subsequent aquittal suggest about the power of new and digital media?

the traditional view would be the police are seen as superior and that they completely right, and have more control and power over the public. the authority and procedures the police enforced are not questioned and traditionally have been accepted until now. new and digital media have questioned that how Ian Tomlinson was a threat by walking away with his hands in his pocket. Ian was striked in the leg and then was pushed on to the floor, the dog handler also showed no control over the dog suggesting that there was a lack of control of the K9 unit therefore a threat to the society.

Statement on today's disciplinary hearing of PC Simon Harwood

Ian's family attended today's Metropolitan Police disciplinary hearing of PC Simon Harowwd, held in public in west London. Speaking on behalf of the Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign, Ian's son Paul King said:

"We came here expecting a disciplinary hearing. There has been no hearing. We expected the Met to rule on whether it's officer killed Ian. The Met has basically gone 'no comment'.

It's a whitewash. It's like they have just let PC Harwood resign. The conflicting verdicts of the inquest and criminal court still need to be resolved.

We haven't given up, we will now be looking to the civil courts for the final judgement on who killed our dad."

http://www.iantomlinsonfamilycampaign.org.uk/

a official website set up by Ian's family shows that the the officer Harwood was able to resign and before a hearing in court an therefore as he as no longer part of the police force he was not able to have been sacked or fired. this suggests that we live in a hegemonic society where the powerful will become more powerful and be able to take advantage of those without.

2) What does the author argue regarding whether hegemony is being challenged by Web 2.0?

the author argues that without we 2.0 it would have not been possible to take Harwood to court, and it would not have been possible to create mass awareness about the situation. it also relates to the murder of Blair Peach who was killed in Southall by the police, to this day no one has been charged however several witnesses explained that they had seen the police attack him. but due to lack of evidence this information was discarded.

3) In your oopinion, does new and digital media reinforce dominant hegemonic views or give the audience a platform to challenge them?

i believe that it due to web 2.0 that have allowed audiences to gain the power in order to have a say and be able to fight against the big corporations. an example is of annoymous who have helped to ensure that people are treated correctly and are fighting the big corporations by targeting there computer systems. UGC is the at the start and is developing more and more and thanks to websites such as Youtube it allows for large amount of views but it also allows to give views and opinions.