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Audience Theory, Institution, radio

CSP 16 Life Hacks

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09c189d You will need to listen to excerpts from the broadcast but the focus will be considering industry matters and audience response

This is a Targeted Close Study product for which you will need to focus on the following areas of the Theoretical Framework:
Media Industries
Media Audiences
You will need to listen to excerpts from the broadcast but the focus will be considering industry matters and audience response.

2021-A-level-Media-Studies-Close-Study-Products-v1.1Download

Life Hacks is an example of a transitional media product which reflects changes in the contemporary media landscape (it is the replacement for a previous, similar programme, The Surgery). Life Hacks is both a traditional radio programme with a regular, scheduled broadcast time, but is also available online after broadcast for streaming and downloading. The broadcast itself and the accompanying website provides opportunities for audience interaction, which is central to the programme’s address to its audience. Life Hacks also exemplifies the challenges facing the institution as a public service broadcaster that needs to appeal to a youth audience within a competitive media landscape.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2019/12/16/do-britons-trust-press

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ourbeeb/if-dissensus-is-new-normal-in-britain-we-need-new-media/

Media Industries
• Life Hacks is a Radio 1 product and therefore has a public service status as part of the BBC.
• Identification of funding for Radio 1 through the license fee, concept of a hypothecated tax.
• Issues around the role of a public service broadcaster – how does Life Hacks reflect the need to represent the nation. Arguments over the need for addressing a youth audience
already catered for commercially.
• Consider the programme as distinctive in its public service remit.
• The influence of new technology on media industries – Life Hacks as multi – platform media product.

Media Audiences
Life Hacks is reflective of the way the industry targets niche audiences and provides an opportunity to consider industry regulation and the availability of new technology shapes audience targeting and response.
• What techniques does the broadcast use to target a youth audience?
• Consider the way that external factors – such as demographics and psychographics – are likely to also affect audience response and produce differing interpretations
• Consider the opportunities for audience interaction and self-representation
• cultivation theory including Gerbner
• reception theory including Stuart Hall and Clay Shirky‘s theory around ‘the end of audience’

https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-teaching-clay-shirky-technology-changing-audiences-christine-bell.pdf

http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2017-18/17-18_3-22/_eng/unit03/audience-applying-theories-to-the-product.html

Social and cultural contexts
Life Hacks reflects an acceptance of diversity and a degree of openness in contemporary culture around personal, social and identity issues.

film, genre, Institution

CSP 15 ‘Chicken’

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(Joe Stephenson, UK, 2014:)

Students are not required to watch the film for the assessment, but is available on both i-tunes (rent + purchase) & amazon prime (rent only).

The film should only be studied in relation to Media Industries, specifically the production and distribution context.

Film: Chicken is an example of micro budget film making and raises issues around the role and future of national cinema as well as the viability of media products produced outside of the
mainstream for niche audiences.

Students do not need to watch the film but will need to be familiar with the production context and distribution materials including:

Key Questions and Issues
• Identification of how Chicken is characteristic of an independent film release, with consideration of budget, distribution, circulation.
• Micro budget rather than low budget film (approximately £110,000) – entirely independent financing.
• Distribution techniques – reliance on new technology; VOD, streaming, audience ‘programming’ (open screen etc.)
• Continued use of traditional marketing and distribution; trailers, posters, film festivals etc.
• The concept of “risk-taking” in terms of narrative choice available to independent studios
• Regulation of the industry through BBFC (British Board of Film Classification).
• Regulation including Livingstone and Lunt

Social, economic and cultural contexts
Chicken is characteristic of contemporary cultural production in its use of new technology at production and distribution stages. Reflects shifting patterns of audience consumption. As a low budget film, it will be interesting to consider this film in its economic context, especially in comparison to big-budget Hollywood films.

Theoretical approaches
Chicken is characteristic of the ‘risky’ business of cultural production (Hesmondhalgh), £100K + is a lot of money for a single individual, without a guaranteed return. Chicken also represents diversity in media production (Curran and Seaton) as this film provides a voice and narrative to groups who are not necessarily represented in mainstream media. Henry Jenkins and David Gauntlett would acknowledge that web 2.0 enabled big businesses to exploit the web for commercial reasons, but would also argue that the internet remains the capacity to work as a social good and that online communities created via ‘participatory culture’ have the power to change the world for the better. Web 2.0 refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability for end users. Similarly, Clay Shirky argues that the media industry is increasingly driven by audience feedback systems rather than top-down control of proprieters. Read page 140 below.

