Post Modernism – a questioning of the ideas and values associated with a form of modernism that believes in progress and innovation. 

Definitions of Key terms

1. Pastiche – is a work of art, drama, literature, music, or architecture that imitates the work of a previous artist
2. Parody – is a work or performance that imitates another work or performance with ridicule or irony
3. Bricolage – Bricolage is a French word which refers to the skill of using whatever is at hand and recombining all that to create something new – e.g taking parts from an old car to use and create a new car
4. Intertextuality
5. Referential –  Of a word or phrase applied to a particular person, place, or thing and not to any other.
6. Surface and style over substance and content
7. Metanarrative
8. Hyperreality – the inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality e.g Disney Land
9. Simulation – a model that mimics the operation of an existing or proposed system, providing evidence for decision-making by being able to test different scenarios or process changes.
10. Consumerist Society – a society in which people often buy new goods, especially goods that they do not need, and in which a high value is placed on owning many things.
11. Fragmentary Identities – is an multidisciplinary collaboration, involving visual communication, performative arts and fashion. It is an exploration of the fragmentation and reconstruction of identity in the modern age, and its effects on the relationships between individuals.
12. Alienation –  the feeling that you have no connection with the people around you or that you are not part of a group
13. Implosion
14. Cultural appropriation
15. Reflexivity

I think ‘The Love Box in Your Living Room’ is best described as a parody due to the constant informal jokes.

• They called Ronald Atkins – Ronald McDonald
• Every clip used has some sort of humour towards the audience involved

THEME	NEWSBEAT	WAR OF THE WORLDS
OWNERSHIP	BBC is a PSB (public service broadcast) owned by government and BBC board of trust feeds – founded by Lord John Reith BBC multi-media / cross-media, transnational / transglobal, not a monopoly, concentration of ownership	Owned by CBS Radio Network who provide over 1000 radio stations to US – a private company conglomerate
HABERMAS	Transformation of the public sphere – keep up with ever changing media ethos is to inform educate, entertain and educate. Not to make money of profit they put money back into making more shows therefore the BBC is more paternalistic
CHOMSKY
REULATION	The BBC is regulated by Ofcom – The Charter gives Ofcom responsibility for regulating the content standards of the BBC’s television, radio and on-demand programmes.	Federal communication commissions FCC, regulates for private business ie not in the public interest
CURRAN	James Curran writes about the ideas that underpin The Liberal Free Press, but much can apply to transformation of Public Sphere (Habermas) which in turn connects to ethos of PSB
SEATON	‘broadcasting should be regarded as a public service for a social purpose’ Seaton makes us aware of the power of the media in terms of big companies that own too much. Seaton also makes it clear that broadcasters selling audiences to products and not audiences to programmes (no adverts on BBC) therefore the BBC is not chasing big exaggerated stories. Newsbeat seeking informed citizens who want knowledge	Seaton talks about rise and inevitable need for competition with new technologies – which provides choice Provides more entertainment for wider audiences WoW targets mainstream entertainment seeking audiences

War of the Worlds is an early example of a hybrid radio form, adapting the H.G Welles story using news and documentary conventions. The broadcast and the initial response to it has historical significance as an early, documented, example of the mass media apparently having a direct effect on an audience’s behaviour. The academic research carried out into the broadcast provided some of the early media audience research and the findings have been extremely influential in the media, advertising and political campaigning.

Media Institutions:

• War of Worlds was broadcasted by Columbia Broadcasting Company – an institution still in existence which is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network
• Radio broadcasting was in competition with print products such as newspapers which was previously the usual way to gather news
• Regulation – radio broadcasting was regulated by the Federal Communications Commission and it investigated the broadcast to see if it had broken any laws.

Media Audiences:

• Consider the way that external factors – global political context, gender, religion, education etc. – are likely to also affect audience response
• Cultivation theory including Gerbner
• The ways in which audiences interpret the same media product differently – at the time of broadcast and now (Reception theory including Hall)

-Poorer audio quality, longer more elaborate vocabulary to explain facts, maybe hinting towards the downfall of English language and understanding in correlation to the rise of technology.

-Radio being a place for education as this was in the “golden age”, one could suggest that this broadcast was the earliest ideal of fake news as lesser educated people would listen in and maybe not understand the idea of satiricalism, or sci-fi fiction.

Even the two-step flow model of communication provides some insight into how the panic unfolded. For instance, a “throng of playgoers had rushed” from a “theatre” because “news” of the invasion had “spread” to the audience. The New York Times also reported how the “rumour” of war “spread through the district and many persons stood on street corners hoping for a sight of the ‘battle’ in the skies”. Therefore, not everyone who was terrorised by the radio play was actually listening to the broadcast. They heard the rumours from people they trusted in their social circle.

How did the public react?

