British Media

1. British Media • The Power of the Media • British Media as the Fourth Pillar of Government • The Concentration of Power • BBC • ITV • Recent Trends • The Americanization of British Media

2. The Impact of the Various Media • Decoding the message • Visual Images • Still images • Moving images • Aural messages • Drama series--Dicky, Dick, Dickens • Written messages

3. Can the Media Manipulate • Visual manipulation • Subliminal affect • Fantasy creation • Aural manipulation • Music and consumer behavior • Written manipulation • Loaded vocabulary

4. The Power of the Press • The 4th Pillar of Government • Providing information • Raising political issues--Setting the agenda • Watchdoging and investigative journalism • Characterizing a “good” newspaper • What should a “good newspaper contain? • Balance vs. Bias

5. The British Press • Qualities--The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Observer, The Telegraph • Content • Format • Mid market: Daily Mirror, Express • The Populars--The Sun, Daily Mail • Content • Format

6. The Press & Political Leanings • The Qualities • The Times: moderately conservative • The Observer: social-democratic • The Independent: Center-left • The Guardian: left wing • The Telegraph: Conservative

7. The Press & Political Leanings • The Mid Market • Daily Mail: Conservative • Daily Express: Conservative • The Populars • Sun: From Thatcher to Blair; populistic and chauvinistic • Daily Mirror: Liberal and supports Labour

8. The Press and EU • Mid market and the Populars are anti EU • The Times, Telegraph and The Observer express some skepticism over loss of sovereignty but are not as one-sided as the Populars and mid-market which are EU sceptics • The Guardian and Independent are more balanced in their view.

9. The British Press--4th Pillar? • Circulation vs. Quality: Inversely proportional • Infotainment • Official Secrets Act, 1911 • Prevents the divulging of information that could harm national security--exploited by political powers? • Lack of transparency in British politics • The mediafication of politics

10. The British Press • The tabloids • The populars • The Sun, The Mirror and Daily Star • Sensationalist, scandals, sports and celebrities. • The largest circulation • Mid-market • The Daily Mail and Express • A similar coverage, but somewhat more news

11. The British Press: Trends • Fear of decline • The electronic media—internet • Decline in advertising revenues • Concentration of ownership reduces the diversity of views and limits political debate • Decline of journalistic standards and a tendency toward a more tabloid orientation of the qualities to gain readers • Increased owner pressure on the journalists—especially in Murdoch owned newspapers

12. The Concentration of Power in British Media • Rupert Murdoch--The Times, The Sun, BskyB, Star TV, Fox TV, 20th Century Fox, TV Guide, HarperCollins Publishers, & New York Post • Conservative tendency with media conglomerates • Broadcast conservative views • What is news and who decides?

13. The British Press: Trends • Decline in circulation • Especially Sunday editions which is the edition people had the most time to read and be informed. • Introduction of on-line editions • Real time news, but limited debate and editorial points of view • Quality newspapers publishing tabloid format editions • A decline in the number of people reading newspapers daily. 52% of the these readers get their new from other sources such as TV and internet.

14. Decline in Circulation • Nationally for 2009: -4.2%, buteven more significantthequalitiesaredecliningeven more. • Guardian: - 15% • Independent: - 7.2% • The Times: - 9.4% • The Financial Times: -9.2%

15. Decline in Circulation • The decline is acrosstheboardwitheventhe tabloids declining • Comparethefigures in your book withtoday: • Sun: 3.5 million to 3.0 • DailyMirror: 2.2 million to 1.4 million • The Daily Star is theonlynewspaper to increaseitscirculation—up 15.3%

16. The ImpactofDecliningCirculation • Newspaper sales in terms ofincomeare not the major issue • Daily Star increaseditscirculation by reducingitscost from 35 p to 25 p. • The loss is in advertising. • Whathappensifqualitynewspapersdisappear?

17. British TV--BBC • Financing • Non-commercial, license financed • £130/household/year • Levied on BBC TV but covers all programs both ITV and BBC radio • Reissued for the next ten years • Everyone must pay the license fee • There was talk of making TV subscription based • This means that BBC will have financing for at least 10 more years.

