Media Control

Created by: HBN_18
Created on: 10-12-18 09:28

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MEDIA CONTROLS
- What are the Media?
  - Traditional
    - Mass media communicating one-way messages to a very large mass audience.
      - Audience presumed to be all homogeneous
        Having the same characteristics and interests
  - New Media
    - Interactive, Digital technology used for the distribution and consumption of new digitised media content.
      - E.g Computers and internet
  - Social Media
    - Websites and online means of communication between a large mass of people where they create, share and exchange information
- Formal Controls on the Media
  - The Law
    - Laws of Libel - forbid the publication of an untrue statement
    - The Official Secrets Acts - criminal offence to report without authorisation any government activity
    - Defence and Security Media Advisory Notices (DSMA) - Government requests to journalism to not report defence and counter -terrorist infomation
    - The Racial and Religious Hatred Act (2006) - forbid expressions that will encourage discrimination against people of their ethnic group or religious beliefs
    - Obscene Publications Act (1959) - Forbid the publication of anything obscene and indecent
    - Contempt of Court - forbids the publication of material about cases in process
  - Media Regulator
    - Ofcam (Office of Communications) -
      - Ensuring a wide range of television, radio, electronic media e.t.c. are available in the UK with high quality services
      - Protecting the public from any offensive or potentially harmful effects of broadcasting media
      - Furthering the interests of consumers
      - Securing the best use of the radio spectrum
  - The BBC
    - Queen appointed members of the BBC trust govern the BBC alongside Ofcam
    - Has a clear duty to represent the interest of license fee-payers and to ensure the BBC remains independent.
    - Not dependant on advertising for funding.
- Government Influence
  - Official Government Press Conference
    - Held so the government show their position in the media on contemporary issues.
  - Leaks and off-the-record briefings
    - The Government releases unofficial information to their favoured journalist.
  - Government Spin Doctors
    - Releasing a red herring when the governments releases bad news or unpopular news in order to cover it up and distract the media audiences.
  - Broadcasting License Refusal
    - Refusal to issue broadcasting licenses to people they deem unfit and unsuitable.
  - Filtering
    - Refusal to allow access to some internet sites and computer software.
- Surveillance
  - Electronic surveillance of emails, monitoring websites and intercepting phone calls.
- APPROACHES
  - Manipulative/ Instrumentalist Approach
    - Marxist
      - Miliband
        Owners directly control media content and manipulate media audiences to protect their profits and spread the dominant ideology
      - Curran and Seaton (2010) Media owners do intefer and manipulate newspaper content
        EXAMPLE
        Rupert Murdoch was pro-Iraq - all of his 175 Newspapers in the world backed him
        
        Murdoch admitted that he uses his control of the Sun to convince audiences which party to back in the general election.
      - Harold Evans (2011, 2012) - Murdoch pressed editorial staff to adopt hid right-wing conservative views.
        EXAMPLE
        The Leveson Inquiry( 2012) found a range of links between the media owners and the government
        In return for favourable government policies that benefit the media owners
      - Media audiences are passive and easily manipulated
      - HOWEVER
        Pluralist
        Wide range of opinions in the media and media's owners are primarily focused on making profit
        
        And Neophiliacs
        Citizen Journalism has undermined traditional of media owners and given more power to ordinary people
        Citizen Journalism
        Members of the public report news stories and infomation
        
        Audiences are not as gullible as the manipulative approach suggests
  - Dominant ideology or hegemonic approach
    - Mass Media spread a dominant ideology justifying the power of the ruling class
      - Recognises the power of owners but say the content of the media is left to the hands of managers and journalists
        Neo-Marxists
        Gramsci
        Hegemony
        The dominant class' set of values and beliefs are accepted by other social classes as the norm
    - HOWEVER
      - Owners appoint and dismiss managers and editors that stray far from the line
      - Instrumentalist Approach
        Agenda-Setting
        The power to manage which issues are to be presented and which are to be kept in the background
        
        Gatekeeping
        When the media refuse to cover some issues and therefore not allow the public access to certain infomation
      - Pluralists
        Rise of globalised digital media and internet undermine traditional influence of media owners
    - Journalists and Managers need to make a profit
      - News Values
        The values of the journalists which guide them in choosing what is 'newsworthy' what to report and to exclude and how event should be presented
        Therefore there may be a range of criticising media with the attention of attracting audiences
        This is to maintain the pretence that the media is unbiased.
        
        Managers and journalists support the dominant ideology by choice
        EXAMPLE
        Philo (2012)
        Study of media coverage of the 2008 global banking crisis
        Media focused attention on the solution offered by the Bankers that caused the issue in the first place
        Therefore audiences are persuaded to see the dominant ideology as a consensus
        And reinforces and encourages continued acceptance of the ruling-class ideology
        
        This is because they are usually white, middle-class and male
        
        Therefore the way events are reported are influenced by the dominant ideology and the audience is only exposed to a limited range of opinions
  - The Pluralist Appraoch
    - The power in society is spread a wide variety of groups and individuals
      - With no single one having a monopoly of power
    - Mass Media is focused on making a profit
      - The competition prevents one owner or company from dominating the media
        Regulators like Ofcom also prevent this
    - Pick 'n' Mix Approach
      - Audiences are free to choose whatever interpretation suit them thanks to the wide range of media
        Aided by the new globalised digital media and social media
        And Citizen Journalism
        EXAMPLE
        Ordinary people post on Twitter and on Blogger and report on events by using sites such as Youtube
    - HOWEVER
      - Media owners strongly influence who is appointed at senior levels
      - The most powerful groups are more likely to be interviewed on TV and their views are given greater weight than those of less powerful groups
      - Only the very rich have the resources to launch major media companies to get their views across independantly
      - To attract audiences there is has been an increase in tabloidisation
        EXAMPLE
        Barnett and Seymour (1999)
        and Curran et al (2009)
        Studies that showed that media was becoming more entertainment-centred leading to citizens knowing a limited knowledge of public affairs
        
        Tablodisation
        Decline in serious news reporting and increase in sensationalised media
      - Hegemonic theorists state that consumers have been socialised by the media and have influenced their tastes
        Therefore the audiences wnat what the media owner want.

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Media Control

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