Social Organisation Approaches II

1. Social Organisation Approaches II ICT Introduction to Communications Theory

2. Lecture Outline • return to the gatekeeper • PM versus Gatekeeping • personal values and beliefs • agenda-setting • the internet and gatekeepers • newsworthiness • news values

3. PM versus Gatekeeping • the PM: • mainly focuses on EXTERNAL factors • part of the political-economic framework • gatekeeping: • mainly focuses on INTERNAL factors • part of the social organisation approach

4. from McQuail, Chapter 11 political-economic PM gate-keeping social organisation

5. Gatekeeping • applies to many forms of media and communications • not just the news! • POWER over decisions • White’s 1950s model • subjectivity: personal values and beliefs • later models • organisational or ideological

6. McQuail, Chapter 12 music industry

7. McQuail, Chapter 11 organisational role hides personal beliefs or values power or status allows expression of personal beliefs or values institutional professional

8. middle class, white, male

9. Agenda-Setting • gatekeeping also relates to agenda-setting • selection decisions influence the audience • what do we talk about?

10. The Internet and Gatekeepers • are there any gatekeepers on the internet? • can we hear all voices and read about all stories on the internet? • is the internet regulated?

11. Playing Internet Curveball with Traditional Media Gatekeepers (Poor) • the Boston Red Sox wanted baseball pitcher Curt Shilling to join their team • during the trade negotiations Shilling visited a Red Sox fans website to chat with fans • wanted to find out more about Red Sox fans and the baseball atmosphere in Boston • also wanted to clarify what was happening in the trade talks and clear up some of the misinformation

12. a “milestone” • It was another milestone in the evolution of the Internet. Curt Schilling used this as a way to communicate with the public during his blockbuster trade from Arizona, showing how celebrities increasingly are circumventing traditional media/PR channels and interacting directly with fans who pay to see them perform. • (Newman, 2003)

13. Shilling intentionally avoided traditional gatekeepers (radio, newspapers, television, magazines, etc.) • which impressed fans • mainstream media sensed a threat and were not happy • they normally have a monopoly on sports stars • the internet has changed the media environment • is the internet completely without gatekeepers? • gatekeeping is near its end: given enough different media channels, almost everything will get through somewhere

14. Newsworthiness and News Values • newsworthiness: • “information most worthy of transformation into news stories” (Campbell, p. 479) • relates to whether a story should be reported or not • news value: • “an attribute of a news event that transforms it into an interesting ‘story’ for an audience” (McQuail, Chpt 12) • “systematically construct” the news (Branston & Stafford, p. 196) • unspoken, unconscious, taken for granted

15. Newsworthiness

16. importance McQuail, Chapter 12

17. McQuail, Chapter 12

18. Personalization • events seen as the actions of people as individuals

19. Drama

20. MSNBC’s Morning Show: Mika Brzezinski I have an apology as well and that is for our lead story. I didn’t choose it.She’s not a journalist anymore, is she? [guy discusses another story] You’d think we’d lead with that story. My producer isn’t listening to me, he’s put it as the lead.[after the guy smells it] I’m about to snap.

21. CNN Celebrity Blackout Attempt I wonder if we could get the Lindsey Lohan DUI arrest out of the teleprompter and put my script in. Is that possible? Here’s some … apparently it’s not.

22. Immediacy • recent • speed • being first • being live • COMPETITION

23. GOOD PICTURES television is particularly influenced temptation to select stories with good images and reject stories without good images “About 1000 people were drowned when a ferry sank on Lake Victoria in 1996. There were no pictures because no one has camera crews near Mwanza, Tanzania. No pictures, no TV story – just a mention. But every time there’s a brisk breeze in Florida we have a hurricane story because pictures pour in from American networks.” (Branston & Stafford, p. 197)

24. From BBC Editor’s Blog: • 1) half of the newsroom - and one of the presenters - went "aahhhhh"; • 2) the other half of the newsroom - and the other presenter - said "why are we running this worthless fluff?“; • 3) the editor thought: where does the balance lie between news value and picture power? • there is always room - particularly on a continuous news channel - for items that are rather less important than they are interesting

25. Proximity: being close to home • “… if crashes occur far away, say in Asia, they are not as newsworthy as if they occur in Europe; and they achieve paramount value if they occur at home, preferably in the Greater London area.” • (Schlesinger 1987)

26. From the BBC’s Editors Blog: Here are some stark statistics: • Around 30 to 40 people are killed every day in the current Israel/Lebanon conflict. • About 100 people are killed every day in the violence in Iraq. • And 1,200 people are killed every day in the war in the Congo. All three of these stories are due to appear on tonight's Ten O'Clock News. They will probably run in that order - with the Middle East getting by far the most attention. Does this say something about how we value human life? It's a fair question and one I worry about.

27. war in the Congo: going on for decades Iraq: led the way in attempting to show the scale of violence regularly led the programme with stories from there the Middle East needs more time and space sheer complexity - need space to provide context and analysis plugs into so many other stories around the world, from what Tony Blair and George W. Bush call the "War on Terror", through to the price of oil, even the situation in Afghanistan many fear the consequences of conflict in the Middle East more than anywhere else, and it is our job to help people understand a "scary world" The reasons in brief: