Sociology - Media

• Features of new media

  Convergence - One device accessing wide range of media

  Interactivity - Audiences able to engage a lot more

  Audience/User power - Interactivity gives more power to the audience which are best described as user now as the gap between consumer and producer has gone. Users influencing the content

  Accessibility - New media is free which raises questions as to how media producers make money
• Williams


  US households adopted the internet more quickly than other forms of media.

  25 years for 30% to have internet

  45 years for 30% to have television
• Cranford & Robin


  New media is not as significant as it appears as most forms are just slight variations of older versions.

  In future, we will have access to more information than we need
• Who suggested the internet has changed the way we go about daily life

  Office for National Statistics
• Effects of new media on old media

  Loss of audiences

  Convergence

  Synergy (growing use of new by old)

  Use of digital tech for old stories

  Increased interaction

  The rise of churnalism (fast production of 24hr news)
• Who created the terms of neophiliacs and cultural pessimists

  Curran & Seaton
• Strengths of the new media

  Curran and Seaton - Neophiliacs argue it has its benefits

  Kellner - Provides greater opportunities for democracy as it allows for non hierarchical interaction and debates

  Boyle - Created consumer choice as telecoms now aim to produce devices that can be individualised

  Social life and interaction has been enhanced by the new media
• Weaknesses of the new media

  McChesney - New media big transnational companies still control most things

  Most studies were technologically determinist

  Keen - The cult of the amateur led to the demise of quality information

  Poor regulation of the internet can cause false information to be shared, resulting in moral panics

  Weakened social cohesion

  Keen - Infested with anonymous predators
• 3 aspects of traditional media

  Mass media that communicates uniform messages in a non interactive way to mass audiences

  
  

  Assumed to be homogeneous (possess the same characteristics and interests)

  
  

  Examples include terrestrial TV, bbc radios and mass circulation newspapers
• 2 aspects of new media

  Interactive screen based digital technology involving the integration of images, text and sound

  
  

  Examples include computers, the internet, satellite TV, downloaded media and interactive video games
• 3 aspects of social media

  Online applications used for social interaction among large groups of people

  
  

  Through social media that stories and images go viral

  
  

  Many spend more time on social media than any other internet activity
• OFCOM statistics - 2014

  96% homes had a digital TV

  77% had internet broadband connections

  93% adults owned or used a phone

  7.5 million newspapers sold everyday
• Formal controls on the media


  The law - laws forbidding false statements and the prevention of official secrets being told online

  
  

  Ofcom - furthers the interests of consumers, securing best use of radio spectrum, ensuring wide range of media networks were available, protecting public from any offensive material

  
  

  BBC - State funded body governed by BBC trust, appointed by king on advice from government ministers. Represents the interests of licence fee payers and ensures BBC remains independent. Regulated by Ofcom and the trust, financed by the government

  
  

  Independent broadcasting - All non BBC television and radio stations, regulated by ofcom which licences the companies which operate in the private sector and is responsible for amount and quality of advertising and deals with any complaints

  
  

  Independent press standards organisation - For newspapers and magazine industry. Replaced the PCC following Leveson Inquiry. Seeks to monitor the standards of journalism through Editor's Code of practice for accuracy, privacy and harassment
• Leveson Inquiry


  An inquiry into the behaviour of British press following statements that journalists were hacking into mobile phones in order to get information
• 6 government influences on the media output

  Official government press conferences which present the official government position which they hope to be presented in the media

  
  

  Leaks and off-the-record briefings where no specific source is named

  
  

  Government spin doctors who try to manipulate the media by providing a favorable slant to potentially unpopular news. They bury bad news by releasing information that presents the government in bad ways

  
  

  Refusal to issue broadcasting licences to those who it deems are unfit or unsuitable

  
  

  Refusal to allow the use of some forms of computer software and the use of filtering and surveillance software to block particular internet sites

  
  

  Electronic surveillance of emails, monitoring of websites and intercepts of mobile calls. 2014 - Law was passed allowing police and security services to scrutinise the public's communications.
• Rupert Murdoch


  Major force behind News UK - Owning the Sun and The Times - 32% of all national daily newspapers
• 8 features of media ownership - Bagdikian

  Concentration of ownership

  Vertical integration

  Horizontal integration

  Global ownership

  Conglomeration and diversification

  Synergy

  Technological convergence
• Morley - Preferred reading


  The interpretation of messages that those producing media content would prefer their audiences to believe. A part of media and spreading the ideology
• Marxism & Media ideology


  Media acts as an ideological state apparatus which aims to induce the people into a false consciousness of their exploitation and real interests. Media promotes preferred readings which try to create a general consensus or agreement about ways of thinking and behaving
• Milliband


  Media control the access to knowledge which people have about what is happening in society and encourage them to accept the inequalities of society.
• Summary of manipulative approach on control of media


  Role of owners: Direct control and manipulation

  Media content: Dominant ideology

  Role of media managers and journalists: Told what to do by the owners or within a framework set by them

  View of audience: Audience is passive as they are manipulated by owners and make only the preferred readings of media
• Summary of dominant ideology approach on control of media

  Role of owners: Influence and persuasion

  Media content: The dominant ideology but sometimes may criticise the government to attract audiences

