Cultural Studies

As defined by Storey, J. (2003) in Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture, culture is “the practices and processes of making meanings with and from the ‘texts’ we encounter in our everyday lives… cultures are made from the production, circulation and consumption of meanings. To share a culture, therefore, is to interpret the world – make it meaningful – in recognizably similar ways” (p.3). In this post i will use World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as my text to explain the terms  representation, discourse, ideologies and politics and study how WWE affects the American culture.

According to Griffin (2003, p. 334), cultural studies is "A neo-Marxist critique that sets forth the position that mass  media manufacture consent for dominant ideologies." Whereas Littlejohn (1996, p. 234), "cultural studies involves investigations of the ways culture produced through a struggle among ideologies.

As stated by Sturken, M. and Cartwright, L. (2009) in Practices of Looking, The term ‘visual culture’ means “the shared practices of a group, community, or society through which meanings are made out of the visual, aural and textual world of representations and the ways that looking practices are engaged in symbolic and communicative activities” (p. 3). In other words, culture that are seen and practice by a group of community and these groups engaged in human interactions. For example the WWE culture among the American society. Moreover, culture can be defined into two part. First, a similar belief within a particular society in which they understand on. Second, a way of life in a community (Littlejohn, 1996, p. 234) 

WWE Superstar John Cena (centre with cap) among the WWE fans

Representation stands as the equivalent of something in the material world or what we call a referent. The WWE, formerly known as World Wrestling Federation (WWF), has been part of the American culture since it's establishment in 1982, this wrestling entertainment company represents the American entertainment culture; where WWE involves the music, films and professional sports.

As noted by Griffin (2009, p. 337), discourse are "frameworks of interpretation". Usually written or spoken “communication” on a particular topic which are coded by religion, tradition, law and culture. My discourse in this post if the World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE. Ideologies on the other hand are frameworks where a society all agrees on and develop meaning to the particular discourse (Griffin, 2009, p. 335). In other words, ideologies are commonsense, Ideologies determines what we understand as unquestionable “truth” and shapes our view on certain agendas. Hence, when there is ideology there is discourse. The ideologies of WWE are; professional wrestlers are superstars and divas where they are 'actors' of the entertainment industry, championship belts are titles, professional wrestling is not a professional sport but a sort of entertainment, superstars are body builders with large muscular physique, WWE incorporates itself with music and films where each story-line in WWE is similar to a movie plot. Ideologies in a discourse does not show the whole truth, this is a major problem and due to the pre-existent of a counter-discourses and counter-ideologies, meaning are already embedded in minds. As stated by Fairclough (1995), "The concept of Ideology often implies distortion, 'false consciousness', manipulation of the truth in the pursuit of particular interests."


For example a positive discourse of professional wrestling is  wrestling without the guidance of professional trainers is bad therefore the unspoken opposite rule would be that wrestling with the help & guidance of professional trainers is good. While a discourse that does not really tells the truth is that it does not necessary reflects the actual representation of a particular subject. 


To be more clear, the discourse of a WWE Superstar; the ideologies are big muscular physique, confident and good 'actors', entertaining, able to do promos and perform wrestling moves in front of a large crowd.


Politics in Media as defined by Stuart Hall is the 'struggle over meaning'. In other words, one struggle to define a particular text. In the case of the WWE, its politics are politics of gender relation, politics of masculinity and femininity, politics of consumerism, this struggle over meaning especially in politics of masculinity in the WWE creates controversies as preferred Superstars  should have large muscular physiques and a sense of macho and manliness of a man, to show that they're tough and rough, this is controversial due to the old 'professional wrestling ethics' where back then it was not about size but it was more about skills and talent.

Discourse of a WWE Superstar

In conclusion, the WWE plays a role in the American Culture especially in the entertainment business, as not only it affect the politics of consumerism but it also subconsciously affect the politics of masculinity via the visual media that is the television.

References:


Fairclough, N. (1995). Media Discourse. London: Arnold.

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill


Littlejohn, S. W. (1996). Theories of Human Communication (5th ed.) California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Agenda-Setting and Framing

Week 6; Agenda-Setting and Framing

Newspaper or broadcast companies in the media industry most often practice 'Agenda-Setting and Framing' in choosing and organizing news around the world, these companies have to consider which news agenda is considered relevant or important to its country. In this post i will use The Brunei Times' front cover of the recent national day to explain why Agenda-Setting and Framing is crucial in the media industry.


