industry theories

Question 1

livingstone and lunt - regulation (struggle)

Answer 1

• found a struggle between the rights of the public as consumers and the public as citizens at the very heart of the issue of regulation
• as a citizen, you have rights when it comes to protection from harmful content, truthfulness, transparency about information, freedom of speech/ expression and other protections BUT as a consumer you have rights when it comes to choosing what you want to buy, access to a variety of products and competitive prices
• the idea of a struggle can be seen in how regulators attempt to monitor and control media content
• the idea of ‘harmful’ is seen as relative to the individual - if something that is branded as ‘harmful’ is banned, then this is a case of regulation infringing on someone’s wants and desires as a consumer

Question 2

livingstone and lunt - regulation (globalised media)

Answer 2

• globalisation poses a challenge to regulation
• it is difficult to manage the colossal increase of inflowing content that your citizens can access that hasn’t been vetted by domestic regulators
• debate: if the content is produced in a foreign country then how does that apply to regulations in the UK?

Question 3

livingstone and lunt - new media and regulation

Answer 3

• the sheer amount of user-generated content that is uploaded and posted onto social media every minute is colossal
• this makes it near impossible for filters and algorithms to catch dangerous, graphic or offensive content before it reaches users’ screens
• user generated content is published first ad regulated second

Question 4

power and media industries - curran and seaton

Answer 4

• idea that patterns of ownership and control are the driving force behind how mass media operates
• instead of being driven by creative ideals, philosophy, ideology or any other factor, the patterns of ownership are the overwhelming force behind it all
• industry trends are influenced by conglomerates because they have the sway and resources to affect those around them
• the consolidation of major conglomerates limits opportunities for companies that are outside the few major conglomerates to compete
• in the last decades, dozens of companies have been bought up and merged into larger ones which is emblematic of the way all industries operate in capitalism
• curran and seaton have described these ultra-wealthy organisations as operating like an oligarchy and actively undermining democratic society through their method of ownership
• in countries where media is controlled by such a small group of owners, the press is not free as they can make rules and guidelines on what is reported on, how the stories are presented, stop certain stories making headline news, creating bias and using financial leverage to spin events

Question 5

cultural industries - hesmondhalgh

Answer 5

• profit driven motivation results in low risk strategies (when you have £100 million, a career and the future of a production company riding on the success of a film, one is unlikely to take huge creative risks)
• ‘risk’ refers to decisions that are likely to be unprofitable or controversial (but not all risks are obvious, eg. the run time of a film)
• part of reducing risk from a business perspective is having control over different stages of production and by being a conglomerate like this, you reduce your risk

Question 6

cultural industries - hesmondhalgh (formatting)

Answer 6

formatting is the way that major media companies put together texts to maximise profitability. there are three key elements:

• genre (some genres are simply more popular and accessible than others whereas less popular genres often get limited releases in cinema/ streaming services)
• serialisation (texts that are part of an existing franchise are more likely to be financially successful, esp if they are already popular)
• star power (celebs have huge appeal to mainstream audiences because of celebrity culture and they will attract larger audiences because of their existing popularity)