Audience and Consumption

This week we studied audience and the consumption. This means the way in which audiences use the media and consume the media. Different audiences will consume the media in a different way depending on the media text in which they desire to consume. You may not intentionally seek to consume the media but as it is something that does surround us, you may not help but take it in. The different audiences consume the media in different ways. Some like to listen to the radio, watch television, surf the net, read a newspaper or connect with people via social networks. There have become many more ways now for audiences to consume the media. However, the media approach the audience in different ways too. This is when the theory factors come in when decoding and gaining the understanding of audience consumption within the media.

“The main theories of audience research have been the ‘effects debate’ the ‘uses and gratifications’ model, the ‘encoding/decoding’ model and ethnography” [Lacey, N, 2002;p144]

The way in which the audience tend to consume products have the obvious outcomes such as you may wish to listen to a specific song; therefore you might search for it on YouTube. You want to find out what’s going on in the world? So you would turn on the TV to the News Channel. However, there are other ways in which the audience consume media products such as advertisements.

“in consumer society, advertising agencies represent expertise in reading trends, fashions, signs and other codes. They are able to use these systems of signification for clients to help position their products in the minds, desires and affections of consumers.” [Long P and Wall T, 2012;p430]

Photography has a lot of power within its text. When an audience go to consume a product such as a magazine and they are viewing the advertisements within the magazine, they are merely just looking at the picture. However, what they are really getting back from viewing the image may be something completely different. This is the effect which it may have on the audience. Through Uses and gratification, for example, some women may look at beauty product adverts and wish to aspire to be like what they are seeing. However, the produces have created this image to look attractive and they have edited the image simply to create this effect on the audience which they then hope for the audience to go and consume the product just because they’ve taken this view on the advert. By using celebrity endorsement in an advertisement, the audience are then taking into account who the celebrity is which makes the product which the producers are selling, much more memorable. This is then another way in which audiences consume the media because not only are they taking into account of the product but they are also taking into account the celebrity representing it which then shows how a cycle begins to form, a cycle which allows various participants within to gain some acknowledgement. So where is the consumer left within this cycle?

I would test the way in which audience consume media products by doing a Focus Group which would allow me to analyse the different ways and the effects in which they gain from different media texts.

Lacey N (2002). Media Instituions and Audiences. New York : Palgrave. 144.

Paul Long and Tim Wall (2009). Media Studies Text, Production and Context. Essex, England : Pearson Education Limited. 430.

Conceptualising the Audience

This week’s lecture focused on the idea of ‘Audience’. What is an audience? An audience is what the media strives to serve. Without an audience, there would be no media? Each media text such as Newspapers, Television, and Radio all have a purpose. Their purpose is to create a product or service which is then consumed by an audience. In order for this to be a success and to make profit, they need to target their specific audience rather than everyone as a mass audience. By specifying the audience, you are then most likely to be more successful because you are overly suiting the audience’s needs.

 “’Know the audience’ is the first basic principle every handbook for commercial broadcasting teaches the would be television programmer’’ [Ang, L, 1991;p19]

Every photographer depending on the genre or the text in which they work in, have a desired audience to whom they produce their work for. For example, a photographer who works for Vogue would create a photo-shoot under the genre and conventions of Fashion. This then relates to the audience which they would be targeting which would be the audience of Vogue. You can then define the audience even more by specifying the type of person. For example, a woman from the age of 18-30 who has a high interest in Fashion. Then you have your audience. The audience whom you produce your work for.

The audience are the people who consume the product. Some consumers may seek out to the media which is when you may argue that the audience need the media. Others may argue that the audience does not need the media and that without the audience, there would be no media. Or you may wish to argue that it is a two way street and that they both need each other. These are different concepts on the idea of an audience. However, the media’s purpose is to target the audience and this can be something of a difficulty at time especially when trying to target a larger wider audience. In order to do so, they need to specify who their audience is.

