6: What concerns/considerations are there (if any) for the media institutions involved in your case study as a result of the impact of new and digital

The instantness of the internet has caused a huge problem for newspapers. This is because they where and still are the most popular source of political information within the media, but the speed of the internet has caused a potential threat to the platform. The internet holds the capability for an instant gratification to be fulfilled. Also some newspapers aren't as trusted because of there economic focuses and the freedom of the internet sources gives them a more trustworthy feeling for some viewers. During an interview with Christian O'Connell David Cameron swore live on radio this could have lead to discipliner for absolute radio as well as possible legal action. The BBC decided to run a disrespectful comment about Lady Margret Thatcher made by Jonathan Ross in a pre-recorded interview. Given the fact that the BBC is a public service broadcaster outrage was caused with a number or members of the conservative party making complaints. The banning of social networking sites in a number of countries after the tunisian revolution in order to stop similar type facebook groups building to protest against the government. Also in Dubai and other Islamically ran countries have banned the use of smart phones because of the capability they hold to access the internet and in turn websites which have been banned in such countries. This includes the banning of skype which allows free cross country video and audio interaction.

5: What are the political and social implications of the new technologies and the methods of their consumption?

Politics has always been very important within the media landscape as it essentially determines how we live our day to day lives. New technologies has allowed for a lot more interaction between the governments and the people they govern to become more readily available. New technology, in particularly the internet, gives any one a free viable source of getting in contact with their member of parliament. However the introduction of such technology has made the role of top politician change into being some what like the role of celebrity. This suggest that common society and the media landscape is addicted to make ideals out of people. The methods of consumption has vastly increased and the amount of political footage, articles and web pages etc. has massively increased with stories about politicians circulating through a number of different genres. For example we have seen british prime minister David Cameron appear on talk show the Jonathan Ross show. He was the first politician to appear on the show; it's usually guest consist of sports personalities, actors and people who are generally seen as celebrities. Also he appeared on a segment on car show top gear. The section he appeared on was called 'stars in reasonable priced cars' this would suggest that he is perceived as being star or celebrity. The now very public lives of top politicians and political states means that globalisation within the world can appear. Other countries can see how other countries are run and therefore demand their country do similar things through interaction through social networks for instance. Also it means that within a country the media attention politicians receive now means that they aren't able to do as they please. They now that their actions are likely to become public knowledge and therefore should act as a deterrent.

4: Consider the effects so far, and possible effects in the future, on media institutions involved in your case study.

Last year we saw the broadcast of the first ever live prime ministerial debates in high definition on ITV, BBC and Sky; a few years before this we saw the election of the first ever black president and how he used twitter, Facebook and a number of different social network sites(including his own) to obtain votes. A few years ago the government launched the 'Your Freedom' website which enabled workers in the public sector the chance to air their thoughts online. And this year the census 2011 embraced the media and new media in promoting itself, with a number of promotional billboards, a twitter page, youtube page, flickr page and their very own website allowing the censorship form to be filled in on line. Also a promotion music video was filmed and released online by underground artist ghetts. This all leads to the embracing of new media by the governments in the western world and essential the integration of new media into politics. However in a lot of countries dictators are still in power and control what media is allowed to be represented to the people of their countries. An example of this would be North Korea where the government has full control of what is allowed to be consumed within the country. Also Egypt recently block the use of Facebook and twitter in fear of a Tunisia style revolution. I think that in both cases, embracing or banning of new media, the politicians have released that if they can control what is represent of them, whether through user generated content or control of the media, they can stay elected in power. A clear example of this would be the prime minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi who has a monopoly on the television broadcast in Italy and has managed to stay prime minister through a number of legal problems and controversies.

3: What issues may there be regarding media effects and/or regulation/ censorship as a result of changes due to new and digital media?

