Web quest

1. Web quest • Take a guess, how old do you think the media is? • When was the ‘Diamond Sutra’ printed? What was it? • Who mastered the printing techniques of ‘casting and setting’? When? • When did William Caxton patent his printing press? • What was the name of the first text he published and when was it published? • What was the first text published in English and when? • When was the first English newspaper published? • When was the first folio of Shakespeare’s plays published? • When was the BBC established and what does the acronym stand for? • When was the first tabloid paper established and what was it called? • When was the first typewriter patented and by whom? • Who invented the modern computer and when? • Who invented the first camera and when? • When was the gramophone invented? • Which company launched the first CD player and when? • When was the VCR invented? What does VCR stand for? • When was the DVD invented? What does DVD stand for? • What was the first film with sound and when was it filmed? • When was the first commercial radio station broadcast? • What was the first advertisement on commercial television? When was it shown and on what channel? • When was breakfast television launched? • Do you now wish to adjust your answer for Question 1?

2. Media Consumption Diary Stick your media consumption diaries in your exercise books. Using the information you collected, briefly summarise the following: • What was the media that you mostly used? Why? • What was the media you used least? Why? • Which is the most informative/educational media you used? What did you use it for? • Which was the media you used for entertainment purposes?

3. Key Concepts: Institutions We are learning to: Explore the history of an institution, commenting on how its work has changed up to the present day. Support your commentary with a variety of media products the institution has produced. Explore the advantages and disadvantages of global media institutions.

4. What are media institutions? Media institutions are organisations that are responsible for producing media products. Think of your favourite video game, film, album or television programme: each one was produced by a media company. Have you ever noticed the names of these businesses? Some of them are huge multi-national companies, while other might be small-scale independent companies.

5. 4 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 Which big organisations do you associate the following logos with?

6. Most Media Institutions have a logo which makes them recognisable to a wide audience

7. 1 2 3 4 6 5 Identify the following Media Organisations:

8. Find the logos for the following institutions, copy and paste them into a word document: News International FreemantleMedia Sony BMG Virgin Time Warner Disney Endemol Vivendi

9. Why are they important? An important aspect of understanding a media text is to understand who produced it and why. Every media institution will have its own set of values, and these are often evident in the media products that they produce.

10. Case Study - ITV • Following the Television Act of 1954 which made commercial television in the UK possible, ITV first began broadcasting in 1955 on Channel 3 in the London area. By 1973 there were 15 separate Channel 3 regional broadcasting licences and each of the regional licences was run by a separate company. • The Broadcasting Act of 1990 allowed regional companies, under specific conditions, to merge for the first time. It paved the way for the consolidation of ITV and the first merger took place in 1994 when Granada bought LWT. By the new millennium Granada plc owned six regional licences, Carlton owned five, Scottish Media Group (SMG, now STV) owned two and Ulster and Channel remained independent. • The merger of Granada and Carlton became an obvious next step. The necessary changes in legislation were introduced by the Communications Act and the Competition Commission approved the merger plans. In February 2004 ITV plc, owner of eleven of the fifteen regional licences, was born. Today ITV plc sells advertising on behalf of all fifteen of the licences and produces much of the programming broadcast on ITV channels. • Since the merger ITV has expanded its family of channels with the launch of ITV2 in 1998, ITV3 in 2004, ITV4 in 2005 and CITV in 2006.

11. Case Study - ITV Today … • ITV is Britain’s largest terrestrial commercial television network. • ITV relies upon advertising to pay for the programmes that it produces and airs. • To maintain funding from advertisers, ITV has to produce programmes that will appeal to mass audiences in the UK, hence the reason that they produce a number of popular mass-appeal programmes e.g. The X-Factor, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Coronation Street andEmmerdale.

12. Paired Activity http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1231593.stm Use the information from the article ‘A short history of the BBC’ to create a timeline of important dates and events that have brought the BBC to become what it has today. 1922 2011 British Broadcasting Company started life in 1922, when the government licensed the UK's six major radio manufacturers to form the new outfit. Now, under Greg Dyke, it has launched new childrens' TV services CBeebies and CBBC, a cultural network, BBC Four, as well as a collection of digital radio services.

13. Regulation and Control While some media institutions are very powerful, governments have put some limits on what these organisations can say and do. Laws such as libel, protect people from being falsely accused. It is common to see media institutions are being sued by people in the public eye. In most areas of the media, there are regulatory bodies set up to control the output of media institutions e.g. the BBFC and OFCOM. Did you know? In 2007, OFCOM received over 44,000 complaints regarding racial issues in Celebrity Big Brother.

14. Case Study: News Corporation • News Corporation in one of the world’s largest media institutions. • It is made up of a number of media companies. • The institution’s chairman is Rupert Murdoch. • The revenue for the year ending June 2007 was $28.6 billion. • Following are some of the media companies owned by the News Corporation …

15. News Corporation

16. Tasks Using the illustration… • Identify how the News Corporation is a multi-national institution. • Rupert Murdoch used to be a strong supporter of the Conservative Party. How do you think he might have used his media empire to help the Conservative Party grow in popularity? • Why do you think some people argue that it is dangerous for one institution to control so many areas of the media? • In 1998, Rupert Murdoch tried to buy Manchester United for £625 million, but the offer was rejected by the UK Competition Commission … why do you think they did this?

17. Homework Task In groups of 2 or 3, research a media institution of your choice and produce a presentation about what they produced or manage. Include images of the logos that are relevant to that institution so that it is easier to relate to …. Also, include some of the different products they have produced. Include information about: • How and when did it begin? • What products does it produce? • Does that institution own other media institutions as well? • How profitable is that institution? • Who runs that institution? • How is the institution regulated and controlled?

18. For Example …