Is Plato authoritarian? Karl Popper thinks so, calling him the first influential authoritarian thinker. In his book, The Open Society and Its Enemies, he dissected Plato’s blueprint of an ideal city, calling out how many of its elements reeked of a “dictatorship of philosopher-kings” that suppressed free thinking and imposed a rigid caste system. Plato’s ideal city was heavily socially stratified with a strict division of labour and state censorship. Popper pins Plato as antidemocratic, opposed to the democracy that Athens was embracing in his time. Read full article here
Research
Improving media literacy could boost trust towards the news, IMPRESS report suggests
The UK media is regulated by the likes of IPSO and Ofcom. The report by press regulator IMPRESS highlights the link between low levels of media literacy and trust in the news. The study found that three quarters of those who did not know if journalists were regulated did not trust the news. It suggests that improving media literacy is one way to stem the erosion of trust, and shows that audiences have an appetite for information on news processes. Stakeholders need to collaborate in order to rebuild trust in the news, and independent media is well placed to do this. Read full article here
Merv
February 1, 2023
