Tuesday 31 January 2017

Post-colonialism: final blog tasks

1) Summarise the three theorists we have looked at: Alvarado, Fanon and Said.

Alvarado
Dangerous
Exotic
Pitied
Humorous

Fanon
Primitivized
Infantilized
Essentialized
Decivilized

Said
He argues that the west - particularly colonising Europe- Constructed a meaning of the east that suggested it was different, dangerous and uncivilised.

2) Watch the opening of Yasmin (2004) again. Does it offer a positive or negative view of British Muslims? To what extent does it reinforce or challenge Edward Said's theory of Orientalism - that the west is superior to the exotic or uncivilised east?

The opening of the film Yasmin offers a mixture of views regarding Said's theory of orientalist. The vandalism on the door shows the ideology that the west is superior, furthermore we watched the character Yasmin change the way she was to been into society, in the pub she was stared at and was later pulled over to police. This is suggested to be a regular occurrence as before she was asked anything she already had a list of things to say showing she knew what was going to be asked anyway. On the other hand, we see the two men seemingly of retirement age still working, suggesting that they are hardworking and the film is from the perspective of Yasmin which potentially offers a challenge to the negative views of British Muslims as we are not sewing issues such as racism in a positive light.

3) Finally, choose THREE clips for EACH of the theorists and explain how you could apply that theory to the clip. Pick a selection of clips on YouTube from TV, film, music video or advertising and embed them in your blog before writing your analysis under each clip. Note: this means you need NINE clips in total on this blogpost.

Alvarado

Humorous 

The situation being discussed is insinuated as being incredibly dangerous however, throughout the scene we see Roman not paying much attention and attempting to provide comedy. The stark contrast between that and the discussion taking places shows the two contrasting yet prominent stereotypes that black men in particular face. Maybe to try and provide a balance in the perceptions.


Pitied 

Poussey Washington is made the victim of murder by a police officer, it reflects the times of police brutality, particularly agains black people. Not only is she pitied because she did not have to die but when we see the effect it has on other characters and the involvement Suzanne had on it. We see her as a character who needs to be somewhere that can cater for her needs, and rather than fitting into the dangerous stereotype that she can typically be sorted into, we pity her because it is not her fault.


Dangerous 

Suzanne is presented as an incredibly dangerous character whom cannot control herself, although there is an obvious disability, the lack of 'professional' recognition throughout the show means that it isn't a prominent factor. She is seen more as a dangerous, out of control character than one who needs professional help and people who can cater for her needs.

Fanon
Infantilized 

Beloved is a supernatural character and is the reincarnation of Sethe's daughter whom she brutally murdered during times of slavery. When Beloved returns she is the same age she was when she was killed, she is simple minded and seeming innocent. until she 'grows up' and fits the dangerous stereotype and poses a threat to her family.



Primitivized 



T'Challa has a natural fighting ability, in a positive sense, he is pursing people in the name of law and in the scene directly after the clip, he follows the commands given by law enforcers. He abides by the rules and doesn't present himself as a threat towards people/society.


Decivilized 
The men shown fit into the decimalised stereotype as they are violent, using explicit language and gathering around buildings. The antisocial behaviour is something that is replicated throughout many mediums and rarely changes.



Said

Dangerous 

The entire film shows Japan in a violent, uncivilised and Primitive state, where violence is the main priority and making death appealing and a game. However this was made by Japanese people, therefore shows how people and countries can easily represent dystopian world that can have a negative impact on the way that they are viewed.


This film shows a east vs west divide through the idea of a zombie apocalypse. The east has been taken down and they have used Bin Laden as a main factor throughout this probably to highlight the extremist stereotype. Due to soldiers being from the west there is the idea that the westerners are there to save the east.



The film Lion acts as a counter argument for Said's theory, the east has not been presented as dangerous or uncivilised it is appealing due to the perspective of the film being from Dev Patel's character. In saying that, it could be suggested that as he was ignored on the train as a child there is a sense of  them being uncivilised as they are not helping a vulnerable young child.











