Information
The truth that knowledge is power[1], and whoever has information is powerful was already known in ancient Egypt. However, it is a bit different today, because it does not matter how much we know, but whether we know where to find the knowledge we need. We are creating a new human being, for the needs of the information society - creative, open to everything new, able, and willing to learn, one who knows what he wants and who can choose his own path. (https://www.monticello.org, 2023)
The Internet is one of the most important sources of information nowadays. It provides a wide range of information, including news, opinions, advice, and knowledge. However, as a source of information, the internet has its pros and cons. On the one hand, the Internet provides quick and easy access to information, but on the other hand, not all information is reliable. Therefore, it is important for internet users to know how to distinguish reliable sources of information from those that are false or incomplete. (Heywood, 2013)
The exchange of information has been, is and will continue to be an unquestionable engine of human development. Inventions such as telephone, radio, television or finally the computer stimulate the development of humanity and at the same time serve the exchange of messages. The Internet is what has mainly solved the centuries-old problem of overcoming long distances in space and time barriers. Therefore, it quickly embraced all areas of social life and irreversibly changed the world.
Information from the so-called traditional written sources had one undoubted value, it was previously checked and could be considered certain. The emergence of traditional electronic sources, such as radio or television, has made verification less effective with an increase in the flow rate of messages, and at the same time the need for credibility checking has increased. New generation electronic sources, and especially the Internet, so widespread today, provide opportunities to disseminate information at a rapid pace, but their veracity unfortunately must be strongly controlled. I am thinking here not only of checking the reliability of information, but I am also talking more about the issue of disseminated news. In the network we can find not only the data we need. It also happens that we can reach something completely unnecessary, worthless, or even harmful to the wrong recipient. (Heywood, 2013)
There is no doubt that the media, by disseminating specific information, affect the awareness of recipients. Then there is a social influence, which in psychology is defined as a process as a result of which there are changes in behaviours, attitudes, emotions, motivations of people. Occurring under the influence of real emotions or only in the imaginary behaviour of other people. Social impact can be both positive and negative. The influence of the media on the formation of man can be positive or negative. In positive terms, the media have great potential in undertaking service to man and his culture. What in the case when we talk about the education of an adult is of great importance. The media, therefore, fulfil multiple functions. However, three of them are the most important, they are called basic functions. These are: information function, educational function, and entertainment function.
When the reader uses the press, for example, as a means of social influence, it is necessary to mention the phenomenon of conformity, which is an unfavourable phenomenon. It is related to both the way journalists describe, characterize, and analyse reality and the form of communication they use.
The reader follows relatively closely the opinions expressed in the press, which are usually generally accepted not only because of their conformity with reality, but because of their frequent repetition. (Heywood, 2013) As a result, people are convinced that the opinion, attitudes, and views presented in the media are widespread. Therefore, they try to imitate them, so as not to distinguish themselves from others. They lack not only the sense of reflection and the appropriate knowledge that would allow them to achieve a form of independence. The norm, however, is not to distinguish oneself from others, in this way conformist attitudes are strengthened. The main power of the media is to influence people's consciousness, thus their views, attitudes, and consequently also human behaviour. However, the press should also force you to reflect and think about events, behaviours, opinions, or social attitudes. In civil society, there should also be disobedience to the imposed way of thinking, the reader should trigger reflection that provokes reflection. Because the press, by disseminating certain views, has become an important environment for shaping social moods. In this way, it can form a positive, negative, or balanced emotion. In many cases, the recipient loses the sense of his own individualism and begins to speak the language of press releases. The press, consciously focusing its attention on what is generally available, does not solidly fulfil its mission, which is to strive to know the truth about a complex reality. (/www.bbc.com, 2023) At this point, a very good example is the whole process related to the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. I am referring to the stage shaping the views of the British people before the referendum, the referendum itself, and the period after. An interesting phenomenon was also the role of the media describing the mediation and negotiations between the UK and the EU.
Brexit as a contemporary news topic
“The lack of referendum was poisoning British politics and I put that right.”
