Media Flashcards
Globalisation and pop culture
Speed of technological change is so great that the world is becoming a global village, because we are all exposed to the same info through the media this has led to a pop culture
post mod - argue that the distinction between high and pop culture meaningless, there is now a huge range of media and cultural products available to all. Technology has enabled all forms of culture to be freely available to everyone. The originals may still only shown in art galleries or theaters but copies are available to everyone.
Strinati - argues elements of high culture have been incorporated into popular culture therefore there isn’t a real distinction between the two and neither set of ideas dominate culture e.g paintings are now available on t-shirts and mugs.
Flew - Globalisation has undermined national and local cultures, cultural products and ways of life become more alike. More appropriate to speak of a global culture (cultural homogenization) than of national or local ones
Sklair (Marxist) - suggests large corps (mainly us) spread the same news, entertainment, consumer and cultural products. These then become a way of life in other countries. This leads to acceptance of the dominant capitalist ideology of western societies. calls this “culture-ideology consumerism”
Ritzer - Shows its possible to buy an identical food product across the world promoting global culture whilst weakening local cultures as they are pushed out in the face of competition and diet changes. Obesity is now a global issue.
EVA - more companies are producing local program’s as western ones don’t gel with locals
Social construction of news - Influence of owners
To ensure a large audience, this can lead to a dumbing down or tabloidization of media content. This can lead to conservatism in media as companies don’t print anything that could offend
Neo-Marxists argues this maintains hegemony
Social construction of News - Practical factors
Harrison argues that if the media is biased its purely down to practical factors that are beyond a journalist’s control
News Diary - Certain events that are predetermined to be broadcast
Financial costs - Costly to report on issues in foreign countries
Advertising , time and space - only have limited time and space to report on subjects
Political influence - news companies can lean left or right and stories are based of that
Social construction of news - Technological factors
Competition between media companies has increased due to 24hr media access so websites have to be updated regularly with breaking news and interesting stories
Pluralists argue that tech has increased choice but other socialists would argue that this has decreased the quality of the news
Zakir - uses Churnalism to describe a form of journalism in which journalists churn out news quick without fact checking
Mcnair - argues that the increase in platforms on the internet means that everyone can access a range of information and ‘information like knowledge is power’ this means that people can publish their thoughts called citizen journalism
Advertorials are often used to provide news content. This blurs the distinction between news and entertainment e.g. daily mail reporting on the fact there is a new John Lewis advert
Social construction of the News - False reporting and creation moral panics
Media use emotive language to stir up public feeling this may liven up and grab reader attention
Cohen - uses study of mods and rockers to illustate how folk devils and moral panics are created. The media exagerrated the story of the two groups and therefore created a stereotype of both groups being violent and dangerous. This meant the two groups started to conform to their stereotype. This created a deviancy amplification of the group.
Hall - in 1970s there appeared to be an increase in the amount of ‘muggings’. the media reported that young black men were carrying out the muggings, Hall argues that mugging became defined as a new crime and a blanket term for other crimes as well. Hall states that by defining the mugger as black and creating a moral panic the media helped develop racism and divert attention from a ‘crisis point’ in society and capitalism
Divide and Conquer the working class so that they don’t turn against the ruling class but against each other
EVA - classed as a conspiracy theory, there is no evidence that the media creates a moral panic purely for the benefit of ruling class
Neo- Marxists argue that moral panics are created by journalists but that they are presenting their view of the world
Functionalists argue that moral panics create social solidarity and as a warning device
Left realists argue that moral panics have a very real basis in reality
Social Construction of the news - News Values
Immediacy - Happening right now, if its even a month old its history
Dramatization - Flashy headlines, shocking photos, Crisis
Personalisation - events personalised by association to a particular celebrity, leader or event or location
Higher Status people - Includes Royalty, members of parliament, Business owners and celebrities
Novelty - Things that are unusual or Bizarre and inherently newsworthy
Social Construction of the News - GMG
Agenda setting - Journalists choose what news to present and how to present it Cohen ‘the news might tell us what to think, but it definitely tells us what to think about’
Says that journalists work within the dominant ideology
- Norm Setting - The media can emphasize and reinforce conformity to social norms by encouraging conformist behaviour and discouraging non-conformist
- Gatekeeping - How the editor decides which stories are featured and how much space it is given
- Hierarchy of credibility - Hall argues journalists always approach those in power when writing a story first as they are seen as more trustworthy than ordinary people, Media use experts when reporting on a issue these people are called primary definers
Social Construction of the News - Marxist
Argue all news selection is biased and the result of direct manipulation from media owners. Miliband suggests that the owners directly control and interfere with the news
News producers have an interest in ensuring the survival of capitalism. Althusser suggests the owners control the messages in the media to persuade the working class in to FCC
Government manipulates the media and uses it to strengthen their position e.g. selective leaking
Social Construction of the News - Pluralism
White/Harrison - argue that the public are in control of news output as they have ultimate control
Certain views will dominate in each situation but the direction that the bias takes is not consistent so there is no slant in each direction
If bias occurs its due to practical factors
Media produces stories that confirm the attitudes of the audience
Pluralists would argue that audiences are given a wide range of views that they can select from
Media Rep Disability - Social Construction
Shakespeare - Disability should be seen as a social construct. A problem created by attitudes of society and not by the state of our bodies. Created by societies that don’t consider the needs of the people who don’t meet the standards of normal.