01/02/17 - Facebook is trying to tackle fake news, but what should we do?




https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2017/jan/26/facebook-is-trying-to-tackle-fake-news-but-what-should-we-do

Trump’s adviser, Kellyanne Conway, commented about there being “alternative facts.” But the joke that is Trump, with his own outrageous lies and a team of dissemblers - such as Conway and the White House press secretary Sean Spicer - does have the disturbing effect of legitimising falsehood. Facebook is trying to do something positive to counter the fake news trend. In mid-December it announced that it was testing a system to identify fraudulent news stories.
75% of US adults believed fake news headlines they were shown during a Buzzfeed Investigation.
I think that the idea to only trend verified news and banning publishers who continually share fake news is a good step in the right direction especially since Facebook has been accused of being a primary source of fake news. however there are many loopholes especially in the sense that you can make new pages/accounts. It also doesn't stop people actually creating or believing the news so is more of a less practical attempt that it first seems.

01/02/17 - Lies can thrive in the social media world


https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/29/lies-can-thrive-in-the-social-media-world

Simon Jenkins believes that digital media can be depended on to right the wrongs of political lies. News and politics consumption is developing as news bites, quickly digested before moving on. Although accuracy can be more easily checked and lies rebutted, the sheer volume of inaccurate social media material means that not everything can be corrected. “alternative facts” has always been a risk of history being rewritten, from Japanese textbooks presenting an “alternative” history of the Nanjing massacre of 1937 and other war crimes committed against China during the second world war to David Irving’s Holocaust denial over the murder of Jews at Auschwitz.

O Sweden had created a far right fake fact news checker.


I do agree that we need mechanisms to deal with the lies on the internet. Not just in terms of tackling it online and the way it is produced and promoted but the way it is interpreted to the audience. People need to .be able to learn how to check the accuracy of the information they are receiving and not just take them as fact. However it will have to be shed various times simply because of the amount of fake information is out there.

Monday 30 January 2017

Identities: Post-colonial theory & blog tasks


Alvarado (1987)

Four key themes in racial representations; often quoted in relation to the black community but can be applied to other non-white groups:
  • Exotic (models; music artists; food)
  • Dangerous (crime; gangs; socially dysfunctional)
  • Humorous (comedians; sidekicks; quirky)
  • Pitied (poverty)

Frantz Fanon: “Putting on the white mask”

Typically black stereotypes can:
  • Infantilize - such as the 'cute' children of the Charity Poster or the 'simple-minded‘ 'Step ‘n’ fetch it‘ lazy comedian.
  • Primitivize - The 'exotic & virile' tribal warriors or 'bare-breasted maidens' with a 'natural sense of rhythm‘. Sporting prowess.
  • Decivilize - The 'Gangsta', 'Pimp' etc.
  • Essentialize - Undifferentiated mass-'they all look the same to me'

Destiny Ekaragha

Destiny Ekaragha is a black filmmaker from South London who wrote the awarded winning play - and then film - of Gone Too Far! She has also produced acclaimed short films set in South London including Tight Jeans:

Post-colonialism: blog task

1) Read the excellent article exploring the different representations of black people in British film and TV from Media Magazine 42 (MM42 from our Media Magazine archive - page 51)

2) List FIVE films, FIVE TV programmes and FIVE online-only productions that are discussed in the article.

