Key words:

• Media concentration / Conglomerates / Globalisation (in terms of media ownership) = a mixture a different companies that are grouped together
• Vertical Integration & Horizontal Integration = (vertical) = the merge of companies that are in the same business but in different stages of production or distribution (horizontal) = company takes over another that operates at the same level of value chain in an industry.
• Gatekeepers = the process by which information is filtered to the public by the media (news reporters, editors etc) – someone who is exerting power
• Regulation / Deregulation = (regulation) = rules enforced by the jurisdiction (the power) of law via rules and procedures ( deregulation) = where goverement removes controls and rules about how media should be owned and controlled
• Free market vs Monopolies & Mergers = (monolopies) = cross ownerships who own “everything” ( mergers) = one company buying another company for controll in order to increase revenues and profits) (free market) = economic system based on supply and demand with little or no gorverment contol
• Neo-liberalism and the Alt-Right
• Surveillance / Privacy / Security / GDPR

• Media concentration =
• Conglomerates =
• Globalisation (in terms of media ownership) = across the world
• Vertical Integration – when somebody own multiple/all companies in the production and distribution chain.
• Horizontal Integration = making/producing multiple things
• Gatekeepers = in charge of what happens – hold power – allows certain things to happen
• Regulation = instating regulations and restrictions – law and government
• Deregulation = removal of regulations and restrictions
• Free market = made by the people for the people, truth and not for profit or dominance.
• Monopolies = when one company/person owns/dominates the market – lacks diversity – dominated/overpowered
• Mergers = when two companies merge together
• Neo-liberalism =
• Alt-Right = ideological grouping of reactionary viewpoints, through the use of online media to disseminate controversial content.
• Surveillance = observing/recording something
• Privacy = right to do ones own thing without expose or observation
• Security =
• GDPR =

Media concentration:  ownership is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. 

Conglomerates: multi-industry company – i.e., a combination of multiple business entities operating in entirely different industries under one corporate group, usually involving a parent company and many subsidiaries. Conglomerates are often large and multinational.

Globalisation (in terms of media ownership): is the worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas, while technological globalization refers to the cross-cultural development and exchange of technology.

Vertical Integration: Media Company owns different businesses in the same chain of production and distribution. … When a company expands its business into areas that are at different points on the same production path, such as when a manufacturer owns its supplier and/or distributor.

Horizontal Integration: where an organisation develops by buying up competitors in the same section of the market e.g. one music publisher buys out other smaller music publishers. BBC | Dragons’ Den Definition: A situation when two firms in the same industry and at the same stage of production come together.

Gatekeepers: a process by which information is filtered to the public by the media. … This news perspective and its complex criteria are used by editors, news directors, and other personnel who select a limited number of news stories for presentation to the public. (Somebody who is exerting power)

Regulation: Media regulations are rules enforced by the jurisdiction of law. Guidelines for media use differ across the world.

Deregulation: reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Over the years the struggle between proponents of regulation and proponents of no government intervention have shifted market conditions.

Free market: economic system based on supply and demand with little or no government control. … Based on its political and legal rules, a country’s free market economy may range between very large or entirely black market.

Monopolies:  market structure characterized by a single seller, selling a unique product in the market. In a monopoly market, the seller faces no competition, as he is the sole seller of goods with no close substitute.

Mergers: a merger or acquisition in which 2 or. more of the undertakings involved. carry on a media business in the. State; or.

David Hesmondhalgh

David Hesmondhalgh is among a range of academics who critically analyse the relationship between media work and the media industry. In his seminal book, The Culture Industries. A critical reflection that highlights the ‘myth-making’ process surrounding the potential digital future for young creatives, setting up a counter-weight against the desire of so many young people who are perhaps too easily seduced to pursue a career in the creative industries. 

Rupert murdoch media empire:

Organizations founded: Fox News, Sky Group, Sky News,

Murdoch dynasty regulation when he went to Uk he wanted control over all of sky however in the Uk it is against the law to own all news organisations. Therefore he only owns 39% of sky.