18. The Digital Revolution and British Media • The internet: 70.9% of all Britonsusetheinternetregularly. • The DR gives rapid & easyaccess to news and entertainment. Real time accesswhichthetraditional media cannot. • Example: note all the features of a cellphone

19. The Impactof Internet • Freedom • Youcangettheinformation and entertainmentwhenyouwant it. • Customer run media—a revolution • What do youwant? Who shouldchoose? • The impactofcustomer run media? • Internet shopping—the fate ofcommerce

20. The Digital Revolution and British Media • Interactivity—the digital media putstheaudience in thecenter and makes the media usercontrolled. Usersarebecomingplayers. • Facebook and socialnetworks—youngpeoplearedrawnaway from thetraditional media. • Facebook as a politicaltool.

21. The BBC Dilemma • Non-commercial vs. ITV (commercial) • “BBC should provide television that the people should want to watch.”—a former governor at BBC • Does ITV provide the programs that people “want to watch” or that they are conditioned to want to watch? • BBC is caught between wanting to maintain their standards and their audience at the same time.

22. BBC’sChallenges • Reaching an inter-activeaudience • ”Have YourSay”—a program wheretheaudienceparticipates • Blogging • Instant viewer feedback in politicaldebates • Talent development • Streaming

23. BBC’sChallenges • What BBC doeswell (newsand dramas) may be less and less popularwithyoungeraudiences. • Should BBC be concernedaboutaudiencesize or quality? • The digital age challenge • There is a media soupoutthere and audiencesaredrawnaway.

24. MeetingtheChallengeoftheDigialReality • Audiencecontributions • Streaming • Entertainment—reaching a youngeraudiencewhile not pandering to it. • Convertingaudiences to participators • Digital curriculum—education programs for theclassroom

25. MeetingtheChallengeoftheDigialReality • A newoffering for 12-16 yearolds • User-generatedcontentwhere ever possible • BBC Future Media & Technology • Has initiated services such as i Player & bbc.co.uk for mobile, • What BBC will not do which ITV does • Gamingchannel & Film channgel

26. Programming: Meeting the Audience BBC 1—36 % viewer rating --a more general appeal—tries to reach a broad segment Drama, soaps and entertainment BBC 2—6% --special interest programming --aims at special interest (gardening, redecorating, cooking. BBC 3—target group is 25-34 year olds --more radical and innovative --If the programs succeed, they are moved to BBC 2 BBC 4—high arts—ballet, classical music, theatre --Miniscule audience

27. Recent Trends: Competition and its Impact • BBC should provide the television that people should want to watch” • 20% of the programming is devoted to news and current events. • However, this is no longer completely possible. • Commercial (ITV) has changed BBC’s attitude to the public. • BBC can no longer dictate taste • The greater the choice, the more emphasis on entertainment and the smaller the market for more serious programs • ITV soaps and comedies challenge the traditional more serious news, documentary, high culture, arts orientation of BBC. • BBC has to meet the market with BBC 3 & 4.

28. British TV--ITV • Commercial • Popular while maintaining quality • Up until recently, BBC has set the standards • However, the market is becoming a more decisive factor. • ITV is gaining market shares over BBC • 26% of the viewing market. • New concession laws • The concession goes to the highest bidder • Find a successful formula and reproduce it. • Less willing to take risks. Bottom line thinking • ITV has systematically lobbied to remove local programming requirements saying that TV should be governed by free market principles.

29. Channel 4 • Publicly owned and its board is appointed by Ofcom (the state watchdog agency to insure quality and content) • Financed by advertising • Produces programs of high quality, especially documentaries and public affairs programs.

30. Dumbing Down? • What is the impact of a free market system? • The more choice, the harder it is for more challenging programs to survive. • Recent developments--Americanization? • “Big Brother” and voyeurism • Pandering to base interests?

31. Recent Reality Shows • Space Cadet—a hoax where contestants believe they are being trained for a space voyage which they “take.” • I’m a Celebrity—celebrity contestants surviving in the Australian rainforest • The Apprentice—candidates competing for a top job. • The Fame Academy—mediocre artists are trained to become top stars which they don’t become. • Living with the Natives—actually wound up killing four Peruvian natives.

32. Internet and the Media • What percentage of your media time is spent on Internet? • What do Internet activities consist of? • Extrapolate the trend • What will happen to newspapers and magazines in your future?

33. The Media 2050 • In groups of four, create a media scenario. • What will TV be like? • Will there be any bookstores? • Will there be any cinemas? • How will you shop? • How will you get your news? • How will you inter-relate? Will we have a virtual world?