Films

Ill Manors
Star Trek 
Attack the Block
Brotherhood
Kidulthood

TV Programmes 

Casualty 
Dr Who
Citizen Khan
Luther
The Kumars at No. 42

Online-Only Productions

Brother's with No Game
Venus vs Mars
The Ryan Sisters
All about the Mckenzies
Meet the Adebanjos



3) Watch Destiny Ekaragha's clips above (more of her work is available on her website, including the short film The Park). To what extent can we apply Alvarado's and Fanon's theories to these films? Do they reinforce or subvert typical black stereotypes in British film and TV? Refer to specific scenes and events in the clips in answering this question and aim for at least 350 words.
Tight Jeans

In this extract of Tight Jeans, Fanon's theory can be applied. The subjects being 'Decivilized' the characters are first shown in a somewhat 'gangsta' 'pimp' stereotype, they are sitting on a wall in an estate, Wearing hoodies. Making the audience assume that they are going to cause some trouble already linking to them being 'Dangerous' (Alvarado). On the contrary the character on the furthest left could also be seen as the 'Humorous' character, the one to counteract the 'Dangerous' stereotype. The 'humorous' stereotypealso linked to the 'Exotic' Stereotype due to the nature of the conversation being sexual, this is also supported but the other character walking outside the flat, where a girl was inside waiting. This also potentially 'infantillize's' the characters due to his consistent questioning and lack of fact checking. Furthermore due to the nature of the conversation it almost 'Primitivizes'' them. There is still no reference to them falling into the Dangerous stereotype though, rather than the simple environment that is left to the perception of the audience.

Gone Too Far

Gone to far plays on the 'Pitied' Stereotype, Ikudayisi is pitied consistently because he was outcasted within the different society. He laughed at for being himself and being African and not from the Caribbean. Yemi is pitied because he is struggling with his identity whilst trying to win the affections of a girl. He almost ignores his true heritage and 'puts on a mask' to  make himself seem more appealing. There is a mixture of the humorous and dangerous stereotype where the humorous become more prominent. This shows that black people are expected to either be Dangerous criminals or funny they have to fit into either stereotype.



Media Magazine Conference


How to be creative - 7 Tips from the frontline
Tim Clague

O Volunteer
O Circles - Creativity
O Beachcombing
O No-one comes from nothing
O put everything into everything (but life is not a meritocracy)
O Don't want to be invited to the dance - but beware the doppler effect)
O The day after you finish what do you do?
     Keep Making stuff

www.timclague.com

An Interview with Chucklefish Games
Rosie Ball

Creating worlds and stories
Ask For it
Competitions - Festivals
Target audiences - appeal

Structure
Community appeal - blogs - social media - streams
3rd parties - march - sponsors.

Sports Journalism
Leon Mann

O Doing things differently
O Volunteering
O Asking (out of your comfort zone)
O Trial and error.

Freelance jobs

Journalism
Seek New information
Be prepared
Believe in yourself
Be yourself

Lack of diversity - particularly in sports journalism
Position and perspective similar
Limits perspective for storytelling

BCOMS
O Black collective media in sports
O Networking, mentoring, lobbying, support network

D Word Conference
v
Influencing the decision makers.

Value Diversity
Challenge Respectfully
Stay True to your own values

Young Filmmakers' Panel

Film Festivals
Experimental
BFI Futures
Applying and Volunteering

Portfolios and Practice

High Standards - but not a complete perfectionist
Push Yourself
Failure and learning from your mistakes
Make the Film - Just Do It

Young People, Media and Democracy
Dr Shakuntala Banaji


Crisis of participation
Democratic Deficit    - Youth Disengaged? Apathetic?

British and EU sociopolitical context
Increasing control of all media by a few corporations linked to particular political interests.
Television is still the NO1 source of News.

'Economic crisis', Vicious spending cuts.
Social, Cultural economic and institutional racism.

Fragmentation - gap between the rich and the poor.

Media to do democracy
- to the extent that it is acceptable to the current system.

Campaigns
Young people prefer face to face contact

Sites of political socialisation
Family, media and school/college

Communicative style is very important for political learning

Family + School non tolerant of divergent viewpoints
Households who encourage wide views - more democratic citizens.

