What is postmodernism?

Postmodernism is the reimagining and copying of previous work.

Pastiche – an imitation of the work of a previous artist that pays homage to the original

Parody – an imitation of the work of a previous artist with deliberate exaggeration for comedic effect

Bricolage – the rearrangement and juxtaposition of previously unconnected signs to produce new codes of meaning

Intertextuality – the concept that the meaning of a text does not reside in the text, but is produced by the reader in relation to the text in question as well as the complex network of texts invoked in the reading process

Referential –

Style Over Substance – the transition from substance to style is linked to a transition from production to consumption

Metanarrative – overarching story

Hyperreality – the inability to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality

Simulation (sometimes termed by Baudrillard as ‘Simulacrum’) 

Consumerist Society –

Fragmentary Identities – the notion of separating, splitting up and dividing previously homogeneous groups such as, friends, the family, the neighbourhood, the local community, the town, the county, the country

Alienation –

Implosion – the process leading to the collapse of boundaries between reality and simulations

Cultural Appropriation –

Reflexivity –

The Love Box in Your Living Room (2022) is a pastiche of the work of documentary filmmaker, Adam Curtis, whilst also being a parody of the BBC’s history.

“in a postmodern world, surfaces and style become the most important defining features of the mass media and popular culture” (Strinati: 234)

Newsbeat delivers its reports and stories with a very distinct style that involves an informal tone, quick overviews, upbeat links, and audience participation yet, by utilising Stuart Hall’s reception theory, we can see that the listeners may not interpret the message in the way the producers originally intended. Hall’s encoding / decoding model of communication offers three hypothetical positions – the preferred, negotiated, and oppositional readings. The preferred reading is how the media producer wants the audience to respond, for example how the Newsbeat producers want their short news stories to engage with their audience and inform them about the latest events around the world. The negotiated reading, when the audience responds by accepting and rejecting certain elements, can also be applied to Newsbeat, wherein some listeners may appreciate the fast content but then turn to other sources for the full stories behind the headlines.

Orson Welles’ preferred reading of War of the Worlds was that it was a fictional radio play to be enjoyed by the audience, its negotiated reading was that some listeners who heard the introduction knew how inappropriate and misleading the play would be considering that it was broadcast in a time shortly after the First World War and on the brink of the Second World War. The oppositional reading was supposedly from those who missed the introduction and created a “wave of mass hysteria” as they thought the play was reality.

THEME	NEWSBEAT	WAR OF THE WORLDS
OWNERSHIP	BBC [British Broadcasting Company] public service broadcast, government, BBC board of trustees, first Director-General (DG) – Lord Reith, BBC multi-media/cross-media, transnational/transglobal, not a monopoly, concentration of ownership i.e. small number of firms who own TV and radio even though there are lots of different stations, left-wing libertarian ideology	CBS [Columbia Broadcasting System] private company, cross-media conglomerate, an example of concentration of ownership i.e. just a few companies own everything – oligopoly/cartel
HABERMAS	Transformation of the Public Sphere media is constantly changing, BBC keeping up, intention enshrined in their ethos – “to inform, educate, and entertain“, not to make money or profit – they put money back into programmes so quality is important, this fits into Habermas’ notion of transforming the public, the BBC is more paternalistic – what you need not what you want	most private businesses are aimed at making money – caring more about the profit than the public, populistic – more concerned with entertainment than education, commercial ethos – not in the ethos of Habermas
CHOMSKY	entertaining	some people can’t distinguish truth from fiction – universal grammar
CURRAN
SEATON
REGULATION	Ofcom [Office of Communications] BBC Charter governed by Parliament, license fee regulates BBC as well, BBC ethos – “to inform, educate, and entertain“, new technologies mean BBC faced with more competition	FCC [Federal Communications Commission] regulator for private business i.e. not necessarily in the public interest
AUDIENCE	Active audience participation, online accessibility	Passive The hypodermic needle theory suggests a media text can have a powerful and immediate effect on the passive audience. It would seem The War of the Worlds production supports this argument because so many terrified listeners, for example, “rushed out of their houses” to escape the “gas raid”
AUDIENCE (LAZARSFELD)		Two-Step Flow of Mass Communication
AUDIENCE (HALL)		Theory of Preferred Reading
NEW TECHNOLOGY	Newsbeat is on social media, internet radio and apps.
CROSS MEDIA CONVERGENCE
?
?

At the time of the original broadcast of War of the Worlds, radio was a new growing media platform, providing the public with far better entertainment than most were accustomed to. It had quickly risen in popularity during the late 1920s and early 1930s, with around 60% of America’s households owning radios, in what would be known as the ‘Golden Age’ of radio. Before this time, people solely received their information from newspapers

War of the Worlds was both directed and narrated by Orson Welles and was part of The Mercury Theatre on the Air segment on CBC, which helped target listeners who enjoyed fictional radio theatre and drama.

The program itself was designed like a typical news broadcasts, with orchestral music and fictional news reports that ‘interrupted’ the broadcast to talk about the supposed news of an alien invasion. There were no breaks for advertisements in the first half which added to the authenticity of the broadcast, and at 30:47, the radio falls completely silent, creating an incredibly ominous moment. All these factors had an effect that made it feel realistic towards the audience and The New York Times reported “a wave of mass hysteria” amongst radio listeners.

