A2 Sociology - Mass Media, A2 SOCIOLOGY: Media

Lippman

"Stereotypes are little pictures of people that we carry around in our heads"

Lee and Solomon (1990)

'In 1989, Domino's Pizza cancelled its advertising on Saturday Night Live because of the show's alleged anti-Christian message'

McQuail (1992)

'news' is not objective or impartial

Socha and Eber-Schmid (2012)

'part of the difficulty in defining New Media is that there is an elusive quality to the idea of new'

Sochia and Eber-Schmid (Cultural pessimists)

New media ownership likened to 'growing pains of the American Wild West' where companies compete for market share - situation may be similar to that of old media where large corporations exert considerable control over choices made by consumers (eg; owners of internet search engines discourage consumers from switching to other services providers)

Elite nations

News value that refers to choosing the event that involves people that journalists think the customers perceive as important.

Continuity

News value that refers to choosing the event that is likely to have a continuing impact - running story.

Frequency

News value that refers to choosing the event which fits the routine schedules of the media outlet.

Meaningfulness

News value that refers to choosing the event which has the most meaning/interest to the viewer.

Proximity

News value that refers to choosing the events that are closest to audience with some cultural meaning.

Threshold

News value that refers to choosing the events that are considered large and significant enough to make it into the news.

Personalisation

News value that refers to choosing the events that can be personalised and linked to individuals in some way - public interest angle.

Composition

News value that refers to choosing the events that fit the style of the media outlet - political slant etc.

Clarity

News value that refers to choosing the events which are clear and easily understood.

Unexpectedness

News value that refers to choosing the events which are unexpected/out of the ordinary e.g. natural disasters/terrorist attacks.

McChesney (2002) (Evaluation of Davies)

Notion that media are professional is ideological myth invested by media owners to present corporate media monopoly owners as unbiased contributor to democracy - thus increase potential to be profitable - thus media researchers suggest news content is manufactured or socially constructed to benefit powerful groups and has negative consequences for rest of society

Treatment of social groups

Opinions about social groups are formed via the recipients interpretation of the media messages given out.

Curran (2000)

Power of media owners is 'qualified and constrained' by range of people and interests including: - consumers - employees - suppliers of various forms of content - regulators - rival producers - wider cultural beliefs of society

cultural homogenization

Process where separate characteristics of two or more cultures become merged or erased into one culture.

Tabloidisation

Process whereby there is a decline of serious reporting and coverage with replacement by dumbed down infotainment.

Pluralists

See society as a representative democracy where the media reflects a diverse range of views reflecting the diversity. Any bias is due to the demands of the viewer (fight for profits).

Marxists

See the media as being a form of social control that filters ideological values through ISA. As a consequence the media put through dominates the working class and provides infotainment to distract people from reality.

Boyle (2005)

Sees similar trends in TV media as we have evolved from supply-led TV available free to whole population to demand-led TV organised around idea that viewers should decide when to watch what - no longer restrained by TV schedules (eg; Sky+ - consumers encouraged to take active role in construction of own TV schedules)

Ideology

Set of ideas, values and beliefs that justifies the interests of a particular social group.

Monopoly

Situation where one company dominates the market within their product.

Jenkins (2008)

Smartphones are 'electronic equivalent of a Swiss army knife' - convergence is a process rather than endpoint - there will never be a black box that does everything as needs are dependent upon different social contexts - eg; mobile-phone technology; demands for converged product are driven by needs from young people rather than middle-aged adults - media convergence affects how we consume media (eg; "a teenager doing homework may juggle four or five windows, scan the web, listen to and download MP3 files, chat with friends word-process a paper and respond to email, shifting rapidly among tasks") - convergence involves change in how media are produced and consumed - convergence; top-down corporate-driven process and bottom-up consumer-driven process

Cyber media

Social networking, gaming, music etc.

Poulantzas (1975)

Status groups like professional and intellectuals (upper middle class) occupy 'contradictory class positions'; groups are neither wholly bourgeois not wholly proletarian - approach questions idea that behaviour of subject classes is directly manipulated through media - for this ruling class would need level of cohesion that it does not have

Audio visual media

TV/Radio/Cinema/DVD/Music - Profit through subscription & advertisement.

Symbolic annihilation

The lack of visibility, under-representation & limited roles certain groups as they are condemned/trivialised in other roles.

Media Imperialism

The method in which cultural imperialism is implemented - particularly new media.

Hybridisation

The process of the creation of hybrid cultures.

Male gaze

The way men see women as sexual objects.

Media gaze

The way the media view society and represent it in media content.

Marxism

Theory which say that a group of rich and powerful citizens run the country to benefit their own needs and those of privileged citizens.

False consciousness

This is created as a lack of awareness is spread among people about what their real interests are.

Economic globalisation

Transnational corporations have become dominant & therefore the role of national boundaries & governments is less important.

