Command word

Command word

describe– describe is saying what you see and know

compare– finding differences and similarities between 2 things

evaluate– using the information given explain what is going on

analyse– look into something in detail in order to describe what is going on

Knowledge– knowing what it means

understanding– having a deeper understanding how something really works

	what do i know	What do i understand what does it mean
Noam Chomsky	5 filters of media
James Curran
semiotics

what do i know	What do i understand what does it mean
Noam Chomsky	5 filters of media	Chomsky’s theory can be applied to the rules and regulations of newspaper’s and how they tell us what they want us to hear controlling the masses through bias news
James Curran	power and media industries theory.	arguing that patterns of ownership and control are the most significant factors in how the media operate.  Theoretically media studies and cultural studies are a study conducted to observe the patterns of cultural change in society that is influenced by the media in which the media takes an important role in the new forms of culture construction.
jurgan habermaus	he wrote a book The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere in 1962 where he explained his public sphere theory	Habermaas’s theory is that the world is increasingly being taken over by political and economic systems.     the public sphere is the world of politics where strangers come together to engage in the free exchange of ideas, and is open to everyone, whereas the private sphere is a smaller, typically enclosed world that is only open to those who have permission to enter it    The ideology of the public sphere theory is that the government’s laws and policies should be steered by the public sphere and that the only legitimate governments are those that listen to the public sphere.
semiotics
representation
post colonialism
narrative theories	Narrative theory starts from the assumption that narrative is a basic human strategy for coming to terms with fundamental elements of our experience, such as time, process, and change, and it proceeds from this assumption to study the distinctive nature of narrative and its various structures	The idea that a story has two parts which are the important parts and the Kernels (something that grows): Important part(s). The key parts of the film that make up the plot/narrative structure. If taken out the story or narrative would not work.
genre	Thomas Schatz: Only 2 Genres	Neale explains that Genre is a collection of structured repertoire of elements in which signify that a genre is a genre. For example a typically horror movie will have a dark forest, moody lighting, and dark colours. Neale also promotes the idea that genre is a process, that genres change as society and culture changes. As such, genres are historically specific and reflect / represent changing ideas, attitudes, values and beliefs of society at any particular moment in history.
key terms for industry business ownership	Public Service Media cross-ownership	The three main media business models are monopoly, oligopoly, and monopolistic competition. The print, recorded music, and film industries are generally oligopolies; television is generally monopolistic competition; and live event ticketing is essentially a monopoly.
Public Service Broadcasting	Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. In many countries of the world, funding comes from governments, especially via annual fees charged on receivers. the ethos of the bbc is to inform entertain and educat	Horizontal Integration = When a conglomerate acquires media companies of the same media type. Vertical Integration = Ownerships that allow a media company to produce and distribute products. delivering impartial and trusted news, UK-originated programmes and distinctive content.
Lasswell	well known for his Model of communication hyperdermic needle theory “hypodermic needle theory”? – also known as magic bullet theory. – implied that mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful impact on the audience.	This model is also called a ‘linear model of communication’, ‘uni-directional process’ or ‘action model, because it describes a one-way process within communication. It is seen as one of the most influential communication models. The model consists of five components, that are used as an analysis tool for evaluating the entire communication process. The previous ‘W’ questions are the basis for these components. The answers to these questions provide insight into the communication between people. describes an act of communication by defining who said it, what was said, in what channel it was said, to whom it was said, and with what effect it was said.
Lazarsfeld	founder of modern research surveys two-step flow of mass communication Paul Felix Lazarsfeld, popularly known as the founder of modern research surveys, made considerable contributions towards statistical survey analysis, panel methods, latent structure analysis and contextual analysis	This theory suggests that the influence of mass communication on the public is not linear, but a two-step flow of communication process. Information from the mass media is first conveyed to opinion leaders who use their social networks to spread the information to the people affected by it.
Uses and Gratifications	Mass Communication theory  Created the early 1940s by Katz and Blumler (1974)	Uses and gratifications theory asserts that people use media to gratify specific wants and needs. The theory states that media consumers are passive consumers of mass communications; rather, they play an active role in media consumption.
stuart hall	Stuart Hall was a Jamaican-born British sociologist, cultural theorist and political activist. He was born in Kingston in 1932 then came to the UK in the 1950s and was later dubbed the “godfather of multiculturalism” for his contributions to Sociology.	representation is the ability to describe or imagine. Representation is important because culture is always formed through meaning and language, in this case, language is a symbolic form or a form of representation.  Stuart Hall argued that cultural identity is not only a matter a ‘being’ but of ‘becoming’, ‘belonging as much to the future as it does to the past’.
George Gerbner	The George Gerbner Model of Communication is an extension of Lasswel’s communication model. developed what he called “mean world syndrome,” the belief that the world is more violent and brutal than it really is.	According to Gerbner’s research, the more time spent absorbing the world of television, the more likely people are to report perceptions of social reality that can be traced to televisions most common representations of life and society suggests that people who are regularly exposed to media for long periods of time are more likely to perceive the world’s social realities as they are presented by the media they consume, which in turn affects their attitudes and behaviors
David Gauntletts	This theory is sometimes referred to as the ‘pick & mix’ theory, as it allows audiences to pick which aspects of a text they want to construct their identity, whole leaving other bits well alone	Gauntlett believes that while everyone is an individual, people tend to exist within larger groups who are similar to them. He thinks the media do not create identities, but just reflect them instead.