Many reported reactions of audiences at the time were widely varied and likely exaggerated with some people requiring “medical treatment for shock and hysteria”. The two-step flow model of communication provides some insight into the unfolding of the panic. For example, The New York Times 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”, proving that not everyone who believed the radio play had actually listened to the broadcast and instead heard from people within their social circle.

• The episode is famous for inciting a panic by convincing some members of the listening audience that a Martian invasion was taking place, though the scale of panic is disputed, as the program had relatively few listeners.
• “The War of the Worlds” was the 17th episode of the CBS Radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, which was broadcast at 8 pm ET on October 30, 1938
• The program’s format is a simulated live newscast of developing events. The first two-thirds of the hour-long play is a contemporary retelling of events of the novel, presented as news bulletins interrupting programs of dance music.
• “I had conceived the idea of doing a radio broadcast in such a manner that a crisis would actually seem to be happening,” said Welles, “and would be broadcast in such a dramatized form as to appear to be a real event taking place at that time, rather than a mere radio play.
• The radio program begins as a simulation of a normal evening radio broadcast featuring a weather report and music by “Ramon Raquello and His Orchestra” live from a local hotel ballroom
• Radio silence at 30:47

War of the Worlds can be considered in a historical context as it provides an interesting study of the power and influence of radio as a form during its early days of broadcasting. It is also useful to consider the product in a social, cultural and political context when considering audience responses to the programme. It was first broadcast on the eve of World War II and reflected fears of invasion in the US and concerns about international relations.

Newsbeat is a fifteen-minute news programme on BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra and the Asian Network, transmitting live over digital audio broadcast frequencies during most weekdays at 12:45 and 17:45, and shorter bulletins throughout the day at thirty-minute intervals. It is produced by BBC News but contrasts other BBC programmes by providing news specifically designed for an audience of teenagers and young adults.

Broadcasting since 1973, Newsbeat promises its younger listeners local and worldwide news with energetic presenters who ensure complex issues become easily accessible for their target audience by using informal speech, interactive games, and audience participation.

Newsbeat is a fifteen-minute news programme on BBC Radio 1, being transmitted live over digital audio broadcast frequencies during most weekdays at 12:45 and 17:45. It is produced by BBC News but contrasts other BBC programmes by providing news specifically designed for an audience of teenagers and young adults.

and edited by Danielle Dwyer.

It is recorded in the Broadcasting House in London and was originally launched on the 10th of September, 1973.

Potential Questions

_{Identify two strategies or techniques used by Radio 1 to attract a youth audience.
Explain the reason for each.
[4 marks]}

_{“Media audiences always respond to media products in the way that producers intended.”
To what extent do you agree with this statement?
[20 marks]}

_{Explain how historical contexts influence how audiences respond to media products.
[9 marks]}

^{‘The relationship between producers and audiences has changed over time.’
How far do you agree with this statement?
[20 marks]}

Data

The producers hope to appeal to their listeners by framing the content through an informal tone, quick overviews, upbeat links, and audience participation.

According to Ofcom, public service broadcasters are tasked with “delivering impartial and trusted news, UK-originated programmes and distinctive content”.

BBC Trust claims that Radio 1’s target audience is 15-29 year olds and it also provides some programmes for younger teenagers. However, the Radio Joint Audience Research suggests that the average listener is 30 years old.

According to Statista, Radio 1 reached just under 9 million listeners every week in the first quarter of 2020.

My Argument

I want to argue that the BBC’s strategy of creating news that is more appealing and accessible

1. good acting
2. good characters
3. an interesting plot
4. well-written screenplay
5. consistent themes

Broadcasting and Narrowcasting

Broadcasting – communicating with a large audience
Narrowcasting – communicating with a niche audience

The Ethos of the BBC

“to inform, entertain and educate“

Populism and Paternalism

Populism – giving people what they enjoy, even if it is harmful
Paternalism – advising people what is best, even if it is distasteful

Transformation of the Public Sphere

The transformation of time and space allows a connection between people and places worldwide

Jean Seaton

“public service regulation has secured the survival of a successful broadcasting industry, one which has become more significant economically and which has become an important exporter of programmes while continuing to discuss and mould national issues” – p341

“broadcasting in Britain – monopoly or duopoly – always depended on an assumption of commitment to an undivided public good” – p342

“successive reports developed the idea of broadcasting as a public service – catering for all sections of the community, reaching all parts of the country regardless of cost, seeking to educate, inform and improve, and prepared to lead public opinion rather than follow it.” – p343

“The media landscape has fallen under the control of a handful of global media conglomerates.” – p125

“profit driven motives take precedence.”

Media products often challenge the social and cultural contexts in which they are created. To what extent does an analysis of the Close Study Product Oh Comely support this view? [25 marks]

Oh Comely takes a radical stance on the social and cultural contexts in which it’s created. This can be seen through the way it opposes the male gaze theory. This theory, brought into fruition by Laura Mulvey in her paper Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, suggests that there is a sexualised way of looking at people that empowers men and objectifies women. Oh Comely, however, contrasts this view with the women featured in the magazine wearing appropriate clothes and pictured in natural poses, unlike the majority of reactionary magazines, in which the women wear revealing clothes and display their bodies to attract the male gaze.