The Media - Sociology paper 2

• Bagdikian


  In 1983, 50 corporations controlled all media in the USA. In 1992, only 22 corporations controlled the media. By 2011, only 5 corporations controlled the media.
• Potential issues with lack of ownership

  Less diversity, more dominant ideology
• Main features of media ownership


  Concentration, vertical/horizontal integration, digital convergence
• Pluralist approach


  No dominant ruling class, but many competing groups with conflicting ideas.
• Pluralist approach


  Content is driven by the audience, the mass media is essential to express views of political groups
• James WHALE:


  Media owners do not have time to think about running their media business.
• Audiences are free to 'pick n mix' media content to whatever suits them
• Manipulative approach


  Milliband - ruling class are able to manipulate content
• Manipulative approach


  Owners directly control content & audiences. Audiences are passive
• Hegemonic approach


  Media owners RARELY have day-to-day control over content - its left to journalists & editors
• Hegemonic approach


  GMG - Journalists share the same ideologies as the ruling class
• Hegemonic approach


  Journalists news values sometimes go against dominant ideology, but this is to make profit
• Journalists


  White, male, 50+, ruling/middle class, high education, high cultural capital
• Agenda Setting


  Philo - the process where some news is excluded from reporting
• Globalisation


  Led to an increasing interconnectedness of societies, who now have access to the same media products
• McLuhan


  Global Village - Led to the imperialisation of western culture on non-western cultures
• Popular Culture


  Passive & unchallenging entertainment products are 'dumbed down' eg. Kardashians, Joey Essex
• Ritzer


  Companies now operate on a global scale - weakening local cultures
• Pluralism


  There is no such thing as mass or popular culture, new media has led to increased consumer choice
• Baudrillard (postmodernism)


  Media saturated society > Hyperreality
• Cultural Pessimists (Marxist)


  Marcuse - consumption of the media has undermined the audiences ability to think critically
• Hypodermic Syringe Model


  Directly injects messages into the 'veins' of the audience. They are passive and unthinking.
• Hypodermic Syringe Model


  Audiences become desensitised to violence. EG. Columbine high school massacre
• Hypodermic Syringe Model


  Wolf (1990) - The media bombards women with images of what they should look like
• Cultural Effects Model


  Messages have a 'drip drip' effect on audiences. The ruling class control of the media means dominant ideology is spread over time. EG. Newspapers etc
• Two Step Flow - Katz & Lazersfeld


  Audiences require messages to be interpreted. OPINION LEADERS interpret messages and FOLLOWERS respect the views.

  EG. Social media influencers, online communities.

  A03: Not all messages will be accepted
• Uses & Gratifications - Blumer & Mcquail


  Audiences use the media to fulfil different needs.

  EG. Personal identity, relationships, escapism, diversion...
• Reception Analysis - Morley


  Audiences are active and can choose to accept/reject messages

  Preffered, negotiated, oppositional
• The New Media: Key terms

  Technological convergence, global in scope, participatory culture, more freedom in choice, collective intelligence
• Who is using the new media?

  16-24 year olds

  • 99% have a mobile phone
  • 47% play games online
  • 93% have social media
• Who is using the new media?

  75+

  • 81% have a mobile phone
  • 20% have social media
  • 48% do NOT use the internet
• Who is using the new media?

  ABC1 (Middle class)

  • 97% have a mobile phone
  • 6% do NOT use the internet
• Who is using the new media?

  C2DE (Lower/working class)

  • 93% have a mobile phone
  • 23% do NOT use the internet
• New media


  Neophilliacs - Greater individual freedom, easier access to more information
• New media


  Cultural pessimist (Marxist/feminist) - Reinforcing elitist power
• Selection & Presentation of news

  Journalists choose what and what not to cover. If a story is 'newsworthy', due to its news values, it'll be covered.
• News Values


  High status (celebrities), Immediacy (breaking news), Extraordinariness, Elite nations (China, Russia, NK...), Frequency
• News Values - A03

  Marxists - News values are an ideological myth. They are invented to convince the public that the press is unbiased.
• Moral Panics


  Cohen - Mods and rockers. Media reporting exaggerated the

  vandalism/violence, the police clamped down harder on future mods and rockers events, to alleviate public fear
• Citizen Journalism


  A phenomenon in which individual members of society create news content