LO5 assessment

 

On BBC1 it is clear from the figure that they get substantially more viewers than channel 4, and both channels are free which means they’re both easily available to people of a lower income. this suggests that they both have a very wide target audience who might have very different niche interests. This might be a struggle when it come to advertisement as they have to appeal to a huge mass audience.  

 

However each channel has individual audiences that watch them, and they may appeal to different sides of the mass viewership. We can see this being represented in the figure above because BBC 1 has many programs that people may consider serious such as country file, Eastenders and casualty, however it seems that channel 4 may appeal to a bit of a younger audience, with programmes such as 8 out of 10 cast, and marvel agents of shields. This therefore shows that each channel recognises what their viewers find entertaining, and play to their strength of what the viewers enjoy. The BBC may use this to shape its promotional material by making it more rugged / serious (this would most likely include older middle aged people) looking shows so it can attract even more people who enjoy that kind of content. 

 

As well as this, channel 4’s content appeals to a younger audience (young adults) so their programmes are scheduled to be shown later in the evening. This is done so that the shows are allowed to include swearing, and also because its common for people of that age to be working a lot throughout the day, and then be up late in the night, so by scheduling their programmes to come on later at night, they will get the maximum amount of viewership. As the programs on BBC one are often aimed at a mature audience, a lot of their programs are on mid evening. This could be because the viewers go to bed at n earlier time than channel 4, or perhaps BBC 1 knows that some of their programmes (eg the FA cup final) will most likely be viewed by families, and so they need to have it on earlier so that everyone gets to enjoy it.

Regulatory bodies case studies

 

Case Study One: 

A Monster Calls is a 2016 film adaptation of a popular children’s graphic novel by author Patrick Ness. There are scenes of moderate threat as a huge tree comes to life and appears to directly threaten the main character, a child. There are also repeated images, in dream sequences, of a collapsing building and crumbling ground which leaves the boy's mother clinging to a ledge above a chasm. . There are several scenes of emotional distress, in which Conor has to come to terms with his mother's condition as the film explores the difficulties of her terminal illness and Conor's attitude towards his bereavement. There are also scenes of bullying in a contemporary school setting. Though the violence in these scenes is relatively mild, a young audience is likely to identify and sympathise with Conor. The film was given a 12A rating.  

1. Which regulatory body was responsible for classification? The body that is responsibe for the classification of this film is the BBFC 

2. What did they have to weigh up in order to make that classification? They had to consider the facts that the movie is based off a children's book, so therefore the rating can't be too high otherwise no one will watch it, however there are threats of violence and dealing with some serios topics, so the rating cant be too low as to not scare any young children who may be watching 

3. What does the 12A rating suggest? This suggests that although the film may deal with some serious bissues, it is still appropriate for pre-teens  

    

    

Case Study Two: 

On 12th November 2015 The Daily Express published the headline ““75% of new jobs go to EU migrants in 1 year”. The online edition of the article included the headline “Shocking figures reveal three out of four British jobs go to EU MIGRANTS”. A university lecturer, Jonathan Portes, made an official complaint to the appropriate regulatory body stating that these numbers were inaccurate. A ruling upheld his complaint and the Daily Express had to publish the following correction: ‘On November 12, 2015 we reported that 75% of new jobs went to EU migrants in the last year. This is incorrect. The Office for National Statistics published data was based on net changes in employment and not on the number of people entering new jobs. The figures showed that the number of UK nationals in employment increased by 122,000 compared to an increase of 324,000 in non-UK EU nationals.”’ 

1. Which regulatory body was responsible for this correction? The regulatory body responsible for this correction was IPSO 

2. How did they make the decision to ‘uphold’ the complaint? They made the decision to uphold the persons complaint from a ruling, most likely from someone looking into the issue and realising that the news article does not conform to the rules they have layed out about not spreading false information  

3. What does the consequence suggest? (The fact that the Daily Express had to print that it was wrong.) this suggests that because it was such a minimal consequence, that newspapers aren't afraid to post false information because there is a low chance that they will get caught out by the IPSO without a complaint, and the consequence for spreading false news is not a harsh punishment  

Case Study Three: 

