Social Construction Of The Media

Question 1

GMG

Answer 1

1) Selection and presentation of news is influenced by social, political and practical factos

2) Owners, editors, journalists frequently exclude items that might be damaging to the values and interests of the dominant social class

Question 2

Galtung and ruge

Answer 2

The way the media is organised is down to journalists regarding certain events as more newsworthy than others.

The more the criteria, the more likely it is to appear in the news

Question 3

Galtung and Ruge list of criteria

Answer 3

Frequency
Familiarity
Negativity
Unexpectedness
Unambiguity (clarity)
Personalisation
Meaningfulness
Reference to elite nations
Reference to elite persons
Conflict
Consonance (stories fitting with media)
Continuity
Composition

Question 4

What are real life examples of ‘newsworthy’ stories

Answer 4

Queens death
Ukraine war
George Floyd

Question 5

What is Churnalism?

Answer 5

‘Churning’ out stories without really reading them first

Question 6

What are the consequences of ‘churnalism’

Answer 6

Accuracy of news more questionable

Newspapers are now outdated (don’t get news out quick enough)

Question 7

Why are news stories put in order of importance/ categories?

Answer 7

To attract audiences

Question 8

Who are gatekeepers?

Answer 8

Press/news agencies supply the news that are presented to the public and are deciding what content ‘goes through the media gate’

Question 9

Curran

Answer 9

There’s conservatism in the media which means the minority opinion is underrepresented

Question 10

Is the media socially constructed by the owners or by the audience?

Answer 10

Arguments for both.

Media owners have the ultimate control of what they put forward in the media

However, many publically funded media organisations care about their news stories being suitable for the widest audience possible

E.g BBC claims it is politically neutral