Daily Middle-Market newspaper published in London (Tabloid format)

Founded – 1896, it is the UKs highest circulated newspaper

The paper is owned by The Daily Mail and General Trust

A survey in 2014 found the average age of its readers was 58, and it had the lowest demographic for 15- to 44-year-olds among the major British dailies. Uniquely for a British daily newspaper, it has a majority female readership, with women making up 52–55% of its readers. It had an average daily circulation of 1,134,184 copies in February 2020.

Sister paper – Mail on Sunday launched 1982

Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere, a great-grandson of one of the original co-founders, is the current chairman and controlling shareholder of the Daily Mail and General Trust

Support of fascism

Rothermere’s article from the issue dated 15 January 1934.

Lord Rothermere was a friend of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and directed the Mail’s editorial stance towards them in the early 1930s. Rothermere’s 1933 leader “Youth Triumphant” praised the new Nazi regime’s accomplishments, and was subsequently used as propaganda by them.

Gay gene controversy

On 16 July 1993 the Mail ran the headline “Abortion hope after ‘gay genes’ finding”. Of the tabloid headlines which commented on the Xq28 gene, the Mail’s was criticised as “perhaps the most infamous and disturbing headline of all”.

THE THEORY OF THE LIBERAL FREE PRESS

Quotes –

According to classical liberal theory, the freedom to publish in the free market ensures that the press reflects a wide range of opinions and interests in society

The free market, it is also argued, makes the press a representative institution.

The market-based press is independent because it owes allegiance only to the public, the press is the peoples watchdog, scrutinizing the actions government and holding the countrys rulers to acoount

Its reporting of the news that keeps readers abreast of important events and developments, and enables them to exercise informed judgements by election time.

The advent of the internet has enhanced the freedom to publish by lowering entry costs. But the list of ten most-visited news sites is dominated by large news organisations like BBC News, the guardian, The Times, Sun and Telegraph. It is always possible to set up small websites, the equivalent of small corner shops. But this is not the same thing as publishing well-resourced news websites – the equivalent of supermarkets – which large numbers of people visit.

THE ROLE OF PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING

Quotes –

British broadcasting was started as a public service, and this proved as creative comercially as it was innovative culturally.

Successive reports developed the idea of broadcasting as a public service – catering for all sections of the community, reaching all parts of the country regardless of cost, seeking to educate inform and improve, and prepared to lead public opinion rather than follow it.

Notes –

monopoly = singular, Duopoly = The domination of two suppliers

Public Broadcasting Services can be defined as neither commercial nor state-owned, free from political interference and pressure from commercial forces. Through PSB, people are informed, educated, included and also entertained.

1- Jurgen Habermas – Public sphere = The idea that the media allow for wider demographics to connect and share ideas rather than ideas being mainly conveyed from socially higher powers such as government and royalty.

2 – James Curren and Jean Seaton – SYSTEM BASED UPON SUPPLY AND COMMAND (CONSUMER RATE) Free Market. the radical press, newspapers or print media that emphasises ideologies that are considered extreme or against dominant ideologies, was so influential that the backing of other daily newspapers may convey the idea of shared interests. In addition, the rise in costs of print media during the nineteenth century meant that there was large competition between newspaper enterprises. Information used by the press is free and transparent within the public domain. Free from politcal control (liberal, free, neutral, transparent press) Developed Habermasses ideas.

3 – Noam Chomsky – Manufacturing Consent – How the media can manipulate stories ideas and concepts in order to portray a feeling of agreement and consent. Manufacturing consent works in a similar, if not the same (modern) way as propaganda.

• The five ‘filters’ of Manufacturing Consent’ –
• 1) The size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms
• 2) Advertising as the primary income source of the mass media
• 3) The reliance of the media on information provided by government, business and ‘experts’ funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power.
• 4) ‘Flak’ as a means of disciplining the media
• 5) ‘Anticommunism’ as a national religion and control mechanism. – common enemy

4 – Louis Althusser – Interpellation and Ideological State Apparatus – State institutions such as education, media and churches that were originally not under state control however more recently express ideas that the State or higher powers support.

• The ruling class uses the repressive state apparatuses (RSA) to dominate the working class.
• Ideological State Apparatus works differently, usinf non-violent methods in order to ‘maintain control’ or influence over a population

5 – Antonio Gramsci – Hegemonic Struggle – The struggle between the indepencdence of different groups and their identities. Hegemony – struggles between the rulling class and the lower classes.

