Marxism & Pluralism: Alain de Botton on the news

Questions:

1) To what extent do you agree with Alain de Botton's views on the News?
I agree with Alain de Botton's view on the News to a certain extent because he makes a few valid points. The news is in fact the most powerful force out there and we only seem to concentrate on news that is put into some sort of disastrous imagery. The news "parachutes us to disastrous places" as we are familiar with the area around us. The news only shows us what they view as priorities and, in a way, has replaced the role of religion, as it guides people now. Recently, people feel helpless and manipulated by the news. Some news content is biased and due to the level o negativity thrown at us, people flee to the government and view them as a refuge. The news always sends a moral panic (Cohen).

2) How can you link Marxism and Hegemony to de Botton's criticisms of the News?
A marxist would agree with Botton's point about false role models and how it creates envy in people and overall just adds to the negativity and misguidance that the media enforces. With news stories of people becoming successful in a certain field, it's really only a happy story for that person, whilst it leaves audiences with no life lesson from these "role models" and just more upset at how their lives aren't as successful.

3) How could you use Pluralism and new technology to challenge de Botton's views on the News?
A pluralist perspective would actually argue that the advancements in technology have greatly improved and we are now able to easily access our own choice of news as well as produce news as well. With new and digital technology, we have options of doing this anonymously which ultimately means that we , to some extent, are protected from the repercussions of voicing alternative ideologies while still challenging the 'norms' that the elite has imposed upon us.

4) Choose two news stories from the last six months - one that supports de Botton's views and one that challenges his belief that the News is used for social control. 
Challenges: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/30/sun-website-to-scrap-paywall- sun scrapping the paywall challenges de Botton's view because it is beneficial to the audience who seems to hold the power over the news.
Supports: http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2015/mar/04/the-most-important-article-youll-ever-read - this article is about how to determine which articles are important to write about, this supports de Botton as he also goes on about how some stories are presented as more important due to what is popular. this article looks at how to determine the importance.