A Facebook post for the tanning salon Basetan, seen on 11 February 2020, stated "Sunbeds and sunlight are the main sources of your bodies [sic] Vitamin D … Vitamin D is essential for good health. It lowers the risk of everyday infections like cold and flu as well as more fatal diseases such as high blood pressure, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and depression … Studies suggest that regular, moderate Sunbed use will raise the levels of Vitamin D in healthy adults by an average of 40% ... Tanning in a sensible manner can create a whole host of health benefits". A complainant challenged whether the ad: 

1. discouraged essential treatment for conditions for which medical supervision should be sought, namely high blood pressure, type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and depression; 

2. misleadingly implied that using sunbeds was an efficient way to boost vitamin D production; and 

3. was irresponsible because it encouraged the regular use of sunbeds to improve vitamin D levels. 

The complaint was upheld and the advert was banned from circulation while it contained that information.  

1. Which regulatory body was responsible for banning this advert? ASA 

2. How did they make the decision? They made this decision by having it be brought to their attention by a complaint, and then reviewing the information and deciding it was inappropriate and misleading  

3. What does it mean that the advert was banned?   it means that it is no longer allowed to be distributed 

    

     

Case Study Five:  

The official ratings board in the UK refused to classify Omega Labyrinth Z because of the "likely harm being caused to a viewer or potential viewer, e.g. children or young people." It is illegal to sell a game in the UK without a rating from the appropriate body. While these ratings only apply to physical products, it's likely this will affect the title's availability in digital stores. 

Omega Labyrinth Z is a PS4 and PC title developed by Japanese studio Matrix Software and published by PQube. It is a dungeon-crawler set within a school where players control a variety of young girls as they battle evil. 

However, the regulatory body has deemed the nature of the gameplay and many of the mini-games too sexually explicit for release - particularly given the implied age of the characters. 

1. Which regulatory body was responsible for the classification? VSC 

2. What were their reasons? Their reason was that the game was too sexually explicit, which isn't banned from being in video games, but because of the implied age of the characters it was inappropriate.  

3. What does their refusal to classify the game suggest?   this suggests that they don’t think the game is appropriate for anyone in the UK to play, because of the innapropriate content, and so they refuse to give it a rating in order to 
   

Definitions looked at in LO6

 Classification - A rating given to a film, DVD or video game which informs the audience the suitability for different ages of audience according to the criteria of violence, sexual content and inappropriate language.

Cessorship - The controls and regulations that exist about media content. Censorship powers can be held by governments or regulatory bodies.

Regulation - Rules or sets of standards that are expected to be adhered to. Regulatory bodies oversee that this is being done by media companies.

Distribution -  Content Distribution is the act of promoting content to online audiences in multiple media formats through various channels.

Complaints - a statement that something is unsatisfactory or unacceptable.

Example of a Regulatory Body failing

 What is the value of the various different regulatory bodies that we have explored today?

The goal of any regulatory body is to protect the consumers of media products from potential harm that may be caused to them. This especially applies when it comes to children media, as there is a potential for them to become traumatised if they are exposed to material that is not appropriate for their age range, for example extreme violence. However there are times where the regulatory bodies fail, weather that be to take it too far until it becomes simply censorship, or I various products slip through the cracks and don’t receive the proper rating. An example of this would be PEGI is 2019 releasing a trailer for the game NBA 2K20 which included casino-style elements in the game, such as a slot machine mini-game and a wheel of fortune mini-game. It received a lot of criticism, with people commented that it looked like a casino ad and was just simply teaching people to gamble.

People were most upset with the fact that the rating given to it was PEGI 3, meaning it was targeted at adults as well as children. However PEGI stood by the rating that it gave out, stating that it wasn’t accurate to real life gambling, as so was fine to show to children.

I think in this instance PEGI failed to properly fulfil its role as a regulator and classification body of media, because although this game did not necessarily show real life gambling, it still had a a clear heavy influence of gambling and may have a damaging effect on the children that end up viewing the content, possibly leading to a gambling addiction.

