List the Key Features of New Media
1) Convergence - One device can be used to access a wide variety of media
2) Interactivity - New Media often more interaction than old media
3) Audience/User Power - Interactivity gives more power to the audience
4) Accessibility - New Media is free media, people have the devices and therefore the instant access to a vast array of media content
Summarise the Neophilliac view towards the New Media
1) Widening Consumer Choice - Due to media saturation there is greater competition between companies which leads to better quality products for consumers
2) More Media Participation - Citizen journalism, blogging, digital TV all give consumers more opportunities to participate in using/producing media content
3) Greater Democracy - Media provides main source of political knowledge to educate us and provides opportunities for people to acquire the education needed to play an active role in democratic societies
4) Easily Accessible - Global library allows everyone to have access to global information and cultural differences so high culture is no longer limited to the elite
5) Global Village - New Media allows people from around the world to connect and interact instantaneously which promotes a new global village that values cultural diversity
6) E-commerce Revolution - Online retailers such as Amazon have been great economic successes and have undermined physical sales of media products such as films or books so consumers have more choice
Summarise the Cultural Pessimist view towards the New Media
1) No Real Consumer Choice - All media is the same: poor quality media which dumbs down anything that encourages critical thinking and promotes consumerism/false needs
2) Digital Divide - The New Media creates national and global inequalities as not everyone can access new technology; those who cannot access the internet often have the most genuine political grievances
3) Threat To Democracy - New Media enhances the power of the bourgeoisie and we receive false news
4) Lack Of Regulation - It is difficult to regulate the internet due to its size and speed, so things such as radicalisation, internet crime, pornography, violence, etc can thrive unchecked
5) Cultural Imperialism - The spreading of Western culture undermines and destructs local cultures
6) Increased Surveillance - Cornford and Robins argue that while new technologies do promote choice, many companies sell products and services to engage in surveillance, e.g Facebook using cookies to target advertising
7) Inaccurate Information - Growing prevalence of fake news on the internet such as Wikipedia being able to be amended by anyone
Gender - How are Males represented in the media?
1) the research group Children Now found that the hegemonic representations of masculinity dominant in media were:
• violent
• leaders and problem solvers
• funny, confident, successful
• rarely crying or vulnerable
• usually shown in the workplace
2) Easthope found 6 stereotypes of masculinity in media
• a joker - using laugher to avoid displaying emotion
• a jock - aggressive to win respect
• strong silent - in control and unemotional
• big shot - economically and socially successful
• action hero - strong and violent
• buffoon - has good intentions but is completely hopeless with domestic or parental matters
3) However, Gauntlett suggests there is a new media portrayal of the Metrosexual Man who is considerate, fashionable, funny, capable and secure in his masculinity while encouraging men to understand women
Gender - How are Females represented in the New Media?
1) Tuchman argues there is a Symbolic Annihilation of women in media as they are often ignored or minimised and their achievements/interests are trivialised and devalued.
2) Ferguson argued teenage girl magazines prepared girls for traditionally feminine roles and generated a cult of femininity which socialised girls into stereotyped values and roles which were reflected in the magazines.
3) Wolf focused on how the media represents women as sex objects and perpetuates a beauty myth through advertising cosmetics and products to improve appearance for the male gaze. The media even objectifies women in power, for example ‘Legs-It’ sexualising Nicola Sturgeon and Theresa May.
4) Women face a glass ceiling in media industries which disallows them from being involved in the shaping of media content, however, Lauzen found that women now account for 27% of executive roles in the media industry.
5) However, Wilkinson argues there has been a genderquake in the media which encourages the portrayal of a strong and independent ‘new woman’
Sexuality - How are Heterosexual Females represented in the New Media?
- Sexuality is a central part of hegemonic femininity as British women have been largely defined in the media by their physical attractiveness and have long been subject to the Male Gaze
- Batchelor et al found that contraception was represented as a female responsibility. Female characters discussed sex and worries about pregnancy with their friends while men boasted about their sexual prowess. Girls were portrayed as more interested in emotions while men were more interested in sex.
Sexuality - How are Heterosexual Males represented in the New Media?
- Men are increasingly being represented as sexual objects, through the increase of male cosmetics and the representation of the metrosexual man.
- McRobbie argues men’s bodies are increasingly sexualised in advertising and women have become active viewers.
Sexuality - How is Homosexuality represented in the New Media?