IN-DESIGN NOTES

Text wrapping = Window/ Text Wrap/ Shape around Object/ Alpha channel

Text Columns = Highlight Text/ Text Frame Options/ Number 2/ Gutter Low/ Width High

Insert Image = File/ Place

Text Indent = Top right of page

• By Edward S. Herman & Noam Chomsky

Red = Theoretical ideas (MC)

• Manufacturing consent works in a similar, if not the same (modern) way as propaganda.

In a world of concentrated wealth and major conflicts of class interest, to fulfil this role requires systematic propaganda.

• The five ‘filters’ of Manufacturing Consent’ –
• 1) The size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms
• 2) Advertising as the primary income source of the mass media
• 3) The reliance of the media on information provided by government, business and ‘experts’ funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power.
• 4) ‘Flak’ as a means of disciplining the media
• 5) ‘Anticommunism’ as a national religion and control mechanism.

Blue = Other theorists/ quotes (Currna&Seaton)

• Curran and Seaton show that the market did successfully accomplish what state intervention failed to do. Following the repeal of the punitive taxes on newspapers between 1853 and 1869, a new daily newspaper was introduced, but not one new local working-class daily was established through the rest of the nineteenth century. Curran and Seaton note that –

The eclipse of the national radical press was so total that when the Labour Party developed out of the working-class movement in the first decade of the twentieth century, it did not obtain the exclusive backing of a signal national daily or sunday newspaper.

• In other words, the radical press, newspapers or print media that emphasises ideologies that are considered extreme or against dominant ideologies, was so influential that the backing of other daily newspapers may convey the idea of shared interests. In addition, the rise in costs of print media during the nineteenth century meant that there was large competition between newspaper enterprises.

Yellow = Political

In countries where the levers of power are in the hands of a state bureaucracy, the monopolistic control over the media, often supplemented by official censorship, makes it clear that the media serve the ends of a dominant elite.

Orange = Institutional

• Censorship is largely self-censorship, by reporters and commentators who adjust to the realities of source and media organisational requirements, and by people at higher levels within media organisations who are chosen to implement, and have usually internalized, the constraints imposed by proprietary and other market and governmental centers of power.

Green = Definitions

• Censorship – the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information, on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or “inconvenient.” 
• Radical press – was introduced by John D. H. Downing in his 1984 study of rebellious communication and social movements emphasizing alternative media’s political and goal-oriented activism.

• 

• 

• 

This magazine is representative of modern femenist critical thinking which celebrates individuality and empowerment.

In contrast to Men’s Health magazine, Oh Comely is an independent magazine published by Iceberg Press, a small London publisher which publishes only one other title. This suggests that the information or messages in the magazine are true and relevant rather than a way to ‘buy’ the reader for profit.

• You can find oh in some Sainsbury’s

Oh is about new ways of looking inside ourselves and out at the world. A mindfulness magazine with a fresh perspective

Alternative Institutional Structure –

Oh magazine is published by the independent publisher, Iceberg Press, a London based publisher that only owns one other title.

A niche audience is a subgroup of a company’s main targeted audience. This specific audience is a selective group of people who have specific wants, needs and interests. Small but mighty, niche audiences hold great value for brands and their success. Niche audiences are so valuable because they are often more engaged, active and responsive users. As well, due to their specific likes/dislikes this makes it very easy for marketers to target content to them.

As Iceberg Press is an independant media company, niche audiences can be targetted specifically.

Unlike other corporations or conglomerates, Iceberg is relatively small allowing the overall structure of the institution to be different. This will allow for the audience to be more directly targetted, but also allows the company to know and improve on judgements from their audience.

Stuart Hall – Theory Of Preferred Reading/ Reception Theory/ Encode & Decode – There are three hypothetical positions from which messages and meanings may be decoded: either with a preferred, negotiated or oppositional reading.

Halls theory can be applied to Oh magazine as it allows a different way of interpreting the text, either agreeing or disagreeing with the ideologies it presents.

bell hooks drew attention to how feminism privileges white women’s struggles, while advocating for a more holistic way of understanding oppression.

Where the readers were as important as the advertisers, where the paper quality and design were valued and where the words and pictures weren’t always trying to sell stuff, didn’t portray perfection, didn’t tell people what to do and made them feel better, not worse.

Iceberg Press Magazine

Iceberg makes two magazines, The Simple Things and Oh Comely.

The first issue of Oh Comely was published in 2010 and co-edited by Des Tan and Liz Bennett, with Rosanna Durham and Dani Lurie as art and music editors. Collectively the four worked as Adeline Media. Oh Comely publishes craft, DIY, creative non-fiction, photography and illustration, as well as reader submissions.

