Question

1. Question • Identify three processes sociologists have identified as influencing the content of the news

2. Answer • the owners • profit motive • organisational restraints • agenda-setting • gate-keeping • norm-setting

3. Question • What do you understand by the term agenda setting in relation to journalism

4. Answer • Agenda setting is the idea the media have a powerful influence over the issues that people think about because the agenda is already set by journalists. This is because people can only discuss and form views about the issues they’ve been informed about.

5. Question • What do you understand by the term media stereotyping?

6. Answer • Is the way journalists construct a discourse about a particular issue. This constructs the way an issue is talked about in news items – for example welfare claimants as scroungers

7. Question • Identify and explain two characteristics of a pluralist view of the media

8. Answer • owners do not have direct control over media content • there’s no dominant class but competing social groups • media content isn’t ideological neither does it reflect the interests of owners • media content is driven by media managers who give journalists the freedom to seek out any type of newsworthy story • media content is their to meet the needs of its audience as the audience choose the content they wish to read or watch • any bias is merely reflects audience interests as the audience ultimately has the final say it what he or she wishes to view

9. Question • Identify and explain two characteristics of the Marxist view of the media

10. Answer • owners have direct control of media content • owners can and do interfere with media content • owners use the media to spread ideas (dominant ideology) which justify the position and power of the ruling-class • media managers have to follow the wishes of their owners • journalists depend on owners for their jobs so are unlikely to run stories which challenge the status and authority of the ruling-class

11. Question • Identify and explain two characteristics of the neo- Marxist view of the media

12. Answer • owners don’t get actively involved in controlling content on a day-to-day basis. Instead control and content is left in the hands of journalists and managers • as managers and journalists want to protect their jobs they seek to attract advertisers and audiences by publishing suitable content. Sometimes audiences are attracted by media criticism of ruling-class, but such criticism is never threatening or damaging • journalists and managers don’t tend to criticise dominant ideology because of their background. Journalists tend to be white, well-educated, middle-class and male therefore they’ve already been socialised to accept and value the ruling-class ideology, thus their media messages tend to support the established social consensus

13. Question • Identify and explain the uses and gratification model • Identify which theoretical perspective best ties up with the uses and gratifications model

14. Answer • Audiences actively choose what they want to use the media for rather than audiences being used by the media • Pluralist