COMS305: Media Organisations and Professionals
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Media Organization/s Political and economic factors •What makes the media? – Cruise threatening to pull MI3 ads for South Park critique
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A 300-level lecture on media organisations and professonals, as part of a course on media and social change.
Transcript of COMS305: Media Organisations and Professionals
Media Organization/s
Political and economic factors•What makes the media?– Cruise threatening to pull MI3 ads for
South Park critique
Media Organizations
Media Organization/s
Different perspectives on media organisation/s•Liberal pluralist•Political economic
Media Perspectives
Liberal Pluralist perspective•News workers “gather” the news•It is something that is seen as pre-existent
Media Perspectives
Liberal Pluralist perspective•Free market… free news media
Media Perspectives
Liberal Pluralist perspective“All the News That’s
Fit to Print”
Media Perspectives
Political Economic perspective•The media are linked to economics in society
Media Perspectives
Political Economic perspective•The media are linked to economics in society
– Global economic relations
Media Perspectives
Political Economic perspective•Dominant ideas are those of ruling class (see interview part 2)
Media Perspectives
Media Perspectives
Political Economic perspective•Manipulative Model– Media barons are seen as
having direct control over content
Media Perspectives
Political Economic perspective•Structuralist Model– Capitalism itself…news is a commodity– Advertising power increases
Media Perspectives
All perspectives •Acknowledge the media’s importance in democratic and totalitarian societies
Media Organization/s
Conventions•Practices or techniques widely used in a field
Media Organization/s
Roles and socialization•Built upon history and tradition•What is expected of you…
Media Organization/s
Journalism as an honorable (and dangerous) profession
Media Organization/s
Breaking conventions... or creating new ones?
Media Organization/s
News routines•“[P]atterned, routinized, repeated practices and forms that media workers use to do their jobs.”– Beats– Source
relationships
Media Organization/s
Routines•Time•Budget•Visual reliance•Audience maintenance
Media Organization/s
Values•Unambiguity (clarity of event)•Meaningfulness (cultural proximity)•Consonance (predictability)
Media Organization/s
Newsworthiness•Socially constructed•Reflects only a portion of society
Media Organization/sGatekeeping•Editor selections– Tension between advocacy and
detachment
Media Organization/sWhat are the structures behind bloggers?
Media Organization/s
Objectivity•Separation of fact and value
Media Organization/s
Six key practices of objectivity
1.Maintaining political neutrality
2.Observing prevailing standards of decency and good taste
3.Using documentary reporting practices, relying on physical evidence
Media Organization/s
Six key practices of objectivity
4. Using standardized formats to package the news
5. Training reporters as generalists instead of specialists
6. Using editorial review to enforce these methods
Media Organization/s
We accept certain levels of “non-objective” opinion•And counter with our own...
Media Organization/s
What norms exist for Jon Stewart? • Constant cynicism?
(see part 3 of Frontline)
Media Organization/s
The perpetual importance of media is that they operate as a conduit for governments and elite interests
Media Organization/s
Hegemony•News content helps to recruit and maintain support for attitudes that support dominant groups•Not conscious or deliberate
Media Organization/s
Which voices are allowed in?
Media Organization/s
Alternative voices•Allows for APPARENT debate•Doesn’t shift status quo– Who’s listening?
Media Organization/s
What about minorities?•Pakeha frame?
