9699 · 9.2
Theories of the media and influences on media content flashcards
Revision flashcards for Cambridge 9699 Theories of the media and influences on media content (syllabus 9.2). Flip, recall, then mark a real past-paper question.
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Pluralist media view?
The theory that media content reflects the diversity of society. Power is dispersed, and media outlets compete in a marketplace of ideas, driven by consumer choice. No single group or ideology dominates.
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Marxist media view?
The theory that the media is an ideological tool of the ruling class. Owners use their control to spread a dominant ideology that legitimises capitalism and maintains their power (hegemony).
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Hegemony (Gramsci)
The process by which the ruling class maintains its power not through force, but by persuading other classes to accept its values and beliefs as 'common sense'. The media plays a key role in establishing this ideological dominance.
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Agenda-Setting
A theory suggesting the media can't tell you what to think, but it can tell you what to think *about*. By giving more coverage to certain issues, the media influences which topics the public considers important.
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News Values (Galtung & Ruge)
The criteria used by journalists and editors to decide if a story is 'newsworthy'. Examples include immediacy, drama, negativity, proximity, and reference to elite persons or nations.
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Encoding/Decoding (Stuart Hall)
A theory that media producers 'encode' a preferred meaning into a text, but audiences can 'decode' it in different ways: dominant (accepting), negotiated (adapting), or oppositional (rejecting).
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Hyperreality (Baudrillard)
A postmodern concept describing a situation where the distinction between reality and simulation has collapsed. Media images no longer represent reality but have become a new, self-referential reality.
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Concentration of Ownership
A process where progressively fewer individuals or organisations own an increasing share of the mass media. Marxists see this as a threat to democracy and a mechanism for ideological control.
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Gatekeeping
The process through which information is filtered for dissemination, whether for publication, broadcasting, or the internet. Editors, journalists, and producers act as 'gatekeepers', deciding what becomes news.
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Vertical Integration
A form of media ownership where a company controls multiple stages of production and distribution for a single media product (e.g., a film studio owning the production, marketing, and cinema chain).
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Ideological State Apparatus (Althusser)
A Marxist concept for institutions that are not directly part of the state but spread the dominant ideology, such as the media, education system, and religion. They maintain rule through consent rather than force.
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Fourth Estate
A pluralist concept describing the press/media as an independent watchdog with a crucial role in a democracy, holding those in power (the other three estates: clergy, nobility, commoners) to account.