The Social Construction Of The News Flashcards
How is the news a social construct?
There is no such thing as ‘news’. It only exists when society (or parts of society) determine it to be so. The GMG has conducted research which shows that the news is not constructed in an unbiased way.
What is the criteria that news sites value?
Galtung and Ruge developed the idea news values which are used to decide which news is reported.
- Composition: providing variety, the balance of items (human interest stories, political news, domestic and foreign news crime stories etc) its political slant and the values of the journalists.
- Continuity: Events that are likely to have a continuing impact - the running story, which is also convenient as the news reporters and cameras will already be there.
- Elite nations/people: What journalists and the customer perceive as important - powerful nations, people or organisations, are seen as more newsworthy than lesser ones.
- Frequency: Events that fit into the routine schedules of a newspaper’s or news programme’s or website’s reporting and broadcasting or publishing cycles are more likely to be covered. Events that occur quickly or unexpectedly, and are short of duration, such as disasters and murders, are more likely to make it into the news as they fit the schedules better.
- Meaningfulness: Giving the readers and viewers what journalists and producers think they want; this is of great importance if the audience or readership is to continue to be attracted and viewing figures kept up, papers sold or websites referred to.
- Negativity: Bad news is nearly always rated above positive stories, they involve many newsworthy aspects that encourage journalists to report the events.
- Personalisation: Human drama attached to them, such as disputes between two political leaders or scandal involving the activities of famous personalities or celebrities.
- Proximity: Events in Britain are generally considered more meaningful than those happening in the rest of the world, and national events are generally considered more important than local ones.
- Threshold: Large and significant enough to be in the news, and to have an impact - a single rape might make it into a local paper, but a serial rapist might become a national story.
- Unambiguity/clarity: Events that are clear, easily understood and not too complicated, without the need for lots of background explanation to be reported than predictable everyday events.
- Unexpectedness: Out of the ordinary. Events that involve drama, conflict, excitement and action, such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks, are more likely to be reported than predictable everyday events.
How does making a profit affect the news?
The source of the majority of profit in the media comes from advertising, which explains the dependence on ratings, hits and circulation of media products.
Bagdikian stresses the importance of advertising means news reports will be presented in a way that avoids offending advertisers, with some stories being cut off completely.
Curran et al argue there is a conservatism in the media, which tries to avoid too much criticism in the way society is organised. This means that minority opinion is under-represented in the media.
What does globalisation, and new technology mean for the news?
Globalisation means there are a mass of news providers from across the globe to choose from. New technology such as Smartphones, Twitter and digital TV means that news is instantly available from practically anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day.
What is citizen journalism and what does Bivens argue about it?
New technology has created better opportunities for citizen journalism. Forms of new media (videos shot on a smartphone that can be uploaded to Twitter, YouTube etc) means ordinary people are more involved in directly collecting, reporting and spreading news stories.
Bivens argues that citizen journalism through mobile phone picture and videos at the scene of news events is transforming traditional journalism.
What is agenda-setting?
People can only discuss and form opinions about things they know about, and in most cases it is the media which provides this information. The media’s influence in laying down the subjects for discussion is known as agenda setting.
McCombs argues that the media not only have influence over what we think about, but also how we think about certain subjects.
What is norm setting?
Norm-setting refers to the way the media emphasise and reinforce conformity to social norms, and seek to isolate those who do not conform by making them victims of unfavourable media reports. Norm setting is achieved by:
- Encouraging conformist behaviour such as not going on strike, obeying the law, being brave, helping people and so on. Advertising, for example, often reinforced the gender role stereotypes of men and women.
- Discouraging non conformist behaviour. The media often give extensive and sensational treatment to stories about murder and other crimes of violence, riots, benefit fraud, football hooliganism, illegal immigrants, and so on. Such stories, by emphasising the serious consequences which follow for those who break social norms, are giving ‘lessons’ in how people are expected not to behave.
- Media representations. The processes of agenda setting, gatekeeping, and norm setting act as forms of social control as they mean some events are simply not reported and brought to public attention, and some of those that are reported may be singled out for particular unfavourable treatment. In these ways, the media can define what the important issues are, what ‘news’ is, what the public should and shouldn’t be thinking about, and what should or shouldn’t be regarded as ‘normal’ behaviour in society.
What are moral panics?
Moral panics are generated around activities or social groups which are defined as threatening to society or dominant social values. The classic study of the media and moral panics was Cohen’s (2002 [1972]) study of Mods and Rockers youth subcultures in the 1960s. Moral panics show the media’s power to define what is normal and what is deviant, unacceptable behaviour, and to reinforce a consensus around the core values of the dominant ideology, while at the same time making money through attracting audiences.
In recent years, moral panics have risen around groups like asylum seekers, radicalised Muslims and internet paedophiles, and issues like anti-social behaviour and gun and knife culture among young people. Media generated moral panics often arise from the ever growing need in the competitive world of the media to attract audiences through sensationalised news stories (even if there aren’t any) and infotainment, and thereby make money from advertisers. Such methods mean the media can be accused of socially constructing the news and manufacturing unwarranted anxiety in their audiences.
Is the concept of moral panics still relevant in the new media age? What are contemporary criticisms of moral panic theory?
McRobbie and Thornton (1995) suggests that media generated moral panics are now becoming less common. This is because new media technology and constant 24/7 rolling news reporting, and intense competition both between media organisations and between different types of media such as web-based news, blogs, social networking through Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, and cable, print, broadcast and satellite news - have changed the reporting of, and reaction by audiences to, events that might once have caused a moral panic.
Assumes a passive audience - while new media mean audiences are more active.
Panic may not be generated because the media also exaggerate the police’s ability to control crime.
Panic may not be generated because exaggerated reporting is constant and normalised.
What do pluralists and postmodernists argue about the relevancy of moral panics?
Pluralists and postmodernists argue there is now such a huge diversity of media reports and interpretations of events that people are now much more sceptical of mainstream media interpretations and less likely to believe them. Most events that might have once have generated a moral panic now have such short shelf-lives in sustaining audience interest that they are unlikely to be newsworthy for long enough to become a moral panic.
What is the propaganda model of the media?
Herman and Chomsky take a Marxist approach to the media, and conclude that structural factors (e.g. ownership and advertising revenue) means that the mainstream media is used for the interests of the powerful.
The features that the media generally present, at best, are only partial and biased views of the world, with some subjects posing a threat to powerful interests either distorted or ignored by the media. What counts as ‘the news’ is a manufactured product that reflects the interest of powerful groups, and is produced within framework of the dominant ideology in society.
What is churnalism?
With the fast pace of modern 24hr news; news organisations simply reproduce press releases, from the government for example, without fact checking or analysis. This is known as churnalism.
What is an example of owners influencing the media?
Murdoch’s papers supporting the war on Iraq in 2003.
How is the news influenced by the middle class background of journalists?
50% of journalists are privately educated and tend to present a middle class view of the world. They take the side of owners/managers rather than the working classes. Thus the news is not simply a ‘window on the world’.
How is the news influenced by organisational/bureaucratic routines?
- Logistical factors which limit what can get into the news
- Financial cost
- Deadlines
- Time and space
- The audience
- Journalistic ethics