Theorists Chomsky: Manufacturing consent in relation to Murdoch this was when he influenced the Uk public to support the labor part and get tony Blair elected as prime minister.

Key words:

• Media concentration / Conglomerates / Globalisation (in terms of media ownership) – globalisation is the process by which businesses develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. A conglomerate is a corporation that is made up of a number of different, sometimes unrelated businesses. In a conglomerate, one company owns a number of smaller companies all of which conduct business separately and independently.
• Vertical Integration & Horizontal Integration – In a horizontal integration, a company takes over another that operates at the same level of the value chain in an industry. A vertical integration, on the other hand, involves the acquisition of business operations within the same production vertical.
• Gatekeepers – they craft and conduct what is being published to the masses, therefore they determine what is to become the public’s social reality, and their view of the world . People who hold the power to open the gate to for things they allow eg Roger Ailles fox news.
• Regulation / Deregulation – Media regulations are rules enforced by the jurisdiction of law, guidelines for media use differ across the world. Deregulation is when the government reduces or eliminates restrictions on industries, often with the goal of making it easier to do business.
• Free market vs Monopolies & Mergers – The free market is an economic system based on supply and demand with little or no government control. Monopolies are cross ownership eg, ownership of different kinds of media (TV, newspapers, magazines, etc.)
• Neo-liberalism and the Alt-Right
• Surveillance / Privacy / Security / GDPR

vertical integration is when a production company owns the means of production, distribution and exhibition of their film and are of the same company, because of this they will receive all of the profit.

Media concentration / Conglomerates / Globalisation (in terms of media ownership): are powerful influential groups that own various businesses

Horizontal Integration is same chain of production and command

Gatekeepers is someone with high power which controls what/who goes through

Regulation is controlling and setting rules to keep things in control / Deregulation

Free market vs Monopolies & Mergers: monopolies own everything/dominant the market where as free market is open where anyone can join

Neo-liberalism and the Alt-Right

Surveillance / Privacy / Security / GDPR

David Hesmondhalgh

In his seminal book, The Culture Industries (Sage, 2019) he suggest that:

the distinctive organisational form of the cultural industries has considerable implications for the conditions under which symbolic creativity is carried out’

A critical reflection that highlights the ‘myth-making’ process surrounding the potential digital future for young creatives, setting up a counter-weight against the desire of so many young people who are perhaps too easily seduced to pursue a career in the creative industries. Where the promise of wealth and fame and the celebration of a range of unlikely popular heroes including various dot.com millionaires, Young British Artists, celebrity chefs, pop stars, media entrepreneurs and the like, have according to Banks and Hesmondhalgh (2009), encouraged nascent creatives to imagine themselves as the ‘star’ at the center of their own unfolding occupational drama.

the individualizing discourses of ‘talent’ and ‘celebrity’ and the promise of future fame or consecration, have special purchase in creative work, and are often instrumental in ensuring compliance with the sometimes invidious demands of managers, organisations and the industry

 this approach looks to spotlight a prevailing assumption around cultural production as one that is ‘innately talent-driven and meritocratic – that anyone can make it’ (ibid).

Although, as Angela McRobbie (2002) (2016 ) and others, (Communian, Faggian, & Jewell, 2011); (O’Brien, Laurison, Miles, & Friedman, 2016); (Hesmondhalgh, 2019) have argued, the study of creative work should include a wider set of questions including the way in which aspirations to and expectations of autonomy could lead to disappointment and disillusion

Banks and Hesmondhalgh argue, in its Utopian presentation, creative work is now imagined only as a self-actualizing pleasure, rather than a potentially arduous or problematic obligation undertaken through material necessity

Rupert Murdoch media empire

Organizations founded: Fox News, Sky Group, Sky News,

How Useful are ideas about narrative in analysing music videos? Refer to Close study products “Ghost Town” and “Letter to the Free” in your answer. [12 marks] 

How Useful are ideas about narrative in analysing music videos? Refer to Close study products “Ghost Town” and “Letter to the Free” in your answer. [12 marks] 

Narrative is a spoken or written account of connected events; a story. Narrative theory analyses media texts and how they are conveyed or communicated to the audience. 

