News Night

Keywords    Syonym1    Syonym2      Syonym3
Females       Girls          Femininity     feminists 

News night

Articles 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/22/itv-pay-lord-mcalpine-125000-damages?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20336037

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/media/news/a438310/lord-mcalpine-on-newsnight-scandal-the-bbc-should-have-called-me.html

http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=11&aid=15&dir=2012/November/Friday16

Summary

Lord McAlpine was mistakenly implicated by Newsnight's November 2 broadcast in a paedophile ring that targeted children at the care home in Wrexham. However after all the allegations ITV and Phillip Schofield apologise unreservedly to Lord McAlpine, have agreed the terms of a statement to be made in open court, and have agreed to pay him damages of £125,000 and his legal costs.

Opinion 

first of all news night being such a well known show should have been more accurate with their information. As audiences depend on news channels to shows like this to give them information and also people being active on social networking it takes minutes for a news to go global and for everyone to discuss about it. So just presenting their information without knowing whether its reliable or not was a big mistake of theirs.

Case study: Young people in London

A negative representation is better than no representation at all. Discuss this statement with reference to the group or place you have studied

-considering the young people case study no representation is better then negative representation.

-London riots- totally negative representation of young people- which lead to a generalisation of all young people.

- which lead to TV programmes and movies showing negative representations of young people- resulting in hypodermic needle and institutions injecting a negative values of young people and audiences accepting also leading to the general public stereotyping young people in daily lives

-news values- over exaggerating certain things that are related to young people(due to silly season)- creating a moral panic

- no representation is better- as it enables the youth to represent themselves the way they like for example speaking about certain issues or fighting for what's right.and helps to build their own image within the public eye. and how each individual can have their own image instead of all being stereotyped in a negative way. 

Wu Lyf Sexist car advert article

Article 


Summary 
Wu Lyf (World unite Lucifer youth foundation) a indie rock band has accused Toyota of using their songs without their permission for a "sexist sports car advert". As the band felt it was giving a bad representation of them as they commented saying "we too are interested to know why our music is featured in a sexist sports car advert that encourages men to live out their 'inner chauvinist'. the advert shows,Various men are shown driving home with a Toyota GT86 and explaining to their partners that they have just bought a new car. The women all become upset, sometimes hysterical. 

Opinion 
This represents retro sexism as how modern institution's and adverts show sexist images of a certain gender but in a more modern atmosphere. Furthermore arguably the institution can say how they want this car to appeal to a certain gender hence the men can identify with the character and brand. Also this goes against the idea of "liberal pluralism"  as how these images are stereotypical and represent a more historic view. 

LR: Feminist essay

To what extent do you agree with Judith Butler's theory that gender roles are socially constructed? Use examples from the media in your response.

Judith Butler talks about how traditional feminists are wrong to divide society into men and women gender behaviours  as they are not biologically. She argues that that dividing society like that is just reinforcing the differences between two genders. And that actually gender roles are performances and behaviour that is socially constructed. Where to some extent I do agree that gender roles are socially constructed, as traditionally women are “expected” to be caring nurturing etc. And men are supposed to be the breadwinners and strong etc.  Even though i'm aware that in society today we have women opening their own businesses and earning more than their husbands and men are men are apparently helping out more in the domestic side of the relationship.  The statistics are not that promising and just reinforces the point on how Judiths Butlers point, on gender roles being socially constructed. 

Examples and ideas that show Judith Butler’s theory on gender roles being socially constructed are advertisements for boys and girls.  As a big example could be “Lego” as how over the years Lego’s advertising campaign aimed at certain audiences have changed. Such as at the beginning it was aimed at families, then it was aimed at boys and girls and finally just boys. However, recently Lego have released a new product range just for girls. And surprisingly it’s all about pink and fashion. Whereas the boys product range, actually encourages skills such as competition, creativity and independence to build and control their own world. But in the girls products it’s all about fashion, cooking and if there’s a problem in the city that’s right you call the boys to help. This shows a clear point on how the same toys can be advertised differently to the genders and represents different skills. As boys are encouraged to be the leaders the girls are supposed to take a step back and let the boys save them. This reinforces the traditional roles of men being the bread winners and women being the house wives, showing how gender roles are socially constructed.  As not only Lego toys but other toy advertisements such as superhero toys, power ranger toys or any other building toy. Which actively encourages them to fight and be aggressive whereas the girl toys are more about child rearing and domestic work. This could relate to uses and gratification theory as children who are younger than 12-13 would find it hard to use the media to their liking and during the secondary socialization use the media as an identification process, as in the adverts for boys the main protagonist in the advert is a boy, where other boys in the audience would identify with that wanting to buy that product and behave in that dominating where, same for the girl.

