Events and Issues

Representation
Events
You will need TWO examples of events
Contemporary Events (within 18months)
Specifically discussing how different media
texts (e.g. newspaper story/TV coverage)
cover that same event

Events
How has the EVENT been REpresented
Language
Mode of address
Anchorage
Technical codes
Visual codes
Audio codes
Use of images
Events
The construction of the representation
Whose viewpoint is being shown
The process of selection
What has been selected and why?
The audience who will consume the text
Some newspapers like particular celebrities


Political Ideology
News Values
In 1965, media researchers Galtung & Ruge
analysed international news stories to find
common attributes.

They identified a list of news values common
across news bulletins and newspapers.
News Values
Negativity bad news is good news!
Familiarity local news is most relevant!
Immediacy new News is News!
Continuity people want to find out more about things in the public eye.
They want updates on existing News stories.
Amplification Is it a big event? Involves lots of people? Plane crash kills
one or Plane crash destroys city whats more exciting?
Unambiguity Is it clear an definite?
Uniqueness - Man Bites Dog is more exciting that dog bites man.
Simplicity a simple story is easier to read.
Personalisation human interest draws on heart-strings.
Predictability did people think there would be a riot and there was?
People love knowing they were right!
Unexpectedness Surprise!
Elite Nations / People Celebs, Royals, US and UK.
Task
Look at the following media texts in your groups and
answer the following:

Who is audience for each one?
Who is in control of the text? Whose ideas and values are
expressed through the representations?
What mode of address is being used?
What ideologies / messages might be contained within
the representation?
How does this event show NATIONAL IDENTITY?
Mode of Address
Mode of address refers to the way in which a
media text speaks to its target audience in
order to encourage them to identify with it.
Newspapers often construct their
presentation to reflect what they imagine is
the typical identity of their readers.
Mode of Address
The way a media text speaks to its audience can
depend on various assumptions the producers make
about the people watching; what type of people are
they e.g. old, young, etc.? Who does the text want to
attract? What is the relationship between the
audience and text e.g. is the programme intended to
be funny, serious, informative, emotionally moving,
etc.? Furthermore, the mode of address it uses may
lead audience members to assume a particular attitude
towards the text, such as paying attention, taking it
seriously or light-hearted entertainment.

Mode of Address
What mode of address do you think The Sun
uses?

Use the handout to help you to complete the
next task.
Narrative
Construction
Structure
Key codes such as action and enigma


Start

What are we studying today?
What do all these things have in
common?
What would you like to know about
media representation of events?
Representation of Events
Focus on the representation of TWO events

From at least two different media texts

Enables you to demonstrate an
understanding how events are represented
across media.


