The BBC also produced another April Fools more recently in April 2008, this was a lot more subtle than the 1957 hoax. The reason for it being less prominent is because the public are more educated and have more knowledge of the other cultures. The public are a lot more media savvy too, most people know that things printed by the press are often exaggerated and are sometimes even wholly opinionated. This creates a valid argument for the public actually being in control because of the increasing resistance of the media. However some people still believed the hoax, this could be down to the respected specialist in wildlife, Terry Jones, used to present the programme. It also probably had something to do with the believable CGI used to create the action of the penguins flying. CGI and photo software are often used in the media back up the story that the media is publishing.
Another thing to look at when discussing this issue is the changing opinion of the tabloid press and of the public. Do public views change after the tabloid views change? or do the tabloid opinions change following the public's? After a little bit of research I have decided that the tabloids encourage the public to change their minds on certain subjects/people. Tabloids are targeted at the working socio-economic class with little education and knowledge of the surrounding world, the average tabloid reading age is 51/2, this tells us a lot about the audience straigh away. 'Educatio est omnium efficacissima forma rebellionis' is a quote which is scripted in latin which I came across on an internet blog. Translated in English it is, 'Education is the most effective form of rebellion'[1], I thought that this was very relevant to my point. The tabloid press in particular can publish less acurate information because their readers find it less easy to differentuate between fact and fiction. For example: The 'Madeline McCann' case in 2007.
The story of Madeline McCann was publisized throughout the world with the help of posters, maximum exposure time on the news, television programmes on the disappearance and stories in local newspapers, tabloid newspapers and broadsheet newspapers. The parents of Madeline McCann encouraged the media to broadcast as much information as they possibly could to help find their daughter. Perhaps the media were controlled by the McCann parents by getting the information they wanted out to the public via the media. However what about when the media turned on them? The McCann parents were accused of killing their daughter by the tabloids, without any evidence. A lot of people believed this story, although, by then a lot of information and different sides of the story had been published, so it gave the public something to decide about by themselves. When the public lose interest in a highly profitable story, the tabloids tend to add information and different opinions to the story, to keep interest.
When a group of people are being represented by the media, they are being presented with a one sided opinion, usually of the producer of a film, journalist or advertiser etc. The media create stereotypes, usually they are negative and can often cause offence to the stereotyped group. For example, during war the media will present the opposing country/group negatively whilst presenting themselves as positively as possible. They use different words and phrases that mean the same thing but have different connotations, to create mass dislike of the opposing side, such as: collateral damage - murdering innocent persons. This could be classed as propaganda, indoctrinating the public into believing that the opposing side are inhuman, evil and perhaps even the cause of all the wrong in the world.
Less serious representation is also used in the media: music, magazines, film, television and advertising etc. create strong stereotypes for the public to adhere to and create their personal identity from this. This gives a massive advantage to the media when they are selling services and products (such as films and magazines) as they now know their target audiences inside and out, because they created them. However a counter argument to this, is the uses and gratification theory. This states that the reciever uses the media to their own advantage, choosing whether to use the media for: diversion, surveillance, personal identity or personal relationships and that the media is not in control of the public at all.
Many people believe that film classification and censorship is just another way for the media to control us. The British Board Classification predominently classifies but also censors all films for Britain. They group films into different bands that are easy for the public to follow, films are seperated into these restrictions according to content: U, PG, 12, 12A, 15, 18 and R18, the BBFC have to look at different social issues when classifying film including: politics, sexual content, violence, blasphemy, politics, taste and moral panic. The restrictions are mandatory and it is illegal for people under the age of the restriction to see the classified film.
However everybody has different opinions on what is in good taste, what is acceptable sexual content and also people who aren't religious may find that blasphemy isn't that much of a problem. Some people would argue that we should be able to decide what is acceptable for ourselves. The BBFC would argue that people and society as a whole need to be protected from certain messages that films send out so censorship and classification is a must. The BBFC recently added a new classification band to the latter which gives the public some control. The 12A band lets parents decide whether the content is suitable for their younger children to see.
Advertising companies have a lot of power within the media, they have the ability to make the consumer believe that the product they are promoting is vital to a better and/or easier life. The magic bullet theory fits well into the advertising issue, the theory states that messages are fed into the minds of the passive recievers via the advertisments from the advertiser. Often when a product is advertised a utopian type lifestyle is created for the product to feature within, this subconsciously makes the receiver think that the product is vital for this lifestyle to happen and if they buy the promoted item/service they will have a similar quality of life.
Celebrity endorsement works in advertising because it forces the audience associate a particular celebrity's reputation with a brand/product, if the receiver thinks that the reputation of the celebrity fits into who they want to be/ their personal identity they are more likely to buy the product. Celebrity endorsement is in the power of the reciever because they choose whether they like or dislike that celebrity and whether they want them as a role-model. The ultimate descision is always down to the consumer whether to buy the product or not, but when a passive viewer is targetted with constant messages it is difficult for them not to respond.
From the information that I have gathered, I have decided that the media is most definitely in control. We believe that we are in control because the media seem to be presenting us with choices. I think that the media want us to believe that we are in control because if we felt we were being controlled, we are likely to rebel. Language in advertising shows that they want to persuade us to buy a product/service by being friendly rather than seeming powerful by forcing the consumer to buy the product, modal verbs are used a lot to persuade such as should. The recent 12A classification band is another example of the media making it seem as if we are in control. It makes the parents feel like they are in control. The reciever always has the ultimate descision whether to believe information the media are giving to us. Perhaps because we are so used to the media being there to provide us with information, for such a small price instead of us having to find it out for ourselves, it has caused us, as a nation to be lazy.
[1] ^ http://ladyofshalottstragedy.blogspot.com/2006/10/does-media-control-us.html
