Media Revision - Newspapers, Theories and Gaming

• Set up by D.C - NOTW Phone Hacking - Millie Dowler

• ‘Culture, ethics and practices’ of the press

• 337 witnesses called…

• PM, Chancellor, Ed Milliband, Rupert Murdoch etc.

• Most emotive = Testimony of normal people (e.g. Jeffries)

• PCC - Roundly condemned inadequate

• Set up post Sir David Calcutt's report - 1990
• Examined 'privacy and press' first time
• Prior - Regulated by 'Press Council'
• Deal with complaints - Breach 'editors code of practice' ?
• Membership = Voluntary
• No sanction against those not subcribed
• Northen & Shell Group withdrew 2011
• Star and Express - Not regulation till IPSO
• NO POWER to subpoena documents or dicate apology
• Published negative adjunction on website

• Ian Hislop - No point in membership
• Hugh Grant - 'They were very ineffectual' - after trying to remove paps. - '10% dip outside for 12 hours'
• Max Mosely - Not bad rules, ability to enforce
• JK Rowling - No sanctions, 'people wouldn't think twice' - pictures of her child
• Christopher Jefferies - 'Wholly inadequate'
• Richard Desmond - 'Useless organisation', 'phone hackers'
• Sir Alan Moses - 'Not a regulator, it was a complaints handler' - Is chairman of IPSO
• 'We wish to be an independent regulator'

• Published Nov. 2012
• Recommended regulatory body
• Would have sanctions (fines, direction of apology etc.)
• Membership voluntary
• Incentivised - Inquisitorial arbitration service, damages to be awarded against non-participants

• Negative reaction - Authoritarian? (more oppressive than Korea?)
• Cameron - Went against word to back all plans
• Scandal had faded somewhat
• Oct. 2013 - Royal Charter - Cross party solution
• Press produced IPSO

• Parliament not allowed influence over change to regulation
• Agreed internally instead...
• Former editors can serve
• No requirement for 'industry experience'
• Only one member to represent relevant publishers
• Ensure upfront corrections - fully and prominently
• Impose £1m fines
• Arbitration service offers alternative to libal courts

• Satisfies 12/38 of Levesons recommendations
• (According to Media Standards Trust)
• 2014 - Retired Judge, Alan Moses, appointed as Chairman
• Jefferies - PCC Mark II
• IPSO watch - shows there is still controversy

• Can be amended by Parliament (need 2/3 majority)
• Former editors can be banned from 'recognition panel'
• Appointments commitee - No more than 4 members
• ^ None can be a serving MP or editor
• Demand correction and apology from papers
• Impose £1m fines
• Small administration fee - fast complaints system
• ^ All individuals could pursue action against papers

• 'No intelligent debate' on regulation
• ALL PAPERS have 'theological objection' to R.C
• No newspaper has seen incentive to join regulator
• Sig. changes to IPSO - Require backing from funding body
• 'awful, opaque and sometimes self-contradictory'
• ^ Alone he cannot change them!
• Strong connections with 'worst offenders'
• 'For the first time ever, the members of the press have signed up to an agreement enforcable in court to be bound by these rules and the Editors Code'
• Leveson - Need to look at the actual editors code
• Instead inherited it exactly from PCC
• Moses cannot change it without backing of Code Commitee
• Paul Dacre - Still editor of Code Commitee - Nothing changed
• Alan Moses - 'People with enormous power, not just to do good but to bully'

• Lord Justice Leveson - 'the elephant in the room'
• 'ethical vaccum', 'act with impunity'
• Regular argument - in direct competition with internet
• Martin Clarke (Editor, Mail Online) 'competetive disadvantage'
• Policeman in pub = regulating the internet
• Robert Jay - 'internet problem', 'has potential to weaken claims for greater regulation'
• Online violation of regulation - e.g. Prince Harry
• 'Internet is a lawless zon operating without standards'
• 'Difference in kind between photographs being available online and on the front page of a tabloid newspaper with a circulation of two million'

• Gunther Kress - 'a kind of text that derives its from from the structure of a frequently repeated social occasion' - Commonly repeated themes form genre

• Rick Altman - Define genre by two things: Syntactic and Semantic elements

     - Syntactic - Themes and plots (harder to identify)

     - Semantic - Props and signs

• Christine Gledhill - 'Different audiences identified and catered to', 'makes it easier to stabilise production'
• Denis McQuail - 'Practical device that allows consistency' - People watch it because it is this genre - They like it - Genre promotes the product

(Incorporate theories to camera, mise-en-scene etc.)

Effects (Hypodermic Needle) – Mass media injects thoughts into passive audience, works like drugs; i.e red bull associated with action sports. Inspired by propaganda techniques.

Reception – Viewer interprets product in different way, decoded by viewer, dominant, negotiated, oppositional (Stuart Hall), based around cultural background. Unique connection between the viewer and the product

Gratifications Model – Active audience, audience uses media rather than vice versa, can be...

...educational, informative, entertainment/escape (Blumler & Katz), changing to personal identity – pick up character traits, social interaction – discuss the media in social situations. Arguably suggests we are too reliant on media.

How does this effect the audience? Link to specific area being discussed.

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Vladimir Propp - Represent characters as particular types. Easily identifiable.

e.g. Hero, Villain etc. (ALSO NARRATIVE)

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Levi Stauss - Binary opposites, good/evil, weak/strong (ALSO NARRATIVE)

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Stanley Cohen - Believes particular groups are demonised and marginalised. Can result in negative recpetion or moral panic.

• Camera

• Mise-en-scene

• Editing

• Sound

• 'Leave teens morally immature'
• Study 100, 13-14 - Weakened empathy
• More than 50% - Player every day
• Adolescents losing sense of right and wrong
• Violent - Act out killing, maiming, decap. etc. - In control
• Brock University: > 3 Hours, no moral adverse effects
• Stops social experiences

• Oxford Internet Institute - Modified Half Life 2
• Feelings of incompetence - More aggressive
• Gameplay mechanics focus - aggression
• “if players feel thwarted by controls”
• “feel need to master game”
• Need further research

• Wake of killing - teacher Ann Maguire
• Uni. Innsbruck - 98 studies - Do not affect social behaviour
• Prosocial gamers - Show relief, relax and co-operation
• Craig Anderson - Routinely reports violent links.
• Hot sauce paradigm - Hotter with more violent use
• Chris Ferguson - Commonly refutes these claims

• Andrew Przybylski - More familiar, less concerned with effects.
• 56% of UK - Games provide‘cathartic outlet’
• Brad Bushman - 'Increases aggressive thoughts'
• Cause more aggresion than film and TV - active not passive
• 'identify and interact with a violent character'
• Chris Ferguson - No link
• Study used ESRB data to estimate violence within time period
• Violence 'dropped precipitately' even in periods of media violence
• Lack of research on real root of the problem