First and foremost, Agenda-Setting is usually defined as the "process of mass media presenting certain issues frequently and prominently with the result that large segments of the public come to perceive those issues as more important than others" - (Coleman et. al., 2009) but according to Littlejohn (1996, p. 341) the best way to describe Agenda-Setting Function is by understanding  Donald Shaws's & Maxwell McCombs' quote;

"Considerable evidence has accumulated that editors and broadcasters play an important part in shaping our social reality as they go about their day-to-day task of choosing and displaying news....This impact of the mass media -the ability to effect cognitive change among individuals, to structure their thinking-has been labeled the agenda-setting function of mass communication. Here may lie the most important effect of mass communication, its ability to mentally order and organize our world for us. In short, the mass media may not be successful in telling us what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling us what to think about."

Furthermore, as stated in Griffin (2009, p. 359), Agenda-Setting Hypothesis is ''the mass media have the ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda." 


Whereas, as noted by Denis & Coleman (2009), "Agenda Setting is the phenomenon of the mass media selecting certain issues and portraying them frequently and prominently, which leads people to perceive those issues as more important than others. For more than thirty-years, the main concept of agenda setting theory has been the transfer of issue salience, or how media emphasize of certain issue raises their importance to the public."

Therefore, from my understanding of Agenda-Setting Theory, it is how the media portrays news agenda through various mediums to the public and it set the tone on not what to think it but how you perceive about it. So is Agenda-Setting similar to 'media manipulation? You decide, but let's take the cover page of The Brunei Times below.

The Brunei Times

The Brunei Times agenda or main priority is always about the country, the country is set as priority no. 1, especially His Majesty the Sultan, he is the main agenda of every newspaper outlets in the country, the beside the news about the Sultan, news about the development of the country comes afterwards.


This purpose of choosing Agendas are as follows, first; prioritization, this is all about hierarchy of importance, choosing the main objective first and the Sultan of Brunei is the main priority of every newspaper company especially in Brunei. Secondly; prediction in which The Brunei Times assume (and sets) agendas for public and at the same time predicts what the clientele wants. Lastly; organizing power which mean that the The Brunei Times selects news that constructs how we view and see the world.

Choosing the 'right' news agenda.

But Agenda-Framing is prone to bias in my perspective, as according to McCombs' and Shaw's research where the Media is most often viewed as the the truth by the public this affirms  the power of press and individuals may reject the news completely due to disagreement, which can be based on religion or way of life of a certain country(Culturally constructed). So the question is, is The Brunei Times biased? Are you easily 'offended' by certain news due to religion? This is where communication specialist comes in.


The prioritization of the Sultan in every Brunei newspapers is called the First level Agenda-Setting; transmission of object salience and according to Weaver (2007), ''Whereas the ‘‘first level’’ of agenda setting is focused on the relative salience (usually operationally defined as perceived importance) of issues or subjects...". 

An example of the Sultan as the First Level Agenda-Setting in The Brunei Times cover page.

Whereas the new that comes after the Sultan is called the Second level Agenda-Setting: transmission of attribute salience. This is where the news becomes more specific and branches out and according to Weaver (2007), "...the ‘second level’’ examines the relative salience of attributes of issues...". 


The main difference between the first and second level is that the first level is a far more general agenda whereas the second level focuses on specific part of subject that more specific to a certain agenda and details of the 1st level.

The Function of Agenda-Setting has 3 components. First, Media Agenda which means that The Brunei Times selects news that are consider vital, also stated in Griffin (2009, p. 360) Media Agenda is ''the pattern of news coverage across major print and broadcast media as measured by the prominence and length of stories"


Secondly, Public Agenda which is issues discussed in public and that are considered important, i.e. depends on public, they consider what are important at times and as claimed by Griffin (2009, p. 361), public agenda is also "the most important public issues as measured by public opinion surveys." lastly, Corporate Agenda which is issues that business corporation consider important, i.e. depends on how big the news is. 

'Important' News Agenda are usually on the front page of the paper.

As noted by Scheufele & Tewksbury (2007) "It is based on the assumption that how an issue is characterized in news reports can have an influence on how it is understood by audiences.''

