Newspapers, Online and Social and Participatory

Media
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs/the_papers
 News and Online
Language

• WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF ONLINE NEWSPAPER SITES – APPLY TO

YOUR VOICEOVER (some ideas, more on board list)

• They are immediate and up to date. When something happens, users can access the news
and get regular updates
• They offer more immediate interactive opportunities, for example there is access to audio-
visual clips and opportunities to blog or email opinions (PARTICIPATORY MEDIA) The Daily
Mail which has a high percentage of female readers, has had particular success with its
online version of Femail with its diet of fashion and gossip.
• Apps for several newspapers are available for mobile phones and tablets
• There is an archive facility so that users can access back issues or features
• The navigation tool allows users to quickly select the news and features that interest them

• Participatory and Social media

• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/12/the-dark-side-of-guardian-comments
.
 News and Online
Language

• How has technological change affected newspapers?

• Why is it important to have an online presence?
• What are the advantages of a newspaper website for
readers?
• How have the producers of the Daily Mail used a
range of platforms to reach a broad audience?
NRS DATA RELEASE | JULY 2016 – JUNE 2017
Source: NRS
PADD

PRINT & DIGITAL* | CONSUMPTION OF NEWSBRANDS

52.6 million

91
% 91%
of GB adults 15+

that’s 47.8 million people

consume newsbrands across
print & digital

9 in 10 adults in Great Britain consume a newsbrand either

in print or digitally. 61% of GB adults 15+ read a print
newspaper and 76% consume newsbrand content via their
PC or mobile device.

* Digital figure includes PC, laptop, mobile & tablet

Monthly Data Based on all national & regional newsbrands in NRS PADD

MORE INFORMATION
The National Readership Survey was established in 1956 and today provides the most authoritative and valued audience research in use for print & digital advertising Publishers Audience Measurement Company,
trading in the UK. 7/8 Market Place, London W1W 8AG
The survey covers over 250 of Britain’s major newsbrands and magazines, showing the size and nature of the audiences they achieve. Tel +44 (0)20 7637 9822 www.nrs.co.uk
 News and Online
Newspaper vs Online websites

Write and record an analysis voice over the following videos using screencast (film icon on top right of pc) start
with a quick overview of the newspaper and then compare with the articles on the website. After this recording
click on the video recorded later on the website and see what has changed and comment on the advantages of

Upload your analysis onto youtube and use key cover and pages from newspaper to compare on blog.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B47mhquI4-TZeXJ2cllKT1VzNVk Guardian midday web 30.10

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B47mhquI4-TZVWZINHNBc2xwMmM Daily Mail midday web 30.10

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B47mhquI4-TZS1k0Q0xyV2xkT0k Guardian a couple of hours later

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B47mhquI4-TZTEtvU196cW45Z28 Daily Mail a couple of hours later
 SCREENCASTS MEDIA INDUSTRIES AND MEDIA AUDIENCES
 

MEDIA LANGUAGE AND REPRESENTATION

How can audiences be reached through different

Pick at least two top articles from the Mail and the
Guardian
Then look at their online presence.
 
ONLINE Look at each chosen website article and the
associated social and participatory media feeds should
link to the themes or issues represented in the front
covers chosen.
 
How does media language and representation in those
feeds position the audience and engage participation?
media technologies and platforms?
What is the content and appeal of each of the set
products and how is this used to target, reach and
address different audiences?
What do you think the effects are of newspapers
becoming more digital and less print? In your
opinion how do they differ when it comes to telling
us the news?

 Find the social media related to the articles. (For example, if a Guardian front cover lead article is a ‘Brexit’ related
story then learners should study the associated Guardian Online article and Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
feeds for this story).
SOCIAL AND PARTICIPATORY MEDIA
What are the associated Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds for the online articles from the Mail Online website
and The Guardian websites? How is media language and representation in those feeds positioning the audience
and engaging in participation.