Youth Engagement

Jobs
Media Stereotyping
Children/Gender rights
Social Discrimination
War
Racism
Sexuality

Youth Voice
Are the youth equally included as citizens

Exclusions:
Socia-economically deprived
Learning difficulties
Caring responsibilities
those who are 'too hard to reach'

Media in Democracy
Build young people's identities
Media gives voice
inform
build trust

Misinformation
Fake News

Media Representations of youth

Uniformly Negative 80% of 3000 17-26

Crime 
Radicalisation
Exclusions

The internet is great for people who already have networks

Information Neglects many groups
doesn't teach how to protest
Young people still get news form tv
only 20% online

Digital/skills divide
Unfiltered access is a minority
2012-13-14
20%-30% never went online.

Traditional media are still big tools

political ideas come from mainstream news

'bumper figure' political messages travels faster e.g. Make America Great Again
Lack of space and time for art in timetable

Managed participation
people in authority when challenged don't what people to participate.

Citizen Duty
Low Trust in Govt
Refusal to vote
neither democratic or undemocratic

Alternative media

Do the government want critical citizens or good little citizens

An Audience with Tony Garnett

Social + political issues
Personal Issues - Mother + Illegal Abortions

BUS General strike - 1926
Money - Work

Not being resolved
Today - Amazon warehouse workers instead of Coal Mines

People tried to make him stop - political
Headlines create a narrative in news - same done in his films

fact vs future
measure spin
Subconscious
beliefs are so embedded

We can't help bias
it is even applied to the BBC
Choosing news schedule , stories and spin

Ratings does not equal news

Conscious + UnConscious news
various things are news to people - its not the same

BE SKEPTICAL

invites you to take sides
news isn't objective/factual

same as filmmakers we can't do anything about

Humans live for stories, we centre ourselves through narrative

We make stories around the facts

Digital revolution

'Overturning the definition of news'
Twitter + platforms
Post Truth Society

'The internet is full of trumps'
People and their own truths
we need facts and their primary sources

cultural climate pends on political and economic climate.

BBC has been marketised  ( it has manegeitites)

No creative risks = no creative freedom/breathing space.

We need to separate creativity from craft

Trojan Horse Drama
Media has democratised

Our imagination is disciplined and discouraged whilst growing up

ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR CREATIVITY



Tuesday 24 January 2017

24/01/17 - Trump Is Making Journalism Great Again




http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/trump-is-making-journalism-great-again-214638

Donald Trump and his forthcoming presidency may be the greatest gift to Washington journalism since the invention of the expense account. His controversy and approach to politics has changed the way that he is reported. There is the idea that an approach needs to be sought that appeals to Trump and his team.

Nixon also fought with the press by seeking to block the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971.
The Wall Street Journal just explored how Trump’s debt to more than 150 financial institutions (more than $1.5 billion than he has admitted to in disclosure forms) may create potential conflicts of interest for him.

I think that finding an approach that appeals to Trump and his administration, it can harm the way news is reported and feed the issue of fake news. It causes the issues that were faced by traditional media such as a minority of people serving a minority of consumers (paretos law) and the hypodermic needle theory. It gives Trump the ability to give himself the platform to share whatever he wants. Even more dangerously it is a platform that people trust and rarely check to see the validity/accuracy.

24/01/17 - Eight billionaires 'as rich as world's poorest half'



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38613488

The world's eight richest individuals have as much wealth as the 3.6bn people who make up the poorest half of the world, according to Oxfam. the gap between rich and poor was "far greater than feared".  There is a focus on the rich and the attempt to encourage economic growth. Typically Ofcom has been an unreliable source but there have been rumours suggesting that it is more accurate now and the results they find are a lot lower.

O in 2016 the richest 62 people in the world had as much wealth as the poorest half of the global population.
It was still the case in 2017 that the world's richest 1% had as much wealth as the rest of the world combined

I think that it isn't much of a surprise that there is a small number of people who have the same amount of of wealth as a certain amount of the population. There has always been a divide and will probably never be completely erased. The people at the top of the tables are typically online/technology entrepreneurs which just goes to show that the developments of NDM has not only enhanced the divide but peotentially makes it more obvious. I personally also think that the divide issue is going to get worse till a point where it becomes incredibly difficult to resolve the issue.

