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Genre, Notes, Theory

Genre

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  • The type of film, song, tv show, book etc… shown through the textual nature or features of the production – “genre is a system of codes, conventions and visual styles which enables an audience to determine rapidly and with some complexity the kind of narrative they are viewing” (Turner p.97 Film as Social Practice)
  • Genre must be both predictable and unpredictable – Genre helps audience to recognise the type of film and predict whether it is something they would watch, but it also needs unpredictable aspects, almost sub-genres, to make the film unique and interesting
  • a practical device for helping any mass medium to produce consistently and efficiently and to relate its production to the expectations of its customers. – Dennis McQuail 1987, p. 200
  • Expectations are based on both textual elements

Steve Neale: Genre as Audience Recognition

  • He argues genre is is a mechanism which attracts audience based on their predictable expectations
  • These generic characteristics are developed and amplified by media organisations, and are then reinforced by press, marketing, advertising etc.
  • He suggests that each genre is structured around a repertoire of elements, which fulfil an audiences expectation of a film and creating enjoyment
  • Their enjoyment is then maintained by the certain elements which are unconventional of the genre, making it interesting and unique
  •  genres change as society and culture changes – genres are historically specific and reflect/represent changing ideas, attitudes, values and beliefs of society at any particular moment in history that over time, mix-up, shape, adapt and adopt familiar ideas and expectations, but which essentially create something new which is recognisable
Exam Prep, Institution, Moving Image, Music Video, Notes, Theory

CSP 6: THE SPECIALS – GHOST TOWN

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By Jon Kelly
BBC News Magazine		-‘Released on 20 June 1981 against a backdrop of rising unemployment’
-‘a depiction of social breakdown that provided the soundtrack to an explosion of civil unrest’
-‘its blend of melancholy, unease and menace took on an entirely new meaning when Britain’s streets erupted into rioting almost three weeks later – the day before Ghost Town reached number one in the charts.’
-‘ it expressed the mood of the early days of Thatcher’s Britain’
by Stephen Rodrick, 1990
Chicago Reader		-‘The main irony of the Specials’ songs, and in fact of the entire ska movement, was that lurking just beneath the “happy,” infectious dance beat were often chilling stories of the racial divisiveness and economic deprivation that characterized the dawning of the Thatcher era.’
John Bradbury, drummer of the Specials-‘”I saw it [Coventry] develop from a boom town, my family doing very well, through to the collapse of the industry and the bottom falling out of family life. Your economy is destroyed and, to me, that’s what Ghost Town is about.”

Thatcher’s Britain

  • Prime Minister 1979-90
  • Militant campaigner for middle class interests
  • Extreme attitude towards immigration
  • British Nationality Act 1981: introduced a series of increasingly strict immigration procedure and prevented Asian people from entering Britain

‘British national identity
could be swamped by people with different
culture’ – 1978 Interview

‘firm immigration control
for the future is essential if we are to achieve
good community relations’ – Conservative Manifesto

Resistance and Political Protest:

  • When you first think of political protest, you think of: petitions, political marches and movements, attempts to change legislation, protests etc…
  • However, when this occurs, it often results in backlash, mostly from the government in question
  • Even if protest does change legislation, it doesn’t always change opinions
  • It is culture that has the biggest influence on the way people think – this is the site of popular change
  • politics, people and culture are always intertwined

Cultural Hegemony:

  • Theorised by Antonio Gramsci, an Italian philosopher in the 1930s
  • Hegemonic – dominant, ruling, most powerful
  • Hegemonic Culture – the dominant culture
  • Cultural Hegemony – power, rule or domination maintained by ideological or cultural means

Cultural hegemony functions by encouraging the ideologies of the dominant social group as the only legitimate ideology. Their ideologies are expresses and maintained through economic, political, moral and social institutions. These institutions surround the people in their every day life, and eventually influence their subconscious into accepting the norms, values and beliefs of the dominant social group. As a result, oppressed groups are lead to believe that the social and economic conditions of society are natural and inevitable, rather than created by the dominant group.