How successful was the bbfc in regulating the joker?

 the film is filled with violence and has a dark tone, however it is classified as a 15 instead of an 18 because the film doesn’t dwell too heavily on the infliction of pain and misery. However many people had issues with it because of the amount of violence

A trailer for the film was submitted by Warner Brothers in March 2019, with a 12A request. Compliance Officers noted that 'There is an unsettling and dark tone throughout, and there are certain shots which would be uncomfortable at the 12A category'. They cited a scene in which Fleck smashes his head into a mirror and another in which he is hit by a car. All subsequent trailers were given a 15 rating.

After being viewed by the BBFC's Chief Executive and the Head of Compliance in the screening room at Warner Brothers' London base, it was decided that the film could be released at a rating of 15. the main issue of contention for weather the film should get a 15 rating or an 18 was the amount of violence. Some people viewed it as too strong for a 15 audience, with scenes such as some men being shot with bloody impact detail and a chat show host executed at close range. However it was deemed ok because BBFC Guidelines at 15 state that 'Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury’.

This shows that it was effective because it didn’t stick to the requested 12A rating, but realised that the violence levels were too high because of the amount of violence, and moved it up to a 15 rating. As well as this, it was viewed by the chief executive and the head of compliance for the bbfc, so therefore it had been thoroughly looked at and reviewed, meaning that the age rating of 15 was a successful and appropriate rating according to BBFC guidelines.

Different Regulatory Bodies in the UK

Different regulatory bodies in the UK

VSC = responsible for age ratings of video games sold in the uk

PEGI = a European video game content rating system

BBFC = responsible for classifying films that have a cinema and DVD release.

IPSO = is the independent regulator for the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK.

ASA = the UK's independent advertising regulator. The ASA makes sure ads across UK media stick to the advertising rules

OFCOM = regulates the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.

Analysis of "the joker" trailer - Part 2

 Looking at the Joker, we can start to speculate what the effect of this trailer will have on an audience depending on if we assume the audience is passive or active.

The audience is passive

If we assume that the audience viewing this trailer are passive, then we have three audience effects theories that we can use to support how the audience will react; the Hypodermic Needle model, the Moral Panic theory, and the Cultivation theory.

Looking through the eyes of the hypodermic needle model (the idea that media injects opinions straight into the minds of the audience), the audience may come away from this trailer believing that the joker is a deeply disturbed man that simply count not be helped. The audience may believe this because they are directly shown that he is unstable, through maniacally laughing and the use of shallow depth of field, which signifies the joker’s atmosphere of being separated from society, and stuck in his own mine, as he is visually removed from the world around him.

As well as this, if we look through the lease of the cultivation theory, which suggests that prolonged exposure to certain material will change a viewers perception of reality, they may come away from this trailer thinking that all people who suffer from mental health disorder (eg schizophrenia) are a danger to society. This is because the joker trailer, as well as many other pieces of media, time and time again portray characters seeking help such as therapy (for example in the trailer the joker is seen talking to someone who we assume is a psychiatrist), but inevitably it fails and they become destructive in some way; weather that be to themselves or the world around them.

This then leads onto the 3rd theory that assumes the audience is passive, the Moral Panic Theory. This theory suggests that the media often creates and perpetuates fears an panic within audiences, as they are told something or someone is against their best interests, and it culminates in the public becoming hostile towards certain things, that may have not actually been as drastic as the media presented it to be. For example, from viewing the joker trailer, a moral panic may be formed that all people with mental illnesses are a danger to society (they get this idea from the joker who is shown to be mentally ill committing violent crimes against his community) , which perpetuates the existing stigma against mental illness making it more difficult for people to come forward and receive help.
 

The audience is active


However thee are other theories that explain how audience may react to media, that assumes the audience is active. For example the Uses and Gratifications theory, that suggests viewers watch media for various different reasons, those being in order to; be entertained/diverted, gain information/education, interact socially, and identify personally with the product. This then implies that the audiences won’t necessarily take away the message that people with mental illness are inherently bad, because in all likelihood they will be watching it for entertainment/diversion purposes and so will recognise that it is a piece of fiction and not something that is going to be 100%.