“other audiences may be harder to locate. For example, ‘YouTube’ viewers, across the globe, logging on at different times and dates offer a different spatial and temporal dimension of the shared experience of being an audience’’ [Long P and Wall T, 2012;p279]

So therefore media produces would find it harder to evaluate and define their specific audience if they are always gaining different feedback in a large amount. For example, the obvious convention of a YouTube viewer is that they must have the knowledge to use the internet. To define the gender and age and even ethnicity of your audience would be hard to evaluate unless you produce a product with the desired conventions which would relate to your specific audience. I would produce a focus group to analyse my audience and find out the interest of them by doing a discussion to see an overall opinion rather than an interview which would only give me one result unless it was one repeatedly.

 

Ang, L (1991). Desperately Seeking the Audience. London: Routledge. 19.

Paul Long and Tim Wall (2009). Media Studies Text, Production and Context. Essex, England : Pearson Education Limited. 279.

Representation

Representation

This weeks lecture we looked at the meaning of representation within the media and even more specifically, what discourse is.

Discourse is a form of analysis which is undertaken in order to understand the way in which a media text is represented and what it is trying to communicate towards the audience. Representation within the media is a widely spread topic. There's many areas within representation. For example, representation of sexuality, gender, stereotypes. How different people within the media or society may be represented. Representation is something which changes over time as society changes. For example, the representation of sexuality is a large topic which has drastically changed over time. Homosexuality is a key example of this. It was looked at as something new and out of the ordinary as opposed to what it is represented as in this day and age. Pornography within the media is also another topic which has slowly become more exposed and is now represented differently to what it was years ago. It's more open, it's progressed a lot more and has become a lot more common than what it used to be.

'Until the sexual offences act, passed in 1967, male homosexuality in the UK was illegal and punishable by jail sentence or mental health treatment and this made it very difficult to represent this particular range of sexuality in the media in anything like a positive light.' [Long P, Wall T, 2009;p89]

This is an example of how representation has its limitations and how in order to represent something within the media, you need to take into consideration the altercations which could occur due to the way in which society is. Nowadays, homosexuality is represented throughout the media quite positively. This is shown through representing it in television programmes, posters, films etc.

 

“Discourse analysis has now become a very diverse area of study with a variety of approaches…” [Fairclough, N, 1992;P12]

Discourse analysis would be my chosen methodology for this topic because it allows you to analyse media texts thoroughly and define the meanings behind the uses and gratifications.

Representation within Photography specifically also changes through society. The way in which women are represented on the front cover of magazines, the way children are represented and also sexuality again. These are topics which occur a lot within media photography. Focusing on women representation, images of women spread across the front cover of fashion magazines. They have this representation of looking 'perfect and flawless'. When in reality, we should be aware as an audience that these images have been alternated to look a certain way. The producers create these images in this way to give the audience something almost to aspire to and admire which then gives the audience this idea of how women should or are supposed to look.

 

Fairclough, N (1992). Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge : Polity Press. 12.

 

Paul Long and Tim Wall (2009). Media Studies Text, Production and Context. Essex, England : Pearson Education Limited. 87.

Genre

Genre is a way of categorising a style of something. Within genre, there are codes and conventions. The codes and conventions of something define what category the product comes under. For example, within film, there are various different genres which allow the audience to decide what style of film they want to watch. When the produces choose to make a film, they must be aware of the genre in which they are producing the film so that they can include the codes and conventions of the desired genre.

Therefore, within other media texts such as photography or new media, there are different genres in which they must follow in order to succeed in categorising their purpose. For example, in fashion photography, there are codes and conventions which allow the audience to immediately understand the concept of the photo being produced. This may include, bright lighting, colours, a specific pose, the centre of interest being what the designer wishes to portray in the shot, where as a portrait photo would have different conventions which would allow the audience to tell the difference between the two. For example, in a portrait photo, the person must have eye contact with the camera; it must be able to tell the audience about the person without actually telling them. David La Chappelle is a contemporary photographer who has a very distinctive style to his photography. He creates contemporary portrait photos for celebrities and his work follows a style to which the audience is able to immediately tell it has been produced by him. This is through use of bright colours, props including religious ornaments and controversial items. His images tend to be quite sexualised and contemporary. Although they are portrait photos, his work also includes fashion photography. For example, Katy Perry modelled for GHD straighteners and David La Chappelle took the photos for this advertisement. He included his same conventions within the photo because they were similar to that off a fashion photo shoot.