Oh Comely is also a magazine about people. What makes it different to the rest? It makes people feel better about themselves. It inspires people to be creative, talk to their neighbours and explore new things, rather than gossip, buy stuff or lose weight.

• Media concentration / Conglomerates – A large bussiness or company, a combination of multiple bussiness entitles operating in entirely different industries under one main group/ bussiness.
• Globalisation (in terms of media ownership) – Media globalisation is the combination of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas.
• Vertical Integration – A larger company/ conglomerate that aquires a smaller company in the same industry.
• Horizontal Integration – The aquisition of a bussiness/ company which is operating at the same level of value as the bussiness/ company/ chain in a similar or different industry.
• Gatekeepers – Gatekeeping is the process through which information is filtered for spreading, whether for publication, broadcasting, the internet or some other mode of communication. Somone who holds power and can control the flow of information.
• Regulation – Regulation is an abstract concept of management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. Regulation of monopolies throught police or government. It is hard to regulate new media companies – Google, Facebook and Amazon.
• Deregulation – The removal or limit in government power over a particular industry, usually to create more competition within the industry.
• Free market – A free market economy is a type of economy that promotes the production and sale of goods and services, with little to no control or involvement from any central government agency. A free market economy is opposite to how a command economy works, where the central government gets to keep the profits.
• Monopolies & Mergers – ownership of different kinds of media (TV, newspapers, magazines, etc.) by the same group.  Media mergers are a result of one media related company buying another company for control of their resources, successful media companies usually buy out other companies to reach a larger viewing audience in order to increase views and profit. Those in power of monopolies can gatekeep information/ data/ the product they own.
• Neo-liberalism – Reducing state influence in the economy, especially through privatization and austerity.
• Surveillance/ Privacy/ Security – Monitering/ Protection over data
• GDPR – The General Data Protection Regulation is a regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area. 

David Hesmondhalgh – The Cultural Industries

Work conditions in the media Industry.

‘There must be serious concerns about the extent to which this business-driven, economic agenda is compatible with the quality of working life and of human well-being in the creative industries.‘

His interests include the cultural and creative industries, cultural policy, the politics of musical experience, and how ‘cultural platforms’ are transforming media. His books include The Cultural Industries, first published in 2002

• Hesmondhalgh, D. (2017) ‘The media’s failure to represent the working class: explanations from media production and beyond’, in June Deery and Andrea Press (eds.), The Media and Class (New York: Routledge), pp. 21-37.
• Hesmondhalgh, D. (2016) ‘Exploitation and media labor’, in Richard Maxwell (ed), The Routledge Companion to Labor and Media, New York and Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 30-39.
• Hesmondhalgh, D. (2006) ‘Inside media organizations: production, autonomy and power’, in Hesmondhalgh, D. (ed.) (2006) Media Production, Maidenhead and Milton Keynes: The Open University Press/The Open University, pp. 49-90.

His suggests that cultural industry companies use =

Minimise risk + Maximise Audiences = Maximise Profit.

Hesmondhalgh has explored whether the cultural industries truly reflect the diversity of people and society.
Hesmondhalgh references Mosco (1996): “There is a difference between multiplicity – a large number of voices – and diversity – whether or not these voices are actually offering different things from each other.”

Cultural Industries = Film, television, radio, music, books and press. combine the creation, production, and distribution of goods and services that are cultural in nature

The Cultural Industries is an analysis of changes and continuities in television, film, music, publishing and other industries since the 1980s, and of the rise of new media and cultural industries during that time.

Rupert Murdoch – Media Empire –

Murdoch’s media empire includes Fox News, Fox Sports, the Fox Network, The Wall Street Journal, and HarperCollins. In March 2019, Murdoch sold the majority of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets to the Walt Disney Company for $71.3 billion. (Almost a monopoly over the conservative news industry in America)

Media and Society –

Media Ownership and structure –

• A large bussiness or company, a combination of multiple bussiness entitles operating in entirely different industries under one main group/ bussiness.

• ISA – Althuser

• Murdochs large influence over politicaians allowed him to create a monopoly over tabloids and news BskyB, in a way this could be linked to manufacturing consent as under Thatcher monopolies were illegal, however, due to Murdoch and how his support would benefit her she allowed him to control a lot of the print media in Britain.
• Horizontal Integration – Murdoch purchasing his sons rapping organisation.

• Globalisation (in terms of media ownership) – Media globalisation is the combination of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas.
• Vertical Integration – A larger company/ conglomerate that aquires a smaller company in the same industry.
• Horizontal Integration – The aquisition of a bussiness/ company which is operating at the same level of value as the bussiness/ company/ chain in a similar or different industry.

