Key Words/Ideas:
- Moral Panic
- Jurgan Habermas
- Noam Chomsky
- Media Literacy
- Mean World Index
- Encoding
- Hypodermic Needle theory
- Uses and Gratifications
- Countertypes
All posts by Georgina Foord
Filters
The Daily Mail and the i – CSP Revision
Key Words/Ideas:
- Liberal Free press
- James Curran and Jean Seaton
- PSB
- Free Market
- Governance
- Jurgan Habermas – Public Sphere
- Uses and Gratifications
- Conglomerate
- Merger
- Deregulation and regulation
- Imagined Communities
- Identity
- Stuart Hall – Reception theory
- Mean world Index
- Antonio Gramaci – Hegemony
- Media Literacy
- Noam Chomsky
- Integration
- Moral Panic
- Hypodermic Needle theory
Opening Para:
Printing press was invented in 1440 by Johannes Gutenberg. This introduced the era of mass communication which permanently altered the structure of society. The relatively unregulated circulation of information and ideas transcended borders and threatened the power of political and religious authorities. The increase in literacy broke the monopoly of the literate elite on education and learning and boosted the emerging middle class. Mass Media and Democracy by James Curran focuses on Jurgen Habermas and his concept of the ‘Public Sphere‘, basically arguing that the developments in education and the mass media allowed for a greater access to information particularly with regard to government, authority and the exercise of control.
Score and Boss Life – CSP Revision
Key Words/Ideas:
- Diversity
- Identity (David Gauntlet)
- Gender Performance (Judith Butler)
- Detonation (Barthes)
- Intersectionality
- Queer Theory
- Jean Kilbourne
- Bel Hooks
- Hegemony
- Hybridity – Genre (Steve Neale)
- Semiotics
- Transformation of the Public Sphere (Habermas)
Opening Para:
David Gauntlet states we construct our own identities through different influences such as people/experience/interests which may not be the traditional cultural norm. Similarly, Judith Butler expresses the idea that gender identity is changeable and fluid as we ‘perform’. That boss life, is an advert focusing on contemporary representation and construction of identities. Meaning it is much more progressive and provocative then ‘Score’ as it includes different representations of age, race, gender and sexuality.
Tomb Raider, Sims and Metroid – CSP Revision
Key words/Ideas:
- Simulation/ Hyperreality (Baudrillard)
- Personal needs (Escapism, self esteem) – Uses and Gratifications (Katz, bloomer)
- Interactivity
- Risky Business (David Hesmondhalgh)
- Male Gaze (Laura Mulvey)
- Gender perfromance (Judith Butler)
- Encoding and Decoding (Stuart Hall)
- Semiotics (Barthes)
- New Media (Bandaura, Skinner)
- Mean World Index (George Gerbner)
- Transformation of the Public Sphere (Jurgan Habermas) – becoming more anti-social and almost reversing the communication process that we have learnt as a society. People would rather text then talk to one another.
- Jarod Lanier
Tomb Raider
Article: Why Diversity Matters – Links as to why media should include more diversity in their representations. These quotes are referring to the gaming industry.
- ‘ The industry traditionally projects an image that is young, white, straight and male’
- ‘Most games feature white protagonists’
- ‘A scene in Pakistan displays shop signs written in Arabic, even though Pakistani people speak English and Urdu, not Arabic’
- Links to male gaze as the way it objectifies Lara Croft
- Links to Gender performance as she is posing as a radical representation for the the activity of women
Sims
- Developed by EA Mobile and Firemonkeys Studios in 2011 (Nick Balaban, Michael Rubin)
- December 2011 – released for iOS
- February 2012 – released for Android
- Released for BlackBerry 10 in July 2013 and Windows Phone 8 in September 2013
- The global mobile games market size is expected to reach $172.10 Billion in 2023.
- Video games are rated in the UK (Pegi Rating System)
- Sims construct their characters based of the functioning stereotypes within society
- Sims seem to reflect individualist values and opinions
- Broad target audience 12-40+
- 77% of women surveyed ages 35-54 said they played the game to “help them relax”. For women aged 55-64 the game provided “mental stimulation” – Links to Katz with uses and gratifications. Creates escapism.
