Assess the Pluralist theory of the media and ownership
Wasim Mohammed 441588 Assess the Pluralist theory of the media and ownership The mass media is the means by which messages and images are communicated to a mass audience, it does this through its various Mass Communication Technologies (MCTs), for instance the Internet is a very powerful and influential MCT communicating worldwide. MCTs educate, persuade and inform as well as entertain their audience. Media is geographically dispersed and has no limits due to its global domination. It is also culturally diverse and socially mixed. Pluralists believe that the mass media is reflective of social reality, and acts as a 'mirror'. They state that it has a functional role in meeting the demands of its mass audience, and thus owes a duty to the people. Marxists on the other hand would argue that the media constructs desires and creates social reality. In other words it is a sculptor of a worldview and distorts social reality which is based on exploitation of a powerless majority, thus it is an ideological tool of the powerful bourgeoisie and reflects their interests. Over eighty percent of the media is owned by Trans National Corporations. But does ownership have any effect on the media coordinators? According to pluralists the answer is simply no. They back this by highlighting the fact that power is dispersed within society and that different pressure and interest groups
Censorship in 21st century
Censorship in 21st century Censorship is the control of speech and other forms of human expression. In many cases, it is exercised by governing bodies. The visible motive of censorship is often to stabilize or improve the society that the government would have control over. What is censored may range from specific language to entire concepts and it may be influenced by value systems and may cause offence to some social and religious groups. It is most commonly applied to acts that occur in public circumstances, and the reason governments want it is to suppress ideas that may appear violent and immoral that may effect people's opinion of human ways of life, that has been expressed in the media and also influence children to behave in such a manner as this. This has produced controversy to people who believe in the Freedom of information Act, people believe that some things that are being banned are human expressions that should be address to the whole public. In discussing how children and young adults are being effected by this media, they have been considered susceptible to the harmful media of cinema and radio that contains violence, pornography and improper language, creating a moral panic proving that every ounce of child life has been corrupted, making these kids less innocent than they appeared to be before this media was aired. A strong influence would be through
Outline the three main approaches to Audience Studies assessing the strengths and weaknesses.
Outline the three main approaches to Audience Studies assessing the strengths and weaknesses. The study of audience refers to the analysis of individuals or groups of people whom media products are directed at. Originally the term audience was used to describe a group of people gathered to hear a speech, lecture or debate but the meaning has since been extended to cover readers of books and viewers of television, cinema, etc. There are three main approaches to analysing audience behaviour. The first approach is the Effects model, which is also often called the hypodermic model. The effects model is an approach that emphasises on the effect media has on its audience. The basic assumption is that the mass media have a direct, immediate and influential effect on its audience, and it is argued this effect is often negative. In particular there has been great concern about the possible harmful effects the media has on young people. Mediums such as cinema, pop music, television and radio have been blamed for various social problems concerning young people, especially violent behaviour. An example being the argument that films like Reservoir Dogs are to blame for murders and attacks that have occurred. The effects model is closely linked with The Frankfurt School, which was a group of German theorists who studied mass culture in the 1920's and 1930's. The Frankfurt School
There Should be no Censorship in the UK. Assess the Arguments For and Against this View
There Should be no Censorship in the UK. Assess the Arguments For and Against this View (20) There are many types of censorship which exist, ranging from the 'old fashioned' type of censorship of communist governments towards the media, right through to today's democratic censorship of television, the press, and the arts. Sex, violence, and censorship are all emotive subjects, conjuring many views from people of all walks of life. In this essay I am going to be examining the aspects of censorship and the different views towards it. Many people believe that censorship is very aesthetic, inhibiting the truth and reality of artistic talent and everyday life. They believe that everyone should have the right to decide for themselves what to watch or read and that no one has the right to make up somebody else's mind for them. However, when points such as those just stated are made, we must remember that sometimes the maturity levels of some individuals are not fully developed, such as that of children, to enable them to make the choice for themselves as to whether a topic such as violence is acceptable to be promoted in films etc... Some would argue for censorship that children have the right to be protected from sources of adult material until they are old enough to understand properly and make up their own minds. They believe such sources can corrupt their minds and new
Discuss the influence of the media and indicate what this says about us as individuals and society collectively.
Discuss the influence of the media and indicate what this says about us as individuals and society collectively. Bessant and Watts noted Marxist and feminist writers claiming the mass media conceals inequality and exploitation (2002, p.392). Media broadcasters are private companies after all and they often share similar views with other businesses. Consequently the related reports may be distorted or lack the opposite view which lowers the credibility of the articles. Furthermore advertisements and other media messages have been intentionally shaped to send a very specific message. As Bessant and Watts (2002) postulated, "The interests of owners and managers (of media companies) seems to have some influence in the reporting of those elements of the 'news' that directly involve business interests" (p.393). As such the actual intentions of these owners and managers directly affect the form of influences such media will cause. On the contrary Bessant and Watts (2002) stated that "...the modern mass media enhances people's access to great works of art" (p.392). For individuals and the society media provides the opportunity to observe famous art/literature/sites indirectly but with less cost. For example people around the world may appreciate natural wonders from reading the National Geographic magazine. In the modern society individuals interact with media on a multiple basis
Stereotypes in Advertising
Stereotypes in Advertising We have all seen the Max Factor commercials and indeed other commercials for feminine beauty products. We can identify one basic similarity between them all: the young, successful and beautiful woman they all portray. We sometimes see 'her' at a business meeting, sometimes with her perfect children and husband; but always looking radiant and totally relaxed. These advertisements typically end with the beautiful woman telling us how the product advertised has changed her life. What the advertisers are trying to do is send out and image and promote the idea that by using the product you will become like the woman we have just seen. This is a basic aim of advertisers in the hope of creating more sales. They hope that their image and their message will, through repetition, become imprinted in women's minds, so that people will be compelled to buy a certain product through of process of subconscious recognition and association. Advertisers can achieve this by the skilful use Stereotypes. I have already explored the stereotype of the young beautiful businesswoman with the perfect family, but there are hundreds more. A stereotype is a ready-made image of a person or relationship that is instantly recognisable. It is a positive image that is used to endorse products. Because they are instantly recognisable, it means advertisers can save huge amounts of
How do Little Britain and Shameless use stereotypes to create comedy?
