Key Media theory

1. Key Media theory A2 MEST 3 revision

2. Market-liberalism perspective • A politically conservative perspective that stresses that power of audience over media producers in the marketplace. • It suggests that audiences preference decides what media texts are produced. • An audiences’ preferences are expressed through the market by: • Purchases of media texts, such as CSs, magazines and computer games • Paying to access media texts such as films • Taking out subscriptions that provide access to media texts such as Sky • Recording ‘hits’ on internet sites • Audience research

3. Suggests that a significant amount of power rests with the audience who get the media that they want • Market liberalists argue that this is vastly preferable to government controlled media which decides what is ‘good for people’ • E.G. of MLP in action: Pre-testing and audience research • In order to ascertain audience preferences, media institutions are involved in a wide range of audience research and pre-testing.

4. Political-economy perspective Stresses the power of the media producers over media texts and consequently media’s influence over a particular audience. Argues that markets appear to offer freedom – especially when compared to the state-owned and controlled media that operates under some authoritarian regimes. Producers tend to avoid risk, shunning innovation and originality. Gitlin (2003), after interviewing a number of American television producers, concluded that the pursuit of audience figures had a negative effect on the quality of television. E.G. Hollywood cinema has a tendency to use tried and tested genres, styles, star actors, directors and screenwriters in order to avoid risk.

5. Media organisation Monopoly – a single media organsiation that dominates production and distribution in a particular industry either locally or nationally, such as Microsoft’s dominance of the computer operating systems market Oligopoly – a small number of organisations that dominate an industry either locally or nationally, such as Emap and IPC’s dominance of the UK magazine industry Conglomerates – a collection of companies owned by a single institution. Diversification provides protection to the whole company so that if one part of the business is in difficulties, the other parts can prevent it failing. E.G. News Corporation, Time Warner and Disney

6. Multinationals – organisations that have institutions in more than one country E.G. News Corporation own 135 newspapers worldwide (including the New York Post, The Times, and The Sun), 25 magazines, 22 US TV stations (covering 40% of US households), satellite TV stations – such as BSkyB and Fox Studios – Fox Television and News and book publishers HarperCollins. The synergies between these companies is beneficial, e.g. a film made by Fox Studios is likely to be favourably reviewed on BSkyB and and The Times, while The Sun often carries heavy advertising and promotion for sporting events only available on pay per view via BSkyB.

7. Current debates Concerns about power in the media and who has power over the media created Demands on who regulates the media and introduce censorship Regulations and censorship issues come together in many of the critical perspectives developing around new media. Moral panic = media-generated public outcry against a group, community or practice considered threatening and/or dangerous

8. History/trend of current debates 1900s – concern over the sexual content of silent films 1930s – anxiety about the radio and the influence of crooners on housewives 1950s – anxiety about television’s influence of crooners (equivalent of male pop stars) on housewives 1980s – violent videos 1990s – violence in computer games 1990s/2000s – internet being used by paedophiles

9. Springhall (1998) suggests that people are fearful of new technologies, such as computer games, because they challenge existing norms of powerful groups and governmental processes, especially because they are often embraced by the youth. E.G. By the end of 2007 the Prime Minister had a website/ advancing of traditional patriarchs

10. Concerns about the effects of media, moral panics and censorship often focus on violent and sexual imagery, which are often of interest to younger audiences, fuelling concerns about the power and influence of the media QUESTION: who censors and what??? Is it right?

11. Media effects Study of the effect of the media on individuals and the study of what individuals do with media. Ensuing rise of cinema and television, academics, advertisers and policy makers alike were keen to identify how the media influenced those who consumed it. Media effects theories suggest that exposure to specific media content changes behaviour.

12. Killing of toddler Jaime Bulger in 1993 by 2 teenagers attributed the incident to having watched the horror film Child’s Play 3 (1991). Public outcry led to the amendment of the Video Recordings Act of 1984, which had required video-like films to receive age classifications. Led to Criminal Justice and Public Order Act passed in 1994 resulted in harsher age constraints being placed on videos and later DVDs for home consumption than for cinema viewing.

13. Positive educative effective of media consumption? • Children’s TV to address pre-school education/verbal & cognitive abilities • QUESTION: why are the positives never reported?

14. Media effects: Social-learning perspective • Viewers can learn from media consumption • Bandura (1961) conducted research into media effects. • Bobo doll – watch violent act against Bobo doll and then they acted on this, hitting it themselves. QUESTION THIS!

15. Media effects: cultivation perspective It is not the content of an individual media text that affects people, but the cumulative effect of watching a range of media texts that has an effect. (Also known as saturation perspective). Individuals become desensitised towards violence in the media over time as reach ‘saturation’. Hard to differentiate between the influence of media texts and other environmental and cultural influences. 1970s Gerbner pointed to the impossibility of proving the saturation perspective. Alternative: people with a tendency towards violent behaviour may choose to consume violent media texts as a form of release.

16. Anderson and Dill (2000) undertook a study on the effect of violent video games on game players: • The interactive style of play • The active participation by players • The addictive nature of the games • Gentile and Anderson (2006) later argued that video games affected aggression in children because video games are engaging and reward repeated violent actions.

17. Focault: discourse Discourse = a way of talking about or discussing a subject, which establishes ‘common sense’ or knowledge about a subject

18. Moral panics • Moral panic out of 1960s study by Cohen • Argued that a moral panic occurs when society sees itself threatened by the values and activities of a group who are stigmatised as deviant and are seen as a threat to mainstream society values, ideologies and/or way of life.

19. Moral panic involved 3 stages: • The occurrence of a deviant act or social phenomenon • The act or problem being widely reported on in the media – initially reported in a range of news outlets, then discussed in internet chat rooms and quickly incorporated into fictional narratives, soap operas or detective series on tv, in films and video games. • Changes in legislation may sometimes define new actions as illegal or deviant. • E.G. ASBO/NEET

20. History of moral panics • HIV/AIDS • Ecstasy and designer drugs • Social security scroungers • Teenage pregnancy • Binge drinking and teenage girls drinking • Junk food, poor diet and obesity (esp’ in relation to kids) • Asylum seekers • Religious fundamentalism • Dangerous dogs • Terrorism • Internet pornography • Gun/knife crime • QUESTION: WHAT ELSE?

21. Sara’s Law July 2000 8 year old Sara Payne was abducted and murdered Widespread media coverage Where body found became a ‘shrine’ Man found and convicted had previous convictions for abduction and indecent assult Media outcry followed/News of the World campaign for ‘Sara’s Law’ to allow members of the general public with children to know if anyone living near them was on the Sex Offenders Register. NotW published images and lists of suspected pedophiles (although not always accurate)

22. IMPACT Everyone called into question – consider Holly Wells/Jessica Chapman killings. Now have to register if you regularly baby-sit children! Licence to look after kids? Behaviour of ALL called into question