Pluralist view

• What is the pluralist approach to media ownership and control?

  Power is spread among various groups
• How does pluralism contrast with Marxism?

  Pluralism sees power as distributed, Marxism does not
• What drives media content according to pluralists?

  Profit- media companies competing for audience figures & consumer choice influences media content in order to match tends of interest
• How do media companies respond to consumer choice?

  They adapt to audience tastes to survive
• How does consumer choice prevent a media monopoly?

  Competition among companies limits dominance + media regulators
• What is the control level of journalists over their content?

  Free of government control or direct owner control= can present whatever view they want

  • will use news values to guide their story selection reflecting the wishes and interests which are most relevant to their audience
• What is the 'pick 'n' mix' approach in media consumption?

  Audiences choose what media to consume

  • freedmen to accept, reject, reinterpret or ignore
• What role do media regulators play?

  They prevent media monopolies from forming
• How many TV/film streaming services are there in the UK?

  21 streaming services
• How many music streaming platforms are there in the UK?

  Over 30 music streaming platforms
• What does the media's freedom from government control allow?

  It allows diverse views to be presented
• What guides journalists in story selection?

  News values relevant to their audience
• What has new media and globalization enabled?

  More people can communicate widely
• What is citizen journalism?

  Ordinary people express views and events that are overlooked by those in power
• Role of owners according to pluralists

  No direct control and wide range of competing interest
• Pluralist approach to media content

  need for circulation and audience figures and profits means content is what audience (not owners) want
• role of media managers and journalists according to pluralists

  have high level of independence, so long as they attract audiences and therefore profits
• pluralist view of audience

  Active- makes choices between media and can accept, reject, reinterpret or ignore media content. Not passive
• Criticisms of pluralist approach

  • Journalists are not fully independent
  • Not all groups of society have equal power to Influence
  • Only rich people / groups can compete
  • Audience tastes are shaped by the elite
  • Rise of “infotainment“ reduces choice
• Why are journalists not fully independent

  They work within certain constraints placed on them by owners and can be sacked by influential editors when they are uncooperative
• why do not all groups in society have equal power to influence

  the main sources of information tend to be from the most powerful and influential groups of society. They are most likely to be interviewed on TV, quoted in newspapers - their views are given more weight than those of the less powerful
• why is it that only the rich people can compete

  they are the only ones who have the resources to launch major media companies- this means that it is usually the interests of wealthy people that are projected or justified in the media
• how are audience tastes shaped by the elite

  hegemonic theorists argue that the media have socialised people into believing that they are being given what they want
• How has the rise of “infotainment” reduced consumer choice

  Media produces content that has mass appeal in order to attract audiences due to competition