Curran and Seaton (2003)

Two perspectives dominate debate about new media in the UK: 1. Neophiliacs; optimistic about spread and influence of new media technologies as they offer consumers more choice and opportunity to participate more interactively and effectively in democratic process 2. Cultural pessimists; new media are not really that new, interactivity is an illusion as ownership of new media is still overwhelmingly concentrated within powerful corporations - new media content leads to decline in quality of popular culture

Private ownership

Type of ownership that means that all profits produced go to the owners - this profit is made through advertisement and subscription fees.

Pluralism

View that sees power as being in societies hands - no single person has a monopoly.

Message content

What the message is actually saying - what is included and left out is reflective of those who made the message i.e. the elite.

Synergy

When media produce, promote and sell a product in a variety of forms forming....

Bruce (1996)

Interviews and discussion with 12-15 year olds about TV news - concluded that status and credibility of news was hardly ever challenged by them - rather, news was perceived to be honest and trustworthy reflection of real world - happy to accept validity of news items beyond their experience

News values

List of values that are considered "newsworthy" that allow editors & journalists to select which stories to include and which to leave out.

Pluralism

Media is owned by a variety of companies.

Instrumental influence

Media owners directly influence media output, using their publication to put across conservative beliefs e.g. Murdoch.

Horizontal integration

Media owners have an interest in a range of media e.g. newspapers, magazines & TV.

Structural influence

Media owners indirectly influence media output by setting the tone and political slant of their products.

Global ownership

Media ownership is international.

Traditional media

Media that communicates uniform messages in a one way process to large masses - these are assumed to be homogenous.

New media

Media that is screen based, digital technology etc. used for distribution & consumption.

Audience

Messages are interpreted in different ways by the ....

Davies (2008)

Most basic function of journalism is to check facts - but in practice, contemporary journalism is corrupted by endemic failure to verify news stories - 'flat-earth' news stories - universally accepted as 'true' (eg; millennium bug in 1999) - written about by journalists who didn't know if what they were writing was true - modern day British journalism characterised by 'churnalism' - uncritical over reliance on facts procured by government spin doctors and public relations experts - 'where once journalists were active gatherers of news, now they have generally become mere passive processors of unchecked, second-hand material, much of it contrived by PR to serve some political or commercial interest' - research aimed to quantify churnalism in serious broadsheet press (eg; the Times, Daily Mail) over 2 weeks in 1997 - 80% of 2207 stories consisted of material taken from PA companies - 12% generated by reporters themselves - where a story relied on specific statement of fact, 70% - fact passed into print without corroboration only 12% were thoroughly checked with investigative techniques - journalists forced into churnalism because of commercial pressures resulting in more space to fill with added pressure to do it quickly and at lowest possible cost - thus factors from official sources are used as they're cheap - active commercial pressures to pursue stories that tell people what they want to hear (eg; celebrity stories) - but journalists are simply indifferent to truth and reality - prefer to sermonize about world rather than objectively report it

Concentration of ownership

Most of the media, of all kinds, are concentrated in the hands of a few large companies.

Hybrid cultures

New cultures that are formed of 2 or more characteristics of different cultures.

Eriksen (2004) (Marxism)

- state is not a 'neutral framework for struggle and compromise' - state power is directed towards promoting and maintaining values favourable to ruling class

Neelamalar and Chitra (2009)

- study of Indian college students and use of social networks suggest 'awareness of the danger and risk involved in using these sites' - interpret this as 'positive indicator Indian youth are not only techno-savvy and socially active through social networking sites but they also possess social consciousness'

Message formulation

How the media message is put together and who by?

Johan Galtung and Marie Holmboe Ruge (1965)

Identified list of news values: - extraordinariness - threshold - unambiguity - reference to elite persons - reference to elite nations - personalization - frequency - continuity - narrative - negativity - composition

Simulacra

Images or reproductions of things that appear to reflect things that are real in the world but have no basis of reality e.g. Disneyland.

Cultural Imperialism

Imposition of Western cultural values on non-western ones.

Socha and Eber-Schmid

new media is 'characterized by an astonishing and uncharted level of personal experience/exposure. Online companies and sites can track the content of personal emails and site visits in order to target advertisements on users'

Negativity

news value that refers to choosing the event which is rated negatively.

Chibnall (1977)

news values are 'criteria of relevance which guide reporters' choice and construction of newsworthy stories, learnt through a process of informal professional socialisation'

Tunstall and Palmer (1991)

- governments are no longer interested in controlling or regulating media conglomerates; instead offer 'regulatory favours' in return for support or disinterest in government policy - thus allow media owners to publish and broadcast whatever they wish

Miliband (1973)

- media: tool used by dominant group (white, male and middle class) to control masses and convince them widespread inequalities are inevitable within a capitalist society. - mass media is the "NEW OPIUM OF THE PEOPLE"

Cultural globalisation

Increase of global sameness/homogenisation - wherever you go in the world, the culture appears the same (type of globalisation)

Crosbie (2002)

3 features of new media make it different from old media: - new media cannot exist without appropriate technology - information can be personalised; individualised messages tailored to needs to receivers can be simultaneously delivered to large numbers of people - collective control means each person in a network can share, shape and change content of information being exchanged

Public ownership

A license fee is paid to the government, a proportion of which is used to fund this type of media.

