theories+of+media+organisation+and+media+work

=Summary=

toc The media industry is not just what we see, hear, read; in fact, that is all just the end produc t if a complex process. In this chapter, we examine what goes on “behind the scenes”, looking at theories of media organization and media work. These theories look at how individuals, society, and culture influence media, the organization of media, as well as the role of journalist. Media content is determined by the decisions of individual media workers’ preferences and social backgrounds with the common-sense assumptions of the audience and the self-image of many of those working in media. An assumption of media is that the personality, work and talent of the individual is primarily responsible for what they produce. But, the work of individual goes through a manufacturing process before it is a media product. All news stories go through a selection process in order to filter out which stories are actually “newsworthy”. Before examining this process, what exactly is news? What can we say is newsworthy? The answer is a story that is timely, within proximity, has conflict and prominence, is of human interest, consequential, useful, novel or deviant. One thing that is important to notice about all of these characteristics is that they are all subjective. The selection process of media is extremely subjective and requires what are called “Gate Keepers” to make the tough decisions. Gatekeepers are at every step of the media production line, they are: editors, publishers, producers, labels, marketing teams, etc. They don’t have set criteria, operating primarily on intuition and experience. Gatekeepers act as decision makers or selection makers in order to maintain the goals of the media company.

One way goals of a media company are determined is by there type of journalism they produce. There are two types of journalism neutral/objective or partisan journalism. Objective journalism is non-biased and is often used as a marketing point to consumers. Partisan journalism is outwardly bias, which more often looses viewers or consumers. Whichever type a media company identifies themselves as directly effects the content which they outpost. The roles and goals of a company shape the content they release. Releasing media is a collective product. Before reaching the audience, media products have been influenced and shaped by many people. Think of pop music, or movies, or TV shows, the actors or singers are not everyone, the list of people who work behind the scenes in infinite. Due to the number of people that have a role in producing media, organizational structures and routines are necessary. However, it is not the owners of these companies who enforce these goals. Researchers believe media owners don’t directly influence content, but instead through a process of socialization journalists learn to monitor themselves. Socialization is the powerful process whereby an individual learns the norms, values, behaviors, and social skills appropriate to their social position. Journalists enter companies and learn values, beliefs, and goals of a company through rewards, respect, and communication with coworkers. For example, if a new reporter see that stories on capitalism are being cut by the editor, they will know not put forth stories on that topic.

Media production companies have Hierarchical Structures. This structure helps the company learn what functions and what doesn’t, which in some ways can be limiting. The benefits of this structure are the feedback process, control over product, and it is often more efficient. Different parts of the media production line have multiple goals. There are advertising managers, editors, circulation managers, production managers and they all have different goals. This can be extremely problematic because conflicts in goals can arise among a company. An editor could want to run a story on advertising agencies, yet the advertising manager does not want that story to be published.

When writing news stories journalists are expected to follow a structure in the form of an inverted pyramid. The most important elements are places at the top of the story, the who, what, when, where, and why, while the least important information is briefly mentioned at the end. This structure is very subjective. Journalists are also expected to report facts, which brings up the important question, are facts equal to truth? The opposite of fact is fiction and the opposite of truth is false. It is possible for fiction to be true, and for facts to be false. At one point it was fact that indeed the world was flat, however that was false. It is the job of the journalist to report the facts, but it is the audience that must filter out the true from the false. What influences the media are things less media centric and more focused on cultural institution. Sources are those within institutions who give a lot of information and have creditability to know that information. Sources are very influential in media and have power in the generating news. With so much power, sources are able to manipulate the press. Most sources that are used have a lot of cultural capital. Cultural capital is non-financial assets that promote mobility. While symbolic capital is asset based on status, honor, prestige, or recognition. Both cultural capital as well as symbolic capital contribute to who is allowed to be a source and who is not.

