Cultural Industries: Blog Tasks :)

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) What does the term 'Cultural Industries' actually refer to?

The creation, production and distribution of products of a cultural or artistic nature 

2) What does Hesmondhalgh identify regarding the societies in which the cultural industries are highly profitable?

Places of which the creative industries are highly profitable are usually where you will find a thriving society as the cultural industries add value to society and individuals 

3) Why do some media products offer ideologies that challenge capitalism or inequalities in society?

Because the cultural industry companies need to continuously compete with one another in order to secure a loyal fanbase so they try to outdo each other in order to satisfy the audience's desires for something shocking or profane or rebellious 

4) Look at page 2 of the factsheet. What are the problems that Hesmondhalgh identifies with regards to the cultural industries?

Risky businesses, creativity vs commerce, high production costs and low reproduction costs, semi-public goods 

5) Why are so many cultural industries a 'risky business' for the companies involved?

Because audiences can be very unpredictable so the success of one media product cannot be guaranteed with new products- companies are unable to control the reactions of audiences so responses to media products are always risky 

6) What is your opinion on the creativity v commerce debate? Should the media be all about profit or are media products a form of artistic expression that play an important role in society?

I believe they are equally important but creativity has superiority over commerce and this is because money will not be made if a media product is not creative. I believe media is more likely to attract attention if it focuses on the audience and its desires rather than focusing on the income that will come with the product 

7) How do cultural industry companies minimise their risks and maximise their profits? (Clue: your work on Industries - Ownership and control will help here) 

Through the use of production, promotion and distribution processes to the best standard possible in order to please a larger audience and therefore gain more money 

8) Do you agree that the way the cultural industries operate reflects the inequalities and injustices of wider society? Should the content creators, the creative minds behind media products, be better rewarded for their work?

I agree because people with a large following automatically succeed with little effort but people who come up with original and creative ideas don't succeed as much so they should be rewarded better for their work because they have to work much harder than people who already have a large following for a fraction of what they make 

9) What is commodification? 

The transformation of objects and services into commodities 

10) Do you agree with the argument that while there are a huge number of media texts created, they fail to reflect the diversity of people or opinion in wider society?

I agree with this argument because although in recent media, diversity is trying to be implemented more, they are not accurately depicting the reality of certain cultures or backgrounds 

11) How does Hesmondhalgh suggest the cultural industries have changed? Identify the three most significant developments and explain why you think they are the most important.

Risky Business: there is no guarantee that a creative product will succeed so the use of vertical integration and diversification must increase in order to reduce risk and maximise profit 

Commodification: is a problem on the consumption and production side because it means people in cultural industries are not always rewarded fairly 

Diversity in the Media: cultural industries do not always truly reflect the diversity of people and society 

Industries: Ownership and Control :)

Media conglomerate research

1) Type up your research notes from the lesson - what did you find out about your allocated media conglomerate? Selection of companies: Alphabet, The Walt Disney Company, Comcast, 21st Century Fox, Facebook, Viacom, News Corp, Time Warner. If you were absent or didn't have time in the lesson to make these notes, research any one of the companies above and find examples of all the terminology outlined in the notes at the start of this blogpost.

Media Conglomerate: 21st Century Fox

Conglomerate Ownership: Fox News, Fox Sports, Blue Sky Studios, Fox Networks, Fox 2000 and Fox Broadcast

Horizontal Integration: Fox Sports, National Geographic and 20th Century Fox  

Vertical Integration: Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Television Stations, Fox News, Fox Business and Fox Sports 

Diversification: The Times Radio and The Times News have online access now 

Synergy: The Times Radio and The Times News 

Cross-media Regulation: The suggestion of the Sky takeover was rejected when a regulator said that the sky bid is not in public interest 

2) Do you agree that governments should prevent media conglomerates from becoming too dominant? Write an argument that looks at both sides of this debate.

I agree with the fact that the government should intervene with media conglomerates when they become too dominant and this is because there will be more competition between conglomerates if their dominance increases. This means that government intervention within media conglomerates could increase the quality of the products that they produce because they are more focused on their own products rather than the competing conglomerates. This also increases the artistic value of media products when dominant conglomerates are intervened by the government because the competition for money is reduced. 

On the other hand, it could be said that the government should not intervene with media conglomerates when they become too dominant and this is because two large companies fighting for dominance may come together and create a company with great impact and produce top quality media products. The merge of two conglomerates could also reduce the likelihood of staff being underpaid and overworked because there will be more workers to share the workload. 

Media Magazine reading and questions

Media Magazine 52 has a good feature on the changing relationship between audiences and institutions in the digital age. Go to our Media Magazine archive, click on MM52 and scroll to page 9 to read the article 'Two Key Concepts: The Relationship Between Audience and Institution'.

