Theories Of Media Ownership Flashcards
Sociological perspectives on media ownership
What do Marxists believe in regards to the role of the owners in the manipulative approach?
- Owners directly control media content and manipulate it to protect their own interests of the dominant ideology.
- E.g. Curran and Seaton —> Murdoch argued strongly in interviews for the war in Iraq, with all of his newspapers agreeing. —> Admitted in 2007 that he had editorial control over his newspapers.
What do Marxists argue in regards to the manipulative approach for the content in the media and reasons for it?
- Dominant ideology: justifies inequality between the ruling and working class (Miliband)
- Media = apart of the ideological state apparatus (Althusser)
- Commodity fetishism (false needs) —> benefits capitalism as it distracts the audience, putting the focus on ‘must have products’, creating false class consciousness.
What do Marxists believe in regards to the manipulative approach in the role of managers and journalists?
- Have little choice —> run the media in the way the owners want —> to avoid losing their jobs.
What do Marxists believe in regards to the manipulative approach in the characteristics and behaviour of audiences?
- Assumes the audience is passive and unquestioningly accept media dominant ideology.
- Audience is fed ‘dumbed down’ content, stopping a focus on serious issues, and encouraging the serious issues to be interpreted in favour of the dominant class.
- Encouraged to focus on ‘must-have’ products —> commodity fetishism.
What are the criticisms of the Marxist theory of the manipulative approach to media ownership?
- Audiences are not passive: outdated in the age of new media.
- There are formal controls preventing owners producing biased content.
What do Neo-Marxists believe in regards to the role of the owners in the hegemonic approach?
- Don’t have day to day control of media content. –> would be too impractical.
What do Neo-Marxists believe in regards to content in the media and reasons for this in the hegemonic approach?
- (Glasgow Media Group) Dominant ideology –> Presented in agenda setting (only reporting on certain stories), and gatekeeping (not including negative stories about dominant ideology)
What do Neo-Marxists believe in regards to the role of managers & journalists in the hegemonic approach?
- Support dominant ideology by choice as they are socialised into it –>
(Glasgow Media Group): white, m/c, male, privately educated –> limited selection of opinions, see the dominant ideology as common sense.
What do Neo-Marxists believe in regards to the role of the characteristics and behaviour of audiences in the hegemonic approach?
- Accept dominant ideology as don’t have access to alternative
information, e.g. suggestions to banking crisis of 2008 (Philo)
What are the criticisms of the Neo-Marxist hegemonic approach to media ownership?
- Still implies audiences can be manipulated.
- New media prevents gatekeeping and agenda setting.
- Undermines the role and influence owners have e.g. Murdoch’s editors constantly considered how he would present a story for the Sun.
- Journalists are male –> they spread patriarchal ideology.
What do Pluralists believe in regards to the role of the owners?
- Want profit so want to appeal to audience demand due to
competition with other media organisations. - Role is limited by regulators and practical issues
What do Pluralists believe in regards to the content in the media and reasons for this?
- Diverse and varied
- Everyone’s views are considered in a democratic society
- Needs to meet audience demand to make profit so has to
appeal to as many people as possible
What do Pluralists believe in regards to the role of journalists and editors?
- Professionals who don’t want their independence compromised by owners.
What do Pluralists believe in regards to the characteristics and the behaviour of audiences?
- Audiences are active: pick & mix what content they want to consume.
- Have purchasing power: will only consume what they are
interested in. - Heterogeneous: have diverse views and interests.
What are the criticisms of the pluralist theory of media ownership?
- Some groups are more powerful than others so have more of a voice (primary definers).
- Attracting audience limits choice: leads to low quality content (tabloidization).
- Media tell audiences what they want.
What do postmodernists believe about the content in the media and the reasons for this?
- Large amount of choice
- Polysemic: can be interpreted in different ways
- Hyperreality: distorted view of society & based on simulacra
- Due to a media saturated society (Baudrillard)
What do postmodernists believe about the role of journalists and managers?
- No longer the only media producers
What do postmodernists believe about the characteristics and behaviours of audiences?
