SUMMARY

7.1 THE NEW MEDIA

What is the new media?

Media that uses digital technology, offering:

Greater *audience reach**

* Faster communication

Key features

1. Convergence – one device, many media functions

2. Interactivity – audiences participate

3. User power – users create & share content

4. Accessibility – instant, easy access

Is it revolutionary?

Cornford & Robins – evolutionary, not new (old media also interactive)

Boyle & Haynes – new media adds to old media, main change = speed

Digital divide → risk of a digital underclass

Attitudes: Curran & Seaton

Neophiliacs (positive):

* More choice

* More democracy

* More user control

Cultural pessimists (negative):

* More surveillance & data use

* Exposes people to crime

* Still controlled by big companies

* More fake news & misinformation

Control debates

* Neophiliacs: bottom-up, democratic

* Pessimists: anarchic, dangerous

* Andrew Keen: "dangerous" digital democracy

* Big corporations still profit & harvest data

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7.2 OWNERSHIP & CONTROL OF MEDIA

Who owns UK media?

5 billionaires own *80%**

* Big 6 global giants: Comcast, Disney, News Corp, etc.

* Media moguls like Rupert Murdoch

Trends

* Horizontal integration – buying competitors

* Media convergence – merging technologies

* Global conglomerates – multinational empires

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Marxism

* Media owned by ruling class (bourgeoisie)

Spreads *dominant ideology**

Creates *false class consciousness**

* Miliband – owners indirectly control content

* Example: Murdoch backing Tony Blair

Eval:

* Neo-Marxists: owners don’t micro-manage daily content

* Pluralists: owners want profit, not propaganda

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Neo-Marxism

* Media spreads ruling-class ideas indirectly

* Journalists from similar backgrounds → reproduce ideology

* GMG – most journalists = white, male, middle-class

* Gramsci – ideological hegemony

Eval:

* Some journalists oppose owners

* Pluralists: content shaped by market, not class

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Pluralism

* Media serves consumer demand

* Audience = active

* Owners want profit, not control

* The media can expose power

Eval:

* Marxists: false needs + illusion of choice

* “Dumbed-down” content

* Davies: journalism no longer neutral

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Postmodernism

* Media saturated society = more choice

* Baudrillard – hyperreality

* Levene – audience becomes producer (citizen journalism)

Eval:

* Citizen journalism depends on mainstream media

* Saturation can make audiences passive

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Public Service Media (BBC)

* State-funded, independent, public interest

* BUT run by elite → may reflect establishment values

* Has become more commercialised

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7.3 GLOBALISATION & MEDIA

Globalisation

Rising worldwide interconnectedness

* Hyper-globalists: positive

* Pessimistic globalists: negative

Strinati – media = global

McLuhan – global village

Flew – shared global outlook

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Cultural Imperialism

Western media dominates the world

* Global conglomerates export Western culture

* Advertising spreads Western consumerism

* Ritzer – McDonaldization

* McBride – Western culture replacing others

Cultural Homogenisation:

World becomes the same

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Cultural Hybridisation

Cultures mix, enrich each other

(e.g. Bollywood influences Hollywood)

Critique (Curran):

Western power still dominant, exploits others

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7.4 THE NEWS: SELECTION & PRESENTATION

The news is socially constructed

What’s reported depends on culture, economics, ideology

News Values (Galtung & Ruge)

Stories chosen if they are:

* Sudden

* Negative

* About elites/celebrities

* Simple

* Visual

* Familiar

* In elite countries

Later changes: more celebrity focus, visual appeal, advertiser-friendly

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Practical constraints

* Deadlines

* Cost limits

* Churnalism (Davies)

→ 80% of UK news = recycled

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Agenda-setting

News outlets decide what issues matter

Gatekeeping (Gans)

Editors decide what the public sees

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Evaluation

Marxists: news values = ruling class ideology

Pluralists: news reflects reality & critiques power

Citizen journalism: increases access, but not evenly worldwide

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News Regulation

IPSO replaced PCC after Leveson Inquiry

* News of the World hacked phones (incl. murder victim)

Arguments for regulation

* Stop abuse

* Protect privacy

* Ensure accountability

* BBC shows public service works

Arguments against

* Free press matters

* Enables scrutiny of power

* State control = censorship

Super-injunctions show elites still influence media coverage

7.5 Age, Class & Ethnicity

Media Representations of Childhood

Positive stereotypes

  • Cute – babies/toddlers portrayed as adorable.