On a radio interview with Christian O'Connell of absolute radio David Cameron said the word 'twat' when asked about twitter. The show was broadcast on a number of different platforms including: SkyTV, Virgin Media TV, Freeview, DAB, FM radio among others. It cause some offence and the Prime Minister later apologised for his comments claiming he didn't mean any offence that it may have caused and how he never knew that it was even a swear word. O'Connell asked Cameron whether or not he was on twitter to which David Cameron replied "The trouble with Twitter, the instantness of it – too many twits might make a twat." At the time Cameron thought this was quite a quick response and said to his PR lady that he thought it had been quite a good interview. She responded saying that it was but it was a pity a about the swear word. He said what 'pissed' yeah sorry about that, then she said no not that the other one the t word. This shows that maybe these new digital media services may need some form of regulation or censorship. Also hours after Bin Laden's death was announced to the world manipulated images of a fake dead body claiming to be his where posted on the internet. Also he became a trending topic on twitter that day and actor/wrestler Dwanye 'The Rock' Johnson renamed the day Osama Dead Laden day. Top end politicians are some what becoming celebrities and this can be seen as an effect of the contemporary media landscapes obsession with idealisation of figures. In an interview with Jonathan Ross, David Cameron spoke about he had been followed to work by cameras the day after he had became the head of the conservative party, whereas before his relatively unknown to the general public.

2: Are there any cross cultural factors and/ or effects of globalisation involved in the impact of new technology on your case study?

The definition of politics is "The activities associated with the governance of a country or area." This can be as a democracy, meaning that someone is elected to represent the collective view of their country or constituency. Given the nature of one person controlling an area for the benefit of many who have elected them, would suggest that a lot of interaction is needed between the chosen politician and his constituency. This is where the role of new media starts to effect politics, a number of new devices and technologies have emerged to allow the public a bigger platform to voice their opinions. Examples of this would be shows such as Question time on the BBC creating a twitter page which allows viewers to not only question politicians on the show but can tweet their opinions wherever they like. Also a number of politicians have created their own twitter pages to interact with younger generations of potential voters; the use of social networking sites was very prominent during Barack Obama's election campaign. He used twitter, Facebook, myspace as well as converting his own website into a social network allowing americans the opportunity to question policies and share opinions. A government can also be ran as a dictatorship , this is "a government controlled by one person, or a small group of people. In this form of government the power rests entirely on the person or group of people, and can be obtained by force or by inheritance. The dictator(s) may also take away much of its peoples' freedom". Dictatorships are generally seen as being wrong and a lot of countries have been fighting for the freedom to elect their leaders. A recent example would be in Tunisia where they used a Facebook to organise a number of protest and consequently the revolution has been dubbed 'the Facebook revolution'. Many countries have taken this as an example and begun protesting, but in response Egypt had blocked the use of Facebook and twitter to disrupt any planning of protests.

1: Consider theoretical perspectives in relation to the impact of new/digital media in your case study.

Marxism

New media posses a potential threat to the idea of marxism in politics. Marxism relies on the lower class audiences remaining comfortable in their social position, to ensure the economic wealth of the upper classes. Also it gives the lower classes a false sense of consciousness or empowerment. New media generally allows uncensored content from the lower classes to be shared amongst each other and therefore conclude that the political state is biased towards the upper class and how they can affect this. For example the Tunisian revolution generating mass numbers on Facebook, as well as the tuition fees protest gaining the same king of following on social networking sites. Also the recent death of Osama Bin Laden has been accused of being a conspiracy theory. The video of the president Obama's speech was uploaded on youtube and now has over 3 million views; this has subsequently lead to a number of people asking the see images of the body and multiple cross examination of the story. Being so close to the next american election it has been suggested that it's a scam to ensure Obama's re-election by ex-govonur Jesse Ventura.

Postmodernism

New media in politics has lead to a number of postmodern techniques being applied to a number of news stories and political programs. On a election day a huge number of graphics appear on every news channel covering the election, trying to predict where the votes will go and the possible results of this; such as a coalition government. Also before the election three prime ministerial debates where broadcast live on television networks BBC, ITV and Sky all in High Definition. These debates had live popularity line charts which fell and rose when each politician spoke, depending on the audiences reaction. This is another example of postmodern technique which leads into the idea of false truths. How the popularity of each opinion was broadcast on television leading to that opinion becoming the common truth amongst the most about of people and therefore becomes perceived as the truth.

Feminism

Politics is very male dominated and the publicity of female politicians is much lower than that of the males. Jonathan Ross placed Britain's only female prime minister into Laura Mulvey's male gaze when he made highly confrontational comments about her in a interview with current prime minister David Cameron. During the interview he made comments about David Cameron masturbating over Lady Margret Thatcher and duly offended many Conservatives.