 
What might be the problem
with political affiliation?
What might be the problem with political
affiliation? https://www.newstatesman.com/2017/05/right-wing-newspaper-headlines-bring-bias-
bbc
 BIAS IN NEWS

http://gbhsmediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/newspaper-bias-news-representation.html
November 16th front pages screencast
 News and Online
Representation Assessment Revision Task 1

http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2016-17/16-17_1-33/website/pdf/3.%20Audience/5-critical-pers
pectives-gerbner.pdf

Gerbner student task

Subjects in the news that polarise newspapers/readers - save some interesting representations from the front pages on
these issues
Pro/Anti Corbyn, May, Trump
- Brexit/Remain
- Immigration
- Muslims
. Syria/Burma/Libya refugee crisis
- Free schools/Grammar schools/Private schools
- Paradise Papers, Divide between rich and poor another eg Grenfell
NHS funding
Strikes
Mass shootings, gun laws in US
ISIS - terror in Orlando, Barcelona, Manchester, London
 News and Online
Label Representation and Language Revision Task 2

• Social media effect DISCUSSION, VIEWING AND NOTE TAKING to be linked with
pros and cons of social media. Write down four key changes. Outdated, what are
some more recent examples?

http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2016-17/16-17_1-33/w
ebsite/_eng/audience/the-social-media-effect.html
The next three tasks go together:
• Image selection DISCUSSION
http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2016-17/16-17_1-33/
website/_eng/language/6-image-selection.html

• Headlines STUDENT TASK

http://resource.download.wjec.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/vtc/2016-17/16-17_1-33/
website/_eng/language/example-report-twins/7-headlines.html

• https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B47mhquI4-TZQlVJYVpZN2t5Njg
 Label LANGUAGE TASK 3 revision
Complete the table, answering the questions in as much detail as you can using language from the respective articles.
What do you notice about the difference in content and how the articles convey this information?
Why do you think that is? Mail/Guardian online articles 26th November

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5118189/Five-people-killed-stolen-car-crashes-tree.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/11/26/five-killed-including-three-children-stolen-car-crashes-leeds /
  Daily Mail The Daily Telegraph
Who was
involved?
   
 
 
What
happened?
   
 
 
Where did it
happen?
   
 
 
When did it
happen?
   
 
 
How did it
happen?
   
 
 
Why did it    
happen?  
 
 News and Online
Label Language and Representation Task 4

Google a clearer version of this image for your blog and analyse it using the following prompts
 Label Industry
Task 5
• Write a few
points for
each of the
areas
• Write a
summary
on IPSO
 News and Online
Print and online Industry Revision Task 6

As a class
http://resource.dow
nload.wjec.co.uk.s3.
amazonaws.com/vtc
/2016-17/16-17_1-3
3/website/_eng/aud
ience/who-reads-th
e-newspapers.html
Individually choose
the Daily Mirror,
Daily Mail or
Guardian
. (one you
don’t think you
know as well) and
answer the
following questions
on your blog.
 News and Online
Theories Revision

THEORIES TO APPLY TO NEWSPAPERS

Industry - Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh,
Language – Levi Strauss, Barthes,
Audience – Shirky, Gauntlett, Jenkins, Gerbner
Representation – Van Zoonen, Butler (Femail, make up advice?)

Any of these theorists could come up in your exam. A useful idea is to highlight any areas which you think you can connect
with examples from the news. For example: Gerbner’s repeated messages, Shirky’s new audiene or Levi Strauss’ opposites
LANGUAGE
Barthes
Semiology is the study of signs. Signs consist of a signifier (a word, an image, a sound, and so on) and its meaning – the
signified. The denotation of a sign is its literal meaning (e.g. the word ‘dog’ denotes a mammal that barks). Denotations signify
connotations – the associations of the denotation (e.g. ‘dogness’ – the thoughts and feelings associated with dogs). Denotations
and connotations
. are organised into myths – the ideological meaning. These make ideology seem natural. For example, a
Bulldog might activate a myth of Britishness.
Levi Strauss
The ‘binary opposition’ – that the system of myths and fables was ruled by a structure of opposing terms, e.g. hot-cold, male-
female, culture-nature, raw-cooked. Many writers have analysed media products using the idea of the binary opposition, but
seeing the overall system as ‘ideology’ rather than ‘human consciousness’
 News and Online
Theories Revision

THEORIES YOU CAN APPLY TO NEWSPAPERS

Industry - Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh,
Language – Levi Strauss, Barthes,
Audience – Shirky, Gauntlett, Jenkins, Gerbner
Representation – Van Zoonen, Butler (Femail, make up advice?)

