Social Organisation Approaches I

1. Social Organisation Approaches I ICT Introduction to Communications Theory

2. Lecture Outline • video clip linking the political-economic framework with the social organisation approach • mass communication as mass educator • news is a social construction of reality • production factors • time, sources, ideologies and policies

3. Excerpt from Manufacturing Consent Arnold Cohen, Journalist shows how ‘space is (potentially) created’ when well-organized campaigns impact news production tried to expose the East Timor situation worked with other people and organisations – civil society Karl Meyer, Editorial Writer, New York Times NYT printed an editorial about East Timor on Christmas Eve and … nothing happened argues that the PM suggests there is a conspiracy between the government and the press Chomsky knows little about how news works

4. Excerpt from Manufacturing Consent • SURGERY: • Meyer: Chomsky compared content from newspapers and focused on single paragraphs that were omitted • Chomsky: there were many deletions • Meyer: the PM misinterprets haste, ignorance and deadline pressures • imperfect institutions • much more subtle process than described by the PM

5. Mass Communication asMass Educator • public enlightenment, supplement to schools and libraries • spreading information and ideas, exposing political corruption • INFORM • PROTECT • government  media  public

6. Many criticisms … • “The ‘information’ the modern media provide leaves people feeling useless not because it’s so bleak but because it’s so trivial. It doesn’t inform at all; it only bombards with random data bits, faux trends and surveys that reinforce preconceptions.” • Susan Faludi, the Nation, 1996 • (from Campbell et al pg 480)

7. Social Organisation Approaches • focus on: • SOCIAL factors • the structure of the media ORGANISATION • methods: interviews, observation …

8. from McQuail, Chapter 11

9. Mirror of Reality • There is no doubt that television is, to a large degree, a mirror of society. It is also a mirror of public attitudes and preferences. • (NBC Vice President) • What the media do is to hold a mirror up to society and try to report it as faithfully as possible. • (CBC President)

10. It’s all random … • “Our product is put together by large and shifting groups of people, often in a hurry … Newspapers and news programmes could almost be called random reactions to random events.” • (US Journalist)

11. Deconstructing the Mirror Analogy • “the act of making news is the act of constructing reality itself rather than a picture of reality” (Tuchman 1978:12) • “Unlike a mirror, which is automatic, both an informational and a value premise shape television news” (Epstein 1973: 25)

12. News is a Social Construction • news is generally not the result of investigation and ‘digging’ • much of news is pre-planned – not a ‘random reaction to random events’ • planned visits by politicians, government events, the Olympics • news production requires gatekeepers

13. News is a Social Construction • it is PRODUCED by journalists • it is not a mirror of reality • different values, biases, perspectives, and ideologies are involved in production

14. Production Factors • time • during production • within output (or space) • dependency on limited range of sources • informational premise • newsroom ideologies • value premise • organisational policies

15. 2. Selection & Assignment 1. Input Phase 4. Production & Transmission 3. Newsgathering

16. News agencies/Wire services

17. Dependency on the wires • “Without the wire services, we’d be dead.” • National Editor at ABC • “the dependence on the wires … almost total” • Former Executive Editor for NBC

18. White’s Gatekeeper Model • the process by which media outlets choose which news to cover and which news to ignore

19. What is a ‘copy taster’? Teleprinters and reams of paper.

20. Mr. Gates • “Through studying his overt reasons for rejecting news stories from the press associations we see how highly subjective, how based on the ‘gatekeeper’s’ own set of experiences, attitudes and expectations the communication of ‘news’ really is.” • (White 1950)

21. Newsroom Ideology & Organisational Policies • socialization: learning the values of a news organisation • new recruits discover and internalize norms and values • standard remark: “Never, in my ____ years on this paper, have I ever been told how to slant a story.” • read/watch own organisation’s media output • self-selection • editing process – consistencies • punishments, career aspirations

22. from Social Control in the Newsroom: Warren Breed

23. from Social Control in the Newsroom: Warren Breed

24. The Editorial Conference/Morning Meeting

25. POLICIES EXAMPLE: “suicide bombers” or “homicide bombers”

26. FOX follows lead from Bush Administration since April 2002 • FOX News website • 1/4/05: The homicide bomber who killed 22 people when he blew himself up in a U.S. mess hall in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was a Saudi medical student, an Arab newspaper reported Monday. • Associated Press • 1/3/05: The suicide bomber who killed 22 people when he blew himself up in a U.S. mess hall in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was a Saudi medical student, an Arab newspaper reported Monday.

27. Seminar #2 • making the news • one Executive Producer; 4 or 5 journalists • go through stages of news production