Why do we study the media?

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The first courses in the study of the media in the UK were at universities, in the late 1960s, but the subject only really became established - and popular - in the 1980s when it was offered at A Level (and later GCSE). 

Media studies is not the first subject to be accused of not being a serious subject. Recent examples would include sociology (which is now much more accepted), and the study of English Literature was also initially a controversial one.

The concern with these areas seemed to be based on an idea that something we might do for pleasure - reading or playing video games - is not difficult enough to study, that it is something we do naturally. It could also be argued that any new area for study is likely to be resisted by some, but the criticism of media itself isn't a valid focus of analysis and criticism. 

New subjects tend not to have the perceived certainties of definitions of traditional academic areas such as maths and physics, often made up of approaches from across other disciplines that can make people suspicious of their status. In the case of media studies it is certainly true that it is a subject that borrows from a range of subjects - sociology, psychology, communications, English literature and art history - it might be classed as both social science and a humanities subject, depending on the institution offering it.

It is the case though that since its beginning media studies has amassed a body of critical work and academics associated with it that does distinguish it from other subjects. 

The Theoretical Framework

As an academic subject, media studies has developed its own approach or framework to organising the study of the media, which is referred to as the theoretical framework. 

The framework is organised into four areas: 

• media language
• media representation 
• media industries 
• media audiences

each of which covers a range of theories and arguments.

While elements of each are distinct it's usually productive to think of the different areas as overlapping, with one approach closely related to another. For example, the study of the industrial context of a product is likely to be far more productive when linked to the way the industry targets particular audiences.

Media language

The concept of language is usually associated with written or spoken language, clearly central to the study of literature and drama. In media studies, it refers to a different way of understanding how meaning is created in all forms of communication, not just written and spoken language. 

The most obvious way to think of this is to consider the way that images create meaning: symbols, photographs signs are all forms of mediating the world; they are a form of language.

This idea that all forms of media use language beyond words to communicate is explored through the use of a semiotic approach to media products, which allows an analysis of the underlying meanings of any kind of sign. 

Task: 

What meaning does this photo have?

How have you interpreted the language of the image in order to reach that conclusion?

• this photo represents the police force negatively and the protesters positively 
• The use of long shot positions the scene directly in front of the audience with no high or low angle it feels objective and represents the image as truthful with no audience manipulation
• this is reinforced by the use of natural lighting 
• The police officers wear black uniforms that denote their institution which represents them as copies with narrow singular mindsets. they lack diversity and personality as their faces are covered and the mise-en-scene of their costume makes them look identical. This encourages the audience not to sympathise with them and makes them easier to dislike- prompting a narrative in which they are the villain
• the face shields, chest plates and black protection connotes war and violence representing them as aggressive 
• the protestor wears a long flowing dress, this dress is open and the loose style connotes freedom and peace as the dress itself would be relaxing to wear, especially when compared to the police uniforms.
• her face is uncovered making the viewer recognise her more and the mise-en-scene of her glasses are iconography for intelligence representing her as smart and non-violent, further implementing the narrative shaming the police as an antagonist.
• her shoes her open and impractical, juxtaposing with the bulky war-ready uniform and connoting she had peaceful intentions whilst the police didn't.
• the composition of the photo sets up a binary opposition between the police and the protestors. the mise-en-scene of the green trees and grass in the background connotes peace and natural love, this is the side the woman is standing on. the black sea of fighting uniforms is set in binary opposition to this directly across the frame.
• the background of the photo on the left has a mise-en-scene of people standing far apart, the camera making them look small. this use of blocking and framing tells the audience they are not intimidating or to be feared, they seem the opposite. directly juxtaposing with the policemen
• the mise-en-scene of the grey stone stairs in the middle communicates to the audience there is a separation between these groups, and all the factors mentioned offer a narrative that represents the protestors as peaceful protagonists and the police on the left as violent antagonists.

The application of media language is likely to include the following areas of study:

• how the media languages associated with different media forms (broadcast, print, websites, film) communicate multiple meanings.
• codes and conventions associated with specific genres and how and why these might change over time
• how audiences respond to and interpret aspects of media language (often differently)
• the way media language incorporates viewpoints and ideologies 
• how developing technologies affect media language

Media Representation

The study of representation has a fundamental place in media studies. The key concept - or theory - of representation is central to an understanding of how media texts are constructed by producers and how they are received by a range of different audiences. 

In media studies, representation is understood to be important because of the belief that the image of the world found in media products shapes the way audiences think about specific people and places. In turn, this might have repercussions for how particular groups and places are treated.

