Transcript File - Mrs Sudds` classroom

Homework: Answer this exam question
Describe one way in which politicians use the mass media to get
their message across and explain why this media coverage
might lead people to lose faith in the main political parties. (5
marks)
Times readers run the country,
Telegraph readers think they run the country,
Guardian readers wish they ran the country,
Mirror readers would run the country if the Times readers didn't run it already,
Mail readers don't know who runs the country,
Express readers don't care who runs the country,
and Sun readers don't give a damn who runs the country as long as her
measurements exceed 38-24-36.
This was quoted as an analysis by MPs of the readerships of UK newspapers in a
Guardian diary piece in the early 1980s. There have been many variants of it
(including 'FT readers pay to run the country', 'Mail readers know who should be
running the country' and 'Mirror readers will run the country once the revolution
comes'), but all tend to agree about Sun readers (though many in cruder terms).
Task
Stick this into your books and annotate explaining what
this tells us about different readers of newspapers.
Consider social class gender and age.
Who owns the mass media?
Learning Objectives
To identify how private ownership of the media gives control.
To understand and explain issues such as bias, propaganda and
censorship
STARTER
Think about Marxist theory ….. Who do
Marxists believe own the media? Why do the
owners of the media have power?
Let’s see how true this is!
In your group, compare your newspapers:
a) Which paper contains the most celebrity
stories?
b) Which paper contains the most international
stories?
c) Which paper has the most pictures?
d) Which paper is the hardest to read?
e) Compare similar stories. Are they saying the
same thing?
Isn’t the news just the news?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z0sL662XX
A&feature=related
In your own words, explain what is happening
in this scene of The Newsroom
Conflict Approach
The conflict approach theory states that
the content of the newspapers is
controlled by the powerful and wealthy
owners (gatekeepers). They can decide
what is said in the newspapers and how it
is said.
Followers of the conflict approach
believe that there is no longer free
press, which means that the newspapers
are now controlled by few huge
multimedia conglomerates such as News
Corp, which is run by Rupert Murdoch,
rather than lots of smaller newspapers
expressing their views.
Additionally, more and more it is the
people who fund the media who have
control.
Pluralist Approach
Pluralists believe that we do have free press,
which means that the newspapers are not
controlled by their owners, but by the people
who read them. Readers use their market
power to determine what is written in
newspapers because if they don’t like what is
written, they won’t buy the newspaper. For
example, the Sun newspaper does not contain
international news because it’s readers
wouldn’t want to read it.
The public can also express their views
through writing to the newspaper editors and
telling them what content they would like
included.
Pluralists believe that the day to day control
over the content of newspapers lies with the
editors and journalists, not the owners.
How does the clip from The Newsroom fit in with these theories?
Are we best served by private enterprise?
We are best served by allowing the
market to have the maximum amount of
freedom with the minimum of
government control.
George Monbiot, 2007
This is a neo-liberal point of view.
1) What are the benefits of a neo-liberal point
of view?
2) What are the risks of a neo-liberal point of
view?
3) Does this fit best with the conflict approach
or pluralist approach?
“we want to work on people until they
have capitulated to us, until they grasp
ideologically that what is happening in
Germany today not only must be accepted
but also can be accepted “
Joseph Goebbels press conference, March
1933
Nazi Propaganda and censorship
Joseph Goebbels served as Hitlers
Minister of Propaganda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM43UznSX1s&NR=1
Watch the clip and summarise the main points.
Think about …
how the media was controlled?
What messages were they trying to portray to people
Keywords
Propaganda – the selection and control of
information usually for political ends
Censorship – preventing certain information from
becoming public knowledge
Write these
in your books
“we want to work on people until they
have capitulated to us, until they grasp
ideologically that what is happening in
Germany today not only must be accepted
but also can be accepted “
Joseph Goebbels press conference, March
1933
Goebbels controlled the content of newspapers,
radio and film. He championed issues including,
dictatorship, war and genocide.
Through the control of film content he was able
to take a subtle approach to propaganda. His
films were aimed at entertaining people and did
not contain obvious political content. He
encouraged films that took a sympathetic view to
euthanasia( mercy killing) for those with terminal
illnesses or physical disabilities. He cast villains as
Jewish and they would always receive the death
penalty.
Task
How did he get his point across
to people through his choice of
film content and characters?
Do you think its right for a
newspaper to support a
particular political party?
Freedom of speech and free
press
If the media is influenced by politicians or
those with power can there really be freedom
of speech and free press?
Freedom of speech – the democratic
principle that protects legitimate
comment regarding the actions of the
government or matters of public
interest
Censorship – preventing certain
information from becoming public
knowledge
Bias – not taking a neutral view but
favouring one side of an argument or
debate.
Task
Put together an argument either agreeing
that that there is such a thing as free press or
not.
Include words such as bias, censorship and
gatekeepers
Gatekeeper – one who has editorial
control over the media content
Spin – managing the message to
influence the way in which events are
reported