Pluralism Flashcards
What do pluralist believe about the media?
Consumer choice is the primary driver of media content.
Popularity of shows, music, articles etc. are dictated by audience preferences rather than the personal biases of media owners.
Shaped by what the public want not what the owners dictate.
How does media reflect public demand?
Content of mass media mirrors what the public want.
Those who own and control must satisfy public demand to stay in business.
The audience are in control.
What is an example of reflecting public demand?
The BBC are becoming more commercialised and populist to fit in with the demand of others.
What are the electorate?
Elected politicians to represent the nation.
What are representative democracies?
Society in which the concerns and interest of the population and subgroups are represented.
What are pressure groups?
Represent sections of the population to pressure the government to further the interests of their members.
What do they say about media diversification?
No one group dominates.
Media represents a range of views allowing audience freedom to choose.
Diversity to responds to the demand of the audience
Why does bias occur?
They broadcast what people sympathise with/want to hear.
Eg. If asylum seekers are represented as a problem it is because this reflects the majority view.
What is a case study for media diversification?
F.R.I.E.N.D.S
Netflix removed friends.
Audience complained/wrote petitions and threatened to remove their subscriptions.
Netflix added it back on.
What is media concentration?
It is essential for survival.
In an increasingly global market only global companies eg. Viacom, new international have resources to provide audiences with wider choice.
What is deregulation?
Reduction or elimination of government power over a particular industry.
Introduction of commercial TV Brough a reduction in regulations which lead to rapid expansion of channels and competition.
Journalists are no longer controlled by owners and have independence.
So they have too much integrity to be regularly bias.
What is an example of deregulation?
BBCare state owned.
Their content is regulated public serving broadcasting.
BBC should ‘inform, educate and entertain’.
Newspapers have uncovered corruption in high places, targeting those in power.
What is an example of creating our own media? (positive evaluation)
Youtube and TikTok
What is a strength?
Newspapers are changing to become popular.
What is a problem with only having one source of information? (negative evaluation)
Difficult to decide what they want to see or hear if the media produces their only source of information.
Not all consumers have access to the diversity of media.
What is a problem with powerless groups? (negative evaluation)
They don’t have the resources to set up their own media.
What do feminist argue?
The range of female voices heard of media are very narrow.
Media content is male orientated.
Who backs up the argument that pluralists overstate the impartiality of journalists?
Blumer and Gurevitch
They are over reliant on official stats which undermines their objectivity.
Many people in the public do not trust journalists.
Trowler
Observed 500 journalists were embedded with British or American troops during invasion of Iraq.
This lead to one-sided reporting as they began to build a relationship with the soldiers they lived with.