It helps identify how media texts are classified, organised and understood, essentially around SIMILARITIES and DIFFERENCE. Media texts hold similar patterns, codes and conventions that are both PREDICTABLE and EXPECTED, but are also INNOVATIVE (different) and UNEXPECTED.

2023 January RAG

2022 RAG

Command Words:

Describe – Give an account of

Compare – Identify similarities and/ or differences

Evaluate – Judge from available evidence

Analyse – Separate information into components and identify their characteristics

Knowledge – having the ability to recall

Understanding – being able to recall knowledge then form opinions with evidence about it

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Command Words:

• Describe – to explain the looks or features of something. e.g an object or place
• Compare – to understand the similarities and differences of two different things
• Evaluate – to form the judgement of a value, amount or number
• Analyse – to examine something in detail to explain or interpret it
• Knowledge – facts, info and skills usually picked up from experience and education
• Understanding –

	What do you know?	What meaning or understanding do you have of their ideas? How can you apply their ideas to your CSPs?
Noam Chomsky	– Wrote manufacturing consent – 5 filters: ownership, advertising, official sources, flak and common enemy – Theory of universal grammar: everyone born with understanding of how language works – all languages hold similar structure and rules – Sentences can be grammatical without having any meaning or making sense	– Universal grammar – theoretical concept proposed by Chomsky that the human brain contains an innate mental grammar that helps humans acquire language
James Curran
Jean Seaton
Jurgen Habermas	– Idea of the transformation of public sphere – Public sphere: where people come together exchange opinions, discuss and form a public opinion – Wrote the Theory of Communicative Action	– The media is really important for helping individuals to connect to society and be a part of decision making – Habermas links to newspaper CSPs through the idea of public sphere and public opinion – Example of how democracy works
Semiotics	– Semiotics is the study of signs, symbols, and signification. – Pierce (icon, index, symbol) – Barthes (connotation, denotation, myth) – De Saussure (signifier, signified)	sign– something that stands in for something else code– symbolic tools that are used to create meaning dominant signifier– the main representative anchorage– words that have an image to give context signified– an idea which is summoned by the signifier signifier– something which stands in for something else Myth– the most apparent quantity of signification which disfigures the meaning by validating arbitrary cultural assumptions in a similar way to the denotative sign. Radical– something which challenges dominant ideas. Reactionary– dominant ideas which are confirmed by something ideology– the reinforcement of codes which are congruent with structures of power denotation– literal or basic meaning of a sign connotation– the secondary cultural meaning of signs or “signifying signs,” which are then used as the signifiers for a secondary meaning. paradigm – A collection of similar signs. syntagm – The sequence which words have been put in to.
Representation
Audience
Feminist Critical Thinking	– Laura Mulvey – male gaze – Judith Butler – gender is performative – Second wave of feminism	– Mulvey argued that movies are filmed in ways to satisfy masculine scopophilia – Male gaze is where woman in the media are viewed by a heterosexual man and that the woman are represented as passive objects of male desire – Gender identity is established through behaviour, meaning there is a possibility of constructing different genders via different behaviours – Links to CSPs such as Score, Metroid, Tomb Raider – 1st and 2nd wave feminism