Subcultures

  • Working class youth culture
  • unified by shared tastes in style, music and ideology
  • a form of resistance of cultural hegemony

Teddy Boys 1950s/60s: responded to post-war social changes

Skinheads 1960s: responded to social alienation as a result of 1950s conservatism and expressed working class pride

Punks 1970s: a reaction to capitalist middle class culture, alienation from adult working class, social, political and economic crisis of 1970s which resulted in mass youth unemployment. Believed in anti-establishment and individual freedom

Rude Boys 1960s/80s: reacted against oppression from state, police, racists. Emphasised self-confidence through listening to Jamaican ska lyrics about oppression and poverty

Post War British Race Relations

  • 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

Racism from the state/police:

  • A clash between the police and black youth
  • police generated the idea that black people were criminals – more likely to steal, use drugs, start fights etc
  • Black community targeted by SUS Laws –  a stop and search law that permitted a police officer to stop, search and potentially arrest people on suspicion
  • New Cross Fire 1981 – fire started by racist arsonist, killing 13 black people, whose charges were completely dismissed

Racism from far-right groups – The National Front:

  • NF was a far-right group
  • promoted the end of immigration and the reparation of non-white brits
  • Blamed immigration for decline in employment, housing and welfare
  • 1970s – NF gained support of disillusioned of white youth leading to radical attacks and violence

Black Music as Resistance

Paul Gilroy – brought race into the societal divide and changes in the 1980s; he highlighted how black youth cultures represented cultural solutions to collectively experienced problems of racism and poverty

  • Black music offers a means of articulating oppression and challenging what Gilroy has termed ‘the capitalist system of racial exploitation and domination
  • The lyrics of many reggae songs revolve around the black experience, history, culture and consciousness of economic and social deprivation as well as criticising the the continuing enslavement of racist ideology

Rock Against Racism 1976-82

  • RAR campaign fought for the eradication of racism in the music industry against the rise of fascism among white working class youths
  • People believed they could prevent their audiences from being prejudice by the messages they put across in their music
  • RAR took advantage of the emerging subcultures who had similar anti-establishment ideologies as well as provided many different musical forms to which the campaign could project their anti-racist politics
  • RAR organised hundreds of musical events which united white bands with black bands – it was highly successful in shining a light on multiculturalism and unity
  • RAR’s fusion of youth culture and politics has been widely celebrated for making politics fun

Two Tone Britain

  • 2 Tone Records was founded by Jerry Dammers 1979 from The Specials which advocates the eradication of racism in British society
  • This created a new genre of British music that fused punk with Jamaican reggae and SKA
  • The bands signed by 2 Tone Records were largely multi-cultural, eg The Specials and The Selector, and represented the exact aim of RAR
  • 2 Tone bands were most vocal after the election of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1979 – writing lyrics about the politics of racism, sexism, violence, unemployment, youth culture and a corrupt system of government
  • 2 Tone gigs often attracted members of the right-wing which caused huge disruption
Moving Image, NEA, Production

MOVING IMAGE NEA

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False Awakening

Synopsis:

When George discovers a world inside of his own head he becomes infatuated by a life he’s always wanted, especially when he meets a girl. Things begin to take a dark turn when his reality becomes difficult to determine from his fantasy and he can not decipher what is real and what is false

STATEMENT OF INTENT

Posters

I intend to create to advertising products for my film ‘False Awakening’ – which is about a man who discovers the unimaginable world of lucid dreaming but becomes to carried away with the life he desires.

For my advertisements, I plan to create a billboard and a poster:

  • Billboard – will signify the main character placed in the centre with his eyes shut, implying he is entering his dreams. The title will be displayed towards the left and will appear skewed in order to convey the feeling of being disorientated, much like the protagonist in the film. when as the logos of the producers, distributors and exhibitioners will be discreetly placed towards the right.
  • Poster – will signify the protagonists fantasy setting, however it has deteriorated into a depressing isolated place much like his reality. the face of the protagonist will be displayed in the middle however transparent and faded, to reflect their sense of detachment and depressive state. The title will be displayed in the top middle when as the logos of the producers, distributors and exhibitioners will be discreetly placed and the bottom left corner

The title of the film will provide anchorage as well as the logos of the Producer, Out-There Films, Distributor, Columbia Pictures, and Exhibitioner, Channel 4. The film will be aimed at an older more alternative audience into the psychological thriller genre.