Users & Gratifications

The main gratification gained from peoples interaction with politics through the media is one of information. In countries with democracies in particularly during years with elections the viewer watches politics and interacts with it mainly to make decision about they want the country to be run.

Politics: New Media Case Study Pt.2

"He’s got a profile on YouTube and MySpace, which is holding their very own presidential primaries, and Obama’s even got his own social network through his campaign site. Making sure to keep in touch with as many people as possible in as many ways as possible, Obama has joined Twitter." Link

"As part of a partnership with nonpartisan group Declare Yourself, they’re set to run voting ads across the site and even embark on some MySpace marketing: you can make friends with the Declare Yourself profile and watch promotional videos (hosted by MySpace Video, naturally). The page provides a section where you can fill in a form, then print it out and mail it to state election officials. Once you’ve done that, you can copy and paste a badge to your own page to show others that you’ve registered to vote."Link

The Conservative leader, David Cameron, today apologised for any offence caused after he used the word "twat" during a breakfast radio show interview. When Absolute Radio host Christian O'Connell asked him about his views on Twitter, the Tory leader said: "The trouble with Twitter, the instantness of it – too many twits might make a twat." Link

Interview Video Clip

Audio-Christian O'Connell

The BBC sparked a major political row last night after Jonathan Ross was accused of making 'disgusting' remarks about Lady Thatcher in an interview with Conservative leader David Cameron. Senior Tories called for the presenter, who recently signed an £18million three-year deal with the BBC, to be sacked after he made a series of obscene comments when Mr Cameron appeared on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross. Link

Politics: New Media Case Study

Two examples of spoofs of the £500,000 billboard campaign of a photoshoped David Cameron uploaded to Mydavidcameron.com

"But new media also presents politicians of all persuasions with a chance to talk more directly to the public than ever before. Tom Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East, is one of many who have become adept at using micro-blogging website Twitter to speak simultaneously to constituents and the media."Link

http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/spend_index.htm – a site designed to ask people who work in the public sector for ideas on how they can curb costs.

Link: A blog search of all posts involving new media and politics

Link: Impact of new media on society

Evaluation Questions

REFLECT on the follwing and answer these questions fully.

1: Is your production a reflection of the issues or a solution to the issues discussed in your Critical investigation.

(With explicit examples - discuss how)

My linked production piece is a solution to some of the issues raised in my critical investigation. At the end of my critical investigation i highlighted two main issues within the sports industry and the media these were:

• • The focus of sporting stars being on the idea of celebrity and what they have or haven't done
• • The inequality between the genders and how this contradicts the positive ideologies of sports

I did my article in Fourfourtwo magazine because it is a football magazine and therefore the crux of the stories are surrounding footballing talent. Also i choose to focus the articles on new young players because they wouldn't have any past stories and the focus on them would be on their footballing futures and nothing to do with their social lives. To address my second issue I made one of the footballers in my article female and gave her the biggest feature in the article.

2: On a scale of 1 – 5 (5 being the best) to what extent does your production demonstrateautonomous, secure and confident use of the chosen technology,

(With explicit examples – discuss how)

For my production I was able to use a number of different technologies to what I believe are high if not professional standards. The first of these technologies was the high quality camera and using it to catch high action shots from the right angle, distance and range etc. Next was confident use of Indesign, setting up my layout for my magazine and learning how to apply effects to the text, images and boxes around the text. After feedback I then had to use photoshop to brighten up my images as people felt it was too dark to feature in Fourfourtwo magazine. Overall I would give myself a 5 for my use of technology as it was all kept to a high quality without compromising the validity of being in fourfourtwo magazine.

3: On a scale of 1 – 5 (5 being the best) – to what extent does your production engage with institutional and genre codes and conventions and show aesthetic credibility.

(With explicit examples – discuss how)

The layout of my article follows the majority of Fourfourtwo’s codes and conventions, also I believe the text is similar to their style; the images follow the same theme of being highly emotive action shots and the article is less common but not unrealistic to appear in the magazine. My main focus when creating my article was weather or not it could appear in fourfourtwo magazine and I feel it wouldn’t look out of place in an issue of the magazine. I think the credibility of my production is my strongest feature about my production therefore I think it deserves a 5.