- Dyer argues that is someone is homosexual, it is not obvious: therefore, the media make the invisible visible through placing emphasis on signs and symbols of homosexuality such as speech patterns and stances
- Craig identifies 3 common media representations of homosexuality
• Camp - homosexual individuals represented as flamboyant and non-threatening, one of the most widely used gay representations
• Macho - exaggeration of masculinity through being openly sexual and erotic, it is regarded as threatening towards men by subverting traditional masculinity
• Deviant - gay characters entirely defined by their sexuality portrayed as evil or devious - Tuchman states lesbians have been symbolically annihilated from media
- Stonewall found that in TV programmed there were rare references to lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals.
- Gill suggests that to avoid the risk of offending heterosexual audiences/advertisers, mainstream media only represents gay sexuality in a sanitised way: they appear mainly as stylish attractive figures with beautiful bodies rather than in sexual manners. Gill also suggest the opposite applies to lesbians who are not represented unless it is in a highly sexualised manner.
Age - How is Childhood represented in the New Media?
- Heintz-Knowles found children are often portrayed as motivated by peer relationships, sports, and romance.
- Content Analysis of Media suggests there are 8 stereotypes of children frequently used by the media:
• Cute - babies and toddlers are represented as being cute and appealing
• Consumers - Chandler talks about pester power: companies know children are likely to ask their parents for products and therefore advertise products/toys/experiences/etc directly to children
• Little Angels - children represented in an idealist way, innocent and without malice
• Little Devils - children are represented as cheeky monkeys or worse, but these representations are still quite positive, e.g Bart Simpson is naughty, but funny and appealing
• Victims - of kidnapping, murder, etc
• Accessories - of their parents/guardians
• Prodigies - children in the media are often brilliant at something, such as maths or a musical instrument, e.g young Sheldon
• Modern - media focuses on how children ‘these days’ know much more at their age than previous generations of children
Age - How is Youth represented in the New Media?
- Cohen coined the term Moral Panics in relation to rival youth subcultures (Mods and Rockers). Cohen explained the youths were turned into Folk Devils and many subsequent moral panics have focused on youth culture such as punks and hoodies
- Wayne found that the media delivers a one-dimensional picture of youth that encourages fear and condemnation rather than understanding to distract from real problems young people face in a modern world
Age - How is The Elderly represented in the New Media?
- Lee noted that older adults in advertisements were generally positively represented as healthy, active people with a range of interests enjoying a ‘golden age’
- Often elderly people are portrayed as a burden, with the aging population often discussed in current affairs as a problem
- Elderly are often represented as demented or confused, often in a comedic way, from being mildly muddled to suffering from dementia
- Elderly are sometimes represented as enjoying a ‘second childhood’, enjoying activities they did not experience when they were younger
Disability - How are Disabled Individuals represented by the New Media?
- Barnes identified 10 media stereotypes of disabled people:
• pitiable or pathetic - treating disabled people as objects of charity, e.g children in need
• object of curiosity - added to storylines to enhance a certain atmosphere
• object of violence - as victims
• sinister or evil - one of the most persistent stereotypes, e.g Frankenstein’s monster
• super cripple - brave and courageous, e.g 2016 Paralympic’s SuperHuman
• object of ridicule - portrayed as a fool
• their own worst enemy - full of self pity and unable to overcome obstacles
• a burden - helpless and needing care
• non sexual - disabled people are sexually dead, e.g the undateables
• unable to participate in daily life - disabled people and their routines are seldom represented as a normal part of daily life - Shakespeare argues the media representations of disabled people are crude, one-dimensional and simplistic, and are often used as a character trait or plot device
Ethnicity - How are Black and Asian ethnic groups represented by the New Media?
- Akinti argues ‘black news is bad news’, news coverage of EMG focuses on issues such as crime or underachievement, while ignoring cultural and societal contributions of a black audience.
- Van Dijk found that black crime is the most frequent issues found in news covers of EMGs.
- Watson notes that moral panics stem from the media stereotyping black people as criminals, e.g Hall’s Black Mugger stereotype
- Moore found that over 1/3 of representations of Islam focused on terrorism, and that EMGs are often portrayed as an economic threat to Britain’s ‘generous welfare system’
- Asian culture is represented as ‘abnormal’. Ameli et al found that media suggests the wearing of the hijab as inferior to western female dress
- The GUMG found that Black and Asian people were more likely to appear as temporary/supporting guests than as hosts of shows
Ethnicity - How are Eastern European ethnic groups represented by the New Media?
- Dowling suggested that in the 2000s, Eastern European immigrants were being attacked and blamed in the media for being benefit scrounges and lone parents, taking British jobs, groping woman, drunk driving and a range of other issues.
Social Class - How are Working Class represented by the New Media?