BILLBOARD
POSTER

Sequences

With regards to the film sequences, I plan on directing, filming and editing two clips from the film to act as teasers and entice an audience:

  • Sequence 1: will display the main characters dull, repetitive life, whilst also giving the audience an insight into the who is character is as a person – particular, isolated and odd.
  • Sequence 2: reveals what goes on behind his eyes and the idyllic world he escapes to in his spare moments

I will use incorporate conventional elements of the psychological thriller genre in order to create a sense of familiarity for my audience –

  • Dark tones
  • isolated locations
  • eerie music
  • dissolving sense of reality
  • elements of mystery and confusion
  • psychological breakdowns
  • binary opposites

sequence 01: (1250) Sequence 01 – YouTube

sequence 02:(1250) Sequence 02 – YouTube

Website

I plan on using the website in order to promote my film by –

  • displaying my Posters and Sequences
  • attach links to social media platforms such as E-mail, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube
  • cast list – use of star-formatting
  • About the production
  • release date
  • age rating
  • genre
home page
about page
clips page
Narrative, Notes, Theory

Internal Structure Analysis

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Narrative Structure – Key Words & Theories

Linear/chronological – when a story is told in the order it happens

Sequential – when one event comes after the other chronologically

Circular structure – when a story ends how it begins

Time based –

Narrative arc – refers to the chronological construction of the plot in a story

flashback – when a chronological sequence is interrupted by an event that happened previous to the specific moment in a narrative

flash forward – when a chronological sequence is interrupted by an event that happens after the specific moment in a narrative

Foreshadowing – when an event that occurs in a narrative is hinted at earlier on

Ellipsis – a device which excludes a portion of the sequence of events

Pathos – when a narrative is written in order to generate and appeal to an audiences emotions

Empathy – when an audience is able to share a feeling or perspective with a character or moment

diegetic – refers to the internal world created by the story that the narrators/characters themselves experience and encounter

non-diegetic – refers to the things we see and hear in a narrative that come from the external world of a story which do not actually experience and encounter the story

slow motion – a motion picture where that action has been altered to make it appear to have occurred slower than it actually did in order to create dramatic effect

fast motion – a motion picture where that action has been altered to make it appear to have occurred faster than it actually did in order to create dramatic effect

Freytag’s Pyramid:

paradigm of dramatic structure outlining the seven key steps in successful storytelling: exposition, inciting incident, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, and denouement.

  • exposition – the background information that is given at the beginning of a story about the characters, setting etc…
  • inciting incident – the narrative event which launches the main action
  • rising action – the bulk of the plot which builds up to the climax
  • climax – the turning point or crisis in a narrative which is often the highest point of interes
  • falling action – when the climax begins to resolve
  • resolution – when the climax is resolved
  • denouement  – when conflict in a plot is resolved and the plot concludes

Tztevan Todorov – Tripartite narrative structure:

Beginning / middle / end – the most basic organisational framework of a story

  • Equilibrium – when all forces or moments acting upon a narrative are balanced
  • Disruption – when an incident or trivial story disrupts the narrative flow
  • New equilibrium – when order is restored
  • plot/sub-plot – a narrative often has as overarching master plot accompanied by a series of sub-plots
  • multiple equilibrium/ disruption sequences – when a narrative deploys multiple equilibrium/disruption sequences in order to produce a roller coaster effect
  • flexi-narrative –
  • condensed equilibrium – when a narrative propels a moment of immediate disruption to instantly hook the audience rather than building up to it

Aristotle:

Poetics –

  • Peripeteia – the turning point in a narrative after which the plot moves steadily to its denouncement
  • Anagnoresis – the moment in a narrative when a character makes a dramatic revelation
  • Catharsis – a moment of emotional release as a result of a resolution being made

The 3 Unities –

  • Unity of Action – a tragedy should have one principle action
  • Unity of Time – that action of a tragedy should occur over a period of no more than 24hours
  • Unity of Place – a tragedy should exist in a single physical location

Seymour Chatman – Satellites & Kernels

  • Kernels – key moments in the plot/narrative structure – the narrative would not work without them
  • Satellites – embellishments, aesthetics, and developments in the plot/narrative structure – the narrative would be able to work without them

