Content of mass media: making the news Flashcards Preview

Sociology Seciton C - Mass Media > Content of mass media: making the news > Flashcards

Flashcards in Content of mass media: making the news Deck (22)
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1
Q

Window on the world

A

For most people TV is important source of information about what is going on in the world, news broadcasts are carefully managed to give an impression of seriousness and credibility

2
Q

The news is manufactured and manipulated with a high degree of selectivity bias - caused by?

A
  • Institutional factors (impossible to show everything)
  • The culture of news production and journalism (how news professionals think and operate)
  • The ideological influences on the media (cause and nature of bias)
3
Q

Institutional factors - The new’s diary (Schlesinger)

A
  • Are not a spontaneous response to world events
  • News diary is any pre planned event
  • E.g. olympics, queens jubilee
  • Tells us most news is planned
  • Not a true reflection on reality
  • Socially constructed
4
Q

Financial costs - e.g. Chile’s miners

A
  • So much is spent covering a world event
  • Companies have to stick to a budget
  • ITN spent their budget covering protests in Tinanamen Square
  • BBC were able to
5
Q

Competition

A

Pressure to being the first without checking (GUMG)

6
Q

Time or space available

A

Isn’t enough time to include everything, a journalist must decide what’s most news worthy

7
Q

Churnalism

A

Form of journalism in which press releases and other forms of pre-packaged material are used to create news media instead of further research or checking it

8
Q

Nick Davies

A
  • Found 80% of stories in Britain’s press were not original an that only 12% of stories were generated by reporters
9
Q

Audience

A

The perceived audience will be influenced by the section of the news

10
Q

The culture of news production and journalism - news values

A

Events that are reported have to go through some kind of gatekeeping/filtering process seeing if it is newsworthy
- Manufactured by journalists, socially constructed

11
Q

Gatlung and Ruge believe there are 4 news values that determine worthiness

A
1) Events that are extrodinary 
E.g. cat in bin lady 
2) Events that concern important people 
E.g Royalty or celebrities 
3) Events that are dramatic/negative
E.g. Coronavirus/9/11
4) Events that are of human interests 
E.g. Cures to diseases, animal related
12
Q

News values

A
Extrodinariness = Unpredictable 
Threshold = Size of story 
Reference to elite = Famous/powerful 
Negativity = bad news > good news 
Personalisation = Can be personalised 
Unambiguity = Simple and clear to understand 
Composition = Clear and catchy headline
13
Q

Journalists and news values

A

Journalists value what is newsworthy, this is referred to as gatekeeping; only a tiny amount of events make it through the gate, we are given a narrow agenda and real news has been replaced by infotainment

14
Q

Ideology influences on the media

A

A set of ideas

15
Q

Ideology influences on the media - Traditional Marxists

A
Owners directly control content 
> Marcuse - false needs 
> Milliband - opium
> Press Baron - Rothermere/Beaverbrook
- Anecdotal, can reject
16
Q

Ideology influences on the media - Hegemonic/neo-marxists

A
  • Owners indirectly control content
  • Gramsci - dominant hegemony = capitalism
  • GUMG - white, male, m/c = don’t change status quo
  • Narrow agenda
17
Q

Ideology influences on the media - Liberal/pluralists

A
  • We are not controlled
  • They have to give us what we want or go bust
  • Investigative journalists = integrity expose truth
  • Watergate + MP expenses
18
Q

GUMG

A
  • During the Gulf War, analysed the language used
  • Bias reporting
  • Makes you think a certain way
  • Not a window on the world
19
Q

Content analysis

A

Counting the number of times an event occurs

20
Q

Gate keeping

A

Controlling what we see/don’t see

21
Q

News diary

A

Any pre-planned event

22
Q

News values

A

The values/assumptions held by journalists to determine what is newsworthy