As well as this, there is also the Reception theory, where everything included within a pice of media has an intended message, but the audience does not necessarily always tale this message on board. There are three ways the consumer will interoperate the intended message; preferred reading, negotiated reading, and oppositional reading. The preferred reading is where the viewer takes the message fully on board, and believes mental illness is a danger to society. The negotiated reading is where the viewer partly agrees, in this case it could be that therapy doesn’t work, but mental illness doesn’t always equate to bursts of violence. And the oppositional reading, were the viewer completely disagrees with the intended message, could be that therapy does work, and it is wrong to portray people suffering from a disorder in this way. This theory therefore backs up the idea that audiences can think for themselves, and just because a media product wants consumers to live something doesn’t mean they always will.

Analysis of "the joker" trailer - Part 1

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAGVQLHvwOY - trailer for the joker

The Joker 


What is shocking about the joker? :
people might have an issue with the film because from the trailer it seems that the movie is depicting people with mental illness to be scary, unstable, and something to be afraid of basis they have urges to be violent. People may have an issue with this because it could be harmful as people without high knowledge on mental illness may believe this to be true, creating a stigma around people with mental illness


General notes of the scenes :
- a yellow tone making everything seem dingy and dirty.
- Dim lighting adds suspense and the idea of the unknown, as well as a sense of unease and being alone
- A few wide shots to signify that the joker feels alone. Is also signifies that he is perhaps unusual or out of this world, as normally shots of people are from the shoulders up, but the director several times showed the jokers full body, as if he is an unusual specimen that we need to see fully to be able to take in and understand.
- Also a few low angle shots, possible suggesting that although all the struggle and ridicule he has gone through, he still invasions himself as above the average person, that they mean nothing to him and therefore he is comfortable taking their lives.
- Also a few dutch angles, used to portray the jokers mental state; off balance, confusing, disorientated, and deranged. 


Classification and Censorship in media

 classification in media - Classification is the process of giving age ratings and content advice to films and other audiovisual content to help children and families choose what's right for them and avoid what's not.

censorship - suppresion of certain parts of any kind of media products that are not deemed as suitable for the general public's consumption

         They overlap when classification helps decide if companies need to do censorship

Things that affect classification :
  - dangerous behaviour
  - discrimination
  - drugs
  - language
  - nudity
  - sex / sexual violence

Audience Effects Theories

 

Audience effect theory	Developed in and by	Passive or active	Description	Arguments for the theory	Arguments against the theory
Hypodermic needle method	A group of academics that worked in Frankfurt and Vince Packard (1950s)	Passive	Messages within media are injected into the peoples consciousness without any filter. Much like if you were to receive an injection; the substance in the needle is shot into your veins and enters your bloodstream immediately. This emerged from people witnessing German people believing and supporting nazi propaganda, and the rise of fascism in Europe	An argument that supports this theory is that we see it take place in real life. For example copycat crime, a crime inspired by another crime that has been publicised in the news media, fictionally, or artistically.	- The audience is passive and susceptible and are easily influenced by the message which might not be true every time. But the reactions of people differ. Some people can be passive whereas some people might not believe in media. - The theory has been proved to fail by many studies like “The People’s Choice” research for voting pattern and political behaviour during the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The study showed that the pattern was affected by media in minimum amount but was more affected by interpersonal communication. Studies show that media has selective influence on mass.
Moral Panic	Stanley Cohen. (early 1970s)	Passive	This theory is about the idea that the media creates moral panic ( a feeling of fear and hatred towards something that challenges existing norms ) by identifying threats to the values and interests of society and then over reacting to it. The people will see this over reaction as the norm, and so adopt the behaviour towards the moral panic (for example, grime and trap music and its association towards knife and gang crime). There are 5 stages of constructing a moral panic :  -  someone, something, or a group are defined as a        threat to social norms or community interests. the threat is then depicted in a simple and recognisable symbol / form by the media The portrayal of this symbol rouses public concern  There is a response from authorities and police makers The moral panic over the issue results in social changes within the community  This theory came about because Cohen wanted to explore the relationship between mass media and widespread panic after seeing the reaction to the mods and rockers youth movement.	A strength of this theory is that there is lots of real life evidence to back it up, for example creating a stigma against marijuana in the USA during the war against drugs. This eventually led to it being criminalised and people are now heavily punished for using it. This shows that it got to the final stage of constructing a moral panic and there fore has external validity that applies to the real world	Cohen’s formulation of moral panic theory assumes that the audience are passive, but audiences today are much more active and able to critically evaluate media content, which means moral panics are less likely. Thornton (1995) found that the media failed to generate a moral panic over rave culture, mainly because youth culture had become mainstream by that point, as had the taking of drugs such as ecstasy. This shows moral panic does not always occur which reduces the validity of this theory
Desensitisation theory/ cultivation theory	Gerbner and Gross (1970s)	passive	The theory is about the idea that if we are constantly exposed to war, violence, and crime, then we being to assume that most of the world is made up of war, violence, and crime (the Mean World Index). The media cultivates consumers to believe certain things/behave a certain way or desensitises the viewers to what they are exposed to (for example, violence.) This theory emerged from the fact that more and more people began to own TVs, and so the US government crime prevention project wanted to see how the exposure to lots of television  impacts the amount of crime in the US.	One strength of the theory is that there is real life evidence. Findings of nearly four decades of cultivation research on television message systems have unveiled a ‘distorted’ reality: exaggerated crime rates, overrepresentation of violence, gender-role stereotyping, nontraditional family composition, the ‘mean world syndrome,’ and so on (Morgan et al., 2009). This misshaped, yet repetitive represented ‘reality,’ gradually dominates the worldview of heavy viewers, who rely on television as their main source of beliefs and values.	Despite the ongoing popularity of cultivation theory among researchers and the research evidence supporting the theory, cultivation has been criticised for several reasons. For instance, some media scholars take issue with cultivation because it treats media consumers as fundamentally passive. By focusing on the patterns of media messages instead of individual responses to those messages, cultivation ignores actual behavior. In addition, the cultivation research by Gerbner and his colleagues is criticised for looking at television in aggregate without any concern about differences between various genres or shows. This singular focus came from cultivation's concern with the pattern of messages across television and not the individual messages of specific genres or shows.
Identity theory	David Gauntlett (2000s)	Active	The Identity theory suggests that people use media to help form their social identity, using the parts they think will support their development as an individual. This is very ingrained with modern day usage of media, as much of it is participatory and so people can engage with each other and feel part of a community. Gauntlett thinks the media do not create identities, but just reflect them instead. It was developed as a result of new information and data being uncovered in todays modern day social media atmosphere.	This theory has real world application ; For representation questions, Gauntlett’s theory is useful when exploring over simplified representations of groups of people or for discrediting the role of media when creating identities. Furthermore, the internet (and social media) can be used as a platform for building identities which reflects the creativity of individuals.	Although works well with social media, doesn’t really cover when media was first being produced, for example the in the early days of TV there was only one channel, but people still watched it regardless of their identity
Reception theory	Stuart hall (1970s)	Active	Every media product contains some sort of encoded message (everything included within the product has a meaning / message. Eg the colour/lighting used). The consumer interoperates this message in 3 different ways; preferred reading, negotiated reading, and oppositional reading. Our reading is dependant on many things, such as general socio-economic and cultural experiences. This theory was developed in the 1970s and came about from a cultural critic (stuart hall) investigating TV and media messages	Real life evidence, such as how people banded together fro blackout Tuesday in order to support black people and back communities and raise awareness for the black lives matter movement  Paints the audience as active, which is curate to real life.	Although everything has an intended message, not everyone will necessarily realise what that message is, therefore they don’t have a preferred reading, negotiated reading, or a oppositional reading because they don’t understand the message to begin with
Uses and gratifications	Bulmler and Kats (1950s)	Active	People consume media for particular gratifications, in order to; be entertained/diverted, gain information/education, interact socially, and identify personally with the product. This theory came about in the 1950s as there was a boom in living conditions and wealth, meaning more people had access to the TV and other media, so sociologists became more interested in what made a good life, and what people would gain from media products.	there is strength to this theory as it can be applied to the internet in the modern day, for example the use of social media clearly show where all the uses and gratifications come into play. For example entertainment : watch a youtube video about a game you enjoy. Gain information - watch free science lessons on youtube Interact socially - message friends on snapchatIdentify - keep up with favourite celebs on instagram	the theory doesn’t account for how the media can have an unconscious effect on our lives and how we view the world It is too kind to the media, as it means they don’t have to take responsibility for what they produce