Another point that shows gender roles are socially structured, are in movies. As Hollywood is the biggest institution in producing movies and due to Americanization their construction of the gender roles have a big effect on society as that’s society’s main media consumption. An example could be Sweet home Alabama where in the first opening scene the 2 kids have highly stereotypes gender roles such as the boy protecting the girl and the girl talking about their marriage, showing the stereotypical roles of the brave man and timid woman. This has an effect on the audience as with uses and gratifications audiences will be able to identify with their gender role and due to hypodermic needle the traditional gender roles will inject into their mind. Leading, to them behaving in that way.

However in argument you can say gender roles are not socially constructed, as traditional gender roles make the woman a caring, nurturing housewife and the husband the breadwinner and a strong individual. However in society today women are becoming the breadwinners and are taking the role of the independent women. As how McRobbie a cultural theorist analyzed magazines aimed at women and teen girls in 80/90’s, where she found over that the connotations and messages of these magazines had changed and they reflected a more empowering and independent image for women.  For example in sweet home Alabama Reese Witherspoon is shown to be a working woman in New York City, she is shown to the boss rather than the employee of a male boss. This shows how the roles are not socially constructed as she’s the boss. This affects the audience as for psycho graphics aspirers within the female gender will aspire to be like the empowering female, which results in them behaving that way. Another example is Sandra Bullock in “the proposal” we see how she is a strong independent female and she doesn't need a man in her life, which shows that roles aren't socially constructed as how from a young age girls “traditionally” taught to be dependent on her husband and to always think about a married life with kids.  

But in contrast even though there are some examples of how roles are not socially constructed. I strongly believe that roles are socially constructed as even in the examples I have given of the strong female individual at the end of the movie the women go back to the male protagonist and get married have a happy married life, with the female being a housewife. Reinforcing the traditional roles and teaching females that even though u defy the traditional roles, at the end you will go back to them which isn’t very encouraging.

Lastly to a great extent I agree with Judith butler, as to the exception of some example and statistics that, women are becoming more independent and going against the traditional socially constructed roles. At the end they aren't very surprising or very encouraging as society still stays patriarchal and females still follow the traditional roles. As with secondary socialization being an important aspect in a child’s life, the media play a big role in influencing how children behave from a young age. And with TV programs reinforcing stereotype of females and males institution's inject these roles (hypodermic needle) into audiences and then behave in that certain way. However arguably I do agree due to the uses and gratification theory people can use and manipulate the media for their benefit, such as using it for escapism, personal integrative needs or social needs.  Therefore, rejecting the characteristics and values (preferred and oppositional view). However I do believe that roles are socially constructed, as females and males are expected to behave in a certain way and if they don’t the audience do view them differently.  As feminists that oppose these traditional roles, are seen as crazy or rebellious e.g. radical feminist . This shows how in society accepting these roles are considered as good and the best for society.  

In conclusion to a great extent i agree with Judiths Butlers point that roles are socially constructed  as even looking through the idea of biologically, females can give birth hence they will have the roles of the mother and then be expected to behave a certain way. Which then again just reinforces the roles hence showing how biological aspects effect the roles we see of men and women. Such as the men is expected to be the instrumental role and the female the expressive roles. Where society decided how a woman/man  should behave. 

Feminism Essay

To what extent do you agree with Judith Butler's theory that gender roles are socially constructed? Use examples from the media in your response.

Judith Butler talks about how traditional feminists are wrong to divide society into men and women gender behaviors, as they are not biologically. She argues that that dividing society like that is just reinforcing the differences between two genders. And that actually gender roles are performances and behavior that is socially constructed. Where to some extent I do agree that gender roles are socially constructed, as traditionally women are “expected” to be caring nurturing etc. And men are supposed to be the breadwinners and strong etc. However in society today we have women opening their own businesses and earning more than their husbands and men are men are apparently helping out more in the domestic side of the relationship. This shows men and women are not born with these characteristics but they are socially constructed.

Examples and ideas that show Judith Butler’s theory on gender roles being socially constructed are advertisements for boys and girls.  As a big example could be “Lego” as how over the years Lego’s advertising campaign aimed at certain audiences have changed. Such as at the beginning it was aimed at families, then it was aimed at boys and girls and finally just boys. However, recently Lego have released a new product range just for girls. And surprisingly it’s all about pink and fashion. Whereas the boys product range, actually encourages skills such as competition, creativity and independence to build and control their own world. But in the girls products it’s all about fashion, cooking and if there’s a problem in the city that’s right you call the boys to help. This shows a clear point on how the same toys can be advertised differently to the genders and represents different skills. As boys are encouraged to be the leaders the girls are supposed to take a step back and let the boys save them. This reinforces the traditional roles of men being the bread winners and women being the house wives, showing how gender roles are socially constructed.  As not only Lego toys but other toy advertisements such as superhero toys, power ranger toys or any other building toy. Which actively encourages them to fight and be aggressive whereas the girl toys are more about child rearing and domestic work. This could relate to uses and gratification theory as children who are younger than 12-13 would find it hard to use the media to their liking and during the secondary socialization use the media as an identification process, as in the adverts for boys the main protagonist in the advert is a boy, where other boys in the audience would identify with that wanting to buy that product and behave in that dominating where, same for the girl.