Monday 23 January 2017

LR


1) Type up your feedback in full (you do not need to write mark/grade if you do not wish to).
34/48 B
A good essay, showing good critical autonomy.
Very strong with two sides but missed opportunities to cover specific examples from the news case study.

2) Read through the mark scheme (go to the last two pages of the document - Section B New/digital media). Of the six different statements for each level (e.g. A sophisticated and comprehensive essay, showing very good critical autonomy.) write which level you think YOU are currently working at for each one. Explain WHY and, for any that are not Level 4, what you are going to do to improve in that area. 

3. 
WWW!                                                                             
A sophisticated and comprehensive essay,                                      
showing very good critical autonomy.
Very Opinionated and Balanced.                      

Improvements!                                                                                                                             Sophisticated application of a wide range of media debates, issues and theories and wider contexts.
Need to use more issues i.e. NDM Stories.

A clear individual case study, with a range of examples.
Need to use more examples.

Well structured and clearly expressed.
Well Paragraphed and pointed structured.

3) Look at the Examiners' Report for this particular paper. Read page 10 - Section B New/digital media. How many of the good points or higher level answer examples did you include in your essay? What were they? What could you have added to improve your mark?

Almost all students discussed the impact new and digital media has had on enabling
audiences to participate, with detailed examples to support this from their case study.

Good answers also addressed the harder concept of democracy, but were able to apply it
to a really wide range of case studies, not just obvious ones like news.

Good answers used this to discuss the changing role of audiences and producers. Higher
level answers debated the arguments for and against.

• Higher level answers debated the obstacles to equal participation and democracy, for
example the digital divide in the UK and globally, the power and control of media
organisations. Sophisticated answers debated whether this was increasing or decreasing
with developments in new and digital media. Good answers had examples of this from
their own case study rather than just as a general point.

Good answers discussed the reasons why there was democracy or not, using media
issues, debates and wider contexts.

4) Read through these exemplar A grade essays from last year. What do these essays offer that yours does not? Identify THREE things you can take from these essays to improve your own responses in future.

1.More Quotations
2.NDM Stories
3.Lots of Statistics for both sides of the Argument.

5) Write ONE new paragraph for your January assessment essay. Ideally, this should be a section you did not cover in your original essay. This paragraph needs to be comprehensive and meet the criteria for Level 4 of the mark scheme.

LR PARAGRAPH


In terms of the Arab Spring Protests, there is an undoubtable sense of democracy regardless of the digital divide that is greater within the countries involved. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter facilitated the communication between the participants in their countries. It could be said that due to the lack of regulation online, the protests were able to come about. People were exposed to uncensored views, views that they may not have seen had this only been reported on traditional news outlets such as  newspapers. From a marxists perspective if the only source of information was from newspapers, nothing would have happened. Content creators inject the information that they believe or are told to write about (hypodermic needle), this is then believed and not contemplated by the audience and what is said is automatically believed to be factual or right. Due to the intense ideologies created the status quo is not challenged. NDM has resulted in a more Pluralist perspective can be successfully applied as the active audience is capable of viewing things their own way. The fact that they are exposed to various views online means that this is more easily applied. Because there is such a variety of content. It can be argued that if it wasn't for NDM these protests wouldn't not have happened, or to the extent that they did. The accessibility meant that more people could organise themselves and encourage others and it wasn't restricted to their local area.

