Negative Representation of Ethnicity in the Media

LO: to understand and explore negative representations in the

media

13 April 2023

What is a moral panic?

• Moral panic: an overreaction on the part of the media (often the tabloid press) to some new or previously unknown social phenomenon which appears to pose a threat to the established order.

• Can you think of any moral panics?• Why do the media use/create them? • How do audiences respond to them?

Moral panics and the media

• There is often a link between moral panics in the media and negative representations of certain groups of people

• This can sometimes reinforce an ideology of an institution

TASK• Groups, brainstorm/recap media texts

position audiences

• How can audiences respond to texts differently?

Positioning the Audience

• What techniques or codes are used to position the audience (put them in a particular position or make them respond to the text)?

• Technical codes• Language or mode of address• The construction of the text

Audience Responses

• Preferred reading – the audience accepts the dominant reading of the text and interprets the text in the way that the producers intended

• Negotiated reading – the audience accepts some of the text and disagrees with others, therefore negotiating their acceptance of what is presented to them

• Oppositional reading – the audience does not agree with the ideology of the text or its content. This may be related to age, culture, gender or other factors

TASK• As we watch this Spooks extract, make

notes on:– how the text positions the audience through

technical codes? (camerawork, editing)– how audiences respond differently to the

text?

PLENARY• Does this text create or reinforce a moral

panic?

• Why did they choose to position the audience as they have?

• What sorts of audiences would read this extract differently?

HOMEWORK• Watch the first episode of ‘Top Boy’ on

4oD (first 30 minutes or so)• Make notes on how the text negatively

represents ethnicity. Write a one-page analysis of how ethnicity is represented in the text, using accurate media terms.

• Due next lesson