• According to RadioLab, about 12 million people were listening to the broadcast and 1 in every 12 people thought it was true, with some percentage of that 1 million people ran out their homes
• Morning Edition, for instance, reported in 2005 that “listeners panicked, thinking the story was real.” Many supposedly jumped in their cars to flee the area of the “invasion.”
• There’s also this report from PBS-TV’s American Experience, which says that “although most listeners understood that the program was a radio drama, the next day’s headlines reported that thousands of others plunged into panic, convinced that America was under a deadly Martian attack.”

Quotes from the broadcast:

• “At twenty minutes before eight, central time, Professor Farrell of the Mount Jennings Observatory, Chicago, Illinois, reports observing several explosions of incandescent gas, occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars.”
• “It is reported that at 8:50 P. M. a huge, flaming object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on a farm in the neighborhood of Grovers Mill, New Jersey, twenty-two miles from Trenton.”
• Phillips: “And what did you hear?”
  • Wilmuth: “A hissing sound. Like this:ssssss . . . kinda like a fourth of July rocket”
  • “I don’t know what to think. The metal casing is definitely extra-terrestrial . . . not found on this earth. Friction with the earth’s atmosphere usually tears holes in a meteorite. This thing is smooth and, as you can see, of cylindrical shape.”
  •  “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed . . . Wait a minute! Someone’s crawling out of the hollow top. Someone or . . . something. I can see peering out of that black hole two luminous disks . . are they eyes? It might be a face. It might be . . .”
  •  “Ladies and gentlemen, I have a grave announcement to make. Incredible as it may seem, both the observations of science and the evidence of our eyes lead to the inescapable assumption that those strange beings who landed in the Jersey farmlands tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from the planet Mars.”

NEWSBEAT:

• Home station – BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1 Xtra, BBC Asian Netwrok
• Original release – 10 September 1973
• Newsbeat studio is based at Radio 1 in Broadcasting House in Central London
• Many of the stories produced by Newsbeat are reported by other programmes across BBC News
• Newsbeat is both a traditional radio programme with regular, scheduled broadcast times, but it is also available online after broadcast.
• Newsbeat is a 15 minute news programme which broadcasts at 12:45 and 17:45 during the week on Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network
• Newsbeat had to compete against traditional print media and the conventions of roll news channels, but mobile-first audiences are now learning about important events through what is trending on their social networks and notifications of breaking news flashing on their screens.
•  Radio 1 reached just under 9 million listeners every week in the first quarter of 2020. Despite facing tough competition from other platforms, such as television, streaming services and podcasts, radio shows continue to attract a mass audience.

BBC:

• The BBC Charter is a royal charter setting out the arrangements for the governance of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
  • A Royal Charter is an instrument of incorporation, granted by The King, which confers independent legal personality on an organisation and defines its objectives, constitution and powers to govern its own affairs.
• BBC is regulated by Ofcom
• BBC ethos is to inform, educate, entertain

Newsbeat/ Radio 1 Audiences:

• Newsbeat is produced by BBC News which provides news aimed towards younger audiences of teenagers and people in their early twenties.
• ‘Newsbeat promises its younger listeners all the news they need to know from the UK and around the world‘
• Radio `1 aims towards an audience aged from 15-29. However a demographic profile states that the average age of the consumers are aged 30
• Newsbeat producers hope their short-term stories will engage the audience and keep them up to date about the latest events happening around the world, which is the preferred reading.
•  The producers hope to appeal to their listeners by framing the content through an informal tone, quick overviews, upbeat links, and audience participation.
• There are many factors which might influence our position to the programme, such as age, values and ideology, geography and even our mood. Importantly, we don’t always react in the way the producers intended.
• Stuart Hall:
  • Stuart Hall argued producers encoded meaning and values into their texts which was then decoded by the audience, but our reactions are shaped by our individual frameworks of knowledge. You should also consider the different modes of consumption, especially the ways we might listen to the radio.
  • Hall’s encoding / decoding model of communication offers three hypothetical positions – the dominant, oppositional, and negotiated readings.

Possible Essay Questions:

• How does Newsbeat use new technologies?
  How does Newsbeat appeal to younger audiences?

10 Newsbeat facts:

• Newsbeat is broadcasted through Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network
• Newsbeat target a younger audience with a average age of 14-25
• They have a weekly audience of 8 million people
• Newsbeat was produced on 10 September 1973
• Newsbeat is a 15 minute new programme that broadcasts from 12:45 and 17:45 on week days
• The editor for Newsbeat is Danielle Dwyer
• Newsbeat is produced by BBC but differs from other BBC news outlets as it aims to provide news to a much younger target audience
• BBC is funded by a TV license (hypothecated tax)
• BBC is regulated by Ofcom
• Newsbeat is a multi-media platform

My argument:

I want to argue that the BBC are aiming towards younger audiences to attract new audiences. Newsbeat appeal to these younger audiences by introducing new technologies, making it easy and accessible, and presenting the news in an informal way.