There are many theories based of narrative or stories one of which is Vladimir Propp’s character theory, this theory identifies the main type of characters used in most narrative media. For example nearly every movie or book follows a main character, this character usually does good deeds or takes actions to benefit others therefore he could be labelled as a hero. Another narrative theory that links to this is the binary opposites theory by Levi-Strauss which suggests that narratives are structed using opposites like heroes vs villains or light vs dark, there are examples for this theory in nearly every action film for example star wars. 

In commons letter to the free you are to link his music video to Vladmir Propp’s character theory as the lyrics to letter to the free mention the 13^th amendment and the new Jim crow these link to the history of black people and how they are victims, also showing how police men or the whole justice system are made out to be heroes as they “protect people” and “uphold peace” but they are just false hero’s. However, I believe that narrative theories don’t apply to letter to the free as they would to a film or a book. This is because letter to the free isn’t a story and looks more at how black people are being incarcerated and is used to change people’s ideals and not be blinded to how other people being treated just because of their colour. 

Momento can be classified as a postmodern text as the main character “Leonard” has no true identity. This can be seen through many times throughout the movie. he wants people to believe he is a clinical psychologist who wants vengeance for his wife. However, his true identity is a murderer but only because of his own actions. This can show how Leonard is his own victim as he constantly led himself to believe he never solved the murder even though he had many times as every time he found out he made false clues to lead to a new “killer”. He does this to give himself a false sense of purpose. This therefore allowed it to become a Whitley text as consumers believed he was doing the right thing until we found out Leonards true self. This is the Theory of Ronald Barthes where consumers create their own versions of the text without having any factual information.

The text itself relies on how only evidence and facts can truly be trusted where as people who “claim” to know the truth can’t, even if it is the real truth. This is done to show how Leonard is a paranoid character who is going insane and couldn’t take the weight of him killing his own wife. To do this he constructs a character called “John G” so when he finds out his true self he can forget and blame someone new, this becomes and endless cycle. Because of this, evidence begins not matching up and Leonard confuses as well as contradicts himself and leads him to killing innocent people and trusting people such as Natalie when he shouldn’t.

All of this can be blamed on new and rising media technologies as well as people with power such as “Teddy” who lied to Leonard so he could have a false sense of purpose, simply out of pity.

In some ways, social, historical and cultural contexts are important, as it not only connects to media studies, it allows society to grasp a better understanding of postcolonialism, and how races are constructed as different, opposite or other. Looking at Commons Letter to the Free, which is a song wrote as a soundtrack to the 13^th, a documentary by Ava DuVernay, named after the American 13^th amendment, which was the abolition of slavery. The song implies how black people are seen different to others. This is evident through his lyrics, “we aint seen as humans”, suggesting that society see Black people as different, not even human beings. Furthermore, the lyric “will the U.S ever be with us” constructs an ideology of U.S almost seeing them as opposites and choose to stand against them.

The theorist J. McDougall analyses the notion of “fake news and media Studies”. In his book, he states “I do spend long periods of time with my gaze turned away from the media, because I’m seeking to understand what’s going on out there, and then the role of the media in that context. I’m always putting the social, the political and the economic (contexts) first.” 

If we look at War of the Worlds, it is a science fiction novel, where aliens invade, and the story is told through the narrative’s diary. The conventions of news reports were used for dramatic realism, to create suspend disbelief for the audience. The reason why it is important not just to focus on the media/not just to focus on society, is the notion of “interpellation”, meaning society can eventually make us into a certain person. The theorist Louis Althusser talks about the ISA’s and the idea of interpellation (ideology state apparatus). They construct an idea, that is connected to the state, in a way of which individuals are interpellated into society. The way in which your subject identity is formed and which, more often than not, corresponds to the dominant ideology. Linking this the War of the Worlds, we can say that the audience listened into the media (radio broadcasters, who were potentially controlled what to say by the “ISA”) and they were educated about what happened. Due to the suspend disbelief, the majority of the audience were interpellated into the “fake news”. McDougall’s claims that “I do spend long periods of time with my gaze turned away from the media, because I’m seeking to understand what’s going on out there, and then the role of the media in that context. I’m always putting the social, the political and the economic (contexts) first.” So, it is important to acknowledge not only the media, but also society, as they are interdependent and allow us to have better understanding of the realism of the world.