Roland Bathes – Proairetic and Hermenuetic Codes

  • Proairetic code: action, movement, causation
  • Hermenuetic code: reflection, dialogue, character or thematic development
  • Enigma code: the way in which intrigue and ideas are raised – which encourage an audience to want more information

Vladimir Propp – Stock Characters

  • Villain – causes some form of misfortune, damage or harm, their evil action will, of course, lead to a fight or another form of struggle with the hero
  • Victim/Victim Hero – the character who is taken, harmed, injured, or killed by the villain
  • Hero – the major character who is the person around which the story is told. There are two types of hero’s: the seeker hero relies agrees to liquidate the misfortune suffered by another character, the victim, and so heavily on the donor to perform there quest, whereas the victim-hero directly suffers from the action of the villain and therefore needs to overcome a weakness to complete their quest
  • Helper – usually accompanies hero on the quest and aids them in struggles encountered on their journey
  • Dispatcher – Sends the hero on the quest
  • Donor – provides hero with with a magical agent or advise to help him defeat the villain
  • Princess – usually represents the reward of the hero’s quest
  • Princess’s Father – often set’s the hero difficult tasks to prevent them from marrying the princess
  • False Hero – a character who appears to be good but it quickly becomes obvious they are corrupt once they are unmasked (usually towards the end of the narrative)

Claude Levi-Strauss – Binary Opposites

  • The idea that we need binary opposition to create drama and interest in a narrative structure
  • This creates a dominant message (ideology) – So in this way audiences are encouraged to make a judgements about characters, groups, places, history, society etc.
  • texts can be seen to either support the dominant ideologies of a society, which would make it a reactionary text ,or to challenge, question or undermines the dominant ideologies of society, in which case it could be seen as a radical text.
CONCEPTstrongly
agree		agreeneutralagreestrongly
agree		OPPOSITE
CONCEPT
GOOD✔BAD
REACTIONARY✔RADICAL
FEMALE✔MALE
IN CONTROL✔OUT OF CONTROL
WHITE✔BLACK
URBAN✔REGIONAL
RICH✔POOR
HAPPY✔SAD
ROCK✔REGGAE
QUIET✔LOUD
Exam Prep, Institution, NEA, Notes, Research

Blinded by the light (2019)

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  • Blinded by the Light is an example of a US/UK co-production and distribution.
  • Directed by Gurinder Chadha from Bend it Films, who also directed ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ (2002)
  • Its distributor New Line Cinema (an American production studio owned by Warner Brothers Pictures Group) is associated with ‘indie’ films and is  co-funded by  independent production companies including Levantine Films. Bend it Films and Ingenious Media.
  • Costing $15million to make, the movie is a low-mid budget production
  • Traditional marketing and distributing techniques were used, such as posters, trailers, film festivals etc… , to promote the film
  • The true story generates a sense of sentiment and makes it more relatable
  • The role of Bruce Springsteen’s music engages a wider audiences through nostalgia based appeals
Bend It Networks– ‘based on the memoir ‘Greetings From Bury Park’ by journalist/broadcaster Sarfraz Manzoor which chronicles his experiences as a British Muslim boy growing up in 1980s Luton and the impact Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics had upon him’
– ‘he [Springsteen] had not only read, but admired the book’
Deadline (Mike Flemming, 2019)– ‘New Line has confirmed Deadline’s scoop that it has acquired Blinded By the Light after its big Sundance Film Festival bow’
– ‘It is the biggest sum paid for a Sundance film so far in what has turned out to be a very hot market.
– ‘Some of the allure of Blinded by the Light had to do with the surprisingly universal appeal of Springsteen’s coming-of-age tunes’
Variety (Roy Trakin, 2019)– ‘setting up a spirited bidding war won by Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema’
– “It’s a reminder to all of us what our lives were like back then, and what we’ve achieved since then. I believe we’ve moved on from that.” – Chadha
Independent (Clarisse Loughrey, 2019)– ‘strikes right to the heart of why Springsteen’s work has had such an impact on culture’
– ‘Blinded by the Light offers not only a reminder of Springsteen’s lyrical genius, but of how he’s always served as a beacon for the disenfranchised, wherever they may be.’
ProductionLevantine Films. Bend it Films and Ingenious Media
Distribution New Line Cinema (owned by Warner Brothers)
ExhibitionNetflix, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Mergingin 2008, New Line Cinema shut down as an independent company in order to merge with Warner Brothers
ConglomerateWarner Media – owns Warner Brothers, distributor or ‘Blinded by the Light’
GlobalisationThe American company New Line Cinema working with British company Bend it Films allows them to reach a wider market, creating much larger profit margins for the two companies
Horizontal Integrationmultiple companies worked together to produce the film as well as the multiple platforms used to exhibit the film which ultimately increases market power and reduces competition
Cultural ImperialismThe American singer Bruce Springsteen dominates the way that the main character, Javed, perceives the world around him which according to his Father humiliates his Pakistani background
GatekeepingNew Line Cinema will regulate certain aspects of the film in order to promote a certain message. Eg – the incorporation of America in the film appeals to a wider audience as it imposes western views and is representative of the American company
RegulationRated as a 12A by BBFC due to ‘racist language and behaviour’ and ‘ moderate bad language’