=Key Terms and Definitions=

Socialization
The powerful process whereby an individual learns the norms, values, behaviors, and social skills appropriate to there social position

Objective Journalism
No biases, great selling point for marketing media

Partisan Journalism
Outwardly bias, loses audience (Ex: 700 club or political blogs)

**Sources**
Those who are within institutions that give information; have creditability to know this information

Cultural Capital
non-financial assets that promote mobility education, looks, etc.

Symbolic Capital
Assets based on status, honor, prestige, recognition, etc.

Gatekeepers
Decision makers that help to maintain the goals of the media company. Can include editors, publishers, producers, etc. They make decisions based on intuition and experience and can be found at every step of the media production line. ==

Mark Deuze: Media Industries, Work and Life
The article begins with Deuze outlining what he believes to be role that media industries play in society. He describes the media as " key drivers and accelerators of a global culturalization of economies". He encourages the viewing of media from a "media life" perspective, i.e: media is not an outside factor that affects our reality, it is intrinsically part of our reality. We essentially live IN media rather than with it. The media life outlook posits that people who make and manage meaning using media generally don't view their practices in terms of production of media and consumption of media, opting instead to view them more organically, in terms of how media are used to organize everyday life. Another characteristic of this perspective is that modern society has brought with it the convergence of economy and culture which has resulted in a "more networked individualist culture" that fostered the expansion and influence of media exponentially and made it an almost omnipresent phenomenon.

Deuze then goes on to examine the role that media industries play in the culture economies of large cities typically described by society as hubs for culture and civilization such as New York City, London, and Paris. These cities are large, densely populated, urban regions that heavily attract creative and cultural industries. These areas will then explode with various cultural and socio-economic activity, which prompts the governments in control of these cities to conduct PR campaigns terming these cities as hubs of creativity and media. This will then attract investors and generate business for restaurants, theaters and the like. So media are not only important in defining how our lives function daily, but they also analyze how our economic and cultural environments function in the post-modern age. One key term that is used repeatedly here is convergence, which is defined here as "The simultaneous occurrence of many instances". Convergence is essential to understanding a media life perspective because it is the convergence of all the various spheres of life, social and economic, economic and cultural, that has led to the media having such an important role in our lives today. There are various kinds of convergence outlined here: convergence of place, convergence of identity, and convergence of experience.

Next in the article is the discussion of how media and work interact. The culture of media work includes various kinds of work including written and spoken words, photography and film, music and more. What this has led to is the definition of media as the creation of all of these kinds of work, or the creation of culture. However, Deuze stresses in the article that the media not only involves creating culture but also providing platforms for connectivity, and creation and sharing of ideas and content. Convergence in relation to media work is defined in 4 ways: The inclusion of various stakeholders, the integration of various media industries in a global production network, the immaterialization of media production practices, and coordination between distinctly different goals in the media production process.

Lastly, Deuze talks about Convergence culture as facilitated by "the rapid development of new information and communication technologies". Media convergence is seen as a phenomenon which blurs the line previously separate entities such as work and meaning, production and consumption, and making media and using it. Convergence culture is also marked by the increase in user generated content and a greater emphasis on individual contribution. It is a phenomenon most seen in the overlap in the work of many industries such as movies, advertising, journalism, and even video games. The state of those who work in these industries are never static and as the article says, their roles "converge and diverge in countless, unpredictable and confusing ways".

Works Cited

Deuze, Mark. "Media Industries, Work and Life." 10 Jun 2009: n. page. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. .

= Additional Material = __How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days__ is a great example of how partisan journalism works. Main character Annie is a journalist who wants to write about, "things that matter", However, her stories about third world countries and the like are shot down by her editor, because she works for a partisan magazine called "Composure", and that topic just doesn't fit their demographic of young women interested in lifestyle. The rest of the film chronicle's Andie's difficult quest to write a story that is both meaningful and fits the audience of "Composure" so that she can work on more "serious" stories in the future. //Julia Ennis// media type="custom" key="24652962"