Communication and Freedom: An Althusserian Reading of Media-Government Relations

This essay draws on the work of French philosopher Louis Althusser, particularly his contributions to the development of ideology, in an assessment of the relationship between communication ana freedom. Althusser\u27s understanding of freedom as an ideological creation not only privileges the role of ideology in the construction of social relationships, but also calls into question the complex interplay between media, society, and freedom. The current billion-dollar anti-drug public service announcement deal is interrogated in an effort to illustrate how the United States government has been inserting ideologically driven propaganda into prime time television shows with the full co-operation and approval of network executives. The anti-drug advertising deal provides an example of how freedom may be compromised as the ideological state apparatus of television places ruling class, government sanctioned ideas into the forefront of society

Communication and the Knowable Community

This essay draws on Raymond Williams\u27s concept of a knowable community in an effort to understand the myriad of connections that exist between individuals and society. Williams, who sees communication and community as synonymous, suggests that a knowable community may ultimately emerge through the process of communication and that in the discovery of connections between individuals and society, an understanding of historically specific patterns may be shown. This essay also discusses an oral history project with journalists who worked for Gannett in the 1960s as an example of an emerging knowable community that questioned traditional notions of community and challenged dominant ideological constructions of media history