Elite

A privileged group of people who hold superior position in society.

Moral Panic

A wave of public concern due to an exaggerated/sensationalised media report.

ISA

Agencies that spread dominant ideologies - mass media is an example of this.

Technological convergence

Allowing products to be promoted and available on a variety of formats.

Neo-marxists

Believe we are not simply brain-washed into accepting ruling class ideology but that it is more subtle - we see through the dominant ideology but have little power to change it.

Spencer-Thomas (2008)

Burma anti government demonstrations in 1988 failed to receive much media attention as military regime banned overseas journalists from country, but demonstration in 2007 received more attention as civilians themselves had technology to send instant messages and pictures out of the countries to BBC and CNN

Print media

Commercially owned and generates profit.

Mass media

Communication whether written, broadcast or spoken - reaches large audiences, includes TV, radio, advertising, movies, internet and magazines.

Vertical integration

Concentration of ownership within a single medium e.g. one company owning several newspapers & owning all stages of its production and distribution.

Low culture

Critical/insulting term that is used to suggest that pop/mass culture is of inferior quality in comparison to high culture of the elite.

Popular culture

Cultural products being liked and enjoyed by the masses of ordinary people.

High culture

Cultural products seen as long lasting and of high value - admired and approved by intellectual elites and upper classes.

Compaine (2001)

Disputes this interpretation; global trend is not necessarily for increased concentration as media organisations are not static entities. They develop, grow, evolve and disappear: - global media companies popular in 80s not necessarily popular now - Amazon did not exist 15 years ago but is one of the world's largest media outlets - social networking companies - Myspace (founded 2003): most visited social networking site in the world until 2008 when it was overtaken by Facebook (by 2013 - among most successful sites with 1 billion users, around $1 billion in profit and net worth of $50 billion. in 2011 - Myspace sold for $35 million)

Hegemony

Dominance of ruling class ideas over others and acceptance of this by wider society.

McLeish et al (2001)

Examined media in 97 countries; most large media firms are owned by private families - concentration of ownership; significant in terms of product diversity - consumers offered limited range of similar media products - however recent concerns focus on effect on information diversity

Ofcom

Example of a regulatory body.

Mods and rockers

Example of an exaggeration of news stories - media portrayed only from one side (m)

Globalisation

Growing interconnected within societies across the world with spread of the same culture etc.

Chandler (1994)

How TV news is presented results in it being regarded as most reliable source of news by audience - newsreaders presented as 'neutral' observers in how they read scripted news, dress with sober formality and make eye contact with viewer - body language of newscasters reduced by seating them behind a desk (denotes authority) - content of news may be far from reassuring but newsreader's manner is always friendly, reliable and reassuring - orderly high-tech studio symbolizes scientific length to which broadcaster has gone to find the 'truth' and reinforces image of formal and objective authority

Edwards and Cromwell (2008) (Evaluation of Davies)

newspapers 'are in the business of selling wealthy audiences to advertisers. This is not an apolitical stance. This marketplace naturally favours facts, ideas, values and aspirations that are popular with elite audiences, elite advertisers and elite journalists'

Cohen (1972)

concept of folk devils - believed to threaten established moral order

Surowiecki (2005) (Neophiliac)

digital technology assists crowd-sourcing - process based on 'wisdom of crowds' - if you ask enough people their opinion, a basic 'crowd truth' will emerge

Strinati (1995)

dominant groups maintain position through 'consent' of subordinate groups; consent may be manufactured through ISA that involve socialisation processes (personal and political) carried out by cultural institutions like the media

Barrat (1992)

explanations of processes involved in selection and presentation of media content relate to 'social context of media production' - media content is socially constructed because it involves selection of some types of information for presentation in particular ways

McChesney (2000)

having many different media products simply gives 'appearance of choice' because they only communicate limited range of ideas (satellite and cable TV offer 100s of different channels but content is largely homogeneous, cheaply made and repetitive)

McCluhan and Powers (1989) (Postmodernism)

in a world which increasingly resembles a 'global village', media cannot be subject to controls restricting free flow of ideas and information

Sarup (1993) (Postmodernism)

in situation where knowledge is 'fragmented, partial and contingent' (relative to other forms of knowledge), information can't be controlled by state

The Leveson Inquiry (2012)

investigation into culture, practice and ethics of press - uncovered links between media owners and governments, with media often giving support to political parties in return for favourable policy

Global Village

mass media and electronic communications now operate on a global scale and therefore shrink the barriers of time and space so the world has become a ...

Glasberg (1989) (Marxism)

sees general population in terms of 'state capture', idea that 'capitalists control key positions within the political structure to attain their goals and further their interests'

Mass culture

where a society is characterised as 'demographically heterogeneous but behaviorally homogenous', media is used by individuals and powerful elites to create sense of community and culture