 

“Genre’s do not only change because society changes, they also evolve as distinct entities…” [Lacey, N, 1998 London;p142]

 

“so, we should add to the above definition, that genres, although they consist of recognisable elements, are dynamic” [Long, P and Wall, T, 2012;p74]

 

This quote taken from Nick Lacey’s book of Genre and narrative tells me about the way in which genre can change. Within New Media and Photography however, new genre ideas have developed. For example, the genre of social networking in comparison to dating websites. They both include the same concepts of having an online profile where one can communicate with another but they are both defined in different ways due to the overall purpose of what they have been created for. Twitter was created to allow the user to communicate with other people, companies and be updated on news, celebrity gossip etc and also to promote businesses where as a dating site was created for people who are looking for a relationship with someone else but they all follow the same key codes and conventions with differences made to suit the original purpose.

 

Lacey, N (1998). Image and Representation. London: Macmillin Press LTD. 142.

 

Paul Long Tim Wall (2012). Media Studies, Text, Production, Context. 2nd ed. Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited. 74.

Globalization

When doing the readings on Globalization, I firstly needed to understand fully what Globalization actually is.

 “Globalization is the direct consequence of the expansion of European culture across the planet via settlement, colonization and cultural mimesis… However, it does not imply that every corner of the planet must become westernized and capitalist, but rather that every set of social arrangements must establish its position in relation to the capitalist west…” [Waters, M, 1995;p3]

 Globalization is only one theory to how the industries have expanded globally. It has different arguments to the concept of Globalization and an argument which I repeatedly came across was the idea of Globalization being a way to westernize the world.

Globalization is when a company, for example Mcdonalds, expands its business to other countries, still producing the same products. An example of this in New Media or Photography would be the company Cannon. They produce their products all over the world and have the same store. Also, Facebook is a perfect example of Globalization. It began in America and is now used by people all over the world. Glocalisation is when the products are adjusted to the countries preferences culturally. For example, Mcdonalds may sell the same products all over the world but in some countries such as India, due to cultural differences, they would not sell beef products. Facebook too also has the option for the user to change its language preference so that it’s more user friendly for people who don’t speak English. Glocalisation may be a way in arguing that Globalization is not a form of westernising the world. This is because the companies are not thrusting upon the audiences with their original western idea but adjusting their services to suit those with a cultural difference.

 I read Malcolm Waters book of Globalization and found it very useful for explaining the concept of Globalization. He quotes:

“Post Modernism was the concept of the 1980’s. Globalization may be the concept of the 1990’s, a key idea by which we understand the transition of human society into the third millennium” [Waters, M, 1995;p1]

 
This quote furthermore explained that maybe Globalization is even more of a current thing as it only started to develop in the 60’s but the progressed later into the 90’s when it actually started to become more of a key idea.

Globalization within the world of Photography comes in with NewsPapers.
"While the internet is perhaps the most instantly recognisable of global media forms, in fact it was news production that was the first truly global media enterprise" [Long, P and Wall, T, 2012;p238]
Newspapers being the first to become globally recognised means that photos were progressing across the world originally.

Waters, M (1995). Globalization. London: Routledge. 1-3.

Paul Long Tim Wall (2012). Media Studies, Text, Production, Context. 2nd ed. Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited. 238.

Industry and Regulation

Industry and regulation

This week we looked at reputation within the media. The media uses regulation to control the the content which is being broadcasted to the public. Regulatory boards are put in place in order to protect the public from could be offensive, harmful or unsuitable for the desired audience. Not only do they manage what media produces produce but their are guide lines, rules and regulations and also the public can turn to these boards to make a complaint. Different media sectors have different regulations and regulatory boards who are put in place to control the content. For example, the BBFC is a British film regulation company. Their name stands for the British Board of Film Classification. They classify the age of the film to which they think is suitable for the audience. On their website you can view the different case studies which they have dealt with when making changes to the age rating of certain films. That is only one example of a regulatory board within the media.

The argument for regulation within the media relates back to the concept of political economy.