As claimed by Griffin (2009), "The selection of a restricted number of thematically related attributes for inclusion on the media agenda when particular object or issue is discussed. 

From my understanding framing is basically 'choosing the order of news according to 'function of agenda-setting' as different people may have different perspective on the same news and everyone has different frames of an issue. Framing is part of the tradition of Agenda-Setting where Agenda-Setting looks at what topics are important while Framing looks at how those topics could be organized to advance a point-of-view that public would accept. Framing is social construction of a social event by media to influence public perspective and is always draw on existing culture codes.

These 3 agendas vary in prioritization, even though the Sultan is the main priority in The Brunei Times, the disaster news that is consider important by the public can be taken as the main priority, one example would be the bus accident that happened in Sabah in which the accident involved Bruneians. This also applies to Corporate Agendas.

An example on how the public sets the 'Public Agenda' as main priority

Framing


Framing as noted by Scheufele & Tewksbury (2007) "It is based on the assumption that how an issue is characterized in news reports can have an influence on how it is understood by audiences.''

As claimed by Griffin (2009), "The selection of a restricted number of thematically related attributes for inclusion on the media agenda when particular object or issue is discussed. 

From my understanding framing is basically 'choosing the order of news according to 'function of agenda-setting' as different people may have different perspective on the same news and everyone has different frames of an issue. Framing is part of the tradition of Agenda-Setting where Agenda-Setting looks at what topics are important while Framing looks at how those topics could be organized to advance a point-of-view that public would accept. Framing is social construction of a social event by media to influence public perspective and is always draw on existing culture codes.

The Brunei Times as any other newspaper companies in the world practice Frame Processes. Frame Amplification  is clarification of a set of problems, Frame Extension is adding ideas or issues to an argument, talks about what happens or result of a news. Frame Bridging is linkage of 2 or more ideas, similar to Frame Extension and Frame Transformation is structure and or content of a frame to something else, doctrine, changes content but still part of the 'main idea'.

eg. of Framing Extension

eg. of Frame Bridging

Assignment -

"Public Gone Wild"

The Minister of Health of a country "X" is very concerned that the older citizens are spitting and urinating in public places and the younger generation believes that to be a cultural norm. This will adversely affect the image and economy of the country as foreign companies will be less willing to invest in a country that cannot manage public deviance that fosters an unhealthy environment. The government believes that public education must start immediately. 

At the same time, a public survey was recently conducted by an independent body and the predominant public concern is the lack of primary schools for younger children who are working and running amok in the streets, which is causing a rise in criminal activities. The public believes that public education must begin with the development of schools so that a higher educated population will curb the acts of social deviance. In the long run, these changes will attract investors and help the economy.

First Level Agenda-Setting: public education (general topic).
Second Level Agenda-Setting: public deviance, criminal activities, image of country, investors and economy.


Framing (in order of importance) -

1. Public Education of the country.
2. Criminal Activities, i.e. Youths running amok in streets.
3. Image of the country.
4. Public Deviance, i.e. Spiting & Urinating.
5. Investors.
6. Economy.

Prioritization as a national agenda would be on Public Education as it is the general or the main topic, public education can branch out into different areas such as criminal activities, public defiance, etc. Public Education is the focal point, hence, it is the First Level of Agenda-Setting and the Frame Amplification.


'Criminal Activities' is a far more specific topic as it is belongs under the Second Level of Agenda-Setting, 'Criminal Activities is a branch under the main topic (public education). For instance, 'Help curb criminal activities among youths by strengthening the public education', here shows that the main topic(public education) leads to a more specific agenda; criminal activities, hence a Frame Extension to Frame Amplification.


Image of the country, Public Deviance, i.e. Spiting & Urinating, Investors and Economy all are under Frame Bridging as they are all similar 'stories' that can be branched out from the main topic (public education), they still act as Second Level of Agenda-Setting as they become more and more specific. 

References


Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill


H. Denis Wu & Coleman, R. (2007). Advancing Agenda-Setting Theory: The Comparative Strength and New Contingent Conditions of the Two Levels of Agenda-Setting Effects. Journal of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. Retrieved February 19, 2012 from  http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.ubd.edu.bn/pqcentral/docview/216940500/fulltextPDF/134F8F04A273B5B6D78/6?accountid=9765


Littlejohn, S. W. (1996). Theories of Human Communication (5th ed.) California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.


