MEDIA STUDIES

PROF :Mr. R'Guibi

FULL NAME : ZELLAG OMAR

GROUP: 8

Chapter 8 : Active Audiences and The

The Construction of Meaning

In this articles the author is trying to investigate they way in which

audiences are creating or constructing the meaning of media messages. In
this era of technology and the emergence of internet , media producer and
consumer has become the dominant terms in media studies. we are no
longer investigating the two terms seperately, rather they are seen as one
unite ; media consumer ( audiences ) can at the same time be a media
consumer; by sharing contents in Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and so
fourth.

Active Audiences

Active audiences can be seen as a stepforward in understanding the effect

of media messages on audiences.

Active audiences signifies the fundemental concepts of human beings, that

is , intelligence and autonomy.

The author states three different ways in which audiences are seen as
active:

The collective interpretation of media , the collective political action and

the individual interpretation of media.

The social context :

Audiences are active in the sense that they interpret media messages
socially. Most of our daily conversations are centraly talking about media
.we talk about a book we have just finished , sharing a link , posting an
article and so on. The bottom line is the audiences' interaction and
interpretation of media messages in this sense is far from being passive.

The collective action :

public protests , boycotts and other means of demonstration are just

examples in which audiences make collective actions to express their
indignation towards media texts .

digital technoogy , video cameras and smart phones have facilitated the
lives of people and allowed them to create independent media content to
compete with big companies.

Meaning : Agency and Structure.

Media products are polysemic ; they encompasses different meanings .

therefore, audiences interpret media messages from various pespectives .

According to( John Fiske 1986), media products contain an ("excess) of

meaning which may have one consistent interpretation that is likely to be
the dominant interpretation. In the same regards , some media products
are literaly open to different interpretations and understandings . on the
other hand , some media scholars agrue that audiences have the ability to
understand medida text in whatever they like . in this regard , audiences are
acting with "agency". thus , they are not constraind.though , this type of
interpretation have same basic flaws ; it neglects the social context in which
audiences interpret media messages , the media conventions use and the
underlying patterns they have .

Structure and interpretive constraints.

media text are not interpreted independetly "free" from any constraints ,
rather it is always controled by some interpretation pattern and the various
social locations .

our social identities , gender and the educational background , to mention a

few, determine the way we interpret media messages .

decoding media and social position .

understanding the relationship between meaning and social position will

help us determine where the different interpretations of media messages
come from/

the social position is crucial in consructing the meaning of media text. it is

the source that audiences use to decode messages. this process of decoding
meaning requires understanding of the meduim along with some awarness
of the culutural dimensions of the meduim.

the audienes process of decoding meaning are based of the "common

sense " that surrounds our daily lives .

Chapter 5

Media And Ideology

Ideology is a set of meanings that helps to define and understand the

world , which makes some valuable judgements about the world .Ideology
is a broad system that encompasses different aspects such us beleifs ,
values , views ,to name but fiew .

Ideology is sometimes considered as something that does not refelect the

reality . Ideology is asserted by Marxists ; they define it as a system of
beliefs that " justify the actions of those in power , by distorting and
misrepresenting reality ".

Media studies focuses on Ideology in the sense that the latter functions as a
meduim , to show what messages are sent , how they operate and how
messagesare generated to fit a targeted group of audience. Media scholars ,
in particular, are interested on the content of media products ;thus , looking
for the hidden images of social life in them .

Dominant Ideology Versus Cultural Contradictions

Ideology is always considered controversial to some media scholars ;

because , some of them argues that Ideology in media products only
represent the dominant Ideology of the powerful worldview .Others
suggest that media texts contain some contradictory messages which are
opposed to the familiar consepts in the society .

Some media actors use media to promote some interpretaion of the world ,
to a large amount of audiences but a unified interpretation of the media
messages is not guaranteed .

