Friday, 13 January 2023

T block newspaper - 'The Seen'

For this practical, whole class assessment, first year students had to construct an entire newspaper as a class, in only a week, with no guidance from their teacher beyond news prompts. Please note that the views and opinions in this post do not necessarily reflect that of this blog, the institution, or even the students!

P block newspaper - Insider News

Friday, 6 January 2023

A textual analysis of Parks and Recreation

Parks and Recreation season 2 episode 1: 'Pawnee Zoo'

Representation - what groups are represented, how are they represented, and why?

Gay people

Positively and stereotypically. Confident, loud, and motivated by partying. In The Bulge , a tightly packed group of gay men excitedly chant Leslie's name, which constructs gay men as over enthusiastic, loud, proud and confident. Exclusively gay men. Use of Lady Gaga as a gay icon reinforces stereotypical representations of gay men. However, this episode arguably perpetuates a simplistic and straightforward stereotype of gay men, which can cause issues for gay men in real life, as it constructs an idea, standard, and stereotype. Gay men in this episode are an accessory and a function rather than being a fully fleshed character attribute. The gay best friend stereotype. Thingy is represented as feminine for the purposes of comedy, which also represents stereotypes surrounding gay people

Middle-aged women

Awkward and cringy. This also reinforces a stereotypical representation of middle aged women. Lacks knowledge on current life, on LGBT+ lifestyles, is clueless, ditzy, scatty, and barely competent.

Young people

[The homeless] - creepy, stalker-y, but also, really funny. Homelessness is a joke in this narrative. The MES of the pit in his former garden is a ridiculously over the top aspect MES. The serious issue of homelessness is so unrelatable to working class audiences that it is treated as straightforward.

Media language - close textual analysis

Genre - what genre is this show and what are the conventions that make it?

Genre - comedy

Subgenres and styles - situation comedy, mockumentary

Conventions of the mocumentary - handheld camera, single camera setup, long take, shakeycam, low production values

This Country, Modern Family, The Office, Brooklyn 99 (borderline!), Trailer Park Boys, Always Sunny

Generic fluidity - how genres change over time. Genres will evolve to appeal to the tastes of the public

Comedy elements - foolish characters for the audience to identify with, fast paced punchy editing, the use of reaction shots, use of song, dance and movement, use of colour constructing a positive atmosphere

Audience - how does this product appeal to multiple audiences?

Uses and gratifications -the ways in which audiences use and take pleasure from a media product

Uses and pleasures of Parks and Rec - themes of the show provide escapism for the target audiences. The characters provide an escapist fantasy, through being relatable. They make mistakes, but then they solve them by the end of the episode. This is in stark opposition to real life, where being threatened with forced resignation and having to go on local news to defend your job would of course be highly stressful and upsetting.

Tuesday, 3 January 2023

First year: THREE HOURS OF POWER

Rules

You can do these questions in ANY ORDER
You might do a few in significant detail, or you might complete them all in brief detail
There are no 'right answers' to these questions, but you should all use examples from the print edition of these newspapers
For each and every heading, you must find EXPLICIT EXAMPLES from the print editions of The Mirror and The Times you have been set. Basically, you could get a question like

(b) Explain how social and cultural circumstances affect audience interpretations of newspaper content. Refer to a print edition of the Daily Mirror to support your points. [10]

a) Explore how newspapers are shaped by the financial implications that surround the producer. Refer to a print edition of the Times to support your points. [12]

You can find the print editions by clicking here.

Questions and study prompts

Bias through selection, bias through omission

Outline examples of bias in the two newspapers.
How does the selection or omission of stories reflect the ideological perspective of the producer?
And why?

Specialised forms of production

Newspapers are a specialised medium. They do one thing, and they do it differently to every other media product.
So find examples of how this newspaper is most definitely a newspaper, and not, for example, a magazine!
HINT: check out the layout...

The Mirror is a product of a horizontally integrated organisation

What are some examples of The Mirror being produced and published by an organisation that essentially just makes loads and loads of newspapers?

The Times is a product of a vertically and horizontally integrated conglomerate

Same question again, but The Times is also vertically integrated.
Any examples?

Issues with regulation

IPSO specifically STRONGLY SUGGEST that newspapers should not do the following:

intrude in to the private lives of private citizens
intrude in to grief
cause harm and/or offense through their reporting

what examples can you find which might go against IPSO's guidelines?

Aspects of digital convergence

If print is dead, no one told the newspaper industry.
However, what references to digital media are their in these newspapers?
How and why could they get the audience to explore the website, for example?

How does the Mirror appeal to a working class, left leaning audience?

Remember: left wing BROADLY means collectivistic policies such as higher taxation, a focus on public ownership, the support of a welfare state etc.
However, remember that these ideas might be very broadly or vaguely alluded to in the newspaper you are studying!

How does the Times appeal to a middle class, right wing audience?

Remember: right wing BROADLY means individualistic policies that favour personal freedoms, lower taxation, a focus on private ownership, and less government intervention etc.
However, remember that these ideas might be very broadly or vaguely alluded to in the newspaper you are studying!

Ideologies, and how they are encoded and cultivated

Ideologies are the messages and values of the producer.
So what are the beliefs of the newspapers in front of you?
And how do you know?
Here's a TOP TIP: if in doubt, just guess! This entire subject (and, by extension, life) is all about educated guesses!

Uses and gratifications

How do audiences use or take pleasure form the news stories in front of you? Here are some suggestions:

SOCIAL INTERACTION - audience can use the newspaper to make friends 'in real life', for example having a chat at the office (so-called 'watercooler moments'...)
INFORMATION - the newspaper tells us things we didn't know about previously. We can then use this information in a variety of circumstances
PERSONAL IDENTITY - we identify a viewpoint we already have. For example, you may find right leaning ideologies in the Times, which may reinforce the audience's viewpoints, and make them feel safe. Or angry. This is pretty similar to Gauntlet's theory of identity
SEXUAL GRATIFICATION - we find people attractive. This is a creepier way of saying 'sex sells'
SIMILAR LIFESTYLE - We identify with people who are just like us, FR. For example, what working class identities do we see in The Mirror?

Bonus - alternatives to mainstream news

Clearly, physical print newspapers are not how a lot of people get their news. In fact, you lot get your news in an increasingly digitally convergent hodgepodge of different sources.
Find and research some 'alternative news' sources. This is really broad, and given that you may be using social media, it can be accomplished on your phone, maybe
What issues and complications are bought up by using digitally convergent distribution practices to distribute news media?