Postcolonialism	– The study of the effects of colonialism on cultures and societies – Postcolonial theory has drawn on Marxist approaches – Paul Gilroy – Edward Said – Franz Fanon	– Has 4 main themes being: cultural dominance, racism, quest for identity and inequality
Lasswell	– Lasswell created a communication model describes an act communication by defining who said it, what was said, in what channel it was said, to whom it was said, and with what effect	– It was created to analyse mass communication –
Uses and Gratifications	– The uses and gratification is a theory of mass communication that focuses on the needs, motives and gratifications of media users – Katz, Gurevitch and Hass – Claims audiences are active	– Helps understand why people use certain types of media, what needs they have to use them, and what gratifications do they get from using them – People may watch the news for info, entertainment or self reassurance. Media companies profit off audience enjoyment and don’t care about race or gender only making money – Page 10-11 of Mens Health shows both social and personal needs – SOCIAL NEEDS: ‘ Knowledge about the world ‘ Self esteem/confidence ‘ Strengthen connection with family and friends – PERSONAL NEEDS: ‘ Understanding of yourself ‘ Enjoyment ‘ Escapism
Lazarfeld	– The concept of the ‘two-step flow of communication’ suggests that the flow of information and influence from the mass media to their audiences involves two steps: from the media to certain individuals (i.e., the opinion leaders) and from them to the public.
Stuart Hall	– Stuart Hall suggested that media texts contain a variety of messages that are encoded (made/inserted) by producers and then decoded (understood) by audiences.	– Hall proposed that audience members can play an active role in decoding messages as they rely on their own social contexts, and might be capable of changing messages themselves through collective action. In simpler terms, encoding/decoding is the translation of a message that is easily understood. – SENDER, MESSAGE RECIEVER – He provides a framework for decoding messages either we: ‘ Accept the dominant message ‘ Negotiate the dominant message ‘ Reject the dominant message The products we consume from the media is simply meaning an event has been interpreted. The event itself doesnt have a meaning until it is represented in the media and people find and create meaning. In simple terms what we see in the media is not necessarily what is happening but a representation of what some people may think
Henry Jenkins
George Gerbner	– Cultivation theory = suggests people who are regularly exposed to the media for long periods of time are more likely to perceive the worlds social realities as they are presented by the media they consume, which in turn affects their attitude and behaviour – ‘mean world syndrome’ – belief that the world is more brutal and violent than it really is – Looks at effects of media on society and individuals in 1950s – Media consumption leads audiences to accept mainstream ideologies (mainstreaming)

Command Words

1. Describe– When it’s asking you to write about the characteristics.
2. Compare– To talk about the similarities and differences.
3. Evaluate– Making an informed judgement.
4. Analyse– Consider it carefully in detail in order to understand and explain.
5. Knowledge– You can know a fact and not understand it. Relies on memory.
6. Understanding– When you can understand how it works and why.