Another point that shows gender roles are socially structured, are in movies. As Hollywood is the biggest institution in producing movies and due to Americanization their construction of the gender roles have a big effect on society as that’s society’s main media consumption. An example could be Sweet home Alabama where in the first opening scene the 2 kids have highly stereotypes gender roles such as the boy protecting the girl and the girl talking about their marriage, showing the stereotypical roles of the brave man and timid woman. This has an effect on the audience as with uses and gratifications audiences will be able to identify with their gender role and due to hypodermic needle the traditional gender roles will inject into their mind. Leading, to them behaving in that way.

However in argument you can say gender roles are not socially constructed, as traditional gender roles make the woman a caring, nurturing housewife and the husband the breadwinner and a strong individual. However in society today women are becoming the breadwinners and are taking the role of the independent women. As how McRobbie a cultural theorist analyzed magazines aimed at women and teen girls in 80/90’s, where she found over that the connotations and messages of these magazines had changed and they reflected a more empowering and independent image for women.  For example in sweet home Alabama Reese Witherspoon is shown to be a working woman in New York City, she is shown to the boss rather than the employee of a male boss. This shows how the roles are not socially constructed as she’s the boss. This affects the audience as for psycho graphics aspirers within the female gender will aspire to be like the empowering female, which results in them behaving that way. Another example is Sandra Bullock in “the proposal” we see how she is a strong independent female and she doesn't need a man in her life, which shows that roles aren't socially constructed as how from a young age girls “traditionally” taught to be dependent on her husband and to always think about a married life with kids.  

But in contrast even though there are some examples of how roles are not socially constructed. I strongly believe that roles are socially constructed as even in the examples I have given of the strong female individual at the end of the movie the women go back to the male protagonist and get married have a happy married life, with the female being a housewife. Reinforcing the traditional roles and teaching females that even though u defy the traditional roles, at the end you will go back to them which isn’t very encouraging.

So in conclusion to a great extent I agree with Judith butler, as to the exception of some example and statistics that, women are becoming more independent and going against the traditional socially constructed roles. At the end they aren't very surprising or very encouraging as society still stays patriarchal and females still follow the traditional roles. As with secondary socialization being an important aspect in a child’s life, the media play a big role in influencing how children behave from a young age. And with TV programs reinforcing stereotype of females and males audiences inject these roles (hypodermic needle) and then behave in that certain way. However arguably I do agree due to the uses and gratification theory people can use and manipulate the media for their benefit, such as using it for escapism, personal integrative needs or social needs.  Therefore, rejecting the characteristics and values (preferred and oppositional view). However I do believe that roles are socially constructed, as females and males are expected to behave in a certain way and if they don’t the audience do view them differently.  As feminists that oppose these traditional roles, are seen as crazy or rebellious e.g. radical feminist . This shows how in society accepting these roles are considered as good and the best for society.  

Post colonial theory essay

Does the British media reflect the modern, multicultural nature of British society? Refer to a variety of media texts and theories in your response?

Media texts consist of 3 main platforms. Print media for example magazines and newspaper, E-media for example social networking and websites, and lastly moving image for example music video or film etc. To some extent we can agree that after the Olympics the British media is trying to portray the “modern, multicultural nature” of British society. But then again arguably we can talk about how British movies and TV programs are highly stereotyped and tend to consist of white male protagonists and black or other ethnic groups as token characters.