- Freedom to customise the character to look a certain way – helps to create a wider range of diversity where audiences can feel represented
- “It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real” – Baudrillard, this applies as the game is still being constantly updated to create a more effective simulation
Metroid
Article: Why Diversity Matters – Links as to why media should include more diversity in their representations. These quotes are referring to the gaming industry.
- ‘ The industry traditionally projects an image that is young, white, straight and male’
- ‘Most games feature white protagonists’
- ‘A scene in Pakistan displays shop signs written in Arabic, even though Pakistani people speak English and Urdu, not Arabic’
Opening Paragraph:
Baudrillard claims that our society has replaced reality and meaning with signs and symbols and that human experience is a simulation of reality. This can be seen in Sims Freeplay
Teen Vogue and The voice -CSP Revision
Key words/Ideas:
- Intersectionality (Bel Hooks) – Diversity within the online publications
- Culture Industries – Risky business (David Hesmondhalgh)
- Uses and gratifications- personal/social needs (Katz, bloomer)
- Marginalisation
- End of Audience (Clay Shirky)
- Dispora
- Feminist Frequency
- Data Harvesting (Zuboff)
The Voice
- First published 1982
- No investors for a niche audience, context of 1980’s offered McCalla an opportunity. Barclays was being criticised for investments in south africa after segregation was institutionalised. McCalla secured £62,000, by one of MT’s initiatives so unemployed could start their own business’
- Countertype to mainstreams negative portrayal of black people
Teen Vogue
Structure:
How media has changed – adaptations (formerly print)
Binary oppositions between portrayals
Noam Chomsky
Television CSP – Revision
Key Words/Ideas:
- PSB
- Horizontal/Vertical Integration
- Identity (Constructed, Collective, Fluid) David Gauntlett
- Preferred Reading
- Encoding and Decoding
- Diversity
- Jurgan Habermas – Transformation of the Public Sphere
- Personal Needs (Escapism) – Uses and Gratifications, Bloomer and Katz
- BBC
- Marginalisation
No Offence
- No Offence was produced by ‘AbbotVision’ and created by Paul Abbot.
- The show was first broadcast on Channel 4 in 2015. It acquired over 2.5 million viewers. This was Channel 4’s biggest launch of a mid-week drama in over 3 years. It ran for 3 series, finishing in 2018.
- Channel 4 is publicly owned (owned by the state) and commercially funded (funded through advertisements).
- From Channel 4’s website; “Channel 4 was created to be a disruptive, innovative force in UK broadcasting.” “We have a unique public service remit to represent unheard voices.”
- No Offence was broadcast on ‘France2’, the public service broadcaster. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group. The show was first broadcast in February 2016, with 5.46 million viewers.
- The shows creator ‘Paul Abbott’ said, in a 2017 guardian article, said that his previous project Shameless “Became too hysterical. I was glad to see it off”.
- (Steve Neale) No Offence uses the same genre conventions of Shameless, being a ‘skittish’ show which provides its comedy elements through ‘profane anecdotes’ and ‘rat-a-tat laughter’. Linking to how creatives stick to the same or similar conventions as a way of building up a loyal fan base who will continue to watch and consume
- Contains all of the codes and conventions of a police drama —> Caution tape, missing people, sirens.
- Many different narrative strands that help move the main plot line along. Example: The elderly woman accusing her grandson, Down syndrome man talking about his relationship.
- Perhaps the appeal to an international audience is a deliberate strategy. Not only representing the working class British area of Manchester, the programme represents the polish community in the UK through the female protagonist being from a Polish background and also the use of the language. These identities are also used as a selling point internationally through the appeal of difference.
- Social Realist films = Films that emphasise the link between location and identity.
- National style but is also popular in Europe
CSP – The Voice
The Voice is a British national African-Caribbean newspaper located in the UK. The newspaper was founded back in 1982 by Val McCalla which he aimed to be the voice of the British African-Caribbean community. He addressed the interests of a generation of immigrants by passing on news from their countries of origin in the Caribbean and Africa, rather than addressing the concerns of the generations born in the UK. The print was issued weekly on a Thursday until 2019 when it then became monthly, the newspaper has also expanded onto social media and it even has their own website.