Livingstone and Lunt – the idea that there is an underlying struggle in recent UK regulation policy between the need to further the interests of citizens (by offering protection from harmful or offensive material), and the need to further the interests of consumers (by ensuring choice, value for money, and market competition).

David Hesmondhalgh wrote The Culture Industries (2002) which highlights his concerns with the creative industry and it being too business and economically driven, effecting the quality of work life and human well being. Forbes magazine estimated that in 2018 over 80% of the 700+ films created made no profit, which supports Hesmondhalgh’s view that the creative industry is a ‘RISKY BUSINESS‘

RisksHow the Risks are Minimised
It can take considerable marketing efforts to break a potential writer or performer as a new ‘star’, especially without a built initial fanbase meaning hiring newcomer Viveik Kalra as the main character may have posed potential riskStar formatting allowed the producers to introduce well-known stars, such as Hayley Atwell from the avengers franchise, with a ready-made audience in order to neutralise a potential loss of engagement whilst also allowing opportunity for new actors to thrive. Furthermore, the use of traditional social media marketing techniques allows for wider publicity without being too expensive
An audiences tastes are continuously adapting which makes predicting their needs and wants nearly impossible which is especially difficult in such a competitive market Remaking a previously successful book with a ready made audience ensures the company that the film will generate sales whilst also saving time and money, which could make up for possibility of potential loss, for the production companies as the narrative is already laid out for them.
With such a varied market it can sometimes be difficult to generate new and unique ideas, especially when a film is being distributed by such a huge mainstream company like Warner Brothers, and therefore could result in a failed production and a loss in profitRebranding Springsteen’s patrimony, the narrative can engage the tastes of more contemporary audiences whilst also touching a wider audience through nostalgia based appeals, such as those who listened to Springsteen during his prime era. Also the use of independent labelling engages the alternative audiences who are reluctant to consume mainstream media.

 

plan

  • 1: david hesmondhalgh – risky business
  • 2:about the film – budget, quote bend it networks
  • 3: risk 1 – merging, exhibition
  • 4: risk 2 – globalisation
  • 5: risk 3 – horizontal integration, production, distribution
  • 6: conclusion – quote Variety and Deadline, many risks in the industry however producers minimised them effectively
Exam Prep, Institution, Notes

institution – key terms

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Cultural industries  – an economic field which involves the producing, distributing and exhibiting of music, television, movies, publishing etc…

Production – the process of making a motion picture, television show, video commercial, internet video or any other viewable programming

Distribution – the process of delivering products to audiences through advertising and marketing campaigns

Exhibition / Consumption – the retail branch of the film industry/ when the media is taken in by individuals or a group

Media concentration – when a company integrates its ownership of different media sectors (production, distribution, exhibition) with other companies  This means that as time progresses, less and less companies or institutions control the share of mass media

Conglomerates – a company that owns multiple companies involved in mass media enterprises such as television, radio, publishing etc…

Globalisation (in terms of media ownership) – the worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas

Cultural imperialism – a theory regarding the fact that the western world dominates the ideas and influence of the media industry by imposing western views, often destroying native culture

Vertical Integration – when a company owns different businesses in the same chain of production, distribution and/or exhibition

Horizontal Integration – when a company owns other companies that performs the same part of the production, distribution or exhibition process as them

