MEDIA, CULTURE AND SOCIETY an introduction Paul Hodkinson

®SAGE Los Angeles | London j New Delhi

Singapore | Washington DC

Contents

List of illustrations xi Acknowledgements xii

1 Introduction 1 Introduction 1

Media, culture, society 1 Starting points: shaping, mirroring and representing 4 The communication process 6

Transmitters, receivers and noise 7 'Who says what. . .? ' and other questions 8 Linear and one-dimensional 9

Elements of media in socio-cultural context 10 Media, power and control 13 Media, identity and culture 13

Making connections 14

PART 1 ELEMENTS OF MEDIA 17

2 Media Technologies 19 Introduction 19 Contrasting medium theories 20

McLuhan: the medium is the message 20 Kill your television 22

Technological determinism 26 Hot, cool or both? 26 Generalization and reification 28 Technologies and social contexts 29 Capacities and constraints 31

Into the digital age 32 Convergence 33 Interactivity 34 Mobility 35

The Internet: a cure for social ills? 35 Conclusion: technologies in context 38

M E D I A , C U L T U R E & S O C I E T Y

Media Industry Introduction Media organizations

Commercial ownership Concentration of ownership = concentration of

The bottom line: sources of revenue Advertising revenue Direct audience payments Payments between media companies Maximizing audiences

The role of sponsors Governments and regulation

Access restrictions Ownership restrictions Content regulation Deregulation Supporting the industry: copyright

Conclusion: economic determinism?

Media Content Introduction Media texts as arrangements of signs

Signs as arbitrary? Levels of meaning Signs as relational Uncovering mythology Limitations of semiology

Narrative, genre and discourse analysis Narrative analysis Genre analysis Discourse analysis

From quality to quantity: content analysis 'Systematic, objective and quantitative' Categories and coding Population and sample Case study: Gerbner and television violence Limitations of content analysis

Conclusion: putting texts into context

Media Users Introduction US empirical traditions of audience research

Effects research

C O N T E N T S VII

Limited effects and two-step flow 87 Uses and gratifications 89 Functionalist and complacent? 90

Cultural studies: dominant and oppositional readings 92 Encoding, decoding and preferred meanings 92 Social context and differential readings 93 Audiences as cultural producers 95 Ethnographies of audiences, fans and users 97

Conclusion: an uncritical celebration? 99

PART 2 MEDIA, POWER AND CONTROL 103

6 Media as Manipulation? Marxism and Ideology 105 Introduction 105 Marxism and ideology: basics 106 The culture industry as mass deception 107

Unsupported elitism? 110 Ideological meanings • 112

Beyond Marx's materialism 112 Case study: consumerist myths 114

Political economy and ideology 118 Manufacturing consent 118 Cultural imperialism as globalization of ideology 120

Arguments and criticisms 122 Political economic versus cultural approaches 122

Complex communication flows and consumer resistance 123 Conclusion: avoiding easy dismissals 125

7 The Construction of News 127 Introduction 127 Selection, gatekeeping and agenda setting 129

News values 129 Case study: September 11th 2001 134

Constructing stories 135 Differences between news providers 138

Medium 138 Style and market position 139 Political stance 140

Similarities: back to bias and ideology? 140 Class bias 141 Institutional bias 142 Infotainment and depoliticization 144

Conclusion: bad news? 146

vi i i M E D I A , C U L T U R E & S O C I E T Y

8 Public Service or Personal Entertainment? Controlling Media Orientation 150 Introduction 150 Public service broadcasting (PSB) 151

Reith and the BBC 151 Differing PSB arrangements 153 Developing PSB principles 154 Enabling or imposing? 155

Censorship: preventing harm and offence 158 Avoiding majority (and minority) offence 158 Pornography 160 Violence 161 Preventing harm or inhibiting freedom? 161

Commercial competition and consumer choice 164 Neo-liberal approaches 165 US broadcasting: a free market model 166 A toaster with pictures: the decline of regulation 167

Conclusion: a rosy commercial future? 170

9 Decline of the National Public: Commercialization, Fragmentation and Globalization 173 Introduction 173 Media and the public sphere 174

Habermas' public sphere 174 Media and public engagement 175

Nation as 'imagined community' 177 Decline of the public sphere 180

From facilitators to shapers 180 Commercially driven content 181

Digital dilution of the nation 183 Fragmentation 183 Globalization 184 The Internet: interactive but fragmented 186

Conclusion: national public - good riddance? 190

PART 3 MEDIA, IDENTITY AND CULTURE 195

10 Media, Ethnicity and Diaspora 197 Introduction 197 Racism and exclusion 198 Representation 200

Under-representation 200

C O N T E N T S

Stereotypical representations 201 The reproduction of subordination 203

Promoting 'positive' images 204 Reversing stereotypes of passivity 205 Successful, well-adjusted, integrated 206 The burden of representation 208

New ethnicities and diaspora 209 New ethnicities 209 Diaspora 210 Representing diaspora 211

Audience segregation 212 Newspapers, video and global Bollywood 213 Digital specialization 214 Online diaspora 215

Conclusion: empowerment or ghettoization? 216

11 Media, Gender and Sexuality 219 Introduction 219 Constructions of femininity 220

Female marginalization 220 The male gaze 221 Patriarchal romance and domesticity 222 Post-feminist independence? 223 The enduring gaze 224

Elitist critics? 227 Empowering possibilities 229

Reading the romance 229 Subversive pleasures? 230 From consumers to producers 232 Remaining critical 233

Media and masculinities 234 Masculinity or masculinities? 234 Lads' mags and contradictory representations 236

Beyond heterosexuality 237 Conclusion: a balanced approach 241

12 Media Communities: Subcultures, Fans and Identity Groups 243 Introduction 243 Media versus community 244

Homogenization and atomization 244 Resisting mass culture (and media): youth subcultures 246

Moral panic and mass media stigmatization 248

M E D I A , C U L T U R E & S O C I E T Y

Targeting community 250 Local media 250 Niche magazines and consumer groupings 252 Niche digital media 255

DIY media and Internet communication 256 Fanzines 256 Online micro-communication 257 Virtual community 258 Communities or individuals? 259

Conclusion: all about definitions? 261

13 Saturation, Fluidity and Loss of Meaning 265 Introduction 265 Saturation as loss of meaning 266

Consumerism: expansion and speed-up 266 Information overload 267

Media = reality 269 From truth, to ideology, to simulacra 270 Celebrity culture as hyperreal 271

Identity: fragmentation and fluidity 273 Recycling and pastiche 273

The Internet as virtual playground 275 Simulated identity? 275 Internet as extension of everyday life 278 Case study: social networking sites 279

Conclusion: saturated but real? 281

Glossary 285 References 300 Index 312