Music videos are a great source of media to address information about the society. If we look at The Ghost Town by The Specials, it educates the audience about the economic depression and lack of employment in London. It involves hybridization, as two genres of music merge together: reggae and ska. Alternatively, Commons Letter to the Free, with its hip-hop rap style, it sends the audience a message that black lives matter, as it talks about ending slavery and generating equal rights for everyone.

The similar between these two music videos, is that it gives awareness of the current situations that took place in those eras. This is where post colonialism links in, as it creates the emergence of critical thinking. The arguments around postcolonialism critical thought “constituted a fundamentally important political act” (MacLeod). Theorist Edward Siad, developed orientalism, where he states that the power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming or emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism. Linking to Letter to the Free, which was made in 2016, the power of its narrative aided and encouraged the Protests for Black Lives Matter in 2020. In his book “orientalism”, Edward Siad points out the “the Orient has helped to define Europe”. So, we could say that music videos i,e Letter to the Free, has helped define society, through protests, to make the world a better place.

To understand the term “other” in “the orient in other”, Jacques Lacan, a French philosopher,  developed the mirror stage of child development, which points out that we cannot actually see ourselves as whole, we use a reflection to understand who we are and who we are not. Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage talks about when we first see each other, that’s when the recognition occurs. So, applying this theory to media studies, communications and culture, the reason why we consume the media so much, is to not only identify and understand the “other”, but explore ourselves. Linking to the music video Letter to the Free it allows audience/society, to reflect on themselves and think how they are as a person – are they discriminating the black? Society consume media and reflects on themselves. As it allows them to understand society and culture, it gives them the opportunity to make a change, such as joining protests to try and get rid of poor equality.

Jacques Lacan – his term of the mirror stage of child development, whereby, as we cannot actually see ourselves as whole, we use a reflection to understand who we are / who we are not. Lacan proposed that in infancy this first recognition occurs when we see ourselves in a mirror. Applying that theory to culture, communications and media studies, it is possible to see why we are so obsessed with media etc because, essentially, we are exploring ‘The Other’ as a way of exploring ourselves.

The Orient is an idea that has a history and a tradition of thought, imagery, and vocabulary that have given it reality and presence in and for the West. The two geographical entities thus support and to an extent reflect each other.

ORIENTALISM: The Link between culture, imperial power & colonialism

the power to narrate, or to block other narratives from forming or emerging, is very important to culture and imperialism – Edward Said Culture and Imperialism, 1993: xiii

Hegemonic struggle – a chance to reclaim

Emerges from NEGOTIATION and CONSENT; a continual exchange of power, through ideas. In this sense, postcolonialism articulates a desire to reclaim, re-write and re-establish cultural identity and thus maintain power of The Empire – even if the Empire has gone. power of representation, played out in the realm of the cultural and civic, looking to make an affect on the political and economic.

Pastiche – a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist

Parody – a work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony

Bricolage – involves the rearrangement and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning

Intertextuality – surface signs, gestures and play

Metanarrative – narratives of historical meaning, experience, or knowledge, which offers a society legitimation through the anticipated completion of a (as yet unrealized) master idea.

Simulacrum – simulations of reality

Hyperreality – the simulation is more real than reality.

Syncretism –

Double consciousness – the internal conflict experienced by subordinated or colonized groups in an oppressive society.  Black and british, black and american.

Hybridisation

Paul Gilroy is insistent that ‘we must become interested in how the literary and cultural as well as governmental dynamics of the country have responded to that process of change and what it can tell us about the place of racism in contemporary political culture.’ (2004:13)