Media-ownership-Curran-and-SeatonDownload

Note how there is a focus on making judgements and drawing conclusions in this essay

Release

Chicken had its world premiere on 27 June 2015 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The film had its international premiere in competition at the 2015 Busan International Film Festival, followed by screenings at the New Hampshire International Film Festival, Giffoni International Film Festival, Cine A La Vista International Film Festival, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Schlingel International Film Festival and Dublin International Film Festival. It eventually received a limited theatrical release in the UK on 20 May 2016.

It was then acquired by MUBI UK, and had its British TV premiere on FilmFour April 2017. It received its DVD and Blu-ray release by Network on 18 September 2017.

Critical reception

  1. Chicken received positive reviews and holds a 100% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 critic reviews. 
  2. Leslie Felperin of The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars and said “first-time director Joe Stephenson elicits lively, empathetic performances from his small cast.” 
  3. Mark Kermode, also in a Guardian review, rated the film at four out of five stars stating that Scott Chambers’ performance is “superb”. 
  4. Anna Smith of Empire magazine gave the film a rating of four stars, responding that the film is “an enjoyable, involving British Drama with and impressive turn from newcomer Scott Chambers. 
  5. Cath Clarke of Time Out, commented that Chicken is “an impressively acted British Drama about a young man with learning difficulties.” 
  6. CineVue praised the film and mentioned that it is “the sort of British indie which restores faith in cinema”.

Accolades

  • Grand Jury Award for Narrative Feature — Joe Stephenson (New Hampshire Film Festival 2015)[2][9]
  • Silver Griffoni Award for Best Film – Generation 18+ (2nd Prize) — Joe Stephenson & B Good Picture Company (Giffoni Film Festival 2016)[9]
  • Award for Best Film — Chicken (Cine A La Vista International Film Festival 2016)[9]
  • Scott Chamber’s performance as Richard got a Special Critic’s Circle mention (Dublin International Film Festival 2016)[9]
  • The film was shortlisted for Best Director (Joe Stephenson) and Best Newcomer (Scott Chambers) by the British Independent Film Awards.

FURTHER READING

https://www.heyuguys.com/interview-joe-a-stephenson-chicken/

https://www.film-news.co.uk/review/UK/1901/Interview/Joe-Stephenson

https://www.thestateofthearts.co.uk/features/review-chicken/

https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Chicken-(UK)/United-Kingdom#tab=summary

http://mediamacguffin12.blogspot.com/2018/01/film-industry-chicken-case-study.html

http://areejsmediablog2.blogspot.com/2018/01/chicken-case-study-blog-task.html

Pages: 1 2
Institution, Representation

LIVINGSTONE AND LUNT

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What’s the difference between a consumer based media regulation system and a citizen based regulation system?

– Consumer based regulation = media makers create media based on what people want. There are regulation, but it isn’t chosen what they publish by the government. it focuses on what people want and media is created that is appropriate for audience consumption.

– Citizen based regulation = media makers create media based on what the Governments want them to do. It should contribute to the social and cultural health of the societies which they operate in.

What impact did the 2003 Communications Act have on media regulation?

– Designed by the Uk Labour Government to modernise Uk regulatory systems and help the UK television company become competitive.

– The act promoted independent television production by requiring conglomerates such as the BBC and Channel 4 to commission more from smaller television companies

– Television production was given more freedom in creating content and allowed production to become more commercially viable.

– The replacement for the Broadcast Standards commission (BSC) and Independent Television commission (ITC) with OFCOm through the communications act diluted the public service requirements of TV broadcasting.

– As a result, Independent television production where freed up to produce content that was more commercially viable

– OFCOM tried to ensure that media wasn’t dominated by one organisation, such as the BBC.

Whats the draw back of a self regulated system?

– Self regulated systems can be seen as disastrous as there is too much freedom and companies are free to produce whatever they want as there is no rules and regulations that they have to follow.

– Companies can’t regulate themselves

– No Government control, so companies can create media following their own codes and conducts.

– However, if companies don’t follow rules and regulations and someone complains about it, they won’t own up to breaking the rules and regulations as they have the freedom to make up their own codes and conventions.

– Currently, it can be argued that the media is self-regulatory and as we live in a neo-liberal society, people are being allowed more to do what they want to do.

How do you regulate media content and organisations on a global scale?

– There is an absence of Government guidance, so organisations are left to create their own morals, codes and conventions.