Ideology As Normalization
Ideology in media can be seen as a way in which media institutions try to
articulate some social norms . With the sheer of repetition on a daily basis ,
they can define broadely the society .

on the other hand , media producers tend to say that the ideological norms
containing media products are just reflecting the norms and ideas of the
public . In general , ideology is most of the time invisible in media products ;
producers delibrately want to promote their values on audiences .

Media producers use variety of cultural forces ,including studying the

targeted audience , who is supposed to consume the products. in essence ,
the producer's knowledge of human relation.

Theoretical Roots Of Ideological analysis .

Ideological analysis goes back to the work of Marx . this type of analysis
evolve over time ; sometimes maintaining its roots while engaging in more
complex and nuance debates.

In Marxism 's point of view , ideology is seen as a powerful way of social

control whereby members of the dominant class impose their worldview,
which represent their interests , on the subordinate classes. the
subordinate classes , in this system , are considered to have a "false "
consciousness because their worldview serves the interest of others .in
essence , the ideological analysis is focusing on the way consciousness is
"false" and the need of correction .

Hegemony
The term "Hegemony" Is drowned from the work of Antonio Gramsci (1971)
, an Italian Marxist who wrote in the 1920s and 1930s. Gramsci argued that
the ruling class can maintain their dominant ideology by force , consent , or
a combination of the two.

The ruling class use a wide range of institutions such as the family , church ,
school , and cultural leadership because these sites are fundmental places
where ideas and norms are constructed and reconstructed.Hegemony , in
this sense , opeates in vunerability of "common sense " assumptions we
make about social life and on the terrain of things considered as "normal "
the way things are .in essence , the taken for granted aspects of social ife .

Antonio Gramsci understood Hegemony as an ongoing process of making

and readjusting the common sense assumptions ; therefore , hegemony is
not a permanent ideology in any given society .

The term hegemony is first introduced to media studies by the leading

figure of british liguists , Stuart Hall . He argued that mass media institutions
are involved in the concept of hegemony; media are engaged in what he
calls "the politics of significance" . He also stated that "Media has the power
to signifies events in a particular way".

News media and the limits of debates .

Economic News as Ideological construct .

The converage of economic news is focusing on the business community ;

their interests , failure , profits , benefits and so on .thus , neglecting
individuals , who are acting a range of positions in the economic life as
workers , consumers , , investors , to cite but few .Most of the news items
related to economic are covered from top down perspective. in other words
, the main concern is about the interest of the economic elites ; their profits
, crisis , benefits and so fourth .

Televison , Popularity , and Ideology.

television , in media studies , has always been considered tobe the

dominant form of media .thus , containing most of theideological
worldviews of media producers .

Television and Reality .

Television producers are striving to represent the real life of families ,

workers, businessmen , to name but few , in their products .Though , this
process may contain some ideological background .

the ideological work of television lies on the process of reflecting the reality
-the humour and harsh life of individuals .

Advertising And Consumer Culture

Advertisement has always been embedded in our environment .we almost

see ads everywhere ; in buses , airoplanes , bookstores and so on.

all ads have a fundemental aspect common between them , that is ,selling .

they target audiences as consumers through the taken for granted norms in
the social ife .Ads presumes and promotes that they can sell happiness and
perfection to consumers .Adverising , therefore , promotes a culture of
consumption and normalize the lifestyle of upper-classes. They want their
consumers to consider the purchasing of the products a means of virtue
and freedom .

ADVERTISING AND THE GLOBALIZATION

Advertisement sellings of American brands such as -Coca cola and Nike-

circulate all over the world . they promote the American life style in the
world . Some Hollywood films , programs , with their ads , are consumed by
wide range of audiences .thus , advertising America as the dreamland's of
consumers .

The international advertising television and music scenes have helped in

generating a common lifestyle worlwide.teen or adults all over the world
adopt similar style appearance and choose the same brands.

William O'Bars (1994) argued that the ideoogical analysis of ads requires us
to look at what we he calls "the secondary discourse " .The secondary
discourse focus onthe social aspects embedded withing the advertisements
. I this sense, ads , with their images , try to convey messages of social life
and the same time promote their products.