	What do you know?	What meaning or understanding do you have of their ideas-apply to CSP.
Noam Chomsky	Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher and political activist. He explains that media products target audiences by constructing an ideological view of the world through marketing. Explaining how propaganda and systematic biases function in corporate media. He theorised the 5 Filters of Mass Media These are: 1. The role of advertising 2. Diversion (Flak) 3. Structures of ownership 4. Finding a common enemy 5. Links with the establishment. He believed that media goes hand in hand with the government.	This explains how populations can/are manipulated through the use of propaganda. He uses the term “manufacturing consent” which describes the presentation of the dominant ideology creating an obedient and willing audience. This results in narrowing the public sphere with the audience engaging passively instead of actively. He also highlights the media’s ability to link a common enemy in order to distract the public from the real problem.
Jurgen Habermas	Best known for transformation of the public sphere. – Public Vs Private Discussion vs Directorial – Libertarian vs Authoritarian – Free vs Slave – He expresses his idea that “once the media is subject to regulation,” the public will lose their ability to share opinion in a public domain.	-For Habermas, the misuse of publicity undermines the public sphere. -The public sphere remains a site for the production of public opinion -Habermas is key for the role of media in promoting a better, more inclusive society (eg in politics, morals, ethics). Particularly useful for news, information
Semiotics	-Roland Barthes’ theory of semiotics – (Denotation, connotation, myth) – C.S Pierce  (icon, index, symbol – arbitrary) -De Saussure (signifier, signified)	-Roland Barthes’ theory of semiotics – study of individual signs. Then how the structure of relationships between signs create meaning. This links with Gramsci’s notion of HEGEMONY
Representation	– Radical and reactionary representations. – Use of Stereotypes and counter types	CSP’s reactionary (Daily Mail, The i , Tomb Raider, Score) and radical texts (Maybelline, Common, Blinded by the Light, Ghost Town)
Audience	Lasswell – Hyperdormic needle theory. (Passive/ Active) Lazarfeld- Two- step flow of communication (Passive/Active) Gerbner- cultivation theory Stuart Hall- theory of preferred reading   Active / passive /	Audience is underpins other approaches eg analysis (semiotics, representation) and ownership (Chomsky, Habermas etc)
Feminist Critical Thinking	Toril Moi’s (1987) distinctions of feminine, female and feminist: Feminist = a political position Female = a matter of biology Feminine = a set of culturally defined characteristics Judith Butler: talks about how we normally view gender in a binary fashion. She believes that gender is performative and a social construct. Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze:  encourages the sexual politics of the gaze and suggests a sexualised way of looking that empowers men and objectifies women.  Feminist Frequency, a website that hosts videos and commentary analysing portrayals of women in popular culture.	Critically engages with the concept of the patriarchy. It is a key position or perspective to read culture (e.g media texts) Tomb raider relates to Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze. The dominant signifier is wearing little clothing that accentuates her body figure which is a reactionary stereotype of female characters.
Postcolonialism	Bringing race into the picture in the 1980s, Paul Gilroy highlighted how black youth cultures represented cultural solutions to collectively experienced problems of racism and poverty. After WWII, Britain faced a mass labour shortage which lead to the migration of half a million people from the Caribbean (the Windrush generation 1950s-70s) searching for jobs However, they faced severe discrimination which made it difficult for them to find employment and housing. During the 1970s and 80s, the children of the Wind Rush Generation were reaching adulthood, but found it difficult to find employment due to having faced the same prejudice their parents did – the difference was that they were willing to resist this racism – Frantz Fanon  The Black Atlantic -Edward Said, (Orientalism) -Jacques Lacan  The ‘Other’	Postcolonialism very important in terms of looking at society from a white, male perspective (ie dominant patriarchy perspective) Orientalism: The stereotyping of the east. The assertion of western power over the east.  a general patronizing Western attitude towards Middle Eastern, Asian, and North African society. The Other: He came up with the ideology that we never really know who we truly are, our identity is impossible to fully see ourselves. Relates to postcolonialism as it talks about the west viewing the east as ‘the other’ The black Atlantic: Gilroy resists that simple understanding of Black cultures from around the Atlantic as being marginal or derived from dominant national cultures which has ended up in specific sub cultures like African-American or Anglo-African that have a closer relation to American or British culture-at-large than to each other.