– Tech giants don’t author their own content, this is because user generated content is published which makes it impossible to prevent or properly check problematic material.

– Some companies have embedded content-vetting algorithms to automate their gate keeping processes, but they lack the standard to solve meaningful regulatory issues in a satisfactory way.

– Agreements between countries to make a global law that companies have to follow

– Companies are trying to regulate technologies on a global scale.

– One way to regulate media is to regulate technology alongside it.

Audience Theory, genre, Institution, Language

CSP 14 & 4: tELEVISION

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1. Overview and Screening

We are now going to revisit TELEVISION, which directly connects to the CSP text that you studied in the AS year. To make it clear, there is a specific A2 television text that accompanies a specific AS televsion text. So (if) a question comes up in one of the A2 exams about television it will ask you to compare one of 3 pairs. To be absolutely clear: you will need to talk about both of your specific texts BUT you can choose which pair you talk about. So your choice of paired texts are:

Either Capital and Deutschland 83
OR
Witnesses and The Missing
OR
No Offence and The Killing

For more details look at pages 5-19 in the CSP booklet (below): PLEASE LOOK THROUGH THIS BOOKLET.

2021-A-level-Media-Studies-Close-Study-Products-v2.0Download

To ensure that you have all had the opportunity to watch the episodes that you want to study – or for the opportunity to watch all of them (why not?) then I will play them in the first academic week of January over Teams. If this does not work for you then I will provide screening opportunities after school when we return w/c 11th January. Failing that and/or in terms of revision you can access the programmes by following the links, or we have some of the episodes on DVD.

Task 1:

SO . . . CHOOSE YOUR TEXTS!

And remember that the key approach is to think about AUDIENCES & INSTITUTIONS in other words,

  1. Who is the primary, secondary and tertiary audience for these products?
  2. What audience theories can you apply to which help you to develop a better understanding of the potential target audience?
  3. What ideas and approaches about media institutions (rather than individuals) can be applied in terms of the production, distribution & exhibition of your chosen pair of television programmes?

Task 2:

READ THESE: Hesmondhalgh; Livingstone & Lunt; Curran and Seaton.

Extract 5 bullet points that include quotation (that you could use in an essay as support for an argument – think about what the argument would be?)

Media-ownership-Curran-and-SeatonDownload
HesmondhalghDownload
Livingstone-and-LuntDownload

Q: What is the difference between a consumer based media regulation system and a citizen based regulation system?

Q. What impact did the 2003 Communications Act have on media regulation?

Q. What is the drawback of a self-regulated system?

Q. How do you regulate media content and organisations on a global scale?

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5
Audience Theory, Institution

MEDIA STUDIES TEXTBOOK

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Theorists located within the Textbook:

– bell hooks = p54-55

– Clay Shirky = p95-98

– David Gauntlett = p81-84

– Edward Said = p63-64

– Henry Jenkins = p91-93

– Jean Baudrillard = p27-31

– Judith Butler = p51-52 and p55-56

– Liesbet Van Zoonen = p51-54 and p63-64

– Paul Gilroy = p61-64

– Claude Levi-Strauss = p13-14

– Dan Gilmour = p95

– Stuart Hall = p32-33

– John Fiske = p 88-90

– Stanley Cohen = p74-76

– Noam Chomsky = p23

– Richard Dyer = p43-46

– Bill Nicholas = p39-40

– Tzvetan Todorov = p8-10

– Graeme Turner = p38-39

– Pierre Bourdieu = p84-85 and p90-91

– Roland Barthes = p9-10 and p13-14

– Christine Gledhill = p41

– Lawrence Cahoone = p25

Institution, Uncategorized

‘THE I’ vs ‘THE DAILY MAIL’

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SIMILARITIESDIFFERENCES
– Both published by the Daily Mail and General Trust
– Both are written in a sans-serif font, which is clear and easy to read.
– Copies available in both paper format and digital format (apps)
– Both contain a mixture of hard and soft news
– The Daily Mail is published daily and is a middle-market newspaper, which is published in London and is available in a tabloid format, so is the I
– Both the I and the Daily Mail have a similar layout.
– Both of the newspaper have a website (dailymail.co.uk and inews.co.uk)
– Viscount Rothermere bought out both the I and the Daily Mail
– Both the I and the Daily Mail publish daily
– The I was bought out by the Daily Mail for £46.9 million
– Both the news sources has a Twitter account, where they have their headlines and links to their articles
– You can get subscriptions to both of the newspapers
– Both of them are published in English
– Both of these newspapers are still being published, despite being very old (The Daily Mail is 124 years old!)