How do Little Britain and Shameless use stereotypes to create comedy? A stereotype is a reflection of ideas that people hold about others that are different to them. They can be words or phrases, a picture, or words and pictures. The picture created by the stereotype can be recognised by others who share the same view. For example, "all intelligent people wear glasses". Stereotypes are used in comedy because they provide a quick, recognisable identity for a group or individual that is noticeable for what they are, or what they believe in. Due to the short nature of comedy sketches, stereotypes are excellent to use. They provide a burst of instantly understandable comedy entertainment. An example of film stereotypical comedy is 'The Godfather'. All Italian- Americans are gangsters. We think of Italians as having Mafia connections or organised crime links. Another example of stereotypes in media is 'Eastenders', which stereotypes cockney Londoners. In British television comedy, 'Kevin and Perry' portray teenage stereotypes. Such as teenagers being argumentative and not caring about their appearance. In addition to this, a promiscuous teenage stereotype is also used. 'One Foot in the Grave', is another British comedy that uses many stereotypes such as old people. Showing the elderly, for example as nosy and grumpy. To demonstrate how British television comedies use
Alcohol Advertising and Youth: In the article Alcohol Advertising and Youth: A Measured Approach, published by The Journal of Public Health Policy, researchers are investigating the issue of alcohol industries advertising more prominently
Alcohol Advertising and Youth: A Measured Approach In the article "Alcohol Advertising and Youth: A Measured Approach," published by The Journal of Public Health Policy, researchers are investigating the issue of alcohol industries advertising more prominently to youth (ages 12-20) and less to adults (ages 21 and older, legal US drinking age). The social problem is that more youth (ages 12-20) are developing a greater interest in underage drinking which is in turn causing more alcohol related problems such as alcoholism in younger aged people. "Since its founding, CAMY has published 13 reports on youth exposure to alcohol advertising on television and radio, in magazines and on the Internet between 2001 and 2003.This article summarizes CAMY's methods and findings, and shows how these data are being used to inform policy debates over youth exposure to alcohol advertising in the United States," (Journal of Public Health Policy Vol.26 NO.3 Para 7). The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, also known as CAMY, is located at Georgetown University. CAMY was developed to track the marketing practices of the alcohol industries. Researchers have found that alcohol companies spent almost 5.5 billion in advertising through television, print and radio ads. "Some exposure of young people to alcohol advertising is inevitable, but it defies common sense for an advertiser to expose the
In discussing using secondary research to answer the question of Does internet usage affect the way people aged 34 and under behave? and what was learned in the process, it is safe to conclude that secondary research is the best way to appro
Mini Project Introduction: Quantitative research is a process of gathering and analyzing numerical data. A common way that this is done, is through secondary research. But before any research can be done, there must be a research question. For example, does internet usage affect the way people aged 34 and under behave? It is also helpful to hypothesize what the outcome may be, in this case, that internet usage does in fact affect the way people aged 34 and under behave. Methodology Secondary research is the process of gathering information from in a way that does not involve gathering new data. All information comes from sources that have collected the data previously (Savage 2). There are three types of secondary research, Personal, Official Documents, and Internal resources. Personal resources are things such as pictures and blogs, Internal resources are sources that companies get to do research for them, and the product is an internal resource, and data mining. Official Documents are everything from internet sources to mass media to private government documents. The sources that were found for the research question stated are both official document sources (Savage 5). The first source is from Statistics Canada which falls under government documents, and the other source is from a journal which would also be considered a government document. The process of gathering
The Effects of Thin Models On Today’s Teenagers
The Effects of Thin Models on Today's Teenagers The media's obsession with painfully thin fashion models has supposedly contributed to the growth in eating disorders among young girls, according to the British Medical Association. There are an estimated 60,000 people in Britain with eating disorders. 20% of these die, 40% never recover and 90% are female. The report brought out by the association says the models and actresses in the 1990s commonly had body fat levels as low as 10% - the average for a healthy woman is 22% to 26%. Is it because of this that children as young as 5 or 6 are being treated for eating disorders? Women's magazines have been under attack for years, accused of promoting unrealistic body images of exceptionally thin models. Should they be made to have "more realistic body shapes" or are thin models what fashion needs to stay at the top? Editor for Vogue, Alexandra Shuman is for the argument that today's models are not to blame for the many cases of eating disorders among obsessed teenagers. She says that all they are doing is showing images of woman they regard as interesting or beautiful or fashionable, and that they are not actually saying that you have to be like it. Premier, the London-based model agency that represents supermodels Naomi Campell and Claudia Schiffer also agree that the models are not to blame. They say that women who buy the