4: On a scale of 1 – 5 (5 being the best) – to what extent does your production reflect your knowledge and understanding of the chosen area.

(With explicit examples – discuss how)

My production was able to discuss a number of the main points in my critical investigation. In my feature article I was able to directly address the issue of feminism in sports, Marxism in sports, sporting addiction, and the promoting of positive ideologies using sports stars. Indirectly in my article I think the issue of the use of stars as advertisement tools, nationalism and sporting addiction of fans. I wasn’t able to address a few of the issue in my critical investigation as I felt it wouldn’t fit the context of the article. Also my critical investigation was an examination of sports in the media; this is a large topic and means I had to be selective with the issues I choose to use. I give myself a 4 for how I was able to reflect knowledge of my critical investigation in my article, because I addressed most of my issues of my critical investigation but not all of them. Also I used a number of football terms as well as actual footballing people in the article.

5: What does your production explore in terms of ? -

- text(s), (With explicit examples – discuss how)

• • Fourfourtwo
• • Chelsea F.C
• • The FA (England FC)
• • Olympics
• • FIFA World Cup

- themes, (With explicit examples – discuss how)

• • Youth
• • Nationality (English)
• • Chelsea FC
• • Blue (Colour)

- issues (With explicit examples – discuss how)

• • Feminism in sports
• • Marxism in sports
• • Sporting addiction
• • The promoting of positive ideologies using sports stars

- debates (With explicit examples – discuss how)

• • Lack of young English players
• • Amount spent on players
• • Lack of equality between the genders

6: Looking at the Mark Scheme –

What Level does your work fall into and explain exactly why.

I believe that my production is comfortable within level 4 and could possibly be at the top of the level as it fulfils all of the main criteria of the level. My production shows significantly competent use of the technology, a good understanding of the genre and institutional codes and conventions, creative flare and most importantly high quality standards which I believe is very close to professional standards.

MEST 4 Task 4: Essay Plan

1. Introduction – A short overview of topic of sport mainly focusing on football within the media and how it remains relevant to the contemporary media landscape.

My critical investigation is going to focus on the obsession of the media, the fans and the remaining population with sports and the sport stars that elapse from the subsequent coverage. Sports have engulfed everyday life and weather you like it or not you will come into some contact with it regularly throughout your life. (I, A, R, S)

I will explore a number of possible reasons for why this is the case and ultimately make a decision as to who I believe is spurring the obsessions and the possible consequences of this (Both positive and negative). As I am trying to determine the root of sports over domination of the media I will look at a number of texts from “Sky Sports News TV”, “Heat” and “Football Factory”. (M, I, G,)

2. Moving Image portrayal of sports fans and Hooligans and the associated violence that comes with this.

The believe that sports fans are generally violent and aggressive has become very common nowadays and it is important to analysis why this is the case. Within the moving image area of broadcast a number of films, news stories and documentaries have been created to show this. Some examples are Green Street Hooligans, Football Factory, The Firm Real Football Factories and a number of news stories on the everyday news that portrays your average football fan as a thug. In this paragraph I will look at why this is the case bringing in a number of theories such as the Marxist, Nationalist and whether the image was perpetuated to create a moral panic. (G, R, Id, H )

3. The amount of coverage within the media that sport receives and the genres it infiltrates.

Sport is generally seen as being a male dominate world which mainly appeals to men and therefore you would think that it would only appear in male targeted programming, web pages and print formats but this isn’t the case. As well as holding a permeate place on the back pages of every newspaper and having a specially ascribed slot on the news shows it has also forced its way into other genres and text. Sport stars are being cast as lead roles in movies with Rampage Jackson playing the role of Mr.T in the new A-team film and they appear regularly in female gossip magazines. In this paragraph I will examine how the sport star has become a celebrity with there roles involving entertainment outside there field of sports and what this means.(M, G, I, S)

4. Feminism in the male dominated world of sport for a fan to the athletes and others.

The female athlete faces a number of prejudices with there earning potential being much lower than there male counterparts and the attention of female dominated sports being significantly lower. As well as this the female fan is subjected to viewing all sports through Laura Mulvey’s purposed male gaze and if it’s not the athletes themselves wearing small little skirt (tennis), it’s the countless number of cheerleaders in between every play (American Football). "Nancy Hartsock (1990), for example, argues that the women are alienated from their "real" experiences because they are forced to use dominant male, conceptual schemes" this quote encapsulates my examination of the problem with sport from the eyes of a feminist. The female is being only shown men’s sport and women within a men’s world and therefore not experiencing what women’s sporting contribution is. (S, I, Id, R, A)