What makes quality television?

• Understandable script/story
• Good acting
• Interesting plot
• Good cinematography
• Good editing
• Good lighting
• Interesting characters/character development
• Educates the audience
• Sense of escapism

Broadcasting – communicating with a variety of people

Narrowcasting – small / niche audience

THE BBC

• Founded in 1992
• Started with radio [tv came later]
• Lord Reith was the first director of the BBC
• His ethos [belief/mission statement] for the BBC had 3 main principles
  • Inform, educate and entertain
• To oversee due diligence and regulation, the UK government reviews a charter: to ensure the BBC stay inline

The Royal Charter

The Royal Charter is the constitutional basis for the BBC. It sets out the BBC’s Object, Mission and Public Purposes. The Charter also outlines the Corporation’s governance and regulatory arrangements, including the role and composition of the BBC Board.

The current Charter began on 1 January 2017 and ends on 31 December 2027.

The Government will carry out a mid-term review of the Charter, focussing on governance and regulatory arrangements. This review is not a full Charter Review and so will not look at the BBC’s mission, purpose or the method by which it is funded.

Habermas – Transformation of the public sphere – the transformation of time and space, the central place that the BBC plays in our everyday lives

The control mechanism of mass media and sharing information was creating a restricted public sphere. 

Ethos

The public service ethos of the BBC is to inform, entertain and educate

Populism is a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.

Paternalism is the policy or practice on the part of people in authority of restricting the freedom and responsibilities of those subordinate to or otherwise dependent on them in their supposed interest.

https://hautlieucreative.co.uk/media23al/wp-content/uploads/sites/58/2022/11/Seaton-PSB-1.pdf

“But broadcasting organisations have to back their field, and put their money on the leading horses which line up at the starting game”

“The concept of broadcasting has always been of a service, comprehensive in character, with the duty of a public cooperation of bringing to public awareness the whole range of activity and expression developed in society “

“The only information about viewers that seriously affects producers is knowledge of the size of the audience”

“The pursuit of profit rather than excellence is more likely to dominate”

“The media industry is driven, Curran and Seaton tells us, by the twin forces of creativity and business”

“Those we call the media’s business managers are responsible for ensuring the profitability and commercial viability of products”

“Commercial broadcasting is based not on the sale of programmes to the audience, but on the sale of audiences to advertisers”

“The success of horizontal and vertical integration means that most commercial print, film and TV based in America and the UK is now controlled by just 6 global players: CBS, Comcast, Disney, News Corporation, Time Warner and Viacom”

Oh Comely points:

• Left wing
• Launched in 2010
• Lisa Sykes is the editor
• The average age of readers is 27
• Costs £5
• Owned my iceberg press
• About accepting you for yourself and differences rather than attempting to change them, like Mens Health
• Different style and layout compared to normal magazine – more creative and artistic
• No focus on her body, no revealing clothing, no stereotypical long girl hair
• 98% of viewers are female

Mens Health magazine average age of consumers have been displayed on a demographic graph that shows the ages of the readers from April 2019 to March 2020:

• The most common age is adults aged 15+
• 365 woman
• 519 adults aged 15-34
• 554 adults aged 35+
• 391 readers with households with children

On the ABC website they have created a circulation analysis stating how readers have consumed their Men’s Health magazines dating from January to December 2021:

• 21,871 paid single copies
• 66,428 paid subscriptions
• 338 paid multiple copies
• 0 membership copies
• 1,174 free copies

Also, the data shows that nearly 75% of the sold products have been print copies compared to 25% being digital copies

Men’s Health magazine had a joint ownership in from 2012 – 2017 with Hearst and Rodale owning it. Also, from 2000 – 2011 Men’s Health was owned by Natmag Rodale

Hearst (owners of Men’s Health) own a gender opposite magazine named Woman’s Health which has a very similar style as Men’s Health but uses stereotypical colours like pink to attract and gain woman consumers. The Woman’s Health magazine also includes a dominant signifier of an attractive model which creates the same idea of ‘if you read this magazine you will look like this’.

Hearst

• Men’s Health is owned by Hearst who own many other companies such as: NetDoctor, Lenny Letter, Delish (25% owned)
• Hearst is a media company founded on March 4 1887
• Hearst own many different consumer magazines other than men’s health. Most other magazines they own are based on woman’s interests with magazines such as, Woman’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Best

• 

Front page:

• Dominant signifier – Vin Diesel – known in fast and furious (movie with target audience for men)
• The page is reactionary, as it can be argued to support the typical view of strong, independent men
• The font is in bold which can come across as stronger and more masculine
• The common use of the colour blue links to masculinity (stereotypical colour for men)
• The posture and stance of Vin Diesel is very masculine by displaying his muscular features
• Vocabulary used is related to fitness and states the product is for ‘men’
• Gives the idea to men that by reading this magazine makes you look like Vin Diesel

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