– The I is slightly left on the political spectrum, whereas the Daily Mail is more right winged
– Daily Mail is more conservative, whereas the I is more democratic
– The I is found for free at the airport, whereas the Daily Mail is available in Bookshops for a price
– The I is an all-rounded newspaper, whereas the Daily Mail is aimed at older adults (average age of readers is 58)
– The last printed edition of The ‘I’ was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, whereas the Daily Mail is still available in print format
– Daily Mail is increasing in revenue and the I is decreasing in revenue.
– The I’s chief editor is Oliver Duff, whereas the Daily Mail’s chief editor is Geordie Greig.
– The I has a readership of around 2.2 million, whereas the I has a readership of around 24.5 million.
– 60% of the readership are males and 40% female for the I, whereas the Daily Mail has a readership of 54% female and 46% male.
– The Daily Mail has a net worth of approximately £2bn, whereas the I has a net worth of considerably less
– The Daily Mail has been criticised for their use of media sensationalism, whereas the I hasn’t.
– inews.co.uk has a comical section on their website titled “distractions”, that has quizzes and jokes, whereas the Daily Mail doesn’t
– The Daily Mail produces a separate newspaper specifically on Sundays (Mail on Sundays) whereas the I doesn’t
– The Daily Mail is a PLC (public limited company) whereas the I is an LTD (private limited company)
Institution, Representation

CSP 12: THE DAILY MAIL

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Overview

– It has won the Press Award for Newspaper of the Year

– The Daily Mail is owned by Jonathon Harmsworth (4th Viscount of Rothermere), who is the current chairman and controlling shareholder of the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT)

– General Trust is a media company that publishes newspapers, radio programmes and television programmes.

– It was founded on the 4th May 1896, making it 124 years old.

– As of February 2020, there are approximately 1,134,834 newspapers sold daily and are in circulation

– It has a sister paper, which is called the Mail on Sunday

– Their website (www.dailymail.co.uk) has more than 218 visitors per month

– The Daily Mail is published daily and is a middle-market newspaper, which is published in London and is available in a tabloid format

– The Daily Mail is mentioned in The Beatles’ hit single Paperback Writer

– The Daily Mail (founded 1896) was the first UK daily newspaper to sell more than 1 million copies, making it the biggest selling Western newspaper

Institution

– The Daily Mail is under conglomerate Murdoch’s News UK, which also own the subsidiaries The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday, The Times and The Sunday Times.

– A survey held in 2015 shown that the average age of The Daily Mail readers was 58 and unlike other newspapers, has a high female readership of around 52-55%

– Between April 2019 and March 2020 it had an average daily readership of approximately 2.180 million. Of these figures, approximately 1.407 million were in the ABC1 demographic and 773,000 readers in the C2DE demographic.

– The Daily Mail targets social class B/C1

– It contains a mixture of hard news and soft news

Criticisms of the Daily Mail

–  The Daily Mail was criticised by Jimmy Wales (Founder of Wikipedia) because he claimed it published fake news articles and hyped up headlines of stories that aren’t true

– CNBC also reported that the Daily Mail relies on clickbait and hype headlines

– The Daily Mail has been criticised for its printing of sensationalist and inaccurate stories surrounding science and medicine.

– In 2017, Wikipedia banned the Daily Mail because they found it to be an unreliable news source.

The political spectrum

– – It is a right-wing politically aligned newspaper

– As well as being a right-wing political newspaper, the Daily Mail is also known for supporting the Conservative Party.

Sun warns of 'apocalypse' if Labour wins as Telegraph, Express and Daily Mail also give May front page polling day support - Press Gazette
Red Box on Twitter: "How left or right-wing are Britain's newspapers? @mattsmithetc takes a look https://t.co/5WXrTpHhMm… "

Audience Theory, Institution, Representation

CSP 12 Newspapers

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DAILY MAIL & THE i (AS CSP)

In order to develop this knowledge and understanding, you should consider one complete print edition of the newspaper chosen by your teacher and selected key pages from the newspaper’s website, including the homepage and at least one other page

CONNECT NEWSPAPERS CSP TO 2020 US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

KEY DATE: US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION TUESDAY 3rd NOVEMBER. A simple guide to the election can be found here

So most likely to use the editions on Wednesday 4th (provisional planning at present)

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES: Sep 29, Oct 15 & Oct 22

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/trumps-coronavirus-catastrophe/on-demand/71430-001

The Right to Vote

  • Who has the right to vote?
  • Should everybody have the right to vote?
  • Does everybody have the right to vote?
  • Has everybody always had the right to vote?
  • How to enable / disable the right to vote?
  • How does that help: candidates, the electoral process, democracy?
  • What should be the role of the media in covering an election in terms of voting rights?

THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE A SYSTEM THAT HIGHLIGHTS KEY STATES NEEDED FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Current data on US Election polling & Interactive ‘Who will win the election‘ a good link that gives data on US elections

Intro . . . re-cap some key thinkers:

TASK 1: Write a paragraph on the following (post on your blog) – use your own words and avoid copying big chunks of text from either the internet or from someone else in the class

  1. Jurgen Habermas and the concept of the Public Sphere
  2. James Curran & Jean Seaton – the theory of the liberal free press
  3. Noam Chomsky – the 5 filters that manufacture consent
  4. Louis Althusser – interpellation & Ideological State Appraratus
  5. Antonio Gramsci – the concept of hegemony / hegemonic struggle

TASK 2: SKIM READ THE FOLLOWING 2 ARTICLES AND TAKE OUT 5 QUOTES FROM BOTH AUTHORS THAT HELP YOU TO UNDERSTAND: 1) THE THEORY OF THE LIBERAL FREE PRESS & 2) THE ROLE OF PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING

Curran-Press-Freedom-2Download
Seaton-PSB-1Download

THREE TYPES OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP

Fuchs, C ‘Reading Marx in the Information Age’ Routledge 2016

MEDIA AS A COMMODITY v MEDIA AS A PUBLIC GOOD

Fuchs, C ‘Reading Marx in the Information Age’ Routledge 2016

TRANSNATIONAL MEDIA CORPORATIONS: THE IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION

Fuchs, C ‘Reading Marx in the Information Age’ Routledge 2016

Intro . . . watch some episodes of Press

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0bk9c89/press-series-1-2-pure

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Audience Theory, Institution, Language, Representation

CSP 11: Oh

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Oh ~ previously Oh Comely

The CSP Oh Comely has changed its name to Oh. The update on the magazine’s website states: ‘Oh is a reimagination of Oh Comely magazine and is still a place to meet new people, hear their stories and hopefully leave you looking at life a little differently. And every issue will still have beautiful photography and illustration at its heart’.

Oh Comely is part of a development in lifestyle and environmental movements of the early twenty first century which rebrand consumerism as an ethical movement. Its representation of femininity reflects an aspect of the feminist movement which celebrates authenticity and empowerment

An alternative Institutional structure?

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.

  • So this is a case study of Iceberg as an independent media company.
  • Which shows how developments in new technology mean that small companies can also use the internet to communicate and target audiences.
  • Niche audiences can then be targeted more precisely.
  • Presenting new strategies for institutional development and creative working practice. As well as suggesting ways for keeping print popular and relevant – Iceberg’s branding includes a commitment to print over other media forms.

Media Representations

Clearly the key areas of representation suggested by the magazine are to do with gender, primarily femininity but can also be understood in how this affects the representation of men. As such, a comparison with Men’s Health is really pertinent. As:

  • Oh Comely constructs a representation of femininity with its focus on creativity and quirkiness.
  • The focus is on women as artists, entrepreneurs, athletes and musicians and female empowerment is a major theme.
  • The absence of men as part of the representation of masculinity in Oh Comely magazine.
  • Representation of social groups: Oh constructs a lifestyle through its focus on culture and the environment. This analysis would offer the opportunity to question some of the messages and values constructed by the magazine.
  • Therefore it is possible to apply feminist critical thinking to this CSP for example theories of representation including
    • Hall
    • bell hooks
    • Van Zoonen
    • gender performativity – Butler

Task: create a new post on Oh. Focus on the relationship between ownership, control, working practice, politics, representation and identity.