Scheufele, D. & Tewksbury, D. (2007). Framing, Agenda Setting, and Priming: The Evolution of Three Media Effects Model. Journal of Communication; Mar2007, Vol. 57 Issue 1, p9-20, 12p. Retrieved February 19, 2012 from http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ubd.edu.bn/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=47bc3857-097a-40c8-b2f9-8c99567ac887%40sessionmgr4&vid=1&hid=10

Weaver, D. H. (2007). Thoughts on Agenda Setting, Framing, and Priming. Journal of Communication; Mar2007, Vol. 57 Issue 1, p142-147, 6p, 1 Graph. Retrieved February 19, 2012 from  http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.ubd.edu.bn/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b7005b08-7983-4fbe-badf-efffd8202509%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=10

Media Ecology

Media Ecology is the study of medium of media. In this post, i will use Apple iPhone as a medium and explain how does it affect in our daily lives and help further understands the term Media Ecology.


According to Griffin (2009, p. 313), Media ecology is 'The study of different personal and social environments created by the use of different communication technologies". Hence, in my perspective Media Ecology is study of environment and medium of the media and investigating use of technology in the world to the society, where the medium changes not the content. Thus the media affects communication styles.

Technology plays an important role in Media Ecology,  it alter our communication styles. This is called Technology Determinism. Even our mobile phones have evolved, now the state to the art phones like the Apple iPhone, and affect us in a certain way. Technology determinism can be divided into 4 parts. Firstly, no determinism in which the media doesn't affect or shape society. Secondly, hard determinism where media alters social structure directly, technology are part of  our daily necessities. Thirdly, soft determinism where media alter social structure and lastly, partial determinism in which media are among many factors shaping society.

So the question is, which part of  technology determinism  are you?

But we have to consider how does the media affects us. First proposition is the 'Hypodermic needle' in which media directly affects the viewer, when a person or a kid play a violence theme video game , it will not directly affect the user, the media is experienced and gains influence overtime as criticize by Cultivation theory. Second proposition is that the media is psychologically harmful and potentially dangerous but media violence does not equate to social or personal risk before considering many factors such as one does not just jumped from one building to another after watching Spider-man movies. Third proposition is that the media damages community and social life, to a certain extend the medium and environment do change interpretation of a content and by considering Apple iPhone, it has immobilized us, we send text messages or instant messages instead of where face to face social interactions, video calls or conference calls rather than face to face meetings, etc. but this does not mean it does not bring benefits to the user.

New technology limits our face to face social interaction

According to Marshall McLuhan, the "Medium is the message?", so based on McLuhan's statement, Apple iPhone is the message, where the medium in communication over its content where the content is always the content of another medium and we must analyze the Apple iPhone as the message. McLuhan further added that mediums can be hot and cold. Let's take the old mobile phones first, the old mobile phones was filled low information load as users were not limited to just talking and despite this low information load, old mobile phones had high participation among the user, user had to talk to the other person on the other line and these talks could last for hours and this is called a cold medium. Fast forward, the mobile phone is now filled with high information load, user can now talk, text, email, video call, play video games, etc but the level of participation has also increased significantly and users are now glued to their phone on a daily basis, so do we still consider McLuhan's claim that  with a hot medium, there is high information load and low participation? This is in my opinion a flaw in his category of hot and cold medium as the current Apple iPhone has both high information load and high participation.

Now a daily necessity for everyone.

The 3 paradigms for media viewing, are as follows, first medium as conduit. Second, medium as language, here the by taking the Apple iPhone, we can now send text or instant messages to people all around the world, abbreviations have been incorporated into our daily communication and lastly, medium as environment, the environment around us changes society, the way people think and act, for instance some people prefer sending messages on the their phones rather than face to face communication, this barrier has build us into a more less social society.


Our mobile phones certainly have evolved, it now can act as our camera, hand-held video game, 'mini laptops', etc. We have grown to a more advance society but is always affected by technology around us. This form of medium have shape and construct our daily lives, the way we talk, act and behave. By understanding media ecology, we are able to understand how the medium affects us as a person and as a society in our lives.

References:

Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look At Communication Theory (7th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill