Media myths, multi-platform journalism and the Hollywood cartel

This text corresponds to the communication in the Conference: «Journalism in Europe: who needs regulation?», organized by the CECS, on May 15th, 2009

Teaching beyond verifying sources and “fake news”: Critical media education to challenge media injustices

Current popular media literacy programs overemphasize the verifiability, reliability, and expertise of sources over the analysis of how marginalized groups are represented. This analysis privileges traditional news sources – and a hierarchy of “objective” news. These same institutions have been historically responsible for producing and reinforcing stereotypes and media injustices toward marginalized groups. These media literacy programs lack emphasis on how issues of race, oppression, and politics are represented in factually accurate sources. We demonstrate how an alternative model of critical media education can attempt to address issues of representation and media injustice within the contemporary global media ecosystem. We use two pedagogical examples to illustrate how critical media education, emphasizing both critical consumption and media production, may be used to help young people go beyond verifying news sources for accuracy to also critically analyze the perspectives and representations in these sources, and produce media to challenge these media injustices

International Sales of UK Television Content: Change and Continuity in ‘the space in between’ Production and Consumption

Focusing on the UK, this article addresses key issues facing the international distribution industry arising from over-the-top digital distribution and the fragmentation of audiences and revenues. Building on the identification of these issues, it investigates the extent to which UK distribution has altered over a ten-year period, pinpointing continuities in the destination and type of sales alongside changes in the role and structure of the industry as UK-based distributors adapt to a changing UK broadcasting landscape and global production environment. At one level increasing US ownership of UK-based distributors and the arrival of OTT players like Netflix, highlight the tensions between the national orientations of UK broadcasters and the global aspirations of independent producers and distributors. At another level VOD has boosted international sales of UK drama. Although the full impact of SVOD on content and rights has yet to materialise, significant changes in the industry predate the arrival of SVOD

The Passive Journalist: How sources dominate the local news

This study explores which sources are “making” local news and whether these sources are simply indicating the type of news that appears, or are shaping newspaper coverage. It provides an empirical record of the extent to which sources are able to dominate news coverage from which future trends in local journalism can be measured. The type and number of sources used in 2979 sampled news stories in four West Yorkshire papers, representing the three main proprietors of local newspapers in the United Kingdom, were recorded for one month and revealed the relatively narrow range of routine sources; 76 per cent of articles cited only a single source. The analysis indicates that journalists are relying less on their readers for news, and that stories of little consequence are being elevated to significant positions, or are filling news pages at the expense of more important stories. Additionally, the reliance on a single source means that alternative views and perspectives relevant to the readership are being overlooked. Journalists are becoming more passive, mere processors of one-sided information or bland copy dictated by sources. These trends indicate poor journalistic standards and may be exacerbating declining local newspaper sales

The Lobby in transition: what the 2009 MPs’ expenses scandal revealed about the changing relationship between politicians and the Westminster Lobby?

The 2009 MPs' expenses scandal was one of the most significant political stories of modern times. It raised questions, not just about the ethics and behaviour of MPs but also about the relationship between politicians at Westminster and the political correspondents who follow them on a daily basis, known as ‘the lobby’. For the significance of this scandal, in media terms, was that the story was not broken by members of the lobby but came from outside the traditional Westminster news gathering process. This paper examines why this was the case and it compares the lobby today with that which was described and analysed by Jeremy Tunstall and Colin Seymour-Ure in their respective studies more than 40 years ago. The article concludes that the lobby missed the story partly because of the nature of the lobby itself and partly as a result of a number of specific changes which have taken place in the media and the political systems over the past 40 years

Children In Front Of The Small Screen

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Scale economies and international communications inequality, 1820-2020

Each new communications era across the last 200 years has introduced new economies of scale and fresh inequalities. The biggest single inequality has been that, at least since 1870, the United States and its people have been ahead of the rest of the world. Since around 1920 Hollywood has led world entertainment. Since 1980 Hollywood has been merging with Silicon Valley tech and with computing and telephony. The United States has been uniquely successful in attracting finance from banks and from Washington, and in combining continental with local and intimate communications.Go to the full book to find a version of this chapter tagged for accessibility