INDUSTRY
Hesmondhalgh Risk is particularly high in the cultural industries because of the difficulty in predicting success, high
production costs, low reproduction costs and the fact that media products are ‘public goods’ – they are not destroyed
on consumption but can be further reproduced. This means that the cultural industries rely on ‘big hits’ to cover the
costs of failure. Hence industries rely on repetition through use of stars, genres, franchises, repeatable narratives and
so on to sell formats to audiences, then industries and governments try to impose scarcity, especially through
copyright laws
Curran and
. Seaton A political economy approach to the media – arguing that patterns of ownership and control are
the most significant factors in how the media operate. Media industries follow the normal capitalist pattern of
increasing concentration of ownership in fewer and fewer hands. This leads to a narrowing of the range of opinions
represented and a pursuit of profit at the expense of quality or creativity. The internet does not represent a rupture
with the past in that it does not offer a level playing field for diverse voices to be heard. It is constrained by nationalism
and state censorship. News is still controlled by powerful news organisations, who have successfully defended their
oligarchy.
 News and Online
Theories Revision

THEORIES TO APPLY TO NEWSPAPERS

Industry - Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh,
Language – Levi Strauss, Barthes,
Audience – Shirky, Gauntlett, Jenkins, Gerbner
Representation – Van Zoonen, Butler (Femail, make up advice?)

AUDIENCE
Shirky In the ‘old’ media, centralised producers addressed atomised consumers; in the ‘new’ media, every consumer is now a producer. Traditional media producers would
‘filter then publish’; as many ‘new’ media producers are not employees, they ‘publish then filter’. These amateur producers have different motivations to those of
professionals – they value autonomy, competence, membership and generosity. User-generated content creates emotional connection between people who care about
something. This can generate a cognitive surplus – for example, Wikipedia can aggregate people’s free time and talent to produce value that no traditional medium could
match. ‘The Audience’ as a mass of people with predictable behaviour is gone. Now, behaviour is variable across different sites, with some of the audience creating content,
some synthesising content and some consuming content. The ‘old’ media created a mass audience. The ‘new’ media provide a platform for people to provide value for each
other
Jenkins Fandom – act as ‘textual poachers’ – taking elements from media texts to create their own culture. The development of the ‘new’ media has accelerated
‘participatory culture’, in which audiences are active and creative participants rather than passive consumers. They create online communities, produce new creative forms,
collaborate. to solve problems, and shape the flow of media. This generates ‘collective intelligence’. From this perspective, convergence is a cultural process rather than a
technological one. Jenkins prefers the term ‘spreadable media’ to terms such as ‘viral’, as the former emphasises the active, participatory element of the ‘new’ media.
Cultivation Theory – Gerbner (GG!) Exposure to television over long periods of time cultivates standardised roles and behaviours. Gerbner used content analysis to analyse
repeated media messages and values, then found that heavy users of television were more likely, for example, to develop ‘mean world syndrome’ – a cynical, mistrusting
attitude towards others – following prolonged exposure to high levels of television violence. Gerbner found that heavy TV viewing led to ‘mainstreaming’ – a common
outlook on the world based on the images and labels on TV. Mainstreamers would describe themselves as politically moderate.
Reception Theory – Hall’s ‘encoding-decoding’ model argued that media producers encode ‘preferred meanings’ into texts, but these texts may be ‘read’ by their audiences
in a number of different ways: • The dominant-hegemonic position: a ‘preferred reading’ that accepts the text’s messages and the ideological assumptions behind the
messages • The negotiated position: the reader accepts the text’s ideological assumptions, but disagrees with aspects of the messages, so negotiates the meaning to fit with
their ‘lived experience’ • The oppositional reading: the reader rejects both the overt message and its underlying ideological assumptions.
 News and Online
Theories Revision

THEORIES TO APPLY TO NEWSPAPERS

Industry - Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh,
Language – Levi Strauss, Barthes,
Audience – Shirky, Gauntlett, Jenkins, Gerbner
Representation – Van Zoonen, Butler (Femail, make up advice?)

