Study the theory of We Media and the ideas about Media Studies 2.0 by William Merrin and apply it to news media
Merrin is a Professor at Swansea University and author of Media Studies 2.0. Look at his Twitter fed to gain an idea of his role and his ideas about the media and how digital distribution and the global nature of new media has changed the industry and should also change the way students study the media.
The Daily Mail web-site has nearly 16million hits daily and nearly 250 million monthly.
News Media are planning for a digital future and have risked a lot to try and gain a foothold in the market. The Guardian which is owned by a trust has risked a great deal to establish itself as the leading left leaning global news media web-site, with a particular eye on the American market. News media is now global and advertising revenues are the key to a successful future.
Now that news media are concentrating on an online future how does this affect the way we receive news?
How do audiences consume the news?
How has 'We Media' affected the news we receive. Are we in a 'post-truth' era and an era of fake news or has that always been the case?
We will follow two major stories to see how they unfold;
Election of Donald Trump in the US
The UK leaving the European Union
Traditional media is still influential and we will study newspapers to see how far this claim can be asserted
Study the latest ABC figures and identify trends and issues in print media.
The Sun used to sell 4 million each day a decade ago. It now sells 1.6 million
The Daily Mail sell 1.5 million
The Daily Mirror sells 750.00 daily
The Guardian sells 150 million
Plot the political leaning of UK newspapers on a chart from right to left wing
Analyse these front pages about Brexit to identify political bias
This is the last thing that I shared. I think I shared because it is a shared experience which members of my family and friends will recognise. The essence of good observational comedy.
Virality is the key in the online age. Getting audiences to share content is the golden egg for advertisers. What is it that makes us share media texts? What texts do you share?
The Panama Papers and the revelations that ensued could have cost the Prime Minister and others their jobs. The Prime Minister of Iceland resigned as he had money in tax havens. Our PM has ridden the storm and although his reputation and integrity may have been harmed he is still in position and two weeks later the storm seems to have blown over. However, in the digital age we all leave a digital footprint so we must be careful how we represent ourselves in case our actions come back to haunt us. Is this indicative of modern society, politics and the media? Are we more careful about our representation in the digital age?
We will also look at the theories of William Merrin and how social media represented the Panama Papers to make comment about how the media operates in the online age.
We are what we pretend to be so we must be careful what we pretend to be. ( Kurt Vonnegut)
This is my favourite quote and reveals a lot about online safety and how we operate in the online age. It is a good maxim for living in the stream and harsh lessons ca be learned if you are not aware of the power of the internet and the dangers inherent in social media. We all create a sort of avatar or a persona that we would like to be, whether that is selecting certain photos or deleting links or posting things which show status. For example, footballer Joleon Lescott tweeted an image of a Mercedes after a 6 nil loss.At best it was insensitive but in claiming he sent it by mistake as the phone was in his pocket he made it worse. He has shown his naivety in the media world once again since then showing how media training is essential for high profile people.
Web 2.0 allows users and audiences to interact with the news in ways that could not before. This allows us to comment and feedback. Therefore politicians need to be increasingly careful about the way that they present themselves. Your Prime Minister worked in Public Relations so is adept at spinning his way out of trouble. There is a call amongst the public for less 'airbrushed' characters who seem more authentic. Does that explain the popularity of these two politicians;
In our post-modern age, ' no orthodoxy can be received without irony'. We are quite cynical as an audience and cannot take things at face value. We challenge and interrogate texts and do not readily accept the news as truth. This means we are now an 'active' audience using texts to gratify certain needs. Social media allows us to share media which illustrates how we feel about a news story in images or memes. They work in ways similar to cartoons in the past. These go viral in memes and therefore we are mediating the news through sharing memes and texts which represent our take on a story. It is often celebrities or people with a following who can set the news agenda through Twitter. Could we call these people the new 'gatekeepers' and who are they for you?
We have considered online responses to the news of the Panama Papers. Can you think of any other news stories that caused a reaction online?
News often comes to us first hand through live feeds or unmediated streams. For my generation the Twin Towers was a seminal moment. The attacks in Paris are a more recent example.
Can you identify examples of when this has happened?
As an introduction to this unit we are going to use some resources created by The Film Space. We are going to focus on film as our medium. Initially we will be looking at film exhibition.
Case study about two 'film companies' will allow you to compare a smaller British film company 'Working Title Films' with a huge international conglomerate 'Universal' to see how the relationship between the two has developed.
You can then use the knowledge and understanding gained to write a response to the 'audiences and institutions' section of the AS OCR exam paper.
Start with Working Title films and conduct wide research.
Look at the range of films produced to see if there are any similarities.
Note the key facts
Working Title films were founded in 1983
Many of the directors and actors have gone on to become household names and major stars
A string of commercial hits following a trusted formula appealing to specific audiences
Bought in 1999 by Universal for $600 million
Actors
Hugh Grant
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Rowan Atkinson
Cate Blanchett
Gary Oldman
Colin Firth
Directors
Stephen Daldry
Paul Greengrass
Richard Curtis
Edgar Wright
Coen Brothers
Types of film
Romantic Comedy
Royal family
Period drama
British comedy
First successes were heralded as important culturally as the British film industry was ailing and independent British cinema was weak. Also look at Channel4Films.
1983 - My Beautiful Launderette
This film was directed by Stephen Frears and starred a young Daniel Day Lewis. It represents themes of sexuality and racism in Thatcher's Britain that many young people could relate to providing a voice to those under-represented in mainstream cinema.
1986 - Sid and Nancy
Starring Gary Oldman as the punk Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols mythologised as an icon of 1970's Britain.
1987 - Wish you Were Here
Emily Lloyd is my favourite early Working Title film. Highly recommended representing gender roles in 1950's Britain.
1994 - Four Weddings and a Funeral
This cost £6million to make and took nearly £2oo million at the box office. It was a global success and set the formula for the commercial success of Working Title films.
We will be analysing why and how this film succeeded in appealing to audiences
Richard Curtis is the man held up as the genius who created a string of successful comedies including;
Blackadder
Finely honed scripts allowed a generation of comedians to express their comic timig with relentless puns, wordplay, slapstick and situation comedy. Stephen Fry, Rowna Atkinson, Hugh Laurie, Robbie Coltrane, Tony Robinson have all gone on to disparate, successful careers. The final series situated Blackadder in the trenches for a poignant farewell which is often cited as a landmark in British television.
