Week 01

MDIA 102:Media, Society and Politics Source: Sunday Star Times, Sunday 4 February 2007 Music: Ghostwriter RJD2

INTRODUCTION TO MDIA 102 Today’s focus Who is involved? Some introductory points How does the class work? How is the class structured? What is the course about? Society, Politics, Media: definitions

Teaching team Thierry Jutel: coordinator 42-44 Kelburn Parade Room 109 463-9737 [email_address] office hours: Tues. 2-4 (change on course outline) Anita Brady 42-44 Kelburn Parade, Room 209 Phone: 463-6853 office hours: Tuesday 2-4 anita . [email_address] .ac.nz Sue Abel

Assistant Lecturer Damion Sturm: 42-44 Kelburn Parade, Room 103 office hours: Monday 1-3 Phone: 463-6728 damion . [email_address] .ac. nz

TUTORS Shelley Dixon Email: shelley . [email_address] .ac. nz Office Location: KP106 Office Hours: Tuesday 2pm; Thursday 1pm Tim Garlick Email: tim . [email_address] .ac. nz Office Location: KP106 Office Hours: Thursday 12-2 Brannavan Gnanalingam Email: [email_address] .com Office Location: KP106 Office Hours: Thursday 11am; Friday 1pm Adam Swift Email: a. [email_address] . edu .au Office Location: KP106 Office Hours: Tuesday 12pm; Wednesday 1pm

Let’s begin with some questions What do the media want from us? Do we have a choice as to how we want to interact and engage with the media?

What do the media want? The sphere of influence of the media incorporates one’s relation with the media The media model and produce our imagined individual relation with the media our imagined relation with each other our imagined relation with power

Examples of imagined relations with the media and with each other by the media Source: Sunday Star Times, Sunday 4 February 2007

Examples of imagined relations with the media and between people by the media Source: North and South , Front Cover, December 2006

Examples of imagined relation with the media and technology by the media Source: www.apple.com

Examples of imagined relation with the media by the media Vodafone TV commercial June-July 2007. Source: http://youtube.com/watch?v=VjAwGQDrVw8

Media literacies? What can be a critical relation with the media? This is especially true about new media and technology Utopian pronouncements about how new technologies are going to transform our lives Dystopian pronouncements about how new technologies contribute to surveillance and control

Electronic media: A rhetoric of liberation Utopia and dystopia Source: http://www.uriahcarpenter.info/ or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8

1984? Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3G-lMZxjo or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJklyhWniDQ&v3

How does the class work? Combination of lectures, tutorials, readings, assignments All information is on the course outline You are expected to be familiar with the content of the course outline, the organisation and the requirements to successfully complete the course Bring your course outline with you in class and tutorials

Tutorials Tutorials begin next week (week 2) Sign up for a tutorial group on S-Cube https://signups.vuw.ac.nz Instructions on Blackboard Changes : talk to Media Studies Office (42-44 Kelburn Parade) or Damion Sturm Tutorial assignment sheets are posted in advance on Blackboard

Tutorial preparation requires reading the instructions on the assignment sheet reading the segment of the textbook required having gone to the previous week’s lecture coming to your tutorial prepared and willing to participate

Tutorials are compulsory small-group discussions of lecture material study specific examples a compulsory tutorial presentation 2 compulsory written submissions for discussion instructions and directions for other assessments See penalties on page 4 of course outline

Workload You should devote, on average, 12 hours a week to the paper: attendance at lectures tutorials and tutorial preparation assigned readings preparation for assignments

Required Textbooks (Also available on closed reserve and 3-day reserve) Branston, Gill and Roy Stafford (2006). The Media Student's Book . 4th Edition. London, New York: Routledge (Note that if you have a copy of the 3 rd edition, it will contain most of the readings contained in that book.) Hirst, Martin and John Harrison (2007). Communication and New Media: From Narrowcast to Broadcast . Melbourne: Oxford University Press (P90 H669 C) 2 further readings available on electronic reserve http://victoria.lconz.ac.nz/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=1&ti=1,1&INST=Any&CRSE=MDIA102%3A%20Media%2C%20Society%20and%20Politics%20%28555%29&CNT=25&PID=wKSFVii2TwoD_rtyxTtOs-NK7Xua&SEQ=20070705162105&SID=1 http://victoria.lconz.ac.nz/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=57&ti=51,57&INST=Any&CRSE=MDIA102%3A%20Media%2C%20Society%20and%20Politics%20%28555%29&CNT=25&PID=mtGrGXbPUG3ReCjFOoTN_fP1qC8I&SEQ=20070705161956&SID=1