Mergers – when two or more existing companies unite creating one new company, often to expand a companies reach or gain market share

Monopolies – concentrated control of major mass communications within a society

Gatekeeper – a company who filters the information sent out to the public in order to create a certain message

(Mass Media) Regulation – rules enforced by the jurisdiction of law regarding how the media industry is owned and controlled, often to protect a stated ‘public interest’

(Mass Media) Deregulation – the process in which a government removes rules previously enforced by the jurisdiction of law regarding how the media industry is owned and controlled

Free market – a market when voluntary exchange and the laws of supply and demand provide the sole basis for the economic system, without government intervention

Commodification – the act of turning something into an item that can be bought or sold

Convergence – a circumstance involving the interconnection of information and communication technologies and media content eg, a phone which allows you to read the news as well as just make phone calls

Diversity – a corporate strategy used to enter into a new market or industry in which the business does not currently operate

Innovation – the process of not just an “invention” of a new value for journalism, but also the process of implementing this new value in a market or a social setting to make it sustainable.

Institution, Theory

The cultural industries

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Compared to other industries, the Cultural Industries is what effects they way in which we perceive the world

‘plays a pivotal role in organising the images and discourse through which people make sense of the world’ (Golding & Murdock)

David Hesmondhalgh – The Culture Industry

  • Wrote  The Culture Industries (2002)
  • He highlights concern with the creative industry and it being too business and economically driven which effects the quality of work life and human well being
  • He also shines a light on the precarious nature of the creative industry as so many young people are too easily seduced to pursue a career in the creative industries which is an issue because this promise of wealth and fame is highly unlikely
  • In fact, the majority of the time, those who gain the most success out of the creative industry are those who previously had connections to those already in the industry

Forbes magazine estimated that in 2018 over 80% of the 700+ films created made no profit, which supports Hesmondhalgh’s view that the creative industry is a ‘RISKY BUSINESS‘ in the sense that:

  • An audiences tastes are continuously adapting which makes predicting their needs and wants nearly impossible
  • The industry is extremely competitive meaning its extremely difficult to become successful
  • The industry heavily relies on its connections and communication of the marketing functions and if communication is not made clearly then controlling the messages delivered by publicity partners of other companies can be very difficult
  • Media products such as film and television have a limited consumption capacity meaning the huge sums of money invested in creating media products result in only a one time reward
  • It can take considerable marketing efforts to break a potential writer or performer as a new ‘star’, especially without a built initial fanbase

Hesmondhalgh highlights that the risk associated with media creation encourages organisations, most significantly the large-scale organisations, to overproduce media content in the hopes that enough of those projects will succeed and make up for any losses.

These risks are minimised by:

  • Star formatting – rather than introducing new ‘stars’ whose path may prove unsuccessful and unprofitable, re-invent old, well-known stars with a ready-made audience
  • Genre-based formatting – labelling media content using genre-based categories allows an audience to identify whether or not a product is of interest to them before consuming it.
  • Serialisation – the use of sequels, prequels, spin-offs etc… requires less investment in marketing activities to create audience visibility therefore allowing producers to maximise their investments
  • Remakes – recycling previously successful archived material requires less time, effort and money when it comes to the production and instantly engages an audience through nostalgia-based appeals, while also rebranding content so that it fits the tastes of contemporary audiences
  • independent labelling – whilst the use of ‘independents’ engages more alternative audiences, audiences who are reluctant to consume mainstream media, it also shields companies from the impact of content failure on their brand identity

Curran and Seaton – Ownership Effects

Their novel ‘Power without Responsibility’ (1981), is deeply concerned with narrating the story of how the media landscape has fallen under the control of a handful of global media conglomerates.

Curran’s interest stemmed from his exploration of the radical press in the early 1800s: newspapers where originally engines for social and political change, made by the working class for the working class. However, this was short lived due to rising production costs meaning only upper class, competitive titles dominated the market and drove the radical press out. Ultimately, the process of media concentration – the control of media by larger organisations – began.

They both suggest a second, equally important factor which contributed to mass media concentration which look place in the late 20th Century. When widespread deregulation occurred in the media industry, the number of national press titles in the UK dropped to just 11 publications. This lack of diversity concentrates too much power in the hands of just a few companies.