5. What are the effects of watching sports on the possible audiences and why are they somewhat addicted to watching it.

In this paragraph my focus will be on the theories behind audience effects and how they apply to the sports industry. Firstly uses and gratifications theory, this is the theory that the consumer consumes the media to gain some sort of emotional gratification and motivation from it. "Some contend that this so-called eustress motivation is theoretically driven by the chronic underestimations experienced by many individuals in their daily lives” this quote shows one possible gratification that comes form watching sports. The next quote shows the move from the hypodermic needle theory and how it has been adapted. "This pioneering work theorized that although the mass media may not have the power to tell the audience what to think (as noted by the hypodermic needle model) the mass media do have the power to tell the audience what to think about" this can be seen by the numerous panel shows around sports which arouse interest in specific areas of a sport. Another audience theory is the two step theory which is that the information of the sport travels from institution to consumer through personal connections such as friends and family. (A, Id, S,)

6. Marxism in Sports.

There is a huge amount of money in sports and this automatically makes me think of the Marxist theory and the possible gainers from it. The Marxist theory states that the upper class imposes boundaries to ensure that they retain profit whilst the lower classes remain comfortable with their position through false empowerment. This can be seen throughout the majority of sports clubs with the fans being middle and lower class while the owners and players are wealthy upper classes. The false empowerment comes from the constant projections of the clubs being for the fan but not actually assigning any from of power or control to fans. This can be seen in the Liverpool Football Club issue with Hicks and Gillet. In the paragraph I will address the question of the amount of money in sport, how much control the fan actually posses and apply the Marxist ideals to sporting clubs such as the England Football Team. "As the culturally and historically specific expression of physical culture under the conditions of capitalism, few redemptive qualities were seen to be present in sport. The limiting and damaging culture of sport was contrasted with the expansive and liberating qualities of play. Sport was, as the title of Jean-Marie Brohm's seminal book so evocatively captured 'a prison of measured time'." (E, Id, I, A, S, P)

7. The level of which sporting addiction reaches and the effects it is having on society.

Sports are becoming increasing accessible to the everyday fan and this has pushed sporting addiction to new limits. As well as being 24 hour sports channels there are a number of websites which also give 24 hour access to sports news and now there are mobile phone apps which allow you to check the latest news where ever you my be. Sports are willing to go to a number of lengths in order to see their favourite sporting athletes and pay outrageous amounts of money just to be able to cheer along their teams. This paragraph asks the question whether the love of sports is going too far and how the institutions behind the clubs and sporting events are exploiting this love or addiction and if it is righteous. For example Real Madrid Football club are partly funded by the government and therefore are paid for by the Spanish public also American sporting franchises have threatened to leave their city if funds for new stadiums aren’t made available. (N, P, A)

8. How sporting role models have become general role models and the promotion of positive ideologies that sports promote.

Sport stars have become general role models to nations of people and this alone shows the effect on sports on this world. The question pose in this paragraph is should sport stars really be revered as icons and expected to lead a perfect lifestyle. Also the lengths in which institutions are prepared to go to in order to keep their poster boy athletes hidden lives under wraps. For example the tiger woods situation which recently came out the john terry scenario. This links to the idea of heroes and villains with sporting stars being shown as heroes or villains. Sports have been used to promote positive ideologies like not giving up and inequality amongst everyone and varies different institutions have used these stories to show them. For instance Disney and Warner Bros. use sports narratives in the films High School Musical and Space Jam. On the other hand sports can be argued to promote nationalism and goes against unity of everyone.(R, Id, I, S)

9. Postmodernism in Sport

Sport often is used to offer a Disneyland type hyper reality for sport fans. This has been emphasized by Disney investing in a number of sports films as they focus on fantasies this shows they believe sport to be a thing of fantasy. Recently sports has added what can be seen as post modern technology to its package with 3D television being made available for some sporting events for example David Haye vs. Audley Harrison Boxing Match. “Paradoxically, the more the individual is concerned with the reality that is not available to perception , the more most he concentrate his attentions on appearances. (Goffman 1973)” This quote refers to the pervious paragraph on sports addiction and infers that the more addicted a fan becomes with the so called hyper reality the more he will be engulfed with sports. (I, S, A)

Conclusion – A summary of my most important points linking them to my introduction and the questions I asked. Show how through my essay I have incorporated MIGRAIN and SHEP throughout my work.

MEST 4 Task 3: Websites

http://gu.com/p/bxtb: This website reports on an institutional dispute between BSkyB and Virgin Media about Sky Sports television package and Virgins response to the breakdown of negotiations.

Why Are Guys Obsessed With Sports?: This website is women's based website and gives possible reasons from a mans perspective about why they are obsessed with sports. The column appears in the relationship section and shows that sports isn't simply a mans issue.

Link:http://www.gkmen.com/sports/north-american-sports/who-are-highest-paid-athletes-2010190210

http://www.richestpersons.net/richest-women-athlets-of-the-world-top-10-richest-women-sports-personality-of-the-world/: These websites list the highest earners in sport for 2010, the second website gives women athletes as they don't make it into the list of top paid athletes.

Link:http://gu.com/p/xbp6c: This is a online article about a german football who refused to play a football match against Israel because he said he has more Israeli blood than german and couldn't be involved. This article asks questions about the amount of power footballers have or should have.

Link: http://www.football-hooligans.org/index.html : This website is for football hooligans or fans of football hooliganism and contains user generated content of football hooligan meetings as well as documentaries on the subject.

Link:http://www.football-hooligans.org/index.html : This is a game website and states the top selling games of 2010 and a number of sports games appear on a number of platforms.

Link:http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress-blog/MY00638 : This is a medical blog which suggest that an obsession with sport can cause enough stress to give a heart attack.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/jamespearce/2010/12/where_sport_and_politics_meet.html: This is an BBC blog about the politics envolved in the bids for the world cup 2018 and 2022.

Link:http://www.politics.co.uk/news/culture-media-and-sport/record-transfer-spending-triggers-political-anger-$21386973.htm : This website is an article on a politics website which comments on the record amount of funds in football, fueled by recent transfer of Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea for £50-million.

Link:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1349729/Sky-Sports-presenters-sexist-diatribe-female-linesman-Apprentice-star-Karren-Brady.html : This website is a online article from the Daily Mail newspaper about sexism in sport and specifically about comments made by Andy Gray and Richard Keys about a female linesman.

Link:http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=50345 : This is an article on a medical website about sporting heroes and why they are seen as heroes.

MEST 4 Task 2: Marxism, cultural studies and sports

Quotes:

"A dialectical marxism would require both a theoretical concern for the logic of capital and an empirical concern for experience. The logic, surely, is ever present and cannot be relegated to some last instance of determinate on and experience, the mediator of culture, is not purely independent of the logic. Is not a concern for the relationship between capitals logic and lived experiences integral to an adequate analysis of social formation, social being and social consciousness? Is this concern not the crux of Gramsci's contribution?"

"As the culturally and historically specific expression of physical culture under the conditions of capitalism, few redemptive qualities were seen to be present in sport. The limiting and damaging culture of sport was contrasted with the expansive and liberating qualities of play. Sport was, as the title of Jean-Marie Brohm's seminal book so evocatively captured 'a prison of measured time'."

"This attempt at a kind of rapprochement between marxism and contemporary social and political theory reflects the very different economic and political conjunctures between the mid-1980s, the high tide of new right radicalism, and the late 1990s, which show the return of Marx to public and academic debates (Martin 2002)"

MEST 4 Task 2: Strategic sport communications

Quotes:

"This pioneering work theorized that although the mass media may not have the power to tell the audience what to think (as noted by the hypodermic needle model) the mass media do have the power to tell the audience what to think about"

"This process relates to the two-step flow theory and the concept of diffusion of information, which take into account that audiences often acquire mass media messages from personal contacts. Because of the overload of information and mass media messages, information is often spread(diffused) through opinion leaders or other personal contacts. When sports enthusiasts are unable to watch several sporting events occurring on the same evening, they will often rely on their friends and family to provide information on what they might have missed."