AV Material-Library List of suggested screenings in course outline AV room booked for MDIA 102 (top floor of library) Monday 10-12 Wednesday 3-5 Thursday 4-6

Assessment Tutorial preparation and participation (10 pts) Presentation (15pts) Essay (40 points) Take-home exam (35 points)

Take-home exam 1 compulsory question asking you to analyse the media programme of your choice: 600 words (15 points) 2 short essays: 400 words each (10 pts each)

Take-Home Exam: Question 1 During the course of the trimester you are required to follow on a regular basis one media programme.

Take-Home Exam: Question 1 The Dominion Post (printed edition; free copies available around campus) The New York Times (on-line edition: www. nytimes .com ; a registration is required but it is free) The Guardian (on-line edition: www.guardian.co. uk ) Campbell Live , TV3, 7pm (limited online archive at www.tv3.co. nz ). Te Kaea News , MTS, 7:30pm or 11 pm (with English subtitles) TVOne 6pm news (limited online archives at : http: //tvnzondemand .co. nz/content/ondemand_index/ondemand_skin ) TV3 6 pm news Mediawatch , Sundays 9 am and 10pm ( http://www. radionz .co. nz/nr/programmes/mediawatch ), podcast available at feed://www.radionz.co.nz/podcasts/mediawatch.rss Kiwi Blog by David Farrar, www. kiwiblog .co.nz Public address blog: www. publicaddress .net (Hard News by Russel Brown) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart , Tuesday-Friday, C4, 10pm. Another media outlet of your choice for which you will get written approval by the course convener, Dr Thierry Jutel.

Take-Home Exam: Question 1 Some of the issues you could follow include: NZ politics: with the prospect of National mounting a serious challenge to Labour in the 2008 election, the media’s coverage of the political debate will be especially intense. TVNZ’s new charter NZ Media: North and South ; ownership You could focus on a specific issue, new legislation or event and its coverage. Lifestyle and cultural issues The Iraqi conflict And any other issue or any event of significance which will emerge in the course of the trimester. You are expected to keep up to date with the media programme of your choice that means reading, watching and/or listening to it at least 3 times a week . When possible we will try to make material available online or through the AV centre.

Question 1 of take-home exam Discuss the ways in which the media programme of your choice covered an ongoing issue or a specific event during the course of the trimester. This may be related to an-going issue covered on a regular basis for an extended period of time or to a specific event covered for several days in a row. Your analysis should focus on some but not necessarily all of the following questions: How did the media formulate and frame the public debate around the issue or event? What assumptions did the media outlet make about the significance of the issue and its audience? To what extent and how did the media outlet’s coverage reflect the status of the media in society in relation to institutions, ownership, technology and/or globalization?

Substitution of Question 1 of take-home exam You have the option of substituting question 1 of the take-home exam with an exercise of similar value for your final mark (15%). The option: a blog The blog must be in the form of a mediawatch discussion This includes for instance commentaries and analyses of the media coverage of : a) global warming b) NZ politics c) An international issue (war in Iraq…)

Substitution of Presentation or Question 1 of take-home exam You will use one of the many sites which allow for free and easy blogging such as (among others) www.blogger.com http://my.opera.com/community/blogs/ www.livejournal.com www.myblogsite.com

Check outline for rules and requirements You must send a proposal for the topic of your blog to the course convenor no later than Monday 24 July and have started your blog (at least 3 postings by 24 July); you will be informed within 3 days of whether you can keep going or not; Your proposal must state the focus of your blog and provide specific examples of the types of discussion and links you will introduce You must update your blog at least 3 times a week during the trimester including the mid-semester break; Your blog needs to have commentaries on the information you are presenting; it needs to have a voice and be consistently inquisitive and reflexive; The presentation of your blog must be clear and your posts archived; Your blog should normally have comments left by readers, members of the class or others and therefore will be advertised on Blackboard; Your blog will be checked by the course convener on 15 August and you will be notified if it does not fulfill requirements and you need to consider other options. Posting on your blog should end on Monday 8 October; the mark for your blog will be communicated to you by email. You are responsible for maintaining your blog and for any technical difficulties associated with it.