Events - definition
Event = something that occurs or is about to
occur and is of interest to an audience.
Events come in a range of shapes and forms
and can be local, national or international.
E.g. the Royal Wedding, the Olympic Games or
a pop festival. International events may
include wars and global recession.
Think of five current events you could
explore?
Ideology
The ideology of the text in which the event
features right-wing or left-wing newspaper?
Royalist or anti-royalist?
Is it clear what the text says about the event?
Is there evidence of bias in the representation
how do the visual, sound and linguistic
codes achieve this?
Socialist/ Left-Wing
Rights for workers and
minorities are key.
Believe the rich
benefit from
exploiting the poor
and that this system
should end. Pro
revolution.
Liberal
Pretty middle of the
road. Tend to offer
the most unbiased,
objective perspective.
Believe it is important
to represent people
from all minority
groups and countries.
Conservative /
Right of middle
Uphold traditional
values about
Britishness, class,
gender etc.: anti-
Labour and Lib Dems.
Dont like Britain being
part of EU.
Wary of immigration.
Pro-Capitalist.
Nationalist / Right-
Wing
Incredibly patriotic.
Dislike change highly
supportive of
traditional values:
anti-abortion, anti-
same sex marriage,
heavily opposed to
immigration. Believe
Britain should be
Britain for (White)
British people.
Socialist Worker
Morning Star
Daily Mail
The Sun
Daily Telegraph
Financial Times
The Voice
Independent
Guardian
The Mirror
The Metro
Evening Standard
Daily Star
i
The Times
Intertextuality
How is the event presented?
Language - Critical? Adulatory?
Mode of address?
Anchorage?
Use of images?
Construction
Events in media representations are
constructed they are mediated by editors,
journalists, graphic designers, photographers.
A football cup final will have lots of camera
positioning producers will decide where the
camera is pointing and which is to be used.
Music, slow motion, and video filters can
enhance the images and make the players
seem heroic and superhuman.
Selection
Whatever is chosen means other things are
omitted.
Someone makes that decision who? Why?
If a peaceful student march has a brief
skirmish between one or two protestors and
the police how might A) a student
newspaper think about it B) A right-wing
tabloid?
Focus
Headlines and images will direct our response
to certain aspects of the text and push us
towards assumptions and conclusions about
the event concerned.
Who is interviewed? Who is not?
Who is invited to commentate?
Audience
Opinion leaders? Do they influence how
audiences think or feel about an event? Two
step flow theory
The audience themselves types of reading?
Stuart Hall? encoding/ decoding preferred,
negotiated and oppositional readings.
Consider how these two texts have
represented this event.
The Suns Target Audience
Male - heavy coverage of sport, particularly football; page 3 and
other sexist portrayals of women). There is some content that is
woman friendly (celebrity content).
16+ - simplistic coverage, celebrity content, titillating stories.
White British possible negative representations of ethnic
minorities, xenophobic? or nationalistic attitude? Patriotic stories.
Working Class/C2DE price (40p), very little serious political
coverage, focus on show business/sensational stories, 20%of the
paper about sport with an emphasis on football, the size is
convenient.
Fairly right wing political views (political content).
Value and Attitudes: Mainstreamers, Strugglers and Resigned.
Illustrated through advertising.


Current Events
What events have occurred over the last
18months that you could use as case studies
in the exam?
Events
14 February 2013: Oscar Pistorius is charged with murder. The South African athlete is charged
with the fatal shooting of his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, in an incident in his home in
Pretoria. Murder trial in March 2014

8 April: Baroness Thatcher, prime minister from 1979 to 1990, dies aged 87 following a stroke.
The UKs only woman prime minister, Lady Thatcher won three general elections as Conservative
leader.

22 May: Lee Rigby, a Drummer of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, is killed near the Royal Artillery
Barracks in Woolwich, southeast London. He is knocked down with a car, then attacked with
knives and cleavers in an attempt to decapitate him. His two assailants, Michael Adebolajo and
Michael Adebowale, are wounded by police gunfire before being arrested. Murder trial in March
2014

28 October: The biggest trial into phone hacking allegedly conducted by the now-defunct News
of the World begins at the Old Bailey in London. Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, former
editors of the tabloid, are among the eight defendants, who are charged with a range of offences
including conspiring to access voicemail messages illegally.

2014


- Floods in Britain
- Winter Olympics
- Russia / Ukraine crisis

The Floods
Feb 2014
TASK
You will need TWO examples of Contemporary Events (within 18months) from
different media texts (e.g. newspaper story/TV coverage)

When discussing events in the exam you MUST use and reference SPECIFIC
examples, e.g. The Sun represented the Royal wedding aswhereas PBS
news

Find and comment on 2 examples of events . Discuss the following:

Who is audience for each one?
Who is in control of the text? Whose ideas and values are expressed
through the representations?
What mode of address is being used?
What ideologies / messages might be contained within the
representation?


Representation of Issues

This is slightly more tricky than looking at Gender, Age,
Ethnicity or Nationality as you are analysing how the media
represents an idea rather than a group of people.

As always the exam will require you to look at various different
representations across a range of different media.

The best place to start is to look at Soap Operas on TV. These
are often issue led programmes that offer occasionally
stereotypical representations and sometimes thought
provoking or even controversial representations.


What is an issue?
A point or matter of discussion and debate.
Likely provoke strong reactions and conflict
with people arguing intensely held opposing
views.
Often subjective without factual rights and
wrongs or clear resolution.
Long term and controversial
Global, local centered on age, gender or
ethnicity individuals, professional bodies, the
state and commercial sector.
From there you should be able to find a variety of different types of
media which represent the same issue.