"According to George Gerbner's research on cultivation theory, television audience members view the world as more violent than non viewers because of the amount of violence on television they watch. Thus, those who watch the broadcast of brawls in hockey, the Ultimate Fighter Championship and other violent sporting activities view the world as more violent than those who do not watch them"

MEST 4 Task 2: Handbook of sport and media

Quotes:

"In general terms, people view mediated sports because they expect positive emotional impacts from their viewing. These emotional reactions to sport programming are assumed to be dependent upon and governed by the affiliations - or affective dispositions - that viewers hold toward one (or both) of the competing teams. Many scholars actively contend that these afflictions are at the very heart of fanship"

"Some contend that this so-called eustress motivation is theoretically driven by the chronic underestimations experienced by many individuals in their daily lives (Gantz 1981: Gantz & Wenner 1991,1995; Krohn, et al., 1998; Smith, 1988: Wann, 1995; Wann, et al., 1999,2001: Wenner & Gantz, 1998)"

"Another source of the thrill experienced when consuming mediated sports seems to be the perceived violence contained in the action. For example, Bryant, Comisky and Zillmann (1981) directly compared the appeal of violent and non-violent sports. The researchers selected a number of plays from professional football games, classifying them as either low, intermediate and high in violence. Research participants then rated their enjoyment of the plays. As predicted enjoyment increased with the degree of violence in the play"

MEST 4 Task 2: Feminist Sport Studies: sharing experiences joy and pain

Quotes:

"The main premise of standpoint feminism as advocated by Sandra Harding (1990,1998), Nancy Hartstock (1990), and Dorothy Smith (1987), is the focus on the social construction of women's everyday experiences. Central to this feminist epistemology is the idea that reality, as we know it, is constructed through men's eyes and consequently knowledge that we have about women is also constructed through the same falsifying lens."

"Nancy Hartsock (1990), for example, argues that the women are alienated from their "real" experiences because they are forced to use dominant male, conceptual schemes"

"In Sports Studies, standpoint feminism has been advocated openly only by few feminist sport scholars (e.g., Dewer,1993; Krane 2001) and some feminist conclude that "that dominant sociological approaches to the investigation of women in sport... have placed primary emphasis upon the institutional framework within which individuals operate rather than on the variable and more subjective qualitative experiences of women themselves" (Bolin & Granskog 2003)

MEST 4 Task 2: Sports and the traditions of feminism theory essay

Quotes:
Most people do not want to be re-described. They want to be taken on their own terms - taken seriously just as they are and just as they talk... the best way to cause people long-lasting pain is to humiliate them by making the things that seemed most important to them look futile, obsolete and powerless. consider what happens when a child's precious possession - the little things around which he weaves his fantasies that make him a little different from all other children - are described as 'trash', and thrown away or consider what happens when those possessions are made to look ridiculous alongside the possessions of another richer child.

This suffering is the loss of the opportunity to search for and experience private autonomy and public authority in the social practice of sport such a search is explained by Blake as: "I must create my own system, or be enslaved by another man's"(Rorty, 1991), and such enslavement to the system of male-defined sport is a regular part of the female athlete's experience. The female athlete performs her sport within a limited array of choices of appropriate language of play, all of which make clear her inferiority to the male athlete.

The world does not speak only we do. The world can, once we have programmed ourselves with a language, cause us to hold beliefs. But it cannot propose a language for us to speak. Only other human beings can do that... The moral is not that objective criteria for choice of vocabulary are to be replaced with subjective criteria, reason with will or feeling. It is rather that the notions of criteria and choice...

Link: http://wallaby.vu.edu.au/adt-VVUT/uploads/approved/adt-VVUT20040212.121335/public/02whole.pdf

MEST 4 Task 2: Sport and postmodern times

Quotes:
This work, among other things, is an examination of the thrust of sports into our everyday life, a rendering of lived experiences at large in a sea of conflicted and collapsing hierarchies, and an attempted end run around the assault of cultural studies sensibilities as they travel to attach themselves to our interpretations of sport.

Paradoxically, the more the individual is concerned with the reality that is not available to perception , the more most he concentrate his attentions on appearances. (Goffman 1973)

The myth of the fully present subject who could reveal the inner workings of his or her mind to another [and by] the myth of an observer with a method who could somehow prevail upon this subject to reveal her inner world of experience to the kindly knowing scientist.