1) Briefly describe the production, promotion and distribution process for media companies.

Production process: provides the audience with media products they want based on their desires and gratifications 

Promotion process: targeting a target audience and then using advertising to persuade this audience of the value of the media product 

Distribution process: uses the most appropriate method to get a media product to audiences 

2) What are the different funding models for media institutions?

License fee, fees payed by advertisers, subscription fees, sales of DVDs and magazines and merchandise 

3) The article gives a lot of examples of major media brands and companies. Choose three examples from the article and summarise what the writer is saying about each of them. 

DISNEY: a family-friendly brand that focuses on children's entertainment and the consistency of its media products live up to their brand image and parents feel safe to put on a Disney movie for their children and nothing inappropriate will be shown- there is also a number of logos and brand recognition on their products

MARVEL: mainly associated with mainstream superhero films that has build a reputation of providing high standard superhero movies that meet the expectations of an audience 

ITV: a company that heavily relies on fees paid by advertisers in order to generate enough money to provide for mainstream audiences rather than niche- this means that they need to depend on a loyal fanbase to provide their profit 

4) What examples are provided of the new business models media companies have had to adopt due to changes in technology and distribution?

Sponsorship, merchandising, income generates by live shows, '360 deal' contract, investments in 3D technology, on-demand viewing, subscriptions to access content, paywalls, targeted marketing on social media data-mining, sponsoring influencers 

5) Re-read the section on 'The Future'. What examples are discussed of technology companies becoming major media institutions?

Google now owning YouTube

Amazon, Netflix and Yahoo creating and producing and broadcasting their own TV shows 

Facebook buying the virtual reality technology 

6) Do you agree with the view that traditional media institutions are struggling to survive?

I agree because media companies make a profit by selling tickets and offering subscriptions but as people have started watching media products illegally, the reliance on traditional media institutions is decreasing which means that they are making less profit and that means they are unable to sustain the profession in order to produce high quality products that is expected 

7) How might diversification or vertical integration help companies to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing media landscape? 

Diversification may help companies survive within the rapidly changing media as the option to access media products in a more relevant and accessible way increases and the outdated format is replaced by more modern ones

Vertical integration allows companies to thrive as it increases the awareness of the audience's gratifications so that their market is understood more 

8) How do YOU see the relationship between audience and institution in the future? Will audiences gain increasing power or will the major global media conglomerates maintain their control?

I think that in the future, the power of the audience will increase over the power of the major global conglomerates and we can see this when a large audience voices their opinions and the major conglomerates obey their desires so that they succeed and I am sure that this power that the audience has will continue to increase 

Audience Theory 2: Blog Tasks :)

Theory questions and your opinion

1) Social learning theory has been criticised for simplifying the causes of violence in society. Do you think the media is responsible for anti-social behaviour and violence?

I don't think that the media is responsible for anti-social and violent behaviour but it could contribute towards it. There may be many different explanations for anti-social and violent behaviour (e.g. environmental factors etc.) that could have a much larger influence on anti-social and violent behaviour than the media. However, if violent acts are shown in the media, that behaviour may get normalised and result in more people acting that way because people tend to learn though observing, imitating and modelling (social learning theory) 

2) How is social learning theory relevant in the digital age? Are young people now learning behaviour from social media and the internet? Give examples.

The Social Learning Theory gets more and more relevant in the digital age because a majority of young people have access to technology and media that depict acts of violence so they are exposed to violent acts from a young age which allows them to observe and copy the behaviour they see. This perhaps makes the Social Learning Theory more relevant now than it used to be before all of the violent games and media we have nowadays compared to the limited media before 

3) Research three examples of moral panic from the last 50 years. To what extent was the media responsible for these moral panics? Was the concern in society justified? How have things changed as a result of these moral panics?

HIV/AIDS: In the 1980s, HIV was linked to homosexuality and the media started saying that gay people were spreading HIV around the world but the moral panic died down in the 1990s when HIV was blamed on the behaviour of youth instead of gay people 

War on terror: After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Muslims were portrayed in the media as Islamic extremists and they were therefore faced with significantly more discrimination but the panic ensued and the "threat" of Muslims is still extremely exaggerated 

Columbine Massacre: The Columbine High School Massacre was a mass shooting and the moral panic developed after people believed that goth music was the reason for it to happen. The fear painted goth culture as having a dangerous influence on the youth but the moral panic then resided when the blame was placed on the gun culture in the US instead of goth culture 

4) Read this introduction to an academic paper on technopanics. What examples are given of technopanics that create fear in society? If the link is blocked in school, you can access the text here.

