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LZ411 – CRITICAL MEDIA THEORY 1 Aims today … 1. Introducing the module 2. Looking at transmission and ritual models of communication LZ411 – Critical Media Theory
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LZ411 – CRITICAL MEDIA THEORY
Aims today …
1. Introducing the module2. Looking at transmission and
ritual models of communication
LZ411 – Critical Media Theory
Outline of the module
1. Introducing the module and the media– Lectures and seminars
– What are the media? (their characteristics)
– Exploring media contexts
2. Transmission and ritual approaches to communication
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Media contexts: An example
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Hugh Grant on BBC news 6.7.11
BBC News 6.7.11(from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14052690)
Asking questions of the media
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What questions might this example raise about the media?
Heat Magazine 13.3.10
(Bauer Media Group)
Questions about readers? (audience)
Questions about producers? (writers, editors, publishers)
Questions about ‘the text’?(representation, narrative, genre)
Questions about ‘context’?(culture, society, politics)
What are the media (of media studies)?
• ‘One thing between two others…’
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Newsroom
Newspaper
Reader
What are the media (of media studies)?
• ‘One thing between two others…’
• Technologies, industries and form
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Media technologies
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Radio
Television
PhotographyTelegraphy
Telephony
Film
Digital technologies
Video
Satellite
Mobile technologies
Internet
convergencePrintingpress
C 16th C 20thC 19th C 21st
What are the media (of media studies)?
• One thing between two others…
• Technologies, industries and form
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Film industry: USA
Newspaper industry: UK (NI and Guardian)
Television industry: BBC and C4 HQs
What are the media (of media studies)?
• One thing between two others…
• Technologies, industries and form
9Magazines Television
Graphic Novels
What are the media (of media studies)?
• One thing between two others…
• Technology, industry and form
• Mass media
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What are the media (of media studies)?
• One thing between two others…
• Technology, industry and form
• Mass media
• A reflection of who ‘we’ are???
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Who and what is involved?
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Media content (‘texts’): genre, narrative, representation
Media producers/industries
Media audiences: impact, power and
use
Example to consider
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‘A cultural approach to communication’ – This week’s reading
Two ways to see communication1. Sending and receiving information – Carey calls
this the transmission view
(this is the idea of communication that people usually have)
2. Sharing culture – Carey calls this the ritual view
(this is not such a common view)
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Electronic Communication
15Telegraph Machine mid 19th Century
Conceptualising Communication
• A transmission model of communication
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Sender Message Receiver
Communication as transmission
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Newsroom ‘sender’
Mirror Newspaper ‘message’
Reader ‘receiver’
Communication as transmissionThis view sees communication as:
Sending, transmitting, giving information.
Metaphors of geography and transportation.
A process where messages are transmitted and distributed in space for the control of distance and people
Communication as a process and it has an effect
News as information 18
See Carey (1989)
Communication as ritual
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Communication as “the representation of shared beliefs”
(Carey 1989:18)
Communication as ritual
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See Carey (1989)
This view sees communication as:
Sharing, community/society building
Maintaining society over time
Creating meaning, creating culture
An expression of ‘who we are’
News as drama
Example to consider
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State of the nation?
Good and bad parenting
Police efficiency
Professional incompetence
How professionals
work?
How could they …?
Summary
Dividing up our area of study: producers, messages, audiences
We employ cultural and social theory to examine contexts of media.
It’s a complex area to study - Simple answers are not readily available…
The overall task therefore is to understand, analyse and explain the media in their contexts in all of their complexity.
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Seminar tasks• Read the first reading (see module handbook
and seminar reader). I’ve posted some guide questions for each reading on studentcentral. Take a look at those questions before you come to your seminar.
• Bring seminar reader to your seminar. We’ll be discussing Carey’s ideas and applying them to the print media.
• You’ll set up your wordpress blog and start your journal.
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Reading guideRead from middle page 12 "Two alternative conceptions of communication ..." to top of page 13. • Write in your own words what ‘transmission’ means.• What does he mean by ‘purpose of control’ (p.12)?
Then read page 15 "The ritual view of communication ... " for three paragraphs only.
• Write in your own words what ‘ritual’ means.• What does he mean by ‘fellowship and commonality’?
Then finally from page 16 "If one examines a newspaper ..." to end of page 17.• Write in your own words the difference between ‘information’ and ‘drama’.• When you read a newspaper can you sense this difference between
transmission and ritual that he is talking about?
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