Event: The Media as a Non-State Actor

     Last Tuesday I attended an event on campus called The Role of Media as a non-state actor.
     The event was hosted by Delta Phi Epsilon Sorority along with the Center for Media and Social Impact. The panel discussion was aimed at identifying what role the ever- present media plays in our society when it comes to cultural perceptions. Furthermore, how this can impact foreign policy and shape cultural identities as a global level. The panel had two professors and a Politico editor on it so it was a well-rounded group of people to discuss the role of media as a non-state actor. Cathy Schneider is an associate professor for the School of International Service, Angie Chuang is an associate professor for the School of Communications and Nahal Toosi is the deputy politics editor at Politico.
The panel discussion, led by a student moderator, began by defining a non-state actor. A non-state actor can be defined as something that has an impact on conveying public affairs. The question of whether or not the media is truly a non-state actor in our current society was posed first. Professor Chuang responded by saying that the effect of media on society are undeniable however to truly understand the effects of media on society must be understood through the lens of cultural studies. She quoted Stuart Hall, saying that “culture happens through shared meanings”. While media is meant to convey affairs to the public and act as a non-state actor, the reality remains that it is a business. Those producing certain media know that the general public chooses media that will reinforce their view of the word. She argues that this creates a vicious cycle, the media responds to what is in society, society speaks to the media and the media can do whatever they want with public opinion to create content that appeals to society so they buy in to it. Her argument formed into a “what came first, the chicken or the egg?” discussion that was extremely thought provoking and started the discussion off on a great foot.
The specific events in society that were discussed were all things that we have talked about in class so the content of the discussion related very closely to our syllabus. The panelists each mentioned the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the Charlie Hebdo shooting and the Chapel Hill shooting when answering their questions in a way that rounded out the conversation very well.
Nahal Toosi’s answer to the second question included something we have talked about numerous times during the course, which is the age of information we are currently living. Because the opportunity to create content is available to so many more people through social media there is a problem of the quantity of information out there is not matching the quantity. With so much out there, it makes tuning out the clutter very difficult. She cautioned the audience against confusing all media with reputable news organizations when trusting information. When reading it is important to ask yourself, who is behind this media outlet? Is it independent?
     Specifically in regard to reporting affairs and getting unbiased information on policy of your country, Professor Schneider offered an interesting suggestion that I thought was great. She suggested reading reports from reputable news outlets from other countries because the information will be unbiased and tackle both sides of the situation. These reports will often offer greater transparency.  There was also a really interesting and important point made by Nahal and agreed upon by the rest of the panel that was, it is impossible for new organizations with greater accountability to be as fast as social media when getting content out to the general public. This is something that needs to be kept in mind as we move more and more into the age of information we are currently stepping in to.
The discussion was extremely interesting and I’m particularly happy that I chose this one to attend. Both because it included AU faculty and students and because the topic of the discussion was so relevant to what is going on in society right now. I would say that they did not focus on information on a grassroots level but nonetheless, the topic of information and content online related to our class greatly.

Nicole Golvala