media power and control

GRAMSCI – HEGEMONIC

Hegemony is a struggle that emerges from NEGOTIATION and CONSENT – Not total domination (not totalitarianism or explicit propaganda) but a continual exchange of power, through ideas.

AN EXAMPLE OF A HEGEMONIC STRUGGLE – LEVESON INQUIRY

“The Leveson inquiry was a judicial public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press following the News International phone hacking scandal, chaired by Lord Justice Leveson, who was appointed in July 2011.” – Wikipedia

MURDOCH PAYING POLICE AND OTHER GOVERNMENT ORGANISATIONS FOR STORIES – CONTINUAL EXCHANGE OF POWER RUINED FOR MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT STORIES.

LACAN – THE OTHER

How we explore and identify ourselves by viewing things that may potentially reflect ourselves.

Applying that theory to culture, communications and media studies, it is possible to see why we are so obsessed with reading magazines, listening to music, watching films, videos and television because, essentially, we are exploring ‘The Other’ as a way of exploring ourselves.

ALTHUSSER – ISA

ISAs are used to describe the way in which structures of civic society – education, culture, the arts, the family, religion, bureaucracy, administration etc serve to structure the ideological perspectives of society, which in turn form our individual subject identity.

CHOMSKY – MANUFACTURING CONSENT

The mass communication media of the U.S. “are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function, by reliance on market forces, internalized assumptions, and self-censorship, and without overt coercion”

5 FILTERS OF CONSENT

  • Structures of ownership
  • The role of advertising
  • Links with ‘The Establishment’
  • Diversionary tactics – ‘flack’
  • Uniting against a ‘common enemy’

KEY POWER AND CONTROL TERMS

Media concentration / Conglomerates – A company which owns numerous companies involved in the distribution of mass media enterprises.

Globalisation (in terms of media ownership) – The worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas.

Vertical Integration – Vertical integration is when a company integrates multiple stages of a production line to a small number of production units

Horizontal Integration – Horizontal integration is the process that a company or an institution uses to increase the production of goods.

Nepotism – The practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.

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