Definitions

• mass media


  Forms of communication, such as newspapers and radio, that reach millions of people.
• Media argued by sociologists form of what?

  Secondary socialisation- media saturation- in contemporary society constantly bombarded by media images messages, no real escape
• New Media


  Move to digital online media
• Digital natives?


  young people who have grown up using the internet and social networking
• Digital divide?


  Generational gap, older generation aren't as comfortable with theee new forms of media
• Web 2.0


  Widely read- write web( consume and produce content) social networking sites, google, facebook, YouTube, blogs etc

  Idea of interactivity and user generated content.
• Audience as "Prosumers"


  availability of wireless communication devices, more people publishing and creating content online. David Gauntlett argues this has changed nature of audiences, we can no longer assume media audience passively consume media products, now need to consider media audiences much more actively involved in both consuming and producing media content.
• Citizen journalism


  News is no longer just produced by media journalist, because of internet and smartphones, ordinary individuals turned into citizen journalists- ordinary protesters opportunity to shape the news agenda and to challenge the accounts of the government and the corporate media.
• Paul mason(channel 4 journalist) say about citizen journalism

  because of these new technologies truthfully can travel faster than lies propaganda becomes flammable
• Manuell Castells- The network society

  Argues new media offer the possibility of creating autonomous networks of communication which can bypass the control of governments and corporations of the mass media.
• Marxist view of the media not as relevant when assessing role of new media?

  Internet- more possibilities for groups to present counter ideologies of their own which may challenge the ideology of ruling class.
• New media challenging power of ruling groups?

  Twitter- political tool in Iran in 2009, significant political protests after a disputed election(Iranian gov banned all media reporting of protest) protesters turned to twitter to let the world know what was happening internally in Iran.

  18 days- protesters tweeted over 2 million times

  Peak of protest- 200,000 tweets every hour.

  Protesters became citizen journalists.
• Arab Spring


  A revolutionary wave of protests and demonstrations overtaking dictators in the Middle East (2011) tools like Facebook and twitter important in organisation of political protest and also the reporting of these political protests. Also called Facebook revolution.
• Media ownership- types of media companies

  Public - BBC(public service broadcaster operating under a royal charter)exist to provide a public service or are government owned. Meant to cater for minorities and the audience.

  Private- privately owned profit seeking companies.- Disney, news corporation. Make money through subscription charges or by selling audiences to advertisers
• "Appearance of choice"


  Mc Chesney argued we have the "appearance of choice" in various media selling much of of the same sort, control of the media by a few large organisations, offering audiences lots of different versions of the same kinds of products.
• Media concentration- bagdikan


  US, 1980s 50 companies competing against each other, 2000s only 6 competing. These 6 companies owning 90 percent of all mass media. Control of this market by a few large companies argued by critics, will have a detrimental effect on range of services available for users.
• Media concentration- vertical integration

  Where media companies attempt to control every aspect of the media's production. Eg film industry media company which can own Hollywood studios, distribution companies as well as the cinema showing the films- this helps the media company control every stage of the film industry
• Media concentration- horizontal integration

  Media organisation develops by buying up competitors in the same section of the media market, eg google purchasing YouTube
• Motive for media concentration?

  Media owner perspective- media concentration only worthwhile if it can increase profits. Look for diversification- operating in ad many different media industries as possible, to spread risk.
• Synergy - media concentration

  Media companies made up of many different divisions can produce different versions of the same product. A book can be turned into a DVD into a video game into a soundtrack.
• Media conglomerates


  Biggest private media companies, made up of seperate divisions with distinct identities. Operating in different sectors of the market. Formed through usually process of merges
• Give an example of a global media conglomerate

  Disney- it operates in many countries
• Uk media market- who's the most powerful media conglomerate?

  Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
• News corporations ambitions of taking full hold of Sky television were limited by what?

  The controversy surrounding phone hacking scandal
• Phone Hacking scandal?


  News of the world newspaper, Millie dowler, guardian revealed that a private detective working for news of the world hacked into the private voicemail messsges of this murder Ed school girl- caused huge controversy
• Fox News


  Extreme right wing bias, raised questions of news corporations negative impact on democracy
• Domination of global markets may not be inevitable?

  Eg, failure to make large corporations work effectively for the benefit of their shareholders has led to the decision to demerge certain media companies.

  Eg AOL and the internet provider Time Warner have gone their seperate ways
• Who controls the media Marxism?

  Concentration of media ownership in hands of few corporations enables their owners to control media output and send out to the audience ideas in the interest of the rich and powerful ruling class- top down theory of media control. Media seen as an instrument of the ruling class controlled by the owners who are able to manipulate media content and audiences in their own interest
• Press barons- eg Lord Northcliffe

  Press barons openly boasted that they ran their newspapers for the express purpose of propaganda and reflected their own political views.

  Eg lord northcliffe stated god made people read so that I could fill their brains with facts( tell them who to love who to hate and what to think)
• Levison enquiry


  Rupert murdoch admitted that he does control the political line taken by the sun.
• Invasion of Iraq 2003- link to Rupert Murdock?

  Every single political newspaper he owned backed Us and Uk invasion of Iraq- reflected his personal political views. Former editor hired by Rupert murdoch argued he constantly interferes in editorial decisions
• Eric Beecher say about murdoch

  The consistent ideology of murdochs newspapers is maintained "by phone and by clone"- murdoch hiring people similar to him and his political views-
• Traditional Marxist perspective on role of media professionals

  Is not as important as the role of the owners, media managers have to follow on wishes of their owners, journalists depend on owners for their jobs, therefore unlikely to run stories which would challenge the status and authority of owners
• Neo Marxist approach


  Mass media spread a dominant ideology that justifies and legitimises the power of the ruling class and power of the wealthiest people within society.( same as traditional Marxist) differs, not direct control of media companies.- smaller role of media owners- recognises power of owners but suggests they rarely interfere in running of media companies. Emphasises idea of hegemony—— dominance in society of ruling class ideology
• Neo Marxist- allocative vs operational control-


  Rarely have day to day input, and many media conglomerates are owned by many shareholders rather than a single owner of family. Allocative control- power to define overall goals of organisation, financial resources. But don't have operational control- day to day control of media- left to role of media professionals
• Neo Marxist- idea of autonomy

  Autonomy of media professionals- might include some content that is against the interest of their social class
• Neo Marxist, argue in practise media professionals rarely criticise the ideology shared by media owners, why?

  Social background of media professionals, tend to be from privileged social backgrounds, white affluent well educated- already been socialised to accept and value the ruling class ideology, unlikely to have political views that are significantly different from the owners.
• Neo Marxist perspective, what does Owen jokes argue

  Views of white ruling class men are presented as common sense view within the mainstream media, any other view are taken less seriously ridiculed, or seen as extremist- leads argued by Owen jones to the demonization of the groups at the bottom of society.} because media professionals don't come from that particular social backgrounds- leads to the blaming for a whole variety of problems
• What do Neo Marxist and traditional Marxist perspective have in common?

  Both argue media output is not neutral , reflect interest of rich and powerful- filtered through a value system that contorts the reality of society.

  What audience see is not a window to the world. Not an impartial reflection of society, instead a deeply bias and subjective interpretation of society which reflects the interests of the dominant social classes within our society.
• Althusser (Marxist Perspective)


  Media as an ideological state apparatus-