SUMMARY (not complete)

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