Example from last year http://thegazawatch.blogspot.com/

Rules, Penalties and late essays All pieces of assessment must be completed to pass the course Extension for essays: only for unforeseen exceptional circumstances. Negotiated with course coordinator Penalties for late essay The first day of lateness will incur a 10-points deduction on the assignment (weekends only count for 1 day) Additional days will incur a 4-points deduction

MDIA 102 on Blackboard Important information Lecture notes (after lectures) tutorials sheets Presentation assignments Essays assignments Readings Links Discussion boards

A commitment to lectures, tutorials, and readings is essential to complete this course successfully.

What do I expect from you? To think To engage with the material To question the media To reflect on the media around you To acquire the basis of an analytical and disciplinary discourse

What is the course about? MDIA 101: Media, Texts and Images the ways in which media texts can be read, analysed and contextualised MDIA 103: Media and Popular Culture critically examination of the production and consumption of mass/popular media culture in society MDIA 102: Media, Society and Politics

MDIA 102: Media, Society and Politics Broad understanding of the the three terms Not a course on media representation The field of the media The media industries as institutions The economic imperatives of the media The relation between media and politics The relation between media and public opinion The media, technology and every day life Thierry Jutel, VUW 05-07-2007

MDIA 102: 4 parts Media and society (weeks 1-3) Introduction History of the mass media The media and public debate 2. Media industries and institutions (weeks 4-6) Technology Media industries, ownership, political economy Public institutions and the media Thierry Jutel, VUW 05-07-2007

MDIA 102: 4 parts 3. Media practices: journalism (weeks 7-9) The field of journalism Shaping the political agenda: Maori issues and the media Independent media and political activism 4. Mediascapes (weeks 10-12) New media and the Internet Surveillance culture Globalization Thierry Jutel, VUW 05-07-2007

What is the course about? Media, Society and Politics

Definition: Society An organised group of individuals at a particular moment in time Societies are not necessarily countries Society: Interdependent community: bounds, rules, expectations These are shared but not necessarily conscious Rules of a society are usually naturalised and universalised Institutions, culture, habitus, history

Definition: Politics From the Greek word, polis: city-state The organisation, structure and running of government The context in which rules of government are discussed and acted upon

Definition: Politics Max Weber: the means by which power is justified and unacted within a society or a group Exercise of power Political process Justification and negotiation of political force Competing legitimacies

The media as politics See Blackboard: Estonia-Russia and the first digital warfare? Did Russia use the web to attack websites in Estonia as retribution for taking down WWII monument? Why did the Western media so readily accept the explanations provided by the Estonian government? Was there any substance to the accusation?

Definition: Media Mediation: something in between Distance and its overcoming Process of selection, re-ordering, re-framing, translation Institutional, technological, formal, cultural and political rules

Definition: Media Media: the mass media News print, magazines, book publishing Television, film, radio Music Internet

Definition: Media Media: system of production, storage and dissemination of information Remote connection Production, collection, organisation and transport of data

What is the media? The field constituted by the intersection of technologies, institutions, individuals, powers Subject to economic imperatives, regulations, political pressures Its own codes of practice and rules

What does this clip say about the role of the media?

TVOne Clip Part of a branding exercise Is it about the TVOne’s status in the media landscape or about the function of the news media? Desire to equate both imperatives The role of news and current affairs: NZ’s relation to the world and to itself Journalism on behalf of the nation Mediating strategies: construction of a point of view

What is the media? The media not only represents events it also produces them Our understanding of the world is mediated and shaped by the media History writes itself in the media

What is the media? Our experience both communal and individual with the world: the shape of our everyday life Our individual encounter with information, data, other users The production and management of the self

Conclusions The point is to denaturalize our relation with the media To understand that the media shape many aspects of our lives The contemporary conditions of existence are first and foremost dictated by the our relation with the media

Week 01

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