Pluralists Flashcards
Pluralist view
Pluralists view represents the perspective of media professionals such as newspapers editors and journalists
They view that media as ‘offering a window into the world’ rather than unrealistic portrayal
Key concept - Diversity and choice
Pluralists argue we live in a democracy with a variety of views. They argue media represents this variety. Pluralists argue that the media representation of social groups in a fair and balanced way
Key concept - supply and demand
Media professionals are in competitions wit each other and are government by the market they serve. Pluralists believe that the media representations will reflect changes in society to represent social groups in a fair and balanced way.
Key concept - media as skilled professionals
Pluralists argue that ‘self regulation’ happens in the media. If journalists do against the professional values they will be exposed and dealt with. They argue that if social groups were represented in an unfair way, then people would not continue to use those media products. Therefore, this would support the idea that skilled professionals in the media maintain its fairness and provide only truthful representation.
Key concept - the media as the fourth estate
3 estates are the government, the courts and the church. The media is known as the ‘fourth estate’ as the media gives us access to information that is an essential part of democracy . The media can help to provide the public wit information which allows to make responsible, informed choices rather than acting out of ignorance or misinformation.
They provide a checking service.
Williams (2010) - study
That journalists provide an essential service for a democratic society in that they inform people of important information which allows them to get involved in political and cultural life. The media therefore has an important role in ensuring accurate and fair representations are made in the media.
Schlesinger ‘The news diary’
Some stories that would be reported on and will be previously placed in the ‘news diary’ e.g. the royal birth, the olympics. Many companies would report the same things at the same time, this criticises the use of the media to put out want to see - diversity and choice
Barnett and Weymour
This study is the desire for profits which leads to less diversity - as they only produce what is popular. This means that the media will often produce shows/news which are very similar as they are more concerned about profit and use of supply and demand as a way of meeting peoples needs. However, this reduces the diversity
Humphreys
The media tends to avoid airing challenging programmes as they present a greater risk to numbers of viewers and therefore risk profit. They stick to safe programmes to secure profits. However, this leads to less diversity and choice
Curran and Gurrenvitch
News stories are often constructed based on what sells. Therefore, journalists self - censor to please their editors , and produce stories which cater to the majority - boosts profits
Evaluation of a pluralist view
it is criticised for ignoring the negative impacts which the media can have on people - it suggests that the media is there to benefit people, and provide them with a choice. However, it does not take into account that some media representations have a negative impact on certain social groups = particularly those ave been marginalised in society.
pluralists often come from a very narrow range of social background - this means media professionals will have a narrow view of the world - this then limits what they present in the media and the way in they represent of social groups