Essentially, these conglomerates dominate the market through horizontal and vertical integration, leaving no room for smaller business, creating a lack of diversity and limited perspectives. Most commercial, print, film and television based media is situated in America and the UK: CBS, Comcast, Disney, News Corporation, Time Warner, and Viacom.

Benefits of HIBenefits of VI
Production costs can be minimised
Resources can be shared
Market can be controlled		Capturing upstream and downstream profits (eg won’t have to pay extra for distributor)
Control over all aspects of production chain
restricts access to competitors
Cross-media ownership synergies (eg Star Wars characters are used to build a plot for the films and into gaming products)

 Curran argues, media owners control the content and flow of news either directly or indirectly:

  • Direct Control: Proprietor owners have the power to censor news content that conflicts with their political view and wider interests
  • Indirect Control: Installation of editors for example who are sympathetic towards the proprietor’s views and firing those who are not

They suggest that contemporary media ownership places the media in the hands of the few and not the many, touching upon Marx’s idea that culture is deployed to make the working class believe there isnt much alternative to their appaling working conditions:

  • Culture is controlled by social elites: media is controlled by a minority of wealthy institutions who only work for the benefit of themselves
  • Culture as a distraction: culture provides a temporary escape from people dull working lives and therefore distracts us from the true nature of our exploitation

Livingstone & Lunt – Regulation

They explore how the UK’s approach to to media governance serves the needs of audiences as both consumers and citizens. Most crucially, they believe that media policies implemented by governments over the last 20 years have worked in ways that protects the commercial interests of media producers

The consumer orientated approach:

  • Regulation champions consumer choice – regulation designed specifically to ensure a diversity of broadcasters to operate within the media landscape, allowing consumers to access a broad range of content, opinions and ideas
  • Relies on consumer-led policing of programme content – content regulation where audiences have to rely on ‘their own judgments of quality, truthfulness and enjoyment’ (2012).
  • The state plays a minor role in determining media regulation – this minimises the role of the government in producing media and is determined through quotas making entertainment that is more beneficial (eg factual, educational, content for children)

The citizen orientated approach:

  • Constructs a media model based on civic republicanism – provides focused content that directs media makers to ‘contribute to the enrichment of cultural and social life and the potential for self-development of individuals, groups and communities (2012). This serves consumers with not just entertainment, but also knowledge and a range of diverse content.
  • Citizen-based regulation foregrounds content issues – maintaining acceptable standards of content, by ensuring accuracy and dealing with the issues portrayed in a fair manner, is they key focus.
  • Encourages a media landscape that can critique government power – a central function of the media sector lies in its ability to hold the government and other sources of power accountable.

Institution, Notes, Research

Murdoch: News Uk

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  1. Murdoch began building his empire in 1952 when he inherited the family newspaper company. Murdoch is credited for creating the modern tabloid encouraging his newspaper to publish human interest stories focused on controversy, crime, and scandals.
  2. Murdoch turned one failing newspaper, The Adelaide news, into a success. He then started the Australian, the first national paper in the country.
  3. Murdoch’s media empire includes Fox News, Fox Sports, the Fox Network, The Wall Street Journal, and HarperCollins.
  4. In 1968, Murdoch entered the British newspaper market with his acquisition of the populist News of the World, followed in 1969 with the purchase of the struggling daily The Sun from IPC
  5. In 1981, Murdoch acquired the struggling Times and Sunday Times from Canadian newspaper publisher Lord Thomson of Fleet.
  6. In the light of success and expansion at The Sun the owners believed that Murdoch could turn the papers around. Harold Evans, editor of the Sunday Times from 1967, was switched to the daily Times, though he stayed only a year amid editorial conflict with Murdoch.
  7. Murdoch bought the newspaper, ‘News of the World of London’, in 1968
  8. Murdoch became a US Citizen in 1985 in order to be able to expand his market to US television broadcasting.
  9. It is owned by the Murdoch family via a family trust with 39.6% ownership share; Rupert Murdoch is chairman, while his son Lachlan Murdoch is executive chairman and CEO. Fox Corp. deals primarily in the television broadcast, news, and sports broadcasting industries.
  10. The Murdoch Family Trust controls around 40 per cent of the parent company’s voting shares (and a smaller proportion of the total shares on issue).