REPRESENTATION PT1
Hall
Representation is not about whether the media reflects or distorts reality, as this implies that there can be one ‘true’ meaning, but the many
meanings a representation can generate. Meaning is constituted by representation, by what is present, what is absent, and what is different.
Thus, meaning can be contested. A representation implicates the audience in creating its meaning. Power – through ideology or by stereotyping
– tries to fix the meaning of a representation in a ‘preferred meaning’. To create deliberate anti-stereotypes is still to attempt to fix the meaning
(albeit in a different way). A more effective strategy is to go inside the stereotype and open it up from within, to deconstruct the work of
representation.
Gauntlett.
The media have an important but complex relationship with identities. In the modern world, it is now an expectation that individuals make
choices about their identity and lifestyle. Even in the traditional media, there are many diverse and contradictory media messages that
individuals can use to think through their identities and ways of expressing themselves. For example, the success of ‘popular feminism’ and
increasing representation of different sexualities created a world where the meaning of gender, sexuality and identity is increasingly open. The
online media offer people a route to self-expression, and therefore a stronger sense of self and participating in the world by making and
exchanging. These media are places of conversation, exchange and transformation: ‘a fantastically messy set of networks filled with millions of
sparks – some igniting new meanings, ideas and passions and some just fading away.’ People still build identities, but through everyday, creative
practice. However, this practice would be improved by better platforms for creativity.
 News and Online
Theories Revision

THEORIES TO APPLY TO NEWSPAPERS

Industry - Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh,
Language – Levi Strauss, Barthes,
Audience – Shirky, Gauntlett, Jenkins, Gerbner
Representation – Van Zoonen, Butler (Femail, make up advice?)

REPRESENTATION PT2
Feminist Theory – Van Zoonen In patriarchal culture, the way women’s bodies are represented as objects is different to the representation of
male bodies as spectacle. Gender is performative – our ideas of femininity and masculinity are constructed in our performances of these roles.
Gender is ‘what we do’ rather than ‘what we are’. Moreover, gender is contextual – its meaning changes with cultural and historical contexts.
Van Zoonen disagrees with arguments that the internet, being based on collaboration, is a technology that is true and close to women and
femininity. These views are too simple and based on the idea of an essential femininity, whereas there is a rich diversity of ways that gender is
articulated on the internet.
Bell Hooks Feminism is a movement to end patriarchy: sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. ‘Intersectionality’ refers to the intersections
of gender,. race, class and sexuality to create a ‘white supremacist capitalist patriarchy’, whose ideologies dominate media representations. She
argues that black women should develop an ‘oppositional gaze’ that refuses to identify with characters – the ‘gaze’ is political for black
Americans, as slaves were punished for looking at their white owners.
Butler states gender is created in how we perform our gender roles – there is no essential gender identity behind these roles, it is created in the
performance. Performativity is not a singular act but a repetition and a ritual that becomes naturalised within the body. Any feminism
concerned only with masculinity and femininity excludes other forms of gender and sexuality. This creates ‘gender trouble’ for those that do not
fit the heterosexual norms. Butler is an important postmodern writer and has influenced queer theory – theory which deconstructs and aims to
destabilise apparently fixed identities based on gender and sexualities.
 News and Online
Theories Revision

THEORIES TO APPLY TO NEWSPAPERS

Industry - Curran and Seaton, Hesmondhalgh,
Language – Levi Strauss, Barthes,
Audience – Shirky, Gauntlett, Jenkins, Gerbner
Representation – Van Zoonen, Butler (Femail, make up advice?)

REPRESENTATION PT3

Post-Colonial Theory – Gilroy The African diaspora caused by the slave trade has now constructed a transatlantic culture that is
simultaneously African, American, Caribbean and British – the ‘Black Atlantic’. Britain has failed to mourn its loss of empire,
creating ‘postcolonial melancholia’, an attachment to an airbrushed version of British colonial history, which expresses itself in
criminalising immigrants and an ‘us and them’ approach to the world founded on the belief in the inherent superiority of white
western civilisation.
.
 News and Online
ASSESSMENT 1B

Revision Topics
• Codes and Conventions of Tabloids/Broadsheets
• Circulation and Readership – audiences, advertisers
• Bias
• Online news - Social media/Participatory media
• . News Values
• Pros and Cons of online news
• Theorists
• News Terminology