Industry:
- The Voice was established with a £62,000 loan from Barclays Bank, at a time when African-Caribbean businesses found it particularly hard to get financial backing from banks.
- The cover price was 54 pence, and it was only sold in Greater London
- The newspaper’s first editor Flip Fraser, led a team of journalists who set about addressing issues of interest to Britain’s African-Caribbean community. They combined human-interest stories and coverage of sports, fashion and entertainment with hard news and investigative reporting
- In under a decade the paper was selling more than 50,000 copies weekly
- The Voice is produced in tabloid format
Representation:
- “Britain’s most successful African-Caribbean newspaper”
- In 2012, The Voice journalists were denied entry to the Olympic stadium despite the strong presence and interest in Black British athletes
- July 2017 – The voice hosted a charity dinner for Usain Bolt before his final appearance in the World Championships. The event raised over £30,000 for Bolt and coach Glen Mills’ Racers Track Club
- In 2022, the paper launched a survey to find out more about the lived experience of Black British people – linking to their active engagement showing a more genuine concern for their audience
- The Voice newspaper is “committed to celebrating black experience” and aims to deliver “positive change” by “informing the black community on important issues”
Recognition and awards:
- Young Voices – two “Best Magazine” awards from the Urban Music Awards 2010 and 2009
- BBI Media and Entertainment Award 2008
- Voice of Sports – Performance Award 2003 from Western Union
- BEEAM Awards for Organisation Achievements 2003
- Black Plus Awards 2002
- Britain’s Ethnic Minority Federation at the Bank of England, Partnership Awards 1999
- NLBA Enterprise Excellence Awards 1996
- BGA Gospel Awards – Best Media 1980s
Audience:
CSP – Sims Freeplay
Sims Freeplay is a strategic lifesimulation computer game where a person can control a ‘sim’ and create a life around the characters as a life simulation – hyperreal. The game is a ‘Freemium’ model of ‘The Sims’ as it is free to download but users are consistently urged to buy added features. Sims have also improved their accessibility as it is now available to download on other devices such as a mobile phone. The Narrative is driven through the completion of quests, this can lead to a character/feature to level up or have certain aspects accessible in the game. This helps to keep their audience engaged.
Representation:
- Sims construct their characters based of the functioning stereotypes within society
- Sims seem to reflect individualist values and opinions
- Represents particular social groups
- Realist views
- The video game was banned in China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt due to the possibility of establishing a homosexual relationship
Industries:
- Developed by EA Mobile and Firemonkeys Studios in 2011 (Nick Balaban, Michael Rubin)
- December 2011 – released for iOS
- February 2012 – released for Android
- Released for BlackBerry 10 in July 2013 and Windows Phone 8 in September 2013
- This model is free to play but users are able to purchase in-game items with real money to speed up progress or unlock additional features – ‘Freemium Model’ – commonly used within the industry to attract users to try the product/service. Links to Hesmondhalgh who talks about minimising risk and maximising profit.
- The global mobile games market size is expected to reach $172.10 Billion in 2023.
- Video games are rated in the UK (Pegi Rating System)
- ‘The Sims FreePlay’ is rated 12 because it “may contain themes that are not suitable for younger children, such as the potential for violent fist fights
Audience:
- Broad target audience 12-40+
- 77% of women surveyed ages 35-54 said they played the game to “help them relax”. For women aged 55-64 the game provided “mental stimulation” – Links to Katz with uses and gratifications. Creates escapism.
- Freedom to customise the character to look a certain way – helps to create a wider range of diversity where audiences can feel represented
- “It is no longer a question of imitation, nor duplication, nor even parody. It is a question of substituting the signs of the real for the real” – Baudrillard, this applies as the game is still being constantly updated to create a more effective simulation
‘Choose every aspect of your Sims lives: careers, appearance, personality and more! Then, watch as their stories unfold! Love and romance, or drama and breakups – the choice is always yours.’