Institution

INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS

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Definitions

  • Media concentration / Conglomerates = this is a company which owns numerous companies involved in the distribution of mass media enterprises. An example of a conglomerate is the BBC and FOX.
  • Globalisation (in terms of media ownership) = this is the world wide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas.
  • Vertical Integration & Horizontal Integration =Horizontal integration is the process that a company or an institution uses to increase the production of goods. However, vertical integration is when a company integrates multiple stages of a production line to a small number of production units. Horizontal integration contrasts with vertical integration
  • Gatekeepers = A gatekeeper is a role given to a person who filter certain information for distributing out on public service broadcasts. A gatekeeper exerts power.
  • Regulation / Deregulation = A regulation is a law, procedure or a rule that is put in place by an authority and deregulation is the opposite – it is when you remove rules, procedures and laws from a certain industry.
  • Free market vs Monopolies & Mergers = The free market is an economic system which is based on supply and demand that has very little or no government control whereas a monopoly is when a company dominates a certain sector of an industry.
Characteristics of a Free Market - Gerard Lameiro, Ph.D.
  • Neo-liberalism = this is a form of liberalism that tends to favour free market capitalism.
  • Surveillance / Privacy / Security / GDPR = General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is an EU law that states that there needs to be protection against data for all individuals and citizens withing the EU and European Economic Area.
What is General data Protection regulation?

David Hesmondhalgh

  • Wikipedia link = David Hesmondhalgh
  • He critically analysed the relationships between media and the media industry.
  • He wrote a book called “The Culture Industries”, which says that “the distinctive organisational form of the cultural industries has considerable implications for the conditions under which symbolic creativity is carried out“.
  • In an article he wrote with Banks (Banks, M., & Hesmondhalgh, D. (2009). Looking for work in creative industries policy. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 415-430, he said that “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.“
  • Hesmondhalgh notes, “one feature of cultural work in the complex professional era is that many more people seem to have wanted to work professionally in the cultural industries than have succeeded in do so. Few people make it, and surprisingly little attention has been paid in research to how people do so, and what stops others from getting on.“
  • 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 argued that “in its utopian presentation, creative work is now imagined only as a self-actualising pleasure, rather than a potentially arduous or problematic obligation undertaken through material necessity“

The Cultural Industries: A book by Hesmondhalgh

  • His book The Cultural Industries (Sage) 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.
  • The fourth edition, published in December 2018, is a thoroughly revised, updated and expanded version of the third, published in 2012.
  • It’s now unrecognisable from the first edition of 2002, and has grown to over 600 pages. It’s been translated into various languages, including Chinese, Russian and Italian.

Rupert Murdoch: Media Empire

  • His media empire includes Fox News, Fox Sports, the Fox Network, The Wall Street Journal, and HarperCollins
  • Murdoch sold the majority of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets to the Walt Disney Company for $71.3 billion.
Murdoch's media empire | | Al Jazeera
BJ's nocabbages: Rupert Murdoch's Global Media Empire
BBC News - News International's contribution to the Murdoch empire
MEDIA: News corp revenues infographic
The Big Question: Is there no limit to the expansion of Rupert Murdoch's media empire? | The Independent

Media and Society

  1. Media Ownership and Structure
  • A Large business or company, a combination of multiple businesses entitles operating in entirely different industries under one main group/business
  • Example = Murdoch. Murdoch’s large influence over politicians allowed him to create a monopoly over tabloids and news BSkyB, in a way that can 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 lots of the print media in Britain.
  • Horizontal integration in Murdoch’s empire include Murdoch purchasing his son’s rapping company.
  • Manufacturing consent can be linked = Chomsky
  • Althusser can be linked to this

2. Media Regulation

  • The government allowing certain types of media to be published or not
  • The media is decided by the government on whether it can be published
  • Murdoch only able to own 39% of Sky, even though he had 100% control over print media, such as the Sun and the Sunday Times
  • A gatekeeper exerts power and the Prime Minister could be seen as a gate keeper, as they can say what media is allowed and what type of media isn’t.

3. Media Power and Control

  • Relate to Chomsky’s 5 filters in Manufacturing consent
  • An example of this can also be Bombshell (Film) and Murdoch’s empire including his main company News International.
  • Roger Ailes was at the top of Fox News, and was pro-trump, however, Murdoch was anti-trump.

4. The Media informing/coercing policy and decision making

  • Links to Habermas and the transformation of the public sphere
  • In the Murdoch Dynasty, it links to Brexit as Murdoch forced Tony Blair to get the UK to leave the EU

5. Media working practices (Promotion, success & financial reward and journalistic practices)

  • Links to Murdoch as his link to the Labour Party election in 1997, because Murdoch promoted Labour party to try and get people to vote for them.
  • David Hesmondhalgh can be linked to this.
  • Hesmondhalgh explores working practices