| Technology and Newspaper | ||
| Production | Distribution | Consumption |
| Camera | The Internet | Glasses |
| Computer | Social Media | Tablet |
| Word Processor | Shops | Website |
| Website Builder | Vehicles | App |
| Adobe Creative Cloud | Website | Paper |
| Printer | Emails | A Brain (able to read and understand) |
| Office | Phones | |
| Pen/Pencil | Printing Press | |
| Paper |
Noam Chomsky and Edward S. wrote a book in 1988 called “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media”. The book propose that the mass communication media of the U.S. “are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-support propaganda function, by reliance on market forces, internalized assumptions, and self-concensorship, and without overt cocercion”, by means of the propaganda model of communication. The title “Manufacturing Consent” refers to the consent of the governed.
Sociology of News Production by Michael Schudson
- “Normally, news ‘coincides with’ and ‘reinforces’ the ‘definition of the political situation evolved by the political elite'”
- “Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent. This work offers a ‘propaganda model’ of the mass media, the view that the media ‘serve to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate the state and private activity”
Manipulation or Persuasion
- Structures of Ownership – the idea that rich people know other rich people and will help each other out. E.G. An owner of a media conglomerate is good friends with Trump. Trump could say to the owner “if you say good stuff about me, I will give you a tax break or a new building”. This is persuading and manipulating what is shown in the media to support what the rich want.
- The Role of Advertising – media costs more to produce than they get back from sales. Because of this they put advertisements in the media to fund producing the product. This means that us (the audience) are sold to the companies that are advertising.
- Diversionary Tactics – ‘Flack’ – the idea that someone that speaks out against these big conglomerates will get beaten (flack) from the conglomerates. They will be shut down by the large media companies saying that they are lying.
Audience Reception Theory
Agenda Setting – the creation of public awareness and concern of the big issues by the news media. The media attempts to influence viewers, and establish a hierarchy of news importance. Two basic ideas underpin agenda-setting: 1) the press and the media do not reflect reality; they filter and shape it. 2) media concentrates on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues.
Framing – how something is presented to the audience (called “the frame”) influences the choices people make about how to process that information. The most common use of frames is in terms of the frame the news or media place on the information they convey. A form of second level agenda-setting – they not only tell the audience what to think about (agenda-setting theory), but also how to think about that issue (framing theory). Factors that influence framing: politics, gender, age, religion, culture/society (trends), economic issues and the influence of sponsors and money.
Media Myth Making – The influence of agenda setting and framing can create myths- common beliefs- in the media about how the world should be, the things we value and how we must act to become ‘correct’.
Conditions of Consumption – so we have media that has been framed and presented to us in order to meet an agenda or support a myth.
Other things that can affect our interpretations – daily lives, routines, upbringing, education, friendship groups and relationships.