  • Little angels – innocent and pure.

  • Prodigies – exceptionally talented children.

  • Consumers – targeted by advertisers ("pester power" – Chandler).

  • Accessories – celebrity children used to enhance parents' image.

Negative stereotypes

  • Little devils – naughty but often portrayed humorously.

  • Victims – vulnerable victims of crime or tragedy.

Media Representations of Youth

1. Youth Culture (Social Construction)

Media helps create youth identities through:

  • Fashion

  • Music

  • Subcultures

Pluralists: media gives young people what they want.

Critics: media actually creates youth culture.

2. Negative Portrayals

Youth often shown as:

  • Criminals

  • Troublemakers

  • Dangerous

Moral Panics (Cohen)

  • Mods and Rockers became folk devils.

  • Media exaggerated youth behaviour.

Evidence (Wayne et al.)

  • 82% of youth news stories linked young people with violent crime.

  • Youth viewpoints appeared in only 1% of reports.

Media Representations of the Elderly

Common stereotypes

  • Grumpy

  • A burden to society

  • Childlike (infantile)

  • Demented/confused

Positive stereotype

  • Second Childhood

    • Enjoying freedom and leisure.

    • "Golden age" (Lee).

Newman

Older people can also be represented as:

  • Leaders

  • Professionals

  • Authority figures

Key Trend

Media increasingly presents older people positively because:

  • They have spending power.

  • They have more leisure time.

Media Representations of Social Class

Upper Class / RichCelebrities

  • Wealthy people treated as celebrities.

  • Royal Family often used as an example (Nairn).

Overrepresented

  • Receive disproportionate media coverage.

Newman

Wealth portrayed as deserved rather than due to privilege.

Middle Class - Overrepresented

  • Property programmes.

  • Middle-class lifestyles.

Dominant

  • Most journalists and presenters are middle class.

  • Owen Jones: media is a "closed shop".

Anxiety

  • Often portrayed as worried about social decline and morality.

Working Class - Negative stereotypes - A Problem

  • Welfare cheats

  • Criminals

  • Chavs

  • Road men

Owen Jones: "Demonisation of the working class"

Unintelligent

  • "Dumbed down" content aimed at them.

  • Butsch: working-class men often portrayed as flawed.

Positive stereotype - salt of the Earth

  • Honest, hardworking, ordinary people.

Poverty - Marginalised

  • Focus on statistics rather than people.

McKendrick

  • Media rarely explores causes of poverty.

Entertainment

  • Poverty turned into entertainment.

  • Examples:

    • Benefits Street

    • Shameless

Media Representations of Ethnicity

Media focuses on:

  • Crime

  • Drugs

  • Gangs

  • Educational failure

Van Dijk - Common stereotypes

  • Criminality. Black people linked to: Gangs. Violence. Drugs

  • Folk Devils. Hall's "black mugger" example.

  • Threat. Ethnic minorities presented as dangerous. Poole found similar representations of Muslims.

  • Dependency. African countries portrayed as responsible for their own poverty.

  • Abnormality. White culture presented as normal.

  • Reporting often ethnocentric. Crimes against Black people underreported.

  • Lack of representation. Tokenism common, e.g a token black character

Evaluation

  • Improvements - More ethnic minority representation today.

  • Still negative Due to White-dominated media industry and Ethnocentrism.

  • Marxist view. Media creates scapegoats to distract from class inequality.

  • Pluralist view. Media reflects audience demand and existing prejudice.

7.6 Gender, Sexuality & Disability

Gender Traditional Representation

Men

  • Powerful

  • Independent

  • Dominant

Women

  • Emotional

  • Dependent

  • Subordinate

Women

Tuchman – Symbolic Annihilation

Women are: Ignored, Trivialised, Underrepresented

Ferguson – Cult of Femininity. Women's magazines promote:

  • Beauty

  • Domesticity

  • Childcare

  • Dependence on men

Wolf – Beauty Myth

  • Women judged by appearance.

  • Male Gaze. Women presented for male pleasure.