1) Dumb and Stupid - Curran and Seaton note that newspapers aimed at w/c audiences assume they are uninterested in serious analysis of political/social issues and political debate is often reduced to a conflict of personalities
2) Troublesome and Source of Conflict - w/c people are often presented as a source of trouble, they tend to be welfare scroungers who can’t control their children, e.g Shameless. Neo-Marxists may see this as the media acting against groups who challenge the dominant ideology
3) Idealised W/C Communities - w/c are portrayed as hardworking and struggling to overcome adversity in their lives, in close-knit communities. Films such as I, Daniel Blake have portrayed w/c issues in a realistic and supportive way.
4) White Trash/Chavs - Lawler argues the media vilify and stigmatise what they depict as a peasant w/c, symbolised by typical forms of appearance such as tracksuits, drug use, anti-social behaviour, etc, e.g The Jeremy Kyle show. Hayward and Yar add that the label of ‘chav’ is used by newspapers as a familiar term for the abuse of young people
Social Class - How is The Underclass represented by the New Media?
- McKendrick argued coverage of poverty in the UK is marginal and the causes/consequences of poverty are rarely explored in media
- Cohen argues the UK mass media is concerned about representing the good fortune of British Capitalism and pays less attention to its ‘casualties’. The media is useless at realistically reporting on the plight of the poor and media reinforces the view that the poor are poor due to their own faults.
- Newman argues the underclass are often portrayed as a statistic rather than an actual person
Social Class - How is the Middle Class represented by the New Media?
- The m/c is represented as overly positive and concerned with manners, decency and social respectability.
- The m/c are catered for in the media as there is focus on issues that interest the m/c such as tax issues and create moral panics on lower classes or social issues such as immigration
- The m/c are often depicted as living in nuclear families
Social Class - How is the Upper Class represented by the New Media?
- The u/c are rarely criticised for their wealth and media representations rarely focus on the inequalities of capitalism
- The u/c are often portrayed as eccentric and idealised, and represented as ‘well-bred’ and economically superior, e.g shows such as Downton Abbey
Social Class - How is The Monarchy represented by the New Media?
- Nairn notes that since WW2, the media has represented the monarchy as a ‘Royal Family’, reflected in media coverage that focuses positively on every trivial detail of their lives
- Coverage of the monarchy is rarely critical and encourages praise of them
- Royal events are global events and garner interest from a global audience
- Instances where the royal family are criticised are quickly forgotten and replaced by other news
Media Models - Summarise the Hypodermic Syringe Model
- suggests the audience is PASSIVE, there is a direct correlation between media violence and IRL violence as audience behaviour is immediately influenced
• Imitation - copying violent behaviour seen in media
• Disinhibition - thinking violence is a normal way to handle situations
• Desensitisation - no longer being affected by online violence due to seeing it so much - e.g Bandura Bobo Doll
- McCabe and Martin concluded media violence caused disinhibition and that discussions can be replaced with violence without repercussions
Media Models - Summarise the Uses and Gratifications Model (Blumer and McQuail)
- suggests audiences are ACTIVE, they actively use media to fufill particular needs
• Diversion - people use media to make up for a lack of satisfaction in their daily lives
• Personal Relationships - people use media to feel part of a community
• Personal Identity - people use the media to modify their identity, e.g social media portrayal present a specific version of someone’s life
• Surveillance - people use the media to obtain information, follow the news and enables them to make up their mind on particular issues
Media Models - Summarise the Cultural Effects Model (Marxist)
- suggests the audience is PASSIVE, they mindlessly internalise capitalist ideology over a period of time
- Marxists believe through a purposeful ‘dumbing down’ of media content, the bourgeoisie transmits ruling class ideology through the ‘drip-drip’ form.
- serious programmes such as the news which encourage critical thinking have slowly declined while frivolous content such as reality TV has slowly increased
Media Models - Summarise the Two-Step Flow Model (Katz and Lazarsfeld)
- suggests the audience is SOMEWHAT ACTIVE, as they choose to engage with the opinion leader’s interpretation, but then passively follow their lead
- the media content must go through two stages:
1) The Opinion Leader is exposed to the content
2) Others in the network internalise the opinion leader’s interpretation of that content
Media Models - Summarise the Selective Filter Model (Klapper)
- suggests the audience is ACTIVE as they are actively choose which media messages to access, engage and retain
- Klapper suggests there are 3 filters media messages must pass through in order to be effective:
1) Selective Exposure - the audience must choose to view, read or listen to the media content
2) Selective Perception - the audience has to take notice of the media content
3) Selective Retention - the messages have to ‘stick’ in the minds of those who have accessed the content, and research indicates people have a tendency to remember things they broadly agree with