• Media Regulation – Murdoch was only allowed to own 39% of Sky, though he had 100% control over print media such as the Sun. The priminister could be seen as a gatekeeper as they control what is allowed and what isnt such as Thatcher allowing Murdoch to have a monopoly, she regulated that decision.
• Media Power and Control – Chomskys 5 filters, larger companies with more power can restrict smaller companies – Flack – manufacturing consent. such as in Bombshell where Fox News International, was able to control its smaller subsidaries.
• 1 – Ownership – Profit- Critical Journalism – Serves the Conglomerate – Megan Kelly interview with trump Bombshell
• 2 – Advertisement – Pay for audiences, media outlets ‘sell’ audiences to advertisers, without viewers there would be no profit
• Flack – when a story is inconvenient for the organisation, when Megan opposed Trump and Roger she was immediately rejected

• Media Powers and Control – Murdoch forced Tony B to leave EU show the power he had over politicians and ultimately the country

• Media working practices – had a big influence on new labour party (1997), his newspapers promoted Tony B, the fact that Murdochs organisation used bribes o get information out of the police yet they weren’t prosecuted.

Is Murdoch dead yet?

Is Rupert Murdoch Dead? Sadly, no. As of 09/04/2020 he is very much alive.

Paul Gilroy – ‘No Black in the Union Jack’

Jacques Lacan – Theory of ‘The Other’ (a living embodyment of being the other – postcolonial). The orient as ‘The Other’. The mirror phase – doesn’t necessarily look as we feel – refers to double concious, we use a reflection to understand who we are/ who we want to be or who we are not.

Most of the time words can’t accurately justify how we actually feel or who we actually are.

Edward Said – ‘The orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience as .. one of its deepeat and most recurring images of the Other’

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

Orientalism 1978 – ‘Colonial narrative’. Shows how the West paints a picture/ STEREOTYPES the East. What stories are you being told via the media? Objective? rational VS irrational? Orientalism can be used as a lense when watching or reading media in order to decode the narrative in terms of colonialsism or racial stereotyping.

Stuart Hall – 80s – The theory states that media texts are encoded by the producer meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product with values and messages. The text is then decoded by the audience.

Louis Althusser – ISA’s & the noton of ‘interpellation‘ ISA’s – Ideological State Apparatus. Ideological state apparatuses (ISA), according to Althusser, use methods other than physical violence to achieve the same objectives as RSA. … Instead of expressing and imposing order, through violent repression, ISA disseminate ideologies that reinforce the control of a dominant class.

ISA theory is 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.

ISA = constrain and keep individuals where they are, groups/ stereotype though schools, friends, family, sexuality.

Gramsci – Hegemony – A struggle for what is right and wrong (tug of war). Though as you are an individual you can reject ideas or opinions. ‘A chance to reclaim’

Frantz Fanon – In terms of postcolonialism, we can look at The Wretched of the Earth (1961), by Frantz Fanon, which for many (Barry, 2017, McLeod 2000 etc) is a key text in the development and ancestry of postcolonial criticism.  reclaim their own past by finding a voice and an identity.

1. Assimilation of colonial culture corresponding to the ‘mother country’ Chinua Achebe talks of the colonial writer as a ‘somewhat unfinished European who with patience guidance will grow up one day and write like every other European.’ (1988:46)
2. Immersion into an ‘authentic’ culture ‘brought up out of the depths of his memory; old legends will be reinterpreted’
3. Fighting, revolutionary, national literature, ‘the mouthpiece of a new reality in action’.

PostModernism Notes –

Theoretical idea that helps to understand modern ideologies. Postmodernism is characterised by modern media/ communication and technology.

Re-Imagining, Parody, Pastiche & Bricolage.

Self-referentiality – e.g the main character writing/ tattooing his thoughts on his body.

Pastiche – any sort of media or work that refers back to or imitates the work or idea of a previous artist

Parody – A work that aims to ridicule another piece of work.

Surface = Visual aspects, the initial message conveyed without deeper analysis.

Metanarrative – The overall idea/ story/ plot.

Bricolage – It involves the rearrangement and juxtaposition of previous signs to create a new meaning. E.g Memento isn’t chronological and doesn’t flow in one direction.

Postmodernism is fragmentary, it suggests there isn’t a clear line between fiction and reality.

On the surface level platforms like facebook gives people a place to make friends and share information. but in reality is serves a greater cause and holds data points on many of its users without their knowledge. Of popular culture, surfaces and style become the most important features, feeding conumer culture.