The study of representation involves all three stages of creating, distributing and exhibiting a media text; therefore, representation is relevant across all areas of the course. 

In the preceding definition representation as a term doesn't only refer to the finished text but to the processes involved in constructing and receiving the representations.

At each stage of the process, key factors of identity - age, gender, race, class etc - are likely to have an influence. As with the other areas of the framework, processes of representation are also affected by developments in new technology which create opportunities for self-representation and perhaps alter the relationship between producer and audience.

The application of representation is likely to include the following areas of study

• the way events, issues, individuals (including self representation) and social groups are represented through processes of selection and construction
• the different factors that shape the way media producers and industries represent events, issues, individuals and social groups
• the way the media, through representation, construct versions of reality - which may be understood differently by a range of audiences
• How and why particular social groups, in a national and global context, may be under-represented and misrepresented
• How media representations convey values, attitudes and beliefs about the world
• the way in which representations make claims about realism
• the way representations may change over time and the reasons for this

Media Industries

The study of media through an analysis of media industries assumes a link between the media products produced and the industries - including individual companies and producers - that produce them. 

The study of this relationship has its roots in a Marxist approach that sees the context of production, specifically its form of ownership and need for profit, as having a direct effect on the form and content of the media it produces.

Media studies is interested in the characteristics of and comparisons between public service media organisations and the commercial sectors in the contemporary media landscape; this is particularly in relation to the power that media industries have and how they are regulated and controlled.

A contemporary feature of media industries is their status as global conglomerates owning the processes of production, distribution and exhibition across a range of media forms. 

A study of media industries is likely to include the following 

• the significance of patterns of ownership and control, including conglomerate ownership, vertical integration and diversification
• How processes of production, distribution and circulation shape media products
• the relationship of recent technological change and media production, distribution and circulation
• the impact of 'new' digital technologies on media regulation 
• the role of regulation in global production, distribution and circulation
• the effect of individual producers on media industries 

Task: 

-Research the planned takeover of Sky

-Why is the bid controversial? what concerns do UK regulators have about the proposed bid?

-Do you think the power of 21st century fox is a concern? Might it affect democratic processes?

Media Audiences

The effect of media on audiences is one of the most fiercely debated and controversial aspects of media studies and can be broadly characterised as the study of what the media do to audiences but also what audiences can do with the media, quite often formulated as ideas of the active and passive audience.

The role of the media in people's lives and behaviour is something that ahs caused anxiety and resulted in moral panics about the media's effects, particularly on the young and vulnerable, but is also a feature of the media's power to transform lives in more positive ways.

This powerful potential means the study of the relationship between the media and the people who consume it is of great importance, and media studies draws on approaches from sociology and psychology in order to try to understand this complex relationship.

The focus of this study has tended to concentrate on the media's potential to shape people's behaviour ranging from political persuasion to ways of seeing the world and even physical responses.

Anxiety about audience response tends to be provoked by new forms of mass media from tv, video games and, of course, the rise od social networks.

In audience studies, the development of digital technologies has also blurred the line between producer and audience, leading to the identification of a new role between producer and audience- the so-called prosumer.

The study of media audiences is inextricably linked to industry, where the need to identify and target particular audiences is vital and has become the focus of increasingly detailed analysis by industries as audiences have become increasingly niche and unpredictable in response to the increased number of media forms available.

The study of media audiences is likely to include the following;

• how audiences are grouped and categorised by media industries through demographics and psychographics
• the interrelationship between media technologies and patterns of consumption and response
• how audiences interpret the media, including how they may interpret the same media in different ways, reflecting social, cultural and historical context 
• how audiences interact with the media and can be actively involved in media production
• how media organisations reflect the different needs of mass and specialized audiences
• how audiences use media in different ways, reflecting demographic factors as well as aspects of identity and cultural captial

Task:

You are the audience. Think about your own media consumption:

-make a list of the different media you might consume on a typical day

youtube, television, social media (twitter), music videos, adverts, trailers

How many of these did you choose to consume? How many did you receive without choosing to?

a lot of youtube thumbnails you see without choosing, adverts on commercial tv + youtube, adverts on social media 'sponsored' 

What are some pleasure you get from your media consumption?

humour, entertainment, cultural education and perspective, direct communication via texting/talking, fan service, 

Can you think of any postive and/or negative effects of you media consumption?

-sleep patterns shift

-online conflict/hate

-social media addiction becomes time consuming 

-cultivation and encouragement of negative things