An introduction to Media

Representation

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Representation: "The process by which the media present to us the 'real world' ".

Do you believe all you see, hear or read????

What you see on the TV, hear on the radio and read in newspapers and magazines is carefully selected and specifically constructed to represent certain images/ beliefs/ values of the subject or person.

How the media portray people of importance depends upon their influence to an audience. This happens particularly within politics and newspapers. Newspapers sometimes favour one political party over another. When writing articles about their chosen party they will give them 'good press' celebrating the positives and ignoring the negatives in order to persuade an audience to that way of thinking, whereas when writing about an oppositional party they will focus on the bad points and try to influence an reader and make the turn against them. This also often happens with celebrities - one wrong act could in turn make the media give them 'bad press'.

Are your favourite soap characters accurate representations of real people?

Stereotyping is a way in which the media often represent people. It is easier to group people together according to their culture, likes/ dislikes etc... rather than lots of individuals. The majority of fictional programming on television contains stereotypes, for example in the Simpsons, Apu is the owner of the Kwik-E-Mart Convenience store, he is a caricature of a common stereotype – in his case; the stereotype of the Indian convenience-store owner.

Regulation.

The media industry is carfully regulated to ensure that they produce a fair and accurate report.

OFCOM are the regulators of the UK communications industries, including TV, Radio, telecommunications and wireless communication services.

The Press Complaints Commission are responsible for monitoring British newspapers and magazines to ensure they adhere to ethical guidelines.

Although not entirely a regulator, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) have a code of conduct that journalists should adhere to.

The Advertising industry is regulated by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). They are responsible for making sure that advertisements - through all mediums- are not misleading.

Media Knowall
BBC Media Education
ThinkBox

Audience

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When Media Producers are deciding on who to aim their product at, they have two types of audience in mind:

Primary Target Audience: those who will watch/ listen/ read or buy the product.

Secondary Target Audience: those who will watch/ listen/ read or buy the product because of someone else - e.g a parent.

It is easier for the media industry to group people together defined by their age. culture, ethnicity, gender, interests , income etc... rather than cater for the individuals. This grouping is know as demographics.

Audience Profiles
Demographic Chart

How Audiences are Measured

BARB
Broadcasters Aaudience Research Board

responsible for estimating how many people are watching what programmes on what channels at what time.

ABC
Audit Bureau of Circulation

provides information on the circulation and distribution for ABC certified Newspapers and Magazines within the UK and Ireland.

RAJAR
Radio Joint Audience Research

Is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. It is jointly owned by the BBC and the RadioCentre on behalf of the commercial sector

Audience Research

Quantitative Research: How many?????
Qualitative Research: What the audience think.

Audience Theory

Hypodermic Needle Theory

Believes that the media 'inject' ideas, attitudes and beliefs into people
The audience do not question what they are told - they believe what they see and hear.
a source of 'Moral Panic' - people believe that if children see violence on TV they will become violent - copycat.
BBC April Fools day - Spaghetti tree

2 Step Flow

information is channelled through 'opinion leaders'
our opinions are effected by others who have seen the media text

Uses & Gratifications Theory

each media text satisfies a need.

surveilence
diversion
personal identity
personal relationships

Semiotics

2007-11-28T01:57:00.001-08:00

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We interpret media texts through Signification

Ferdinand de Saussure

Signs have 2 parts:

Individual elements (signifiers)
Their meaning (signified)

Dennotation = Listing the signs

Connotation = What the signs mean

All producers construct their products to create a prefered meaning. They encode messages within the product that we as an audience decode to create a meaning.

Signifiers are grouped into families:

Visual / Vocal/ Musical / sounds/ Print

Visual
People, loations, objects, dress, camera shots/angle/movement, editing, FX, lighting, graphics.

Vocal
voice, accent, tone, speed, pitch, words

Musical
music bed, tempos, diegetic/ non diegetic, incidental

Sounds
Ambience, actuality, sound FX, silence

Print
Size/Angle of image, colour,
what is in the image - people/ location
Copy, writing, font style.

Language Board

2007-11-28T01:56:00.000-08:00

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