Memento –

Surface and Style over Substance

Fragmentary Consumption

Fragmented Identities – The main characters loss of memory, how when he wakes up he is almost a different person and cannot remember anything previous.

Black and White scenes VS coloured scenes = Separates his old self with his new self, creating a fragmented identity/ story.

‘Old’ = Black and white, Present/ new lenny = colour

Narrative Recap Notes –

Theorists –

Todorov – Narrative Structure = Equilibrium, Disruption, New Equilibrium (Includes resolution)

Levi-Strauss – Binary opposition – Themes e.g Love VS Hate, Good VS Bad

Vlasimir Propp – 8 Stock Character types, Hero, False Hero, Donor, Dispatcher, Helper, Villain, Farther, Princess.

Seymour Chatman – Satellites & Kernels

Roland Barthes –

• Proairetic code: action, movement, causation
• Hermenuetic code: reflection, dialogue, character or thematic development

Kernels are essential for the development of a plot where Satellites add extra detail and context.

Spheres of Action – One character is able to occupy a number of different rolls

PostModernism –

Postmodernism can be defined as the reimagining/ parody of something such as art. It uses the context of previous things in order to create an understanding for itself – ‘Anchorage’. This ‘New Version’ could be created or reimagined as a way to represent the modern world and dominant ideologies, rather than the past.

pastiche is a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist

parody is a work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony

An example of a pastiche work would be ‘The Simpsons’

 Fredric Jameson’s (1984) notion of the ‘metanarrative’  – For example Music Videos, which can distort and fragment reality and time in order to create a sense of escapism for viewers. Similarly, Ads and Commercials use this technique in order to attract viewers into buying this product as if it is ‘Life changing’. Overarching ideas, attitudes, values and beliefs that have held us together in a shared belief, For example, the belief in religion, science, capitalism, communism, revolution, war and peace. 

Bricolage – In the arts, bricolage is the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of things that happen to be available, or a work constructed using mixed media.

Intertextuality – Relies on signs creating meaning for other signs, similar to Anchorage, it creates context which allows that piece to be interpreted/ encoded/ decoded.

Fragmentary Consumption/ Fragmented Identities – Can be created online via media such as phones which allow us to create a false/ alternate version of ourselves. This space that allows us to create this identities is continued after new products/ technologies are produced in order to allow us to continue this – Fragmented Consumption.

Habermas – Public Sphere

Spheres of Action – In a way the main character can relate to many of the ‘stock’ character types suggested by Propp.

Memento –

Hermenuetic Code – Black&White to colour – signifies the main characters memory loss. + The dull colours used.

Spheres Of Action theory can be applied as the audience feels sympathetic towards his condition. Yet the main character can also be seen as the villain as he killed someone.

Narrative = Plot = non-chronological

Binary Opposition = Past VS Present,

Kernels – The images the main character uses for his memory, Flashbacks

Roland Barthes – Enigma Code – The way in which intrigue and ideas are raised, ecouraging an audience to want more information and therefore continue with that piece of media. “I thought pleasure in reading was finding out what will happen next” referring to an enigma code.

Elision/ Ellipsis – dropping out some information that isn’t relevant

Flashbacks – are used to refer to previous events

Flashforwards- are related to future events

The flashbacks/forwards allow time to be rearranged and can create foreshadowing such as the main character killing someone in the beggining of the movie.

Dramatic Irony – When the audience is aware of something the character is not.

Parallel narrative – colour + black and white narrative

Light + Shade – seperate the heavy/ dark parts of media with the lighter parts such as humour.

Non-sequitar – mini stoylines that don’t end anywhere (e.g the escort scene in Memento) allows for more entertainment in media.

Most characters can be linked into the spheres of action theory.

Kernals – non-chronological, Teddy explaining, The fight,

Satellites – Escort scene,

Enigma – Natalies characer, changes from good to bad

Objective (physical) – The black and white scenes

Subjective(non-physical) – coloured scenes with internal monologue/ thoughts – first person

Binary opposition between Subjectivity and objectivity

What is the significance of the story of Sammy Jenkiss to Leonard? Foreshadows leonards condition and how his memories aren’t reliable.

What does this tell us about the relationship between facts, memories and fiction? Memories are subjects, facts are objective, lennys memory of his wife proves that not all memoris are reliable or truly accurate.

By the end of the film, do we feel like Leonard got the right man by shooting Teddy?  – No, as he did with the previous two deaths he is likely to foget and only being looking for the killer again.