 '...we need to relate issues of regulation directly to the issues of political economy that we dealt with in the previous chapter, but also the questions about the nature of the the society we believe we should live in, and our view of the power of the media'

Thus meaning that although there is regulations put in place in order to protect the public, we may argue that there is some degree of control and that's when the power of the media comes into it. Some people may have different views on the idea of regulation. The relationship between regulation and political economy is the idea of who is in control, who has the power and where does that leave the rest of us.
However, regulation can be seen as something which is good for the public. That is what the main intentions are. For example, children's viewings.

'...broadcasters have developed and subscribed to a "watershed" policy where 9.00 p.m is regarded as the time before which programmes unsuitable for children should not be scheduled... More adult material may be shown after this time, where broadcasters will not accept full responsibility for children's viewing" [regulating the media, Thomas Gbbons, p77, Sweet & Maxwell Limited 1998, London]

Regulation is put in place within all media organisations. Regulation within photography comes under different factors. There are different rules and regulations depending on the purpose of the content of photography. The main regulatory board would by Copyright. Copyright allow protection for the work in which someone produces. Once a piece of work has been produced, they can then have their work protected by the rules of Copyright which allows their work to be redeemed as theirs only and if one is to take their work without permission and se it or classify it as their own, then copyright take legal action against this. This is a form of regulation within the media that allows security for the owners work.

I would perform an interview to research the different regulations within the media and what people ideas and thoughts are about it.

Gibbons, T (1998). Regulating the Media. 2nd ed. London: Sweet & Maxwell . 77.

Paul Long and Tim Wall (2009). Media Studies Texts, Production and Context. Essex, England: Pearsons Educatin Limited . 167.

Political Economy

'Many Media researchers have explored questions of power within the framework of what has been called a 'critical political economy' [Paul Long and Tim Wall, p 173, Media Studies Texts Production Context, 2012]


This weeks lecture was about Political Economy. I read the PDF of Natalie Fenton and I came across a quote which she had stated which to me explained the Political Economy quite strongly. She stated:

 

'Put crudely, political economy views the media as promoting the dominant ideology of the ruling classes: in spite of their liberating potential, the media of modern mass communication have contributed to the creation of new levels of social stratification...' [Natalie Fenton, Bridging the Mythical Divide, p7-8, 2007]

 

After reading this, I then realised how it does refer back to the Marxism theory to do with the bourgeoisie. The political economy is made up in a hierarchy of ownership and power. The richest are believed to sit at the top of this chain. They are the ones who are in main control and who have the most power. Large companies such as Disney and News Corp are perfect examples of this. They own many other companies and conglomerates which feed them their profit. I also read up on an interview which was called the Political Economy of the mass media Edward S. Herman interviewed by Robert W. McChesney

 

 ‘Many of these corporations have extensive holdings in other industries and nations. Objectively, their needs for profit severely influence the news operations and overall content of the media’ [Robert W. McChesney, The political Economy of the Mass Media, online article, 1989]

 

When I read this, it told me how those who do sit at the top of the political economy are thriving for profit to keep themselves in control and at the top of the Hierarchy. They do this by buying into other businesses. Some within their sector of the media and others merge with other industries to expand their own. For example, Virgin does not only specialise in Music anymore but also TV, Airlines and more. Sir Richard Branson is a perfect example for being at the top of the Hierarchy as he is also one of the richest men in the world and has been given the ‘privilege’ of being known as Sir Richard Branson. The power which is brought upon the leaders of these companies allows them to have a large control of the media. This is when you may argue as to can you always believe what you read hear and see. These people have so much control and power within the media that they could broadcast almost anything and the public will believe them due to their status. Also where does this allow room for niche companies, media production companies? You then start to build the picture of how there is the mainstream and the individuals and how the mainstream is in top control but the individuals have the tendency to be overlooked which causes them to fail within their industry.  

I would perform a focus group for this subject to gain an understanding of what different views people have on the theory of Political Economy.

Paul Long Tim Wall (2012). Media Studies, Text, Production, Context. 2nd ed. Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited. 173.

Natalie Fenton. (2007). Bridging the Mythical Divide:. Political Economy and Cultural Studies Approaches to the Analysis of the Media. 1 (1), 7-8.

Robert W. McChesney. (1989). The Political Economy of the Mass Media. Available: http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/198901--.htm. Last accessed 21st Mar 2013.