NDM STORIES PARAGRAPH

Fake news has become paramount in the last year alone. With two incredibly important elections that seemingly resulted in shocking results, Most likely due to echo chambers, there is little evidence to suggest that there isn't an issue with fake news. Most importantly Reddit CEO admitted that he edited/deleted comments that he didn't agree with. The largest Trump Supporting community The_Donald, had comments altered to seem as if they were attacking the moderators. This could suggest that new and digital media isn't democratic, we have the same issue of a minority of producers serving a majority of consumers (parrots law) but in more of a regulatory sense. A variety of content is being created but in reality how much do we have access to? How much is being removed or altered by the people in charge so that the content on their site suits their own desires. Even Barack Obama highlighted the issue during the presidential election 2016, where 19 percent of the content published by extreme left-leaning Facebook pages was false or misleading, 44 percent of US adults get their news from Facebook and the fake news was interacted with 8.7 million times. Meaning they would be shared more often given the algorithm in place. people don't always check that what they are reading is true, people manipulate this. Even though there is a lot of freedom on the internet we are slowing falling into the same issues that we faced during the times where traditional media was prominent.

Wednesday 18 January 2017

NDM STORY SUMMARY

Sept - Oct
1)    14/09/16 - 'Facebook Needs an Editor': Media Experts Urge Change After Photo Dispute
2)    14/09/16 - Absolute Radio Founders Launch DJ-Less National Station
3)    21/09/16 - Typecast as a Terrorist
4)    21/09/16 - The Great British Bake Off disaster: why the BBC got burned
5)    28/09/16 - Publishers and Journalists Must Work Together to Save Journalism
6)    28/09/16 - The Idea of a 'Post-Truth Society' is Elitist and Obnoxious
7)    05/10/16 - Donald Trump says America needs to control the internet to protect its freedom
8)    05/10/16 - How Facebook could swing the election — and who will benefit if it does
9)    12/10/16 - Even Proprietors are Finding it Hard To Sell Newspapers
10)  12/10/16 - Clay Shirky: 'Paywall Will Underperform - The Numbers Don't Add Up'
11)  19/10/16 - A New Digital Divide Has Emerged - and Conventional Solutions Won’t Bridge the Gap
12)  19/10/16 - How the Committee to Protect Journalists Broke With Tradition to Protest Trump
13)  26/10/16 - ‘If I can do it, anyone can’: The 25-year-old who’s been travelling non-stop for four years
14)  26/10/16 - Channel 4 presenter says hijab ruling means it's 'open season' on Muslims

Nov - Dec

15)  02/11/16 - How Teens In The Balkans Are Duping Trump Supporters With Fake News
16)  02/11/16 - Why Gary Lineker, Lily Allen and you shouldn't comment
17)  09/11/16 - Sky News boss: 'The only way to achieve longevity is to go through renewal'
18)  09/11/16 - Politics has gone wrong. Is digital technology to blame?
19)  16/11/16 - Newspapers Big and Small are Facing an Existential Crisis
20)  16/11/16 - Tech is Disrupting All Before It - Even Democracy is in its Sights
21)  21/11/16 - Barack Obama on fake news: 'We have problems' if we can't tell the difference
22)  21/11/16 - Still in vogue: luxury magazines defy print market gloom
23)  30/11/16 - The secret life of a clickbait creator: lousy content, dodgy ads, demoralised staff
24)  30/11/16 - Pop music was a great leveller. Now it’s a bespoke plaything for the rich
25)  07/12/16 - Reddit CEO admits he edited Trump supporters' comments on social network
26)  07/12/16 - The paywalls come down and readers flood in. But revenue doesn’t
27)  14/12/16 - Fake news could affect next UK election, warns Channel 4 executive
28)  14/12/16 - 2016: the year Facebook became the bad guy
29)  21/12/16 - Guardian announces partnership with Vice
30)  21/12/16 - Grand Tour 'most illegally downloaded TV programme in history'
31)  28/12/16 - Facebook advertises for a head of news after US election concerns
32)  28/12/16 - Artificial intelligence could cost millions of jobs.White House says we need more of it.