Online child safety, digital privacy and cyber-security 

5) Do you think the internet should be regulated? Should the government try and control what we can access online?

I think that the internet should be regulated until people reach a certain age- this is because many children have access to the internet now without restrictions so they are exposed to many things and a lot of things are normalised that perhaps shouldn't be (e.g. drug use, abuse, etc.) and they grow up thinking that this behaviour is acceptable (due to the social learning theory and the hypodermic needle model) and then start acting that way. However, if the internet is regulated for children, they can be protected from this media. But I believe that when people reach a certain age (maybe around 18) and they have already developed a knowledge for what is right and wrong, the internet should no longer be regulated for them and they have access to everything they want 

6) Apply Gerbner's cultivation theory to new and digital media. Is the internet creating a fearful population? Are we becoming desensitised to online threats, trolling and abuse? Is heavy internet use something we should be worried about in society? Write a paragraph discussing these ideas.

I strongly believe that Gerbner's cultivation theory can be applied to new and digital media- this could be because of society's increasing dependency on media. It is very possible that the internet is creating a fearful population and I believe this is more true now because of all of the information about COVID-19 being spread around. At the beginning of the pandemic, we didn't know much about the virus so a lot of people were spreading around false information which definitely increased the fear that we had. However, on different apps (e.g. Twitter, TikTok, etc.) there is a lot more interaction between people and when you are exposed to that many people, I think you start learning to not take what people say on the internet too seriously. So I think it depends on which side of the media you are on that determines the level of Mean World Syndrome you have. Heavy internet use can be concerning when people start depending on the media to the point where they cannot live without it because they may have trouble interacting with people in real life due to their dependency on the media for social interaction 

The effects debate: Media Factsheet

Read Media Factsheet 030 - Media and Audiences -The Effects Debate and answer the following questions:

1) Complete the questions in the first activity box (beginning with 'Do you play violent games? Are you violent in real life?')

I do play video games with some violence (not too extreme) but I wouldn't consider myself a violent person in real life

2) What are the four categories for different effects theories?

Direct Effect Theories: the media has a direct effect on ideas, attitudes and behaviours of the audience 

Diffusion Theories: the media may have some influence on ideas, attitudes and behaviours of the audience but the personalised way that audiences access texts have a more significant influence 

Indirect Effect Theories: the media may affect people but there is an emphasis on the fact that our environment plays a part in it as well 

The Pluralistic Approach: media institutions are free to present any point of view they wish to and audiences equally able to freely choose 

3) What are the examples provided for the hypodermic needle theory - where media texts have been blamed for certain events? 

-Child's Play: the murder of Jamie Bulger 

-Marilyn Manson: the Columbine High School mass shooting 

-Natural Born Killers: the number of murders that were committed by romantically linked couples 

4) What was the 1999 Columbine massacre? You may need to research this online in addition to the information on the factsheet.

It was a High School shooting (and failed bombing) that occurred in the United States by 12th graders Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and it resulted in the murder of 12 students and one teacher. Many people said that this behaviour was influenced by Marilyn Manson's violent music 

5) What are the reasons listed on the factsheet to possibly explain the Columbine High School massacre?

• The ease of access to firearms and the social acceptance of gun ownership 
• The alienation felt by teenagers who felt like they did not fit in 
• The hopelessness that was caused by living in a economically disadvantaged area with high unemployment
• The general desensitisation caused by the easy access to a range of violent media (films, TV, news, internet, etc.) 

6) How does the factsheet describe Gerbner's Cultivation theory?

As a theory that considers the way that the media has a higher influence on attitudes rather than behaviour. Repetition of negative or violent representations may cause desensitisation within an audience because they have become normalised and accepted 

7) What does the factsheet suggest about action films and the values and ideologies that are reinforced with regards to violence?

Action films tend to fail to decipher the difference between right and wrong because it is acceptable for the hero to kill the villain but unacceptable for the villain to harm the hero- this failure to establish right and wrong is the factsheet's main criticism 

8) What criticisms of direct effect theories are suggested in the factsheet?

It simplifies the judgement of the audience and assumes that they lack the capacity to challenge anything they are told. Another criticism is that this simplistic view is what encourages the use of the hypodermic needle model as a scapegoat for a specific action or event 

9) Why might the 1970s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour be considered so controversial today? What does this tell us about Reception theory and how audiences create meanings?

It may be seen as controversial today because people's attitudes and values have changed since it aired so what may have been acceptable then may be considered racist and offensive nowadays. This suggests that time differences also cause a clash in oppositional and preferred readings as well as differences in people 

10) What examples are provided for Hall's theory of preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings?

The Sun and The Guardian report the same stories but they are written so differently that one can present a preferred reading and the other can present an oppositional reading