CSP – TEEN VOGUE
Teen Vogue is a spinoff of the magazine ‘Vogue’. It’s an American online publication targeted towards teenagers which include stories about fashion/celebrities/identity and politics.
Conde Nast, conglomerate that produces some of the world’s leading print, digital, video and social brands, owns Teen Vogue (GQ, Vanity Fair etc…) The company was created by Conde Montrose Nast who was an American publisher, entrepreneur and business magnate. The company uses horizontal integration.
Industries:
- Teen Vogue is a commercial media product, but it may be seen as fulfilling a public service through it’s political reporting and social campaigns.
- The use of a digitial platform expands the output and reach of their products – links to transformation of public sphere and how technology has enabled better access
- They ceased print editions as a way to make more money
- Utilising social media platforms- keeping up with technologies and targeting the younger generations – change in consumption
Representation:
- Keeping up with popular culture to engage their target audience (TV, music, celebs, trends…)
- Women are represented as independent and tackles issues that are relevant to women – feminist views and opinions
- Rage of diverse information from around the globe – informative whilst also representing people from all backgrounds and ethnicities
Audience:
- Engaging as it uses slang, and simplified vocabulary to make the information easier to understand. Bigger pictures.
- People from all social groups/cilques are included within the information shared
- $221B – Spending Power
- 1.8X – Fashion and Beauty Influentials
- 70% – Female Demographic
- 2 IN 3 – Gen Z or Millenials
- 8.4M – Average Monthly Digital Uniques
- 15.6M – Social Followers
- 22.9M – Average Monthly Video Views
Simplified notes:
- Teen Vogue was established in 2003 as a spinoff of vogue led by vogue beauty director Amy Astley
- Owned by Conde Nast – Editor in Chief: Versha Sharma
- Primarily targeting teenagers – offers informative information with subjects such as culture/politics-identity and supplying pleasure gratifications such as shopping/beauty/fashion – helps to create a safe space for teenagers and also increase their target audience range
- Single copy sales dropped by 50% in 2016 they then started publishing quarterly dropping from 10 issues a year to 4
- In November 2017, they announced to cease print editions and continue as an online only- publication – became more accessible whilst also keeping up with modern times – joining social media platform too
- In January 2017 the magazines website had 7.9 million US visitors compared to 2.9 million the previous January
- Teen Vogue had 8,341,000 unique visitors in May 2017 and 4,476,000 in 2018. 1.7% of their may 2018 audience was 17 or younger, 2.6% were 18-24
- “teen glossy with seriously good political coverage and legal analysis, an outlet for teenagers who—shockingly!—are able to think about fashion and current events simultaneously.” – Mark Joseph Stern
Resource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_V
Possible Questions:
- Media products are shaped by the economic and political contexts in which they are created.
To what extent does an analysis of your online, social and participatory Close study products (The Voice and Teen Vogue) support this view?
Essay Structure
Remember to focus on key issues around new media – privacy, knowledge, understanding, education, friendship, behaviour, thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, politics, economics, employment, war, conflict, food, the environment, space, science (essentially social change)
- Overview: New media always creates change (printing press, telegram etc)
- Q: so how has recent technology changed (society, individuals, organisations, ideas, beliefs etc etc)
- CSP 1 – show knowledge of CSP
- characteristics of new media (in reference to CSP 1)
- theoretical / conceptual analysis of new media (loop theory, network theory, Dunbar number, McLuhan, Krotoski)
- Critically thinking about new media (Baudrillard, McLuhan, Krotoski, B. F. Skinner, Zuboff, Lanier – are all essentially critical of new media technologies. But Gauntlett, Shirky, Jenkins are all very positive about new media technologies)
- CSP 2 – show knowledge
- Draw parallels and conclusions
- Suggest future pathways / developments
Discussion Points from The Great Hack
- Data has surpassed oil as the world’s most valuable asset
- The Exchange of Data
- Search for Truth
- Behaviour Management
- Propaganda / Persuasion
- Regulation
- Digital Behaviour management: A Threat to Democracy?
Data has now become the world most valuable asset. Social media and other platforms collect data through behaviour that can be used to predict future engagements. I has also been weaponized to wage cultural and political warfare.