Jan - Feb

33)  04/01/17 - What Stephen Hawking gets right and wrong about ‘the most dangerous time for our planet’

34)  04/01/17 - Why you may have good reason to worry about all those smart devices

Tuesday 17 January 2017

18/01/17 - Film and TV ​streaming and downloads overtake DVD sales for first time


https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/05/film-and-tv-streaming-and-downloads-overtake-dvd-sales-for-first-time-netflix-amazon-uk

Digital video revenue has risen by almost 23% (to 1.3bn) in the uk. Sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime has helped against the decline in purchasing content caused by illegal downloads.

'“We’ve seen an explosion of technology that has allowed people to consume entertainment in different ways,” said Kim Bayley, chief executive of the Entertainment Retailers Association, which compiles the annual figures.'


The digital boost came as high street sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs fell 17% to £894m
O This is the first time it has fallen below the £1bn mark.
O the physical rental market fell 21% to just £49m.
The rise in popularity of paying for TV content helped power total UK revenue from music, TV shows, films and video games to a record £6.3bn last year.
Total revenue from physical and digital sales rose 2.2% to £2.25bn


I think that streaming services such as Netflix have now become a fundamental part of product revenue, they offer a more appealing way to consume content of their choice without paying for each individual product. The payments are student friendly, and there is a large variety of content to suit almost everyones tastes, not including exclusives. Netflix exclusives in particular have been increasingly trending and should a popular tv show be cancelled it is almost always suggested that Netflix should take it over and continue with it. There is also more certainty of the quality of the content, there aren't going to be camera recordings of a cinema on Netflix and a long period of time waiting for something that may not even be good quality or functioning to download. However at this rate they may take over tradition TV channels.

18/01/17 - The Sun losses exceed £60m as ad slump and hacking charges take toll





https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/05/the-sun-losses-advertising-hacking-charges-profits-revenues
A decline in ad revenue and rise in legal costs has caused The sun to make accumulate a loss of over £60m. It was also decided to remove the pay wall that was implemented to try and reduce losses.

The Sun made a loss of more than £60m last year 
 £13.7m was spent on  redundancy restructuring costs 
Total revenues fell from £456m to £446m

Due to the recent hacking scandal, it was inevitable that the sun were going to face issues not with ;regaining their readers trust in their content and morals, but for advertisers too. no respectable company would want to be associated with another brand that does such things, it has tainted their reputation. The newspaper industry is in no doubt in decline, but the lack of 'good' content, scandals and redundancy payouts the sun is not in a good position to continue especially if they do not repair their reputation and make themselves more appealing.

Monday 16 January 2017

Identities and the Media: Reading the riots


Read the Media Magazine extended feature on the media coverage of the UK riots (MM38 page 5)

Go to our Media Magazine archive, select MM38 and read the WHOLE eight-page feature. Answer the following questions on your blog with as many references to media theory and examples as possible. Refer to specific aspects of the Media Magazine article too

1. How did the language and selection of images in the coverage create a particular representation of young people? 

The language and selection of images used in the coverage represents young people in a particularly negative light. The main image used was an figure, seemingly a young black man, in a hoodie. Language wise, there is a constant repetition of 'Riots' rather than 'Unrest' or 'protests' automatically creating a violent idea. The term 'young people' and 'youth' are continuously repeated as well which labels all youth as violent rather than the few groups of people who were actually involved. The Image supported another stereotype linked to the aforementioned one where it is said that young black men are the culprits for the violent demonstrations.

2. Why does David Buckingham mention Owen Jones and his work Chavs: the demonisation of the working class?

David Buckingham mentions Owen Jones book: Chavs where he points to the concept that the working class has become an 'object of fear and ridicule' which means that it was inevitable that the working class were going to be the ones mainly to blame for the riots. This divide is also shown in media products such as Little Britain and Am I Bovvered. 

3. What is the typical representation of young people – and teenage boys in particular? What did the 2005 IPSOS/MORI survey find?

