Significance of learning Media and Society
1.Comprehend role of media in representation
2. Knowledge of how media operates
3. Knowledge on how media products are made
4. To comprehend how audience are handled
Society
An aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community
Characteristics of modern media
- Large numbers of people are reached
- Are often modal
- Technology is employed
- Industrial co-operation
Elements of media
- Media products
- Media representation
- Media industries and institutions
- Media technology
Characteristics of society
- Likeness
- Reciprocal awareness
- Reciprocity
- Difference among people
- Interdependence
- Co-operation
Context of society
- Time of production
- Language
- Nationality
- Organizations
- Government regulations
Context
Refers to the all of the natural and cultural aspects and social aspects of an environment that helps shape the final meaning of a text
Characteristics of genres
- Steps by step structure
- Development of cultural context
- Can change because they rely on culture
- Are influenced by technology
Components of social context
- Subject matter
- Role and relationships
- The mode and medium
Media text
Refers to the products of the media which are used to communicate given messages
Characteristics of media text
- They area unit of meaning that is completely in some-way
- Created through selection
- Said to be constructed rather than ‘natural’
Questions involving media text
1.Whose version is presented
2. Who is being left out
3. Why is it told this way
4. Whose interest are being served
Factors affecting meaning of text
1.Life experiences
2. Gender
3. Race
4. Class
5. Culture
6. Context
7. Age groups
Ways representation works
- Composed of repeated elements
- Invited to either identify with representation
- Media makes categories of people and events
- Representation contains a point of view
- Representation has a mode of address; there are assumptions
Questioning representation
- Who made the program?
- What are the purposes?
- Who benefits from the representation/ Whose point of view is supported?
- Whose point of view is not considered?
- Whose point of view is not considered/ Who or what is not being shown?
Stereotypes
An exaggerated representation mass produced that seems to have an established pattern
Positive functions of stereotypes
- Provides insights into issues and events
- Acts as a simplified representation
- Some stereotypes are dangerous
- Are a source of media context
- Help to predict people, events, behaviours
Negative functions of stereotypes
- Are an extreme form of representation
- Are excessive
- Are judgemental
- Are abusive
- Lazy way of looking at issues, events
- They show proper imbalance in communities
Audience
Refers to diverse aspects, originally an audience of spectators of some kind such as sports, events and theatres
Media audience’s difference
- Location of media audiences
- Audience’s for a particular medium text or genre
- Audience’s maybe a product of a particular product or technology
- Audience’s loan is defined by size as being different from all other audiences.
- Being a member of a media audience is at least a possible sign of citizenship
- Are multiple
Types of audience
- Active audience
- Targeted audience
- Vulnerable audience
- Expert audience
Characteristics of audiences
- Audiences are complex
- Audiences are diverse
- Audiences are fluid; may change unexpectedly
- Audiences are dynamic different and unique
- Audiences are multiple
Studies on media
- Hypodermic syringe
- Cultivation studies
- Uses and gratification studies
Institutions are different from media in the following ways
- Media carry all the type of knowledge
- Are open to all members of the society
- Relationship between sender and receiver is complex
- Reaches more people for longer over a lifetime than institutions