We can agree at some point that the British media is reflecting modern, multicultural nature of British society. Such as the new comedy show on BBC, “Citizen Khan” which is based around a Pakistani family in Birmingham. This is a great example to show that the British media is reflecting modern, multicultural nature, as usually we tend to see British television for positive representations a white middle class nuclear family, and for a more negative representation an ethnic background family, single parent families or working class families. However with Citizen Khan we can say they are actually embracing multicultural nature of British society as the main protagonist is a Pakistani man, with a nuclear family having typical Pakistani Asian values, which shows the sense of multicultural as also in the show there a white man named “Dave” who is actually the supporting actor rather than the main protagonist. But for the show there can be oppositional and preferred reading, as a preferred reading could be how BBC ( British public broadcaster) has made a show on an ethnic minority family and with the stereotypes in the news of Islam being negative with the whole “terrorist tag”, it is nice to see a more humorous and normal side to Islam. Furthermore we can say that how Fanon talks about ethnic minorities putting the white mask on we can see Dave the white character is putting the Asian/Islamic mask on as he is a converted Muslim which shows he is trying to be more like the Asian characters. However a oppositional reading could be that the Asian characters are highly stereotypes and the gender roles are traditional, such as the stereotype of Asians loving cricket such as an episode as to where Mr khan goes to great extents of evening interrupting a memorial service in his house to just watch cricket. Furthermore the traditional gender roles such as the house wife and the husband being the breadwinner. Also relating it to Alvarado’s theory of racial representation as there is a sense of “exotic” to them as due to their life style and behaviours. Which shows that even though the British media is embracing multiculturalism it still is broadcasting them in a very stereotypical way.

Another example of British Media embracing British society’s modern and multicultural values is, the opening ceremony of the Olympics. As the Olympic ceremony celebrated different cultures and values and most importantly celebrated Britishness. As the best example is when we see the middle class families daughter is going out to party. Where the part which shows the sense of multiculturalism is how we see a white mother and black father in a middle class household showing how in British media we see the stereotype of black single parent families and white middle class families, where here they countertype and have a white and black  nuclear family in a middle class lifestyle. Furthermore this can relate to uses and gratifications as how some mixed race families will be able to identify with the life style and in psychographics self-actualisers as the footage really emphasis family values, where people who really see families and relationships important might be able to relate to this the most. Furthermore in the performance we see how multiculturalism is celebrated by music as how different culture of music is bought together and people celebrate for example the Indian music, current music etc. Which shows how everyone has come together to celebrate. However there can be oppositional views to the footage as arguably we can say the mixed race kids are putting a “white mask on” fanon theory, as relating it to THESP and post-colonial many African countries were under the British empire, which can show that instead of celebrating their own culture they are celebrating British culture and values as the music is all to do with Britain and its past.  Showing that British media is celebrating multiculturalism only to show a subliminal message of how British values are dominating other cultures and that even though there is multiculturalism it is only just amplifying British values and thoughts.

Lastly there are examples that show British media doesn’t show the multiculturalism of British society, could be movies such as “four lions”. As even though the movie was a comedy and showed a humorous side of Islam, the films main narrative was about how these 4 British born Muslims want to place a bomb somewhere which shows even though it is a comedy, it is reflecting how different the culture between Islam and white British people are. Such as Said’s theory as to how the east is seen as dangerous and different as for example a scene as to when the 4 main guys are running with the bombs one of the guys comes across his white friend who is exercise and as the white man sees the guys running in an odd way he is slightly confused, which shows even though it’s in a comic way they are seen as different. Furthermore it shows how each culture has built their own group within society and don’t like to mix with each other, for example how all the guys are Muslims and build their own group and can say isolate themselves from others. Not really reflecting the multiculturalism we have in society, how cultures live together and interact with each other.

In conclusion I do believe to some extent that the British media does portray the multiculturalism of society. However the thing is it depends on which area the show/story/film is based on for example London is more of a cosmopolitan multicultural place so it would be slightly odd if the movie/show setting is in London and we don’t see other ethnicities or cultures. But however if we go more up north the areas are more white dominated so it would make sense if we don’t have as many ethnic background characters. Lastly as showing a accurate representation of the area and character is important due to uses and gratification theory as audiences will be able to relate to the characters and society. 

Media guardian article

Article 

Summary
 Average teenager have never met a quarter of their Facebook friends according to new research. media regulators Ofcom have found that teenage girls send the most texts, sending almost 220 texts a week a third more then boys. Also they found 12-15 year olds spend 17 hours on the internet matching tv viewing for the first time. 40% of 5-15 year olds have a social networking profile where as 12 to 15 year olds have 80%. Also 80% of those teens have a average of 286 friends and 93% claim they know about internet safety. Where ofcom have found that 12-15 year olds haven't met 25% of those friends, giving a average of 72 strangers per child. they said ""Children are not just using more media, they are also adopting some forms [of it] at a very young age. There has been a 50% rise of of smartphone ownership and texting has almost doubled. 80% of parents claim that they have rules about their children's internet. 

My opinion 
it reflects the idea of how media is going more towards e-media. As how most young teenagers are using the internet reflecting how businesses/media institutions would advertise the products on the internet if they are targeting a teen audience. Furthermore it shows the effects of convergence as how people are using the smartphones more due to other apps being available on the phone. in addition it could show how people are using e-media more reflecting how other media platforms are going into decline.