David Cameron April 2017[2]
The word Brexit has now entered the vocabulary of everyday use. I think everyone in the world knows what it means. However, this term was created long before the referendum on Great Britain's exit from the European Union. It is believed that "Brexit" first appeared in December 2011 during the elections to the House of Commons, and its author was Peter Wilding. He led a team of advisors who campaigned on the UK's continued presence in the EU. The history of Brexit itself started in 1975. It was then that the British voted for the first time to leave the European Community, which at that time was still called the European Economic Community. Then, by an overwhelming number of votes, they decided to stay in it. It is worth adding that this happened only two years after Great Britain joined the EEC. For several decades, the British urge to leave the European Community died down. Until 2013, when incumbent Prime Minister David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, announced his desire to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU. At the same time, he advocated remaining in the European Community, but demanded its reforms. Cameron's decision was triggered by the growing popularity of the UK Independence Party, led by Nigel Farage. He has long been a well-known opponent of the European Union and advocated an exit from the European Union as soon as possible. (Menon G. E., 2017)
The referendum took place on 23 June 2016. It is worth noting that it did not have a binding form for the British government. It was attended by 72.2 per cent of eligible voters and 51.89 per cent in favour of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. Cameron was in favour of remaining in the EU. Therefore, when the results of the referendum were announced, he resigned.
David Cameron was succeeded as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by Theresa May. She immediately announced that she would respect the will of the voters and start the process of the kingdom's exit from the EU. This was supposed to happen during her reign, but in the end it did not happen. (MenonG.E.2017) However, the protracted negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union were only a prelude to what happened after their completion. Theresa May had to convince British MPs to accept the negotiated agreement. However, the House of Commons was unfavourable from the outset. The deal divided the country, and even Brexiteers began to advocate staying in the EU if the divorce were to take place on the proposed terms. In particular, the transitional period during which the kingdom would be subject to EU laws but could not influence them was objectionable. The issue of the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland was also controversial all the time.
Theresa May's successor as prime minister was the former head of the Foreign Ministry and supporter of Brexit Boris Johnson. He announced that the UK would leave the EU on October 31 with or without a deal. He also wanted to renegotiate the terms with the EU, but this possibility was quickly rejected by the EU. At the end of August 2019, Johnson asked the Queen to suspend Parliament for the period from 12 September to 14 October. This would be the longest suspension since 1945. Johnson's goal was to limit parliament's influence on leaving the EU. (Menon G. E., 2017)
Many British newspapers enumerated the serious risks associated with the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union. The pro-Brexit press triumphantly announces the birth of a new Britain after the referendum.
Three sources of information about a contemporary news topic
The Times describes the "Brexit earthquake", highlighting the political and economic chaos in the first hours after the referendum ends. Paul Johnson, an expert at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, writes that Britain found itself "without a compass in waters that are not on any map." He stressed that it was "unlikely" that London would receive new trade terms from Brussels that were "satisfactory for the people who voted to leave the European Union."
Times chief commentator Matthew Parris wrote in his analysis wrote that if anything is certain that Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, and Iain Duncan Smith, backed by Nigel Farage, are not fit for the new UK government. The columnist also pointed out that the result of the referendum puts MPs in the House of Commons in a difficult situation, of whom only 160 out of 650 support the country's exits from the EU. In an editorial, the Times writes that "it will be years before we fully understand the impact of Brexit on British identity and role in the world, but there is no turning back." What is worth noting is that in the above-mentioned article, it was also emphasized that "even before the United Kingdom leaves the Union, there may be a split within - Scottish independence".
The Times, which supported Britain remaining in the EU, points to the risk of Brexit and the evident lack of a plan of action for its supporters. The newspaper emphasizes that only the growing populists, m.in the almost certain Republican candidate for the US presidency Donald Trump and the head of the National Front in France, Marine Le Pen, congratulated the supporters of Great Britain's exit from the EU, and most political leaders spoke of anxiety and a threat to the post-war European order. (https://www.allsides.com/tags/brexit, 2023)
In the different article from the same newspaper the Times said the EU summit on Brexit was a "historic humiliation", even comparing it to the Suez crisis of 1956, when the government in London was forced by the United States to withdraw from military action in Egypt. "Britain was once again dependent on foreign leaders to make decisions not so much on the ill-fated trips to the Middle East country, but on our fundamental constitutional and economic arrangements. MPs should reflect on how our country found itself in such a situation," it said.
EU leaders "had to decide how long Britain will stay in the EU and under what conditions, because politicians in this country are bogged down in their attempts to find a way forward." "Although the government and the Labour Party are talking about a possible compromise agreement that could count on cross-party support, these negotiations are likely to end in nothing," the newspaper said.