The 2005 IPSOS/MORI survey found that 40% of newspaper articles featuring young people focused on violence, crime and antisocial behaviour. 71% were said to have a negative tone. The typical representation of teenage boys in particular is exactly that, violent and anti social. There were twenty times negative stories that included teenage boys than positive which may influence them.

4. How can Stanley Cohen’s work on Moral Panic be linked to the coverage of the riots?

Stanley Cohen's work on moral panics can be linked to the coverage of the riots as there was an overwhelming amount of coverage on the violence of the youth, which would have alarmed the upper/middle class adults. They would then be led to believe that the riots had no real aim and the main intention was to just be violent and unrulling.

5. What elements of the media and popular culture were blamed for the riots?

The media and popular culture can be blamed for the riots. Popular culture created violence, through rap and video games provoking the youth to riot. The pictures of people looting resulted in free advertising that encouraged others to go outside and steal things for themselves.Blaming the media is also an aspect of moral panics.

6. How was social media blamed for the riots? What was interesting about the discussion of social media when compared to the Arab Spring in 2011?

Social Networks can be blamed for the riots, there are reports that riots are 'orchestrated' on twitter. It is linked to the Arab Spring in 2011 where social networking was believed to have a major impact on the revolution.

7. The riots generated a huge amount of comment and opinion - both in mainstream and social media. How can the two-step flow theory be linked to the coverage of the riots? 

The two-step flow theory can be lined to the coverage of the riots because there is a exchange of information which people create their own opinions on. For example there was an accusation made against Mark Duggan that he fired a gun at police, there was not evidence for such action and there were two responses. Some were angered others created a bad view towards Duggan and His family

8. Alternatively, how might media scholars like Henry Jenkins view the 'tsunami' of blogs, forums and social media comments? Do you agree that this shows the democratisation of the media?

Henry Jenkins celebrates 'participatory' media. and says that blogs e.t.c. are and example of democratisation. I agree because pareto's law is being undermined. People have the ability and independence to create/view things however they like.

9. What were the right-wing responses to the causes of the riots?

 The responses were that it was all the teenagers' fault, thy have no respect for people and/or the authority.

10. What were the left-wing responses to the causes of the riots?

It was pointed out that the disturbances occurred in areas of poverty, there were cuts in youth services, rising in youth unemployment and the removal of the Education Maintence Allowance.

11. What are your OWN views on the main causes of the riots?

I think that the main causes of the riots was the media and certain representations, images of Mark Duggan were cropped and taken out of context, people involved in the riots were demonised so broadly that it included others not even involved. Things are also being constantly taken away, there is nothin for them to do or support them anymore

12. How can capitalism be blamed for the riots? What media theory (from our new/digital media unit) can this be linked to?

Capitalism can be blamed for the riots and linked to hegemony the elite have the power. people are not able to challenge views, if they of they are wrong and that is it. The powerful aren't using their power the way they should to benefit the people that they are supposed to be protecting.

13. Were people involved in the riots given a voice in the media to explain their participation?

The people were not given their voice to explain, again linking back to the control of the elite, if the views weren't shared those not involved aren't exposed to alternative views.

14. In the Guardian website's investigation into the causes of the riots, they did interview rioters themselves. Read this Guardian article from their Reading the Riots academic research project - what causes are outlined by those involved in the disturbances?

     O Opportunism
     O Materialism 
     O Unemployment
     O Political Grievances 
     O Economic
     O Unemployment
     O Gang Culture 

15. What is your own opinion on the riots? Do you have sympathy with those involved or do you believe strong prison sentences are the right approach to prevent such events happening in future?

I personally think the that there is a fine line between people whom had an actual aim, an those who just wanted to get involved. The actual aim was valid, but it doesn't validate extreme violence. Rather than strong prison sentences, proper sentences should have been put in place harsh sentences were implemented for crimes that should have had such a lengthy sentence. To prevent issues like this in the future, something has to be done on the other side, the reasons that caused the riots in the first place need to be addressed properly. Until then it'll just repeat.