“The media do serve the ‘public interest’ or ‘general welfare welfare’ whether by design or chance.”
“a simple definition… says that something ‘is in the public interest if it serves the ends of the whole society rather than those of some sectors of the society.'”
James Curran – Mass Media and Democracy
“The best way to organise the core media sector is to entrust them to public service organizations.”
“public service broadcasting organizations tend to be unduly influenced by the political class.”
Syntagm: a linguistic unit consisting of a set of linguistic forms (phonemes, words, or phrases) that are in a sequential relationship to one another.
C S Pierce:
Semiotics:
sign is anything that communicates a meaning that is not the sign itself to the interpreter of the sign.
code is a set of conventions or sub-codes currently in use to communicate meaning.
Convention is a cultural agreement about what a sign means, or how we should respond to it.
Dominant Signifier any material thing that signifies,.
The principal function of anchorage is ideological: the text directs the reader through the signifieds of the image
Ferdinand de Saussure:
Signifier: any material thing that signifies, e.g., words on a page, a facial expression, an image.
Signified: the concept that a signifier refers to.
Roland Barthes:
Signification: the act or process of signifying by signs or other symbolic means.
Denotation: the literal or primary meaning of a word, in contrast to the feelings or ideas that the word suggests.
Conotation: an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning.
Myth: a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.
Ideology: a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.
Radical: a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.
Reactionary: a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy. #
public sphere jurgen habermass
“a public space between the private domain and the state in which public opinion was formed and ‘popular’ supervision of government was established”
public sphere “a neutral zone where access to relevant information affecting the public good is widely available, where discussion is free of domination and where all those participating on public debates do so in an equal basis”.
“the media is to act as a public watchdog”.
regulation state or free market?
in relation to the media…
who regulates the press? (e.g. government or state)…
or is it a free market in which it is only run by the media/press… curran says “only by anchoring the media to the free market is it possible to ensure the medias complete independence from the government”.
curran says ” once the media becomes subject to public regulation, it will loose its bite as a watchdog”.
Sign = A mark, sign or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. For example, a love heart could be a sign of being in love.
Code = These are loads of signs that create a meaning of something. Media codes include the use of camera, acting, setting, mise en scene, editing, lighting, sound, special effects, typography, colour, visual composition, text and graphics to develop a TV advert.
Convention = The ways media codes are used and combined to form individual or generic media styles.
Dominant Signifier = The most important thing we see on a piece of media. It also provides anchorage (signs with a fixed meaning
Anchorage = when a piece of media uses another piece of media to reduce the amount of connotations in the first, therefore allowing the audience to interpret it much more easily
Ferdinand de Saussure:
Signifier = the physical form of a sign (such as a piece of media from a magazine)
Signified =this is the actual meaning or idea that has been explored by a sign.
C S Pierce:
Iconic sign = a sign that looks exactly like its object.
Indexical sign = a sign that has links to the object
Symbolic sign = a sign that has a random link to an object.
Roland Barthes:
Signification = the process of signifying signs by identifying what the sign means.
Denotation = the translation of a sign into its literal meaning
Connotation = what signs we can associate with a piece of media.
Myth = a story that has a false belief or idea, but people believe it to be true
You will also need to understand these key terms:
Ideology = a system of ideas and beliefs, which forms the basis of an economic or political theory and policy.
radical = radical texts challenge the dominant ideology
reactionary = reactionary media follows the dominant ideology
Paradigm = the relationship of signs, however, one sign could be replaced by another.
Syntagm = the relationship of signs in sequence or in parallel that create a meaning
Denotation is its literal meaning, ie. a “pair of white gloves” is literally just a pair of white gloves
The connotation is the idea or feeling that comes with its literal meaning, ie a “pair of white gloves” is a pair of white gloves but gives ideas of purity, wealth and elegance etc
Syntagm a linguistic unit consisting of a set of linguistic forms (phonemes, words, or phrases) that are in a sequential relationship to one another.
A set of signs which work together.
paradigm is a collection of signs around a particular thing paradigm of things in posters are the signs which make up the poster
Narrative theory: one of five codes that describe the meaning of a text. He suggested texts may be ‘open’ or ‘closed’. Closed texts are those that are produced with a single, definitive meaning in mind making any interpretation from the audience inaccurate.
why is he important: French philosopher and literary critic, who explored social theory, anthropology and semiotics, the science of symbols, and studied their impact on society. His work left an impression on the intellectual movements of Structuralism and Post-Structuralism.
structuralism challenged the belief that a work of literature reflected a given reality; instead, a text was constituted of linguistic conventions and situated among other texts.
an example of structuralism: is describing your experience at the ocean by saying it is windy, salty, and cold, but rejuvenating.
the post–structuralist: approach argues that to understand an object (e.g., a text), it is necessary to study both the object itself and the systems of knowledge that produced the object.
Syntagms and paradigms explain how signs relate to each other. Syntagmatic relationships are about positioning. Paradigmatic relationships are about the substitution.
paradigms are the collection of similarly associated signs around a specific topic
