Sociology

Media 8
 Differe
nt Explanations O
processes o f the
f selection
presentatio and
n of Media
Content
• Barrat calls the explanations of the processes
involved in the selection and presentation of media
content “the social context of Media production”.

• Selection and presentation of media content Def

Various ways in which media content is chosen
(selection) and given (presented) to an audience in
order to influence their understanding of an issue,
idea or group.

• Media content Socially Constructed why?

Because it involves the selection of some types of
info for presentation in particular ways
• Fenton News is the life blood of a Democracy it’s
imp because it contributes the vital resources for the
process of info gathering, deliberation and action.

• News & current affairs journalism should work in

the public interest and the role of the journalists and
editors should be to monitor, to hold account to
those with power & to facilitate and maintain
discussion, debate and critique.

• Williams Journalism provides citizens with

necessary info they need to participate in political
life and to make informed decisions abt policies &
political parties.
① Economic Factors

• Production and Distribution costs (esp for Old

Media) influence factors such as News Gathering.

• E.g. a National Media Company has more resources

than a local one

• However, both companies use agencies such as the

Press Association or Reuters, which collect and
sell stories collected from a variety of sources to
lower the cost of reporting
• Peters in terms of distribution networks, some
companies such as BSkyB in the UK, use their
position as Gate Keepers to distribute info and
programme services of their own media group and
hence limiting free access.

• Production Values Relate to the quality of the

product presented to an audience

• E.g. BBC spends more on it’s content than small

satellite TV stations which is why it produces varied
content with higher production values.
• Programming costs vary b/w different forms of media
and this can affect how content is selected and
presented.

• E.g. Rewriting Corporate press releases is much

cheaper than than investigating reporting.

• The Delivery of some physical media such as

Newspapers, magazines and books also places limits
on content.

• E.g. Print Media has space restrictions, with

additional costs related to the production of extra
pages that don’t apply to New Media such as Websites
• Technological Costs Affects both production and
Distribution

• A Global Media company can select programming

from a wide range of sources

• Individuals producing small websites or blogging abt

events in their local community don’t have such a
wide range of sources.

• Competition b/w Media can affect the selection

and presentation of Media in 2 ways:
i. Intra Medium Competition Involves companies
working within the same medium capturing or
losing different kinds of content

ii. Inter Medium Competition Involves content

being tailored to the strengths of a particular
medium. E.g. music is packaged differently on radio
than on websites, where a visual dimension can be
added.

• More forms of privately owned media rely on

advertising income in order to make profit they
are unlikely to behave in ways that upset their
principal advertisers
• Chomsky Documented how pressure from US
advertisers resulted in articles and programmes being
withdrawn or “amended”.

• Lee & Solomon They point out to examples of

pressures from advertisers e.g. Domino’s Pizza canceled
its advertising on Saturday Night Live because of the
show’s alleged Anti Christian message.

② Political Factors

• In Democratic societies, political factors may not have a

direct influence on the selection and presentation of
media content but still many Govt’s lay down basic rules
governing acceptable & unacceptable content
• E.g. China operates strict censorship rules across
a range of media and subjects news outlets are
banned from mentioning events such as the 1989
Tiananmen Square Democracy Protests and web
content unacceptable to the state is also blocked.

• Democratic Govt’s rarely use Direct Media

Censorship except in “National Emergencies”

• However, various forms of Covert Censorship often

occur.

• Many Govt’s including UK and USA don’t allow state

secrets to be published
• Media content is regulated through various legal
rules covering areas such as publishing,
broadcasting and advertising.

• Media Content is also covered by Legal Restrictions

on what can and can’t be published relating to things
such as :

 Copyright Whether or not something like a book,

song or film can be freely copied and distributed.

 Libel What can be legally written abt someone

③ Ideological Factors

• The Marxist and Pluralist ideas abt Media provide a

context for understanding ideological factors related to
the selection and presentation of Media Content.

• News isn’t simply something that waits to be discovered.

• What counts as News is socially constructed and

determined an event only becomes a news when
someone with a power to apply this label decided it’s
newsworthy.

• This is determined by ideological rules that classify

events in particular ways as “News” or “Not News”
• These rules are guided by a set of Organizational demands
or News Values.

 News Values

• Chibnall News values is the criteria of relevance which

guide reporters choice and construction of newsworthy
stories, learnt through a process of informal professional
socialization..

• These values are determined by organizational needs that

translate into the professional codes used by editors and
journalists to guide their assessment of media content.

• Particular news values directly influence how and why

certain types of info are selected and presented as news.
  Theories
1. Pluralists

• News values are evidence of consumer choice and

diversity because they reflect the demands of the
audience.

• E.g. People who read the Time of India don’t want pics
of topless women on trivial stories abt minor
American celebrities

• This idea can be extended to all forms of Media

Content E.g. the news values of Perezhilton.com
reflect an audience demand for celebrity trivia
• Williams Pluralists argue that news media
construct a hierarchy of significant events that
occur.

• Pluralists see the role of journalists as

distinguishing b/w what matters most and what
matters least and pluralists see the presentation of
news as presentation of the truth.

• Modern Newspapers have 2 goals:

i. To hold those in power and authority to account
ii. To provide space for competing views, even those
that a lot of people find offensive and objectionable.
• According to Jones ( Pluralists author & BBC radio
correspondent) radio news reporting is fair,
neutral and balanced, it doesn’t take sides, gives all
views equal emphasis.