  Role of media managers and journalists: They have some independence but they share the dominant ideology so most stories are presented in that framework

  View of audience: Audience is passive as they are persuaded to accept the dominant ideology
• Summary of the pluralist approach on control of media


  Role of owners: No control directly

  Media content: Need for profits means the content is what the audiences want

  Role of media managers and journalists: Have high levels of independence as long as they attract audiences

  View of audience: Audience is active as they can choose whether to accept or reject the content seen in the media
• Criticisms of the pluralist approach on control of the media

  Media owners appoint editors who share their outlook on the world

  Not all groups in society have equal influence on editors and journalists to get their views across. The main sources of information tend to be from powerful and influential members of society

  Only very rich groups will have the resources to launch media companies to get their views across independently, and both governments and rich individuals can pressura any media which threaten their interests

  Hegemonic theorists argue that people have been socialised by the media into the belief that they are being provided with what they want. The media have created their tastes so that what the audiences want is really what the media owners want
• Criticisms on the dominant ideology approach on control of the media

  Underestimates the power and influence of the owners as they appoint and dismiss editors who step too far out of line and journalists' careers are dependent on gaining approval of their stories from editors

  Agenda setting and gatekeeping mean audiences have little real choice of media content which suggests a direct manipulation of audiences more in.

  Pluralists suggest the rise of the new globalised digital media and the internet has undermine the traditional influence of media owners and put more control of the media content in the hands of media users
• Criticisms on the manipulative approach on control of the media

  Pluralists argue range of opinion in media and owners are concerned with making money as large audiences gain advertisements

  Audiences are not as easily manipulated as the approach suggests

  Neophiliacs argue rise of new digital media has undermines the traditional influence of media as ordinary people can have power

  State regulates so no one person has too much influence
• McLuhan


  Global village - Electronic media collapses space and time barriers in human communication as part of globalisation
• Popular culture


  Something enjoyed by ordinary people. Highly commercialized involving mass produced and short lives products. Designed to make profits for large corporations. Highly linked to passive and unchallenging entertainment as it appeals to everyone
• High culture


  Something set apart from everyday life which is to be treated with respect such as lasting value. Found in special places such as art galleries and are aimed at the upper class and the professional MC audiences
• Postmodernists and culture


  Distinction between high and popular culture is weakening due to the global reach of contemporary media allowing for a large range of media and cultural products available. This with the huge expansion of media based creative and cultural industries allow for the distinction between the cultures to be meaningless.
• Strinati & Culture


  Elements of high culture have now became parts of popular culture and vice versa.
• Giddings & Culture


  Forms of high culture are often used to produce products for the mass popular culture market
• Evaluation of popular culture

  Attacked for diverting people away from more useful activities which drives down the cultural standards and for having harmful effects on mass audiences

  Marxists argue mass culture as imposed for financial profit as popular culture is a form of social control as it gives an illusion of choice which maintains ideological hegemony

  Strinati rejects marxist views as there is a wide level of diversity and choice within popular culture

  Livingstone found TV soaps thought to be educating public on controversial social issues which encourage discussion as they dominant headlines of tabloid press
• Flew


  Evolution of new media such as the internet has played an important role in global popular culture
• Kellner


  Media has the power to produce images of everyday life to form identities
• Fenton


  Global rarely means universal and this label disguises the dominance of western culture. Most media conglomerates are in the US. Media has led to global culture ideology of consumerism which has led to cultures being forced on non western cultures
• Pluralist view on culture


  No thing as popular or mass culture as consumers across the world have a diversity of cultural choices.

  
  

  Compaine - Global competition is expanding sources of information and entertainment rather than restricting them or dumbing them down

  Tomlinson - Globalisation doesn't involve direct cultural imposition from western world but is a hybridisation of cultures

  
  

  New media technology enables consumers to create and distribute their own media products to generate their own popular culture rather than being victims of western media conglomerates.
• Critical view of culture

  Globalisation of popular culture is of great advantage to media owners as they gain more profits.

  Thussu - Globalisation of competition between media conglomerates for TV audiences has led to TV news becoming more like entertainment (global infotainment). Lighter stories draws attentions from more serious issues

  
  

  Media imperialism has moved the world's cultures towards a global cultural homogenisation, media saturated global village is largely North American and Western where we consume the same media
• Postermodernist view of culture

  Diversity of globalised media is an offering of more choices for consumption patterns and lifestyles, opening a greater global awareness and access to diversity of cultures

  
  

  Baudrillard - We live in media saturated society where media images dominate and distort the way we see things. Media images of war are sanitized with an air of unreality about them. This gives a sense of hyperreality where appearance is everything as media presents images with little relationship to real world.

  
  

  Strinati - Popular culture forms a sense of reality and increasingly dominates the way we define ourselves. Media creates desires and pressures to consume as many define in terms of media imagery - Designer labels
• Evaluation of postmodernist view on culture

  Postmodernist views assume people do not approach the media without any prior experiences and that they don't discuss, interpret, ignore or reject media messages

  Media images do not open up new choices of identity and lifestyle but instead reinforce stereotypes

  Marxists emphasise the choice alleged is a myth as transnational media conglomerates control major media

  Media is only one element that shapes our lives as there is a lot more to us which affects our response to media