Investigating Media Platforms

Investigating Media Platforms

Media Platforms

**Key Term** Media platform – the technology through

which we receive media products/texts. (Broadcasting, print and e-media).

Text – products or texts are TV/radio programmes, films, adverts, websites, newspapers, magazines etc produced for audiences.

Broadcasting

The institutionalised practice of sending television and radio content to large numbers of receivers.

A large selection of channels are carried on satellite, cable, digital and terrestrial television services.

6 major British broadcasters – BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Five, BSkyB and Virgin Media.

Thinking about Media Name the BBC radio stations available to listeners. What sort of content

does each carry? How, where and when can listeners access these stations?

How many non-BBC radio stations can you receive? On which media platforms are these available? What sort of content is carried?

Name TV channels aimed at the under 10s. What sort of content does each carry? On which media platforms are these available?

How many TV channels are dedicated to popular music? What type of musical content does each carry? Where else in the media can you listen to popular music?

Many broadcasters show films. How many dedicated film channels can you receive? Where would you see promotional material and trailers for upcoming films?

On which media platforms might you find local news and events listings?

On which media platforms could you buy or sell band memorabilia?

The BBC

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is the largest broadcasting organisation in the world.

Its main responsibility is to provide public service broadcasting to the UK.

This means broadcasting intended for the public benefit rather than for purely commercial concerns.

It is funded by an annual licence fee (set by the government) £145.50 – colour £49 b+w

Ofcom and PSP It is the responsibility of Ofcom to regulate broadcast services. It deals with complaints, regulates competition, monitors standards

and deals with licences. In 2007, a record 22,500 complaints were made to Ofcom about the

treatment of Indian Celebrity Big Brother star Shilpa Shetty. The watchdog found that Channel 4 made "serious editorial

misjudgements" in its handling of the incident and was made to broadcast the report at the start of the next episode.

The 5 main TV channels are legally bound by the Public Service Remit to provide a wide range of programmes that inform, educate and entertain.

However, many of the new digital channels are outside of this remit.

Scheduling

TV and radio schedules must be filled with content that attracts audiences.

Media broadcasters produce media content over a number of channels each with a particular brand image, aimed at specific audiences.

Individual channels will have their own IDENT, a symbol or logo that appears on screen (on radio it may be a jingle).

Brand images

Cinema – then and now

1896 – the first film screened by the Lumiere brothers. 1898 – cinema advertising is introduced. 1930s – British people visit the cinema twice a week 1950s – invention of TV 1960s – colour TV and decline of cinema audiences. 1980s – cinema audiences at an all time low 1990s – Multiplex cinemas see a rise in audiences

Being able to exhibit a film in more than one place – cinema, television, DVD, internet – increases the opportunity for recovering money.

Films are marketed across a range of media... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: part 1 Release date – 19th November 2010 Official film website offers content, games and

activities to further promote the film. harrypotter.warnerbros.com/

Official trailer released on internet prior to cinema release.

Further promotion through print (Empire magazine, newspaper articles).

Computer game in production from Playstation.

**Key Terms**

Target audience Schedules Brand Image Scheduling Ident Logo

PRINT

Newspapers Approximately 700 newspapers currently in

circulation in the UK. A mixture of daily, national and local and

Sunday papers, both paid for and free. As well as recording events, newspapers also

provide opinions on the events. They can influence readers. They have political allegiances.

News International

Publishes The Times, Sunday Times, Sun, News of the World.

A UK subsidiary of News Corporation, a media empire founded by Rupert Murdoch.

His empire includes 20th Century Fox, Myspace and BSkyB.

Guardian article.

Mastheads

The title of a newspaper gives some suggestion of its role in passing on news.

The Guardian The Independent The Express The Sun The Star

The idea of being able to observe events from a god-like point of view

Transporting messages quickly to lots of people.

Ethics

We live in a climate of liberal pluralism – individual choice and freedom is a human right and more than one opinion/political view is allowed.

Journalists are free to investigate stories and not reveal their sources.

The British press is free to express opinions and there is no censorship.

Code of practice – the code by which all journalists abide – is enforced by the PCC.

Magazines

Every magazine uses market research to gather a profile of its readership to include age, class, attitudes and aspirations.

Cosmopolitan Today’s fun, fearless female (21 to 35 years old)

who wants to be the best she can be in every area of her life.Circulation: 60,000–72,000 copiesTotal Monthly Readership: 618,241

Target Market She prioritizes her family, her career, her love life and her happiness. She is outgoing, energetic and passionate about life. She maximizes her

time by being always on the go and doing multiple activities day in and day out.

She works hard because she wants to be able to live a life she feels she deserves.

She is a young professional and is driven to succeed. She relies on Cosmo to help her make choices.

E-Media

Internet The term world wide web was coined by Tim

Berners-Lee in 1990. Google's index now stands at over 8 billion

pages. There are now over a billion Internet Users

and that number is growing rapidly.

Web 2.0

Web based communities such as social networking sites and wikis.

These facilitate collaboration and sharing of user generated content.

Posting comments on websites, uploading videos, photos and music and commenting on others’ contributions.

Regulation

No one owns or controls the internet. Legal actions have been taken against the

use of the internet for criminal purposes. The downloading of music and film is an

increasing problem. Issues surrounding on-line bullying remain

unresolved.

**Key Terms**

Public Service Broadcasting Institutions Audience Share Convergence Web 2.0 Media platforms