• Pluralists Media has a strong tradition of

Investigative Journalism which often targets those
in power.

• E.g. two reporters on the Washington Post forced

the president of the USA- Richard Nixon to resign
after they exposed him for authorizing the bugging
of his opponent’s offices in the Watergate Building in
1972
• Newspapers in the UK have also uncovered corruption in
high places e.g. The Parliamentary Expenses Scandal of
2009 was exposed by journalists from the Daily Telegraph
and The Sunday Telegraph which led to the criminal
prosecution & imprisonment of many members of the
Parliament.

2. Marxists

• News values are evidence of how audiences are shaped

and manipulated  they learn to want whatever the
media decides is newsworthy

• News values are shaped by the ideological demands of

owners this can be linked the argument that while owner
intervention is subtle and indirect.
• Owners offer “Guidance” and “Discussion” with
senior editors on issues such as hiring journalists
who reflect the owners views.

• News values are linked to the political and economic

beliefs of owners and they determine the overall
political stance of a newspaper, magazine, TV
channel or website this is linked to how media
producers influence audience demand
 Agenda Setting

• Neo Marxist concept which argues that decisions

made by the editors and owners abt what and
what not to report set the agenda for how the
general public receives and perceives news.

• In Media org’s, editors are responsible for ensuring

that the news agenda set by the owners is followed.

• The editor is also responsible for making sure that

journalists understand and conform to
organizational news values.
• Agenda Setting concerns decision abt what and
what not to report.

• While a media company relied on advertising for

it’s profitability, agenda setting also includes
keeping advertisers happy.

• In the UK, the closure of the News of the World in

2011 was partly prompted by the withdrawal of
advertising it suffered after it was discovered that
journalists from the newspaper had hacked the
mobile phone of a murdered school girl
 Legitimating Values

• Editors play an imp Gate Keeping role but content

selection doesn't end there.

• The role of journalists isn’t simply to gather and

report the news they interpret the meaning of an
event for their audience.

• Hall journalists offer a preferred reading, one

aspect of which Chibnall suggests is to legitimate
values: positive and negative ideas that provide
cultural cues that tell an audience how to interpret
meanings.
• Positive/ Legitimate and Negative/illegitimate values
structure how an audience reads media content .

• Gate Keeping The ability to limit access to the

media. E.g. an Editor’s Gate keeping role involves
making decisions abt what counts as news as well
as policing the news values of particular org’s.
 Discourse

• Fiske Discourse is a way of representing the world

from a particular viewpoint.

• A discourse reflects the ideas, beliefs and values of

specific powerful groups.

• Discourse is generally used by PM to show how the media

creates a framework for audience interpretation.

• E.g. making certain values legitimate structures how an

audience receives info and by doing so shapes how such
info is understood
• Part of the purpose of a news discourse is to define
the concept of news once this occurs further
refinements take place, including defining the
meanings of certain things such as good or evil.

• The definition of meaning indicates to an audience

how they are supposed to interpret something and
in some instances determine their response to
whatever is being presented as news.

• E.g. Cohen’s concept of Folk Devils people who

are believed to threaten the established moral
order
• Different societies produce different Folk Devils. E.g:

i. The poor, constructed in ways that blame poverty on

the individual
ii. Welfare claimants who “play the system” to support
“leisure lifestyles”.
iii. Immigrants who fail to integrate into a dominant
culture
iv. Terrorists who threaten “our way of life”

• Folk Devils individuals and groups singled out for

special attention and blame because they are seen to
represent a challenge or threat to the existing moral
order
• Folk Devils are a ways of creating a sense of social
solidarity in a population by identifying people “not
like us”, “outsiders” or “The Other”

• The selection and presentation of relatively

powerless groups as Folk Devils in a news discourse
is generally done in the context of a moral panic.
  The presentation of News in the 21st century
• Traditionally Newspapers, TV and radio

• 21st Century New Media sources of news such as

satellite and cable 24 hr rolling news channels, online
news and current affairs websites, social networking sites
such as FB and Twitter and Blogs.

• The use of these sites and mobile phones has created a

new type of Journalism called the Citizen Journalism
when people use their own technology to inform each
other

• Despite the growth of new media, people still rely on

traditional methods of news coverage
• Ofcom 65% of people said that TV was their primary
source of news coverage

 The Press

• Freedman National newspaper circulation is

declining in the UK Newspaper reading is a less
popular activity among the young who want
immediacy and interactivity of the internet.

• Benson internet consumers of news are using

traditional newspaper websites (e.g. The times)
written by traditional journalists to sources their news
rather than turning to citizen journalism of non
traditional internet or social network sources
 TV News

• Surveys most people in the UK obtain their news

from TV news and current affairs programs (e.g.
BBC)

• People believe that TV news has to be impartial

because for them TV news is the most trusted news
medium.

• Chandler the way TV news is presented makes it

the most reliable source of news by its audience
because :
i. Newsreaders are presented as neutral observers in
the way that they read the news and make eye contact
with the audience.

ii. Body language of newscasters is reduced by seating

them behind desks or by having them stand clipboard
in hand.

iii. Newsreader’s manner is always friendly, reliable and

reassuring despite the content of the news.

iv. The orderly high tech studio symbolizes the scientific

lengths to which the broadcaster has gone to find the
“Truth”, so reinforcing the image of formal and
objective authority
• Overall, the presentation of news by TV appears to
convey objective truth.

• Couldry et al Young people don’t view news

channels that often and they increasingly use online
alternative news and social networking sites such
as Reddit.