Comments on: Israeli Apathy (1): An Introduction

By: stephen hoffman

stephen hoffman — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:01:21 +0000

i dont agree with first past the post but the national list system in 1 word is rubbish , it leads to unstable coalitions where small parties be them far left or far right holds the government to ransom and encourages back room deals which leads to corruption- fueling apathy -also if a government is in power on average for only 2 years they cant get much done .

the best system from my perspective as a politics student is the ams system used by germany this is a hybrid system of first past the post and proportional representation – so you have the benefits of a clear winner first past the post , with the benefits of proportional representation-every vote counts.

By: Paul Frosh

Paul Frosh — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:43:44 +0000

Thanks for the Dr Who guidance. Now I’m totally lost. I’ll pass the info on to my 12 year-old daughter for decoding.
Will be happy to share any premilinary results from the media consumtion project. Don’t hold your breath though (academic research: so thorough, so slow).

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:29:19 +0000

I thought that was your field, wasn’t sure precisely what though. Feel free to share any preliminary findings from your research with a Guest Dichotomies! In terms of the good Doctor, the most relevant episode to your research is The Long Game from series one (of the revived series), featuring the Editor and the Might Jagrafess. Once you get to Series 3, though, it’s worth thinking about how the Master goes about manipulating his public. Certainly worth an epigraph or two…As for Rose, don’t worry, she’ll be back…

By: Paul Frosh

Paul Frosh — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:17:43 +0000

Don’t know if this is for the comment space, but funny you should call for a comparison of how tv news forms part of people’s broader consumption of media – and how it encourages/discourages public engagment. That’s exactly what I’m going to be researching over the next couple of years (Hebrew U plus Israel Democracy Institute)!
I’m way behind on Doctor Who (watch it on Yes) – still pining for Rose Tyler.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:11:54 +0000

Hi Paul – thanks for the comment. Interesting point about ratings for television news. Personally, aside from football and my internet downloads of Doctor Who, I don’t watch television at all, which means that lots of contemporary Israeli culture is sadly passing me by. I don’t know what the high ratings mean, but I do think that television news is generally a poor way of keeping informed, at least in isolation. So I think we have to compare how television news viewing forms part of people’s broader consumption of media.

By: Paul Frosh

Paul Frosh — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:06:53 +0000

Good post. On the Big Brother issue, an interesting factoid is that the list of top rated TV programs at the moment is populated pretty heavily by reality tv shows (Big Brother, Mifratz Ha’ahava) and traditional factual programmes (the news, Uvdah): http://www.rashut2.org.il/about_survey_rating_week.asp.
In fact, apart from the weekly consumer affairs ‘expose’ programme “Colbotech”, only the hugely expensive and massively hyped Big Brother beats Channel 2 news, and the rating for the latter is a weekly average (i.e. it’s consistently high). This is pretty unusual compared to the US and many European countries. And it may be positive evidence of the residual public engagement of Israelis. On the other hand, who says that watching the news is a good indicator of political involvement? It may even encourage the kind of cynicism and indifference you describe.