Learning Objective

• To understand the term ‘mediation’

• To develop understanding of Hall’s

Reception theory

What do you see?

Look again…

Representation…

• These are not the actual thing or person – they are a representation of the thing.

• Representation means to re-present (i.e. show again)

• Remember: Individuals and groups of people are represented in the media as being a certain way. This is a construct of reality and NOT reality itself.

• What was Buckingham’s quote?

Consider the police

• Do you know any Police Officers in your local area or Police Community Support Officers?

• If not, have you heard any stories about the police?

We can show the police as caring and helpful

OR NOT!

Mediation

There are three main elements to consider:•Selection•Organisation•Focussing

KEY TERM: MEDIATION• The media selects what to include from a range

of available sources. This selection will serve its own purposes.

• A media producer will deliberately organise the selection to represent a person/group/viewpoint according to what they want others to believe.

• They will ensure that the key components of the text have been focussed on deliberately to ensure the appropriate reading of the text

Students study 90% harder than their parents

NSPCC: Giving your child too much ‘screen time’ is damaging their health

Teenage gangs out of control

Teenage suicide rate on the rise

Actor Mediation Representation of character/issue

Selection process:

Type of mediaEditing

Camera Angle

Costume

Language

Music

Key term: MEDIATION

(Reality) The outcome

Message to the Audience

Actor Mediation Representation of character

Selection process:

Type of mediaEditing

Camera Angle

Costume

Language

Music

Key term: MEDIATION

Johnny Depp

Every report of an event is a representation of the event, NOT reality.

Versions of reality:

What you hear and see in the media is controlled by the person who is informing you –

IT IS ONE PERSON’S REPRESENTATION AND THEREFORE WILL PRESENT THEIR OPINIONS, BELIEFS AND BIASES.

Media representation can have many interpretations so as to direct the audience towards a desired outcome or message the producer can add captions, music, mise-en-scene, lighting or film from certain camera angles.

Key Term: ANCHORAGE

The Shining

What do you think?

Look at the picture below and think about what it means to you.

How does the following caption affect the meaning of the same picture:

Corrupt officer arrested

Reception Theory

• Encoding and Decoding – Stuart Hall (1970s)

– Texts are encoded with meaning (semiotics!).– Different audiences respond (decode) in different

ways.– Both encoded and decoded meaning will be

understood in the context of the social and cultural background of the producer and audience.

Readings

• Preferred reading – the audience uncritically accepts the preferred (or intended) meaning of the text.

• Negotiated reading – the message is partly accepted and partly rejected.

• Oppositional reading – the audience rejects the message.

Consider the image and the anchorage used.

Identify the preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings which are encoded in the front page.

News Values

• To understand the dominant reading you must understand the ideology:– The Daily Mail is a national newspaper with a

large circulation.– It has selected these stories as the most important

of the day.– The dominant reading, therefore, constructs the

‘Leave’ vote as being the correct vote for our society.