Leads to disablism and media contribute to it by representing disability as a problem for the individual rather than as something created by society
EVA -
Media rep Disability - Symbolic Annihilation
Cumberbatch - reported that disabled characters in TV are three times more likely to be dead by the end of the programme and more than half these deaths were the result of violence
Rep of disabled people in documentaries and the news is most often in relation to miracle cures or medical stores rather than about the people themselves
Disabled people only made up 2.5% of characters in fictional programmes
Found that although Charity Tv programmes raise funds they also maintain negative stereotypes and patronise them
Disabled people are rarely asked to contribute on conversations about abortion and genetic engineering
EVA -
Negative Representations of Disability
Briant et al - Found that article related to disability and benefit fraud had more than doubled in 5 years. Disabled people also labelled ‘scroungers’, ‘cheats’, and ‘skivers’
Philo - found that mental health was portrayed negatively often portrayed as something to laugh at or as a threat to others
Representation of Mental health is getting better but stereotypes are still common
EVA -
Generic Evaluation you can use for all representations
- Gauntlet - we now have diversity within the media, things are getting better Give example - Flynn from breaking bad
- A lot of Studies are outdated and content analysis has been carried out on mainly right-wing papers
- Assumes the audience cannot see through the different stereotypes. Uses and Gratification model argues that people use the media for their own pleasure and can see through bias
- McRobbie argues apparent greater equality is an illusion and the majority of the media still stereotypes different social groups which goes against post mod and pluralists
- Post mod argue that media rep are now diverse especially with the New Media. We have the ability to create our own representations through social media
Neophiliacs
- Increased Consumer Choice - Number of channels and websites have increased, Can access reviews to be more informed about the product. Boyle - Argues due to this content is now more demand led, this has led to a consumer revolution
- Revitalization of Democracy - McNair - Argues internet means that everyone can access a range of info and this gives power to ordinary people ‘Info like knowledge is power’ this means people can publish their thoughts, report incidents, attack those in power etc. Citizen Journalism
- Political Engagement - Social Movements and protest groups have used the new media to spread awareness and reach a global audience. Facebook and campaigning websites are used to build support. This puts power into the hands of the people. Mobile phones allows ordinary people to upload footage that can outrage e.g. George Floyd. Mcnair - Argues neither editors or owners call the shots anymore
- More access to all kinds of Info - Led to more empowerment. For example gain info about health conditions rather than relying on doctors or others to do it for them. Help everyday life
- Increased Cultural diversity and understanding - McLuhan - Argues that the world has become a Global Village due to collapse of time and space barriers e.g. social media. This means boundaries between cultures are reduced promoting greater understanding and tolerance between cultures
Media Rep of Upper Class
Newman - media ignores issue with capitalism and dont focus on the wealth gap between rich and poor
Nairn - Media rep of Royal family are aimed to reinforce a sense of national identity within the population (social solidarity) and media regard royal events as national events (News days)
Tend to portray members of upper class in an eccentric or nostalgic way e.g. Downtown Abbey or Belgravia
Reiner and Young - Media tent to rep society as being a meritocracy where hard work and achievement results in success (most PM’s come from 2 schools)
Media Rep of Middle Class
Owen Jones - explains how media values class through rep of McCann and Shannon Matthews - McCann generated three times as much media coverage as Shannon, 2.6 million was raised to save them but only 25,000 for Shannon. Many Politicians raised their voice for McCann but few for Shannon.
Content of newspapers such as Daily mail suggest that journalists believe the middle class are concerned about the decline of moral standards e.g. Headlines about Migrants
Media Rep of Working Class
Newman - argue that when the news focus on the w/c they label them as problems or in the context of trouble e.g. criminals, strikes, or scroungers.
Moral Panics - Stuart Hall Black mugger - Media create scapegoats out of powerless groups
Media Rep of Underclass
Shildrick and MacDonald - labelling of section of the poor as chavs suggests that the poor are undeserving of public sympathy. Chav is a label used as a familiar and amusing term of abuse for young poor people.
Poverty porn is used by the media to entertain the masses, exploits the poor for entertainment in order to turn a profit e.g. Jeremy Kyle.
Famine porn generates sympathy for a given cause e.g. Oxfam ads or Red nose day. However contributes to racism as people are not accurately portrayed
