"For most politicians and journalists, the answer to nearly every question is to look up. Not at the moon, the stars or even the chimney tops, but at their leaders: the people who sit atop institutions, wield power and set the line that others follow. The top of the totem pole is the sole focal point, and the stories that count usually come from the heights of power."
"We know a lot about what fifth-century Greece looked like to an Athenian citizen, observed EH Carr in his classic What is History?, but hardly anything about what it looked like to a Spartan, a Corinthian, or a Theban not to mention a Persian, or a slave or other non-citizen resident in Athens. Sixty-five years later and our daily news remains wall-to-wall Athens, with scarcely a Spartan vox pop."
"Until a week such as this one, which reminds us that power doesn't belong only to the powerful. Just look at the disarray inflicted on Trump, head of the world's sole superpower, by Minneapolis, a city with barely more people than Croydon. After months of resistance by Minnesotans, the president's immigration chief, Gregory Bovino, has been forced out of the city. Trump's head of homeland security, Kristi Noem, faces either the sack or impeachment."
Mainstream political coverage concentrates on leaders and top institutions, making leadership the dominant narrative across media. Press usage of the words "leader" or "leadership" ran to roughly 2,000 instances in a recent week, with about a third focused on one individual, Donald Trump. Historical perspective highlights how dominant voices obscure alternative viewpoints, likening modern news to an Athenian perspective that leaves many others unseen. Local resistance in cities such as Minneapolis can unsettle national leaders, forcing personnel changes and internal conflict within ruling parties. Political power therefore emerges from interactions between elites and local communities.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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