Examples of Issues to research and deconstruct could be
Body image
Substance abuse
Violent crime
Religion
Celebrity Culture
Political issues
Relationships

The exam will ask you to refer to two different examples. This
links take you to an example, remember you can use these
examples if the representation of issues comes up in your exam.
Representation of mental health

Issues
The media construct representations of issues
and indeed may be partly responsible for
creating the issue itself.


Task - 10 mins identify some issues you could
examine.
Sexism and misogyny in the media
Objectification of women in mens magazines
Rep of women in tabloid newspapers
Body image and womens mags: Size zero
Sexualisation of images in young womens
magazines
Violence in computer games
Issues and audience theory
Tend to be to do with the following

Representation: The concern that the treatment of a
particular group in the real world is negatively affected
by rep
Audience: The fear that the audience often defined
by age might be negatively affected by the media
New technology: the development of new forms of
communication used mostly by young people cause
anxiety
Lead to Moral Panics
Body image and beauty
We have become a society obsessed with the
way we look and what constitutes beauty.
The definition of what is considered beautiful
has narrowed and focuses solely on being
white, thin and perfectly formed.
The image of body image is represented
across a range of media texts including

Unrealistic
images of
perfection for
both men and
women in
magazines
Gossip
magazines
where
imperfections
in the bodies
of celebrities
are
highlighted
and ridiculed
Documentaries raising awareness of
the issue
Newspaper
images of
catwalk
models that
are a size
zero
Online Media
articles
commenting
on the
concern of
the beauty
cult that
means only
thin is
beautiful
Advertisem
ents for
products
that aim to
make us
more
beautiful
less
wrinkled
and more
flawless
Body Image
Body image as an issue is represented across a
range of media texts
How the image is represented depends on the
audience
In magazines women are sold an idealised
version of themselves and aspire to attain the
unobtainable
Body Image
Some programmes tackle the problem of body
image from a range of points of view
It may be through plastic surgery or general
dissatisfaction with body size
Most of these programmes are aimed at a
female audience

Body Image
Task
Find a documentary that tackles the problem of body
image

Watch 5 mins and analysis How have they represented
the issue Selection, Construction, focusing
Who is audience?
Who is in control of the text? Whose ideas and values are
expressed through the representations? eg. BBC?
Research remit and values
What mode of address is being used?
What ideologies / messages might be contained within
the representation?

Body Image
BBC3
BBC Three offers audiences fresh perspective on body image with
new season of documentaries

Following the continued success of factual programming on the
channel, Zai Bennett, Controller of BBC Three, today unveiled The
Body Beautiful, a new season of programmes exploring the topic
of body image.

Body image is a big issue for our audience on BBC Three so in The
Body Beautiful - a challenging and penetrating season of
programmes - asking whether changing your body can really make
you happy. Zai Bennett, Controller, BBC Three
Date: 06.08.2012 Last updated: 18.03.2014 at 18.03
Category: BBC Three; Factual
Body image is a big issue for our audience
on BBC Three so in The Body Beautiful - a
challenging and penetrating season of
programmes - were asking whether changing
your body can really make you happy.
Zai Bennett, Controller, BBC Three
Heat magazine
Constant focus on body
image

Male gaze

Women are judged by men

Focuses on imperfections
consumerism?

Questioning women to be
unhappy

Take heart that celebrities
have similar issues
Representation of an Issue The
Sexualisation of Children

This looked at concern over how overly sexualised images of
women may adversely affect young children

Various music videos Rihannas S and M; Shakira She Wolf; Miley
Cyrus Cant be Tamed

Beyonces Who Rules The World (Girls) all promoting this as a
positive role model for children

News articles from BBC website Dont Sexualise Children and
Daily Mail How Pop became Porn (both outraged at the negative
effect of such videos)


Size Zero/ Body Image
and
Royals/ Privacy Debate
http://ms1slumdog.blogspot.co.uk/search/lab
el/Representation%20of%20Issues

Good answer
Specific examples to illustrate how images,
language, visual codes and modes of address
construct the representation of an issue.