According to the Times, achieving any breakthrough would require three changes: the government respecting the outcome of another round of indicative votes on alternative solutions to the ongoing impasse, Labour complying with the decision without trying to block it further in parliament, and castling among "parliamentary factions that would have to start voting for options they previously strongly opposed." According to the Times, none of this is likely.
According to the daily, "it is difficult to imagine any progress as long as Theresa May remains as prime minister", despite the "important but overdue" decision to reject calls to leave the European Union without an agreement on the future relationship. The text is a warning and an attempt to convince that extending the Brexit process does not solve anything, because "given the meagre actions of Parliament and the regrettable inability of MPs to implement the result of the referendum, there is a likelihood that if they are given another opportunity to postpone action, they will do so for as long as possible". (https://www.allsides.com/tags/brexit, 2023)
In contrary to what the British government claims, Brexit has not yet taken place, writes The Guardian. Great Britain has left the European Union - it no longer has its own MEPs, it will not participate in the creation of European law, British politicians will not appear at EU summits. In addition, the difference will be imperceptible soon. The United Kingdom has entered an eleven-month transition period during which negotiations between the government and the EU will continue.
"A pointless, most masochistic ambition in the history of these islands," writes Ian McEwan. And he lists the things the British have learned through Brexit:
· Prolonged parliamentary chaos was born out of a wrongly asked question in which we demanded 'yes' and 'no' answers, when in fact there was a whole list of them.
· The gift to multiply divisions - old vs. young, cities versus provinces, educated versus early school leavers, Scotland and Northern Ireland versus England and Wales.
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Timothy Garton Ash recalls that he and other people who advocate Britain remaining in the EU warned that Brexit would make Britain poorer, weaker, and less influential. Some of these predictions are already coming true. But criticism of something that has already happened must not lead to a situation in which one accepts further losses of one's own country. The Guardian has also published an interactive time map that shows significant points in the history of Britain's relationship with the rest of the continent since the kingdom joined the EU. There is the first British head of the European Commission, there is a victory in Eurovision, the opening of the Eurotunnel. (https://www.allsides.com/tags/brexit, 2023)
I’m not just a remainder. I’m a European through and through, and the rats have taken over the ship.
John le Carré [3]
The Sun, on the other hand, triumphs, writing on its front page: finally goodbye time. Goodbye to Germany, France, and the rest. A new Britain is rising and breaking free of its shackles," the tabloid wrote, publishing detailed election maps with the caption "How you got Britain back." Which is supposed to suggest that Great Britain is going the same way as the US from the campaign of Donald Trump, and his slogan Make America Great again. The Sun predicts that the favourite to become prime minister before the October conference of the governing Conservatives is Boris Johnson, who did not really expect to vote for leaving the European Union and has yet to decide whether he intends to run for the post of prime minister. The tabloid also reports on the "threats" coming from the Scottish National Party and Northern Ireland's Sinn Fein, who want Scottish independence and Irish reunification after the Scots and Northern Irish voted to remain in the EU, and they must leave it along with the rest of the country. (https://www.allsides.com/tags/brexit, 2023)
Bibliography
/www.bbc.com. (2023, 03 11). Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/future/article/: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200512-how-the-news-changes-the-way-we-think-and-behave
Heywood, A. (2013). Media, Democracy and Governance. In A. Heywood, Politics (pp. 182-194). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
https://www.allsides.com/tags/brexit. (2023, 03 16). Retrieved from www.allsides.com: https://www.allsides.com/tags/brexit?search=brexit
https://www.monticello.org. (2023, 03 15). Retrieved from https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/knowledge-power-quotation/: https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/knowledge-power-quotation/
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/01/john-le-carre-breaking-heart-brexi. (2023, 03 15). Retrieved from //www.theguardian.com: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/01/john-le-carre-breaking-heart-brexit
Menon, G. E. (2017). shaping things to come. In G. E. Menon, brexit and british politics (pp. 90- 118). Cambridge: Polity Press.
Menon, G. E. (2017). voting to leave . In G. E. Menon, Brexit and British Politics (pp. 70-90). Cambidge: Polity Press.
[1] The phrase "knowledge is power" is often attributed to Francis Bacon, from his Meditationes Sacrae (1597).
Thomas Jefferson used the phrase in his correspondence on at least four occasions, each time in connection with the establishment of a state university in Virginia. (https://www.monticello.org, 2023)
[2] quote from Brexit and British politics book.
[3] Quote from John le Carré on Brexit: ‘It’s breaking my heart’. (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/feb/01/john-le-carre-breaking-heart-brexi, 2023)