- Active: use new media to create content, e.g. citizen journalism
- Interpret content in ways that fit with their views
- Identify with media images and trends (Baudrillard & Strinati)
-Use media to create identity
What are the criticisms of the postmodernist theory of media ownership?
- Media doesn’t provide choice as representations reinforce
stereotypes (these often benefit ruling class). - Not all members of audience can access new media.
- Choice is a myth as majority of media produced by media
conglomerates.
What is the influence of the owners?
- Owners imposing their own views on editors.
–> Direct instructions to editors
–> Journalists and editors’ adopt self-censorship to protect their career: avoid reporting some events or report how they think owners will approve.
–> Concerned with making profits, turning news into infotainment, leading to unethical journalism.
E.g. Marxism
What is making a profit?
- Aim of making money, e.g. from advertising
- Bagdikian: means news has to avoid offending advertisers.
- To attract a large audience, the news has to appeal to everyone, leading to minority views going unrepresented.
E.g. pluralism
What is new technology and citizen journalism?
- New media technology has led to ordinary people being more involved in collecting, reporting and spreading news.
- Helps to overcome suppression of stories / biased news.
- Can expose offensive, illegal or corrupt activities by politicians.
- When news related videos go viral, it can make it difficult for mainstream media to ignore them.
- Pluralism, postmodernism
What is organisational limitations?
- More likely to use social media for consumption
- Expect up to date news at all times
- Development of 24 hour news channels or websites.
–> Emphasis on getting a news story before anyone else rather than getting it right.
What is agenda setting?
- The process of selecting the subjects for public discussion
- Associated with the Glasgow Media Group
- Tells people what to think about
- GMG: organisations and journalists work within a framework of the dominant ideology —> audiences have little choice of news
What is gatekeeping?
- Refuses to cover some issues but reports on others
- May restrict access to stories that are the most damaging to the dominant ideology
What is norm setting?
- The way the media emphasises conformity to social norms, and seeks to isolate those who do not.
1.) Encouraging conformist behaviour: e.g. not going on strike, adverts reinforcing traditional gender roles.
2.) Discouraging non-conformist behaviour: extensive and sensationalist treatment to serious crimes i.e. focusing on the consequences of those who break norms, and give lessons in how people shouldn’t behave.
What is presentation of the news?
- Images used in news footage may have hidden bias.
- Use emotive language to create biased impressions —> used to liven up a story and grab interest.
What is inaccurate reporting and moral panics?
- False reporting —> moral panics
- Media’s power to define what is normal and deviant.
- Reinforces a consensus around the dominant ideology, whilst at the same time making money by attracting audiences.
Why are moral panics less common?
Pluralists and postmodernists:
- New media and citizen journalism has led to moral panics being less common
—> More sources of information
—> Increased scepticism of mainstream media
—> Most events don’t maintain audience interest long enough to create a moral panics
What is news values and newsworthiness?
- Threshold: Events have to be significant or dramatic enough
- Proximity: Items which have cultural meaning or geographical closeness
- Simplification: Events that are easily understood and not too complicated
- Celebrity or high status people: Crime and deviance involving high status individuals as victims or offenders
—> Stories with these are more likely to be reported on as they are seen as likely to attract audiences and therefore profit.
What is immediacy in terms of news values?
- Stories are more likely to be reported if the media can combine news values with impressions of immediacy
- Being present at events as they unfold
- E.g. Live coverage of events and citizen journalism was evident during the Japanese earthquake and Tsunami of 2011
What is the behaviour of journalists?
Glasgow Media Group:
1.) Journalists operate within the hierarchy of credibility: attach greatest importance to views of primary definers (Hall et al) —> positions of power give greater access to journalists and influence on how they define news.
2.) Journalists are moderate in terms of politics, so ignore radical views.
3.) Journalists as white, male, middle class —> share the interests and values of the dominant ideology.
4.) Journalists keep their work simple, and to reduce time and costs they will use information in articles without checking the facts or finding the news themselves, meaning primary definers are more likely to influence journalist —> churnalism
What is churnalism?
- Journalists produce articles on prepackaged material: e.g. from press releases, news agencies, without doing any further research and checking the facts.
- Davies: 80% of stories in the main UK daily newspapers were partially constructed from second hand material.
