Week 6 - Question

 

  • What is the role of (media) surveillance in assertions of colonial authority? and/or authority more broadly?


The idea of surveillance is to watch someone closely, usually when a crime is suspected of being taken place. Just as technology has evolved so has the use of surveillance. There is a clear link between surveillance and authority, as those that control it and enforce it are always the ones in power. During colonialism there was a use of surveillance where the facts were twisted and misleading to harm or disadvantage certain groups. We can see a similarity with this in todays day and age. We see surveillance and footage in general of individuals be used and manipulated across the media, especially with some news stations, to present a certain message to the general public. 

There is no better time to find examples for this then now, especially with what has happened in 2020 with not just COVID-19 but more so the BLM movement. With this we have benefits of media surveillance, but also negatives in the way it can be used to depict wrongful messages. The benefits of media surveillance for the general public is now the ones able to use surveillance for their benefit, isn't just those in power, it is everyday people with their phone cameras. This has been undeniably affective, especially with events of police brutality, especially on the black community. Now with media surveillance through our phones, we are able to gain some authority back from those that use and abuse it. As with the footage taken it can be used to criminalise an officer, where in other times they would have gotten away with it. 

But, to link this to a more colonial authority we can look at how footage of groups of people have been put onto certain news sites and newspapers, with an underlying agenda with every topic. With the BLM movement we have seen people riot and protest, but when you look to some news publications, you can clearly see a misleading take on the matter, with only one side of the story shown, or a headline that differs to the truth of the story. The reason they do this, is they don't truly care about the 'truth', they want to promote their ideology subtly so it can have its affect. This is where the ones in power, the media, are controlling the storyline behind certain events. However, with the rise in media surveillance on top of the rise of social media we are able to find alternative takes on the exact same event, whether it be another angle of the scenario or footage that starts a few seconds before. The only issue with this, is not every person will see the truth through online platforms, so the damaging affect done by the bigger organisations has already taken its toll.    

So overall the big media conglomerates promote and continue this idea of colonial authority through there ways of picking and choosing what they show and how they show certain groups. As when watching these channels and reading those newspapers you are more often than not a passive consumer rather than one that challenges what they see, on top of this there is a level of trust put on these media platforms that they will tell us the truth. But they all have their own agendas and because of the way they use surveillance, it could be argued to be a form of 'colonial authority'.  





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