Chapter 1: Media and The Social World

Nowadays , media is becoming an essential part of our daily life .with the
emerge of in internet , everything is accessible to anytype of audienes .thus
, audiences, on a large scale ,are cannot deprive from media. Most of us
spent more time watching , listening to ,reading or otherwise using a
variery of media forms .

without media life of individual and their assumption of it would be

differentr; their understaniding of business ,themselves ,their social
relations would also change ;because , their source of information ,
entertainment has changed .

The rise of mass media

"the word media is the plural of meduim . It is derived from the latin word
meduis ,which means middle.the communication media are the different
technological processes that facilitate communication between ( and are in
the middle of ) the sender of a message and the receiver of that message."

media products are interpreted by audiences in different ways. In media

studies , it is recommended to consider the activity of the reader in creating
the meaning of media products. In sociology , this process is called the
social construction of reality , which means , every existing reality must be
investigated in order to create different meaning.

Audiences , consumers ,readers are consuming media products meanwhile

posting reviews , update their facebook profile , or sharing a video on
youtube ;thus ,creating a content of their own that helps to blure the line
between media producers and consumers .

The printed medium

the printed media had evolved first with the movable type that enabled
people create more contents and distribution of media products .

the social forces such us church , family ,to cite but few , had determined
the direction of media development rather than technology.

with the movable type , media distribution was very slow and limited ;
newspapers , books to reach the audience , until 1840S the invention of the
telegraph had facilitated the dissemination of newspapers to readers
.Though telegraph had succeeded in providing an instanteous means of
communication over a long distances , it was not a mass meduim .

Broadcast Media

the invention of radio in the first decade of the 20th century , and television
broadcasting had significantly changed media consumption by reaching a
large amount of audiences or consumers .

Internet New technology

the evolvement of technology have not vanished the old media formats
such us radio and television since Internet can provide all those mass
meduims instantaneously .

the development of digital formats has enabled media producers to widely

delivering media content .

newspapers stories , television programs , or musical recording can be

provided and delivered through Internet , desktop computer , wireless
laptop and other devices.
digital technology have blurred the gap between the media consumer and
media content , the bottom line is that media has been influenced by some
social forces rather than technology .

Media and Society

Media works as a socializing process in which individuals internalized and

learn their values , norms of culture .By socializing , individuals performe
and act according to their social rules; as a friend , teacher , student ,
worker and so on.

in recent years , media has become a socializing agent where people

internalize and learn some values containing media products.

from a sociological perspective , mass media serves as a mediator items of

relationships between the audiences and some social institutions such as
the government , family , surch and so on .

structural Constraint and human agency

structural constraint

a power over the individual that constrains his /her action . some norms of
the society are limiting the behaviour of people .

family as a constraint is fix , though some family behaviours have changed ;

unmarried families , single parents families , lesbian couples and so on ,
have supplemented the traditional family behaviour . an other example of
social constraints is the system of education .students have to performe
adequately according to rules created by teachers or administrators .
Agency :

agency is an independent and undetermined human behaviour .

in the educational system , rules are meant to be respected but some

students may choose to rejected , thus , having an act of agency .

Human agency is a means of producing social structure , the norms , rules

and other aspects of society are continuing thanks to the consent of
individuals.Thus , it is the human agency that maintains the social
constraints .

Structure and Agency in media

the relation of media and other social relations is always controversial .

Some social actors like , government and family may set rules in which
media operates.

the realionship withing institutions

in the media industry , the presumer is placed on the media personnel and
his or her relation with media products.Whether they act according to their
agancy or in respect of some constraint rules .

Media and the public

this realtioship occurs in the process whereby media send message that
must be interpreted by the audiences , thus , interacting with it , either by
forcing agency or consent the media constraints .
Model of media and the social world .

the model of relationships between media and other institutions has no top
or bottom when we try to analyze it .