Connected Working Mothers

Women still shown as responsible for: Housework And Childcare

More Positive Representations

  • Transgressive Women. Career-focused, Independent, Successful

  • Gill – Sexuality Unveiled. Women appear sexually empowered. But is this Empowerment or objectification?

  • Independent Women. Increasing focus on: Success, Achievement, Self-development

Men

MenConnell – Hegemonic Masculinity

Ideal man:

  • Strong

  • Competitive

  • Successful

  • Heterosexual

  • Emotionally controlled

New Man

  • Fashion conscious

  • Emotional

  • Caring

Crisis of Masculinity

Traditional male roles weakened by:

  • Feminism

  • Economic change

Toxic Masculinity

  • Aggression

  • Dominance

  • Emotional suppression

Gauntlett.Media increasingly shows:

  • Caring fathers

  • Emotional men

Sexuality

  • Traditional Representation. Heterosexuality = normal. Homosexuality = abnormal

  • Batchelor. Heterosexuality is taken for granted.

  • Gay stereotypes. Campness. Effeminate. Flamboyant

  • HIV/AIDS. Strongly linked to gay men in 1980s media.

  • Temporary Phase. Lesbianism portrayed as temporary.

Disability (Barnes)Common stereotypes

  1. Pitiable/Pathetic

    • Helpless

    • Dependent

  2. Sinister

    • Disabled villains

  3. Super Cripple

    • Inspirational hero

  4. Laughable

    • Comic figure

  5. Own Worst Enemy

    • Disability shown as source of unhappiness

7.7 Relationship Between Media & Audiences

Functionalism

Media provides:

  • Socialisation

  • Social control

  • Social solidarity

Marxism

Althusser – Ideological state apparatus

Media:

  • Spreads ruling-class ideology.

  • Promotes capitalism.

False Class Consciousness

Media distracts workers from inequality.

Feminism

Media:

  • Reinforces patriarchy.

  • Objectifies women.

Neo Marxist. Gramsci – Hegemony

Media gains consent by:

  • Making inequality appear normal.

  • Promoting ruling-class values.

Media Effects Theories

Hypodermic Syringe Model

  • Media messages directly influence passive audiences.

  • Evidence. Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment and James bulgar

  • Evaluation

❌ Audience too passive.
❌ Artificial research.

Cultural Effects Model

  • Media influences attitudes gradually. Drip-Drip Effect

  • Repeated messages shape beliefs over time.

  • Hall, Audiences decode messages differently.

Reception Analysis (Hall)

  • Dominant Reading = Accept message.

  • Negotiated Reading = Partly accept.

  • Oppositional Reading = Reject message.

Two-Step Flow Model - Katz & Lazarsfeld

Media → Opinion Leaders → Audience

Opinion leaders:

  • Teachers

  • Politicians

  • Influencers

Selective Filter Model (Klapper)

  • Selective Exposure. Choose media matching beliefs.

  • Selective Perception. Interpret messages differently.

  • Selective Retention. Remember messages supporting beliefs.

Uses & Gratifications (McQuail)

People actively use media for:

  • DIVERSION, Escape from reality

  • PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Social interaction and shared experiences

  • PERSONAL IDENTITY, Reinforce values and shape identity

  • SURVEILLANCE, Gather information about the world

Essential Sociologists

Topic

Sociologist

Moral Panic

Cohen

Symbolic Annihilation

Tuchman

Cult of Femininity

Ferguson

Beauty Myth

Wolf

Sexuality Unveiled

Gill

Hegemonic Masculinity

Connell

Disability Stereotypes

Barnes

ISA

Althusser

Hegemony

Gramsci

Bobo Doll

Bandura

Encoding/Decoding

Hall

Two-Step Flow

Katz & Lazarsfeld

Selective Filter

Klapper

Uses & Gratifications

McQuail

Media Bias

Glasgow University Media Group

Quick Memory Aid

Age: Children = cute, Youth = dangerous, Elderly = burden/golden age
Class: Rich = celebrated, Middle = normal, Working class = demonised
Ethnicity: Crime, threat, invisibility, tokenism
Gender: Men = dominant, Women = objectified but increasingly empowered
Sexuality: Heterosexuality normalised, LGBTQ+ stereotyped but improving
Disability: Pitiable, sinister, super cripple
Audience: Passive (Hypodermic) → Active (Reception, Uses & Gratifications)