Author: David Buckingham
Publisher: EMC Publications (MediaMagazine)
Date published: December 2011
Theme:
Media Control / Influence
Misreporting
A Change in media power
Summary of text:
David Buckingham argues in his article how the media uses words to construct meaning and interpretation. He said "To talk about 'riots' rather than for example, 'civil disturbances' or 'unrest' - immediately defines the meaning of the event in particular ways." Buckingham also commented on how images complemented the wording of news story but also how the same images was used for the first day after the story break and for many days after. "The iconic image of one black, hooded young man which appeared on at least five front pages."
Buckingham also draw on other key point about the "riot" such as the media focused the reports of young people and there act rather than the demographic of the riot. The people convicted for crime during the rioting were middle aged. Also, few weeks after the riot young people achieved record passes in their GCSE and A Level exam, Buckingham further support his view by draw light on how this record about of passes was not report by the media and how this leaves there read with a one sided view on young people.
Furthermore, Buckingham go on to information the reader how many people have come to see the riots as an issues of race. A topic that was desired my the black press, however the mainstream media's coverage, over look this fact as if it were somehow too awkward to discuss. Therefore again leaving their audience with an incomplete understand of events. The media, as Buckingham put's it, "did not simply misrepresent what happened, and 'moral panics' are not just irrational responses. Media stereotypes are never simply inaccurate: they always contain a 'grain of truth'."
David Buckingham argues in his article how the media uses words to construct meaning and interpretation. He said "To talk about 'riots' rather than for example, 'civil disturbances' or 'unrest' - immediately defines the meaning of the event in particular ways." Buckingham also commented on how images complemented the wording of news story but also how the same images was used for the first day after the story break and for many days after. "The iconic image of one black, hooded young man which appeared on at least five front pages."
Buckingham also draw on other key point about the "riot" such as the media focused the reports of young people and there act rather than the demographic of the riot. The people convicted for crime during the rioting were middle aged. Also, few weeks after the riot young people achieved record passes in their GCSE and A Level exam, Buckingham further support his view by draw light on how this record about of passes was not report by the media and how this leaves there read with a one sided view on young people.
Furthermore, Buckingham go on to information the reader how many people have come to see the riots as an issues of race. A topic that was desired my the black press, however the mainstream media's coverage, over look this fact as if it were somehow too awkward to discuss. Therefore again leaving their audience with an incomplete understand of events. The media, as Buckingham put's it, "did not simply misrepresent what happened, and 'moral panics' are not just irrational responses. Media stereotypes are never simply inaccurate: they always contain a 'grain of truth'."
Key points of the text:
- The media did not simply misrepresent what happened but media stereotypes always contain a 'grain of truth'.
- The media speak to anxieties that many people already have.
- By putting a frame around a particular issue, the media draws it to our attention; but while the frame Includes some things, it always excludes others.
- The media may or may not help us to understand what is going on.
- Most commentators are more than ready to rush to publication well before the facts have been established.
- On all sides of the media debate, there was a rush to instant judgment - or at least instant opinion.
- The coverage hardly heard anything from the people who were involved, or who were closest to what was happening.
"Women In Journalism analysed 7,000+ stories involving teenage boys, published in on line, national and regional newspapers during 2008. 72% were negative- more than twenty times the number of positive stories (3.4%). Over 75% were about crime, drugs, or police: the great majority of these were negative (81.5%) while only a handful were positive (0.3%)."
"The age of 'Big Media'-of powerful, centralised corporations controlling media - is now finished: hierarchical, top-down communications have been replaced by a more egalitarian approach."
"The media did not simply misrepresent what happened, and 'moral panics' are not just irrational responses. Media stereotypes are never simply inaccurate: they always contain a 'grain of truth'."
My Response:
From this article I have take the understand that it is as much about what the media does report as what the media does not report that influence their audience understand and belief on a topic. I am beginning to understand that, thought the media can control the information that the audience receives, there is a limit to the extent that the media can do to manipulate the truth or to misreporting the event that the audience are socially acceptable of, and when the boundary is crossed society uprises.
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