David Gauntlett	He talks about the fluidity of identities: 1.Fluid identity 2.Negotiated identity 3.Constructed identity 4.Collective identity “Audiences realise they can change their identities”– David refers to Anthony Giddens’ theory who suggests “late- modernity” – where our identities are transitioning from the rigid stereotypes and starting to construct our own. Audiences are in control of the media – adapting and assimilating ideas about themselves through the various representation that the media presents.” – illustrating how audiences are collectively adapting cultural norms and adapting themselves to fit in to society. “Contemporary media practices mean that heteronormatitvity does not completely dominate”– showing how heterosexuality is not in complete control over society and that we are becoming a more inclusive community.	That our identities can depend on who we are with or what we are doing. The magazine Men’s Health can relate to David Gauntlett’s theory of fluidity of identity. Specifically the use of a celebrity which promotes Gauntlett’s constructed identity. This helps to influence the audience to listen to the magazine in hopes that they will have some resemblance of Vin Diesel.
Lasswell	Lasswell’s Hypodermic model based on passive consumption which is significant to advertising. He based this on  Propaganda Technique in the World War “subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers… knocked them into submission”. 1. Who? –> 2. Says what? –> 3. Channel? –> 4. To Whom –> 5. With what effect? –>	The idea of telling someone to do something and they do it. Brainwashing through the act of propaganda. Men’s Health: 1. Hearst Communications. 2. Transforming successful men and helping them to take control over their physical and emotional side. 3. Print Magazine./ Online 4. Men. 5. That they will become the alpha male. They will have everything the want in life e.g their dream body, lots of wealth, love life, work life, social life.
Lazarfeld	Created the Two- step flow of communication model in 1948	The flow of information and influence from the mass media to their audiences involves two steps: from the media to certain individuals (i.e., the opinion leaders) and from them to the public.   He identified that message are passed through opinion leaders (celebrities, influencers) who interpret the message first and then relay it to the audience, in hopes that the audience would have grown due to fan culture. Rather than looking at the ‘passive’ audience he looks at the ‘active’ audience (audiences control how they think about what they consume).
Uses and Gratifications	This reflects the decision process the audience go through and the different categories that media products fall under for the consumer. Falling under Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs. 1. Understanding Self 2. Enjoyment 3. Escapism 4. Knowledge about the world 5. Self confidence/ Self esteem 6. Strengthen connections with family and/or friends Theory by Jay G. Blumler and Elihu Katz based on Lasswell’s research.	These are divided into PERSONAL NEEDS escapism entertainment knowledge and understanding SOCIAL NEEDS knowledge of the world being together with friends and family Mass Communication theory that focuses on the needs, motives and gratifications of media users. The Theory suggests that audiences are playing a more active role.
Narrative Theories	– Todorov (Equilibrium, Disruption, New equilibrium) – Freytag (Exposition, Climax, Denouement) – Propp (Hero, Helper, Princess, Villain, Victim, Dispatcher, Father, False Hero) – Aristotle (Catharsis, Peripetia, Anagnorisis) – Levi-Strauss (Binary Oppositions) Chatman (Kernels = Key moments in the plot/ narrative structure. Satellites = Embellishments, developments, aesthetic that add “fluff”. Not essential to the storyline but enhance how it is consumed.) – Barthes – Enigma code. (Proairetic code = Action, movement Hermenuetic code = Dialogue, character, reflection)	T – Narratives are broken down into a three-part structure and single character transformations are pursued. P- Stock characters are used to structure stories, suggesting that the majority of stories use familiar character types to provide familiar narrative structures. These characters are not always separate individuals. A- 3 Unities : Time, Place, Action. The idea that a narrative should be consistent and should encompass the same place, time frame and plot/action. L- Narrative is simply a structure of key (oppositional) themes, creating a dominant message. Good v bad, young v old. B- He came up with the ideology that narratives are often made up of action and thinking or talking about action.
Genre	–Steve Neale (Theory of repetition in Genre.)
Key terms for Industry and Business
PSB public service broadcasting
James Curran
Shannon and Weaver
Stuart Hall	Theory of Preferred reading and ENCODING and DECODING model of communication Hall compares two models of communication: The first, the traditional model, is criticized for its linearity – sender/message/receiver	The encoding and decoding model of communication refers to how media messages are produced, disseminated and interpreted. He believes that the audience actively take part in how they decode a message relying on their own social contexts. His theory states that media tries to create a fixed opinion (dominant ideology) from hegemony in order to control and dominate the public. Audiences can accept and reject these influences. Accepting the influences by majority can lead to stereotypes.
George Gerbner	Cultivation theory RECEPTION THEORY (developed by George Gerbner based around research on TV viewing) suggests that exposure to reinforced messages will influence our ideas, attitudes and beliefs. Perception is based on what they repeatedly see.	People who consume media in large amounts are more susceptible to believing everything the media messages convey, believing they are valid and real. This is because they perceive society as pertaining to the values within those texts. 2 key terms World Mean Index – the more we watch TV (or other media forms) the more we think the world is mean and nasty. Mainstreaming – the more mainstream TV (and other media forms) we consume the more mainstream we become ie more compliant, accepting of dominant messages. This process is called enculturation, assimilation (or brainwashing?)