MEST 4 Task 1: FourFourTwo Magazine

FourFourTwo is a monthly football magazine published by Haymarket and cost £4.20 on average it contains around 162 pages and is has a number of worldwide editions. In 2010 FourFourTwo was reported to have a readership of around 95,000 per issue with 80,000 coming from the UK and the rest worldwide. The magazine gets it's name from the very popular football formation and in their is trying to take some of the same conations, safe, reliable and trustworthy.

MEST 4 Task 1: Ashley Cole

Ashley Cole is an english professional footballer who now plays at left back for Chelsea FC and is revered as one of the best in the world. His public life has been heavily criticised with him appearing regularly in english magazines, newspapers and news stories. He is seen as a villain by the english press and is in turn highly unliked by the public. His football career has also been engulfed in controversy. Despite his talents he is hated for things which questionably shouldn't matter as a footballer; he is a perfect example of how the public obsession with sports stars has exploded.

He begun his football career at Arsenal FC but left the club in very questionable circumstances, he was accused and found guilty of having illegal conversations with Chelsea about a possible transfer and was fined £100,000 later reduced to £75,000. Arsenal fans threw fake £20 notes at him when they next played each other. Also more recently he made a high tackle on Tottenham defender Alan Hutton then turned his back when referee tired to book him, he received a yellow which a lot of critics believed should have been red.

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/5251684.stm
• http://gunnerblog.com/?p=346

In his personal life stories of the football being involved in a homosexual orgy

surfaced with the player suing The Sun and The News Of The World and a retraction being printed. Also the details of his and pervious wife Cheryl Cole's relationship was very much public knowledge.

MEST 4 Task 1: The Football Factory

The Football Factory is a film based on the novel by John King about the english obsession with football and football violence. It revolves around main character Tommy, played by Danny Dyer, who is questioning the worth of being a football hooligan and the morals of himself and everyone around him as he's reaching 30. Wahida Begum described it as being about more than just football and actually being about finding armies to join, wars to fight and places to belong. The film was awarded a 'Kodak Award for Best Cinematography' and a nomination for a 'Golden Hitchcook'. It was released on May 14th 2004 and gross profits reached £623,138. The film was produced by Vertigo Films and was Rockstar Games first foray into film-making. The film was distributed by Momentum Pictures. Chelsea Football Club Released CFCUK - The Football Factory to coincide with the release of the film.

The Release of the film lead to Bravo TV to air The Real Football Factories a documentary hosted by Danny Dyer which follows the actually british hooligan firms. Later another series was aired called The Real Football Factories International which follows international football firms. Virgin released a spoof with comedian Terry Alderton playing Danny Dire.

http://www.football-hooligans.org/index.html

MEST 4 Task 1: Sky Sports News

Sky Sports News is a 24-hr sports news channel which shows an array of sports mainly focusing on football, giving sports which Sky doesn't broadcast the least amount of air time. It was launched on October 1st 1998 by BSkyB and still runs presently, initially the show was launched with the slogan the home of sports but later lost this and focused on showing sports news. The channel has experienced a number of revamps and changed its name to Skysports.com TV but later changed the name back due to the popularity of the pervious name. Their are a number of shows which come on daily and these include:

• Afternoon Report
• Evening Update
• Good Morning Sports Fans
• Through The Night
• Sky Sports News At Ten

The channel comes on Sky, Virgin, UPC and TalkTalk TV digital channels and now has a HD channel on Sky as-well as an online channel on the internet. The channel used to appear on Freeview as-well but was removed on August 24th 2010 and replaced with Sky 3+1. The change was advertised and was supposedly for improvements to the channel. Also Virgin Media had a dispute with Sky and were unable to negotiate a deal to show the channel. Consequently Virgin with Setanta Sports launched Setanta Sports News on the October 30th 2007, the show went into administration was removed June 23rd 2009. After negotiations had failed the electronic programming guide read 'OLD SKY SPORTS SNOOZE' were the channel used to be on Virgin. The issue has since been resolved and the channel is back on Virgin.

http://gu.com/p/bxgz

Sky Sports News now has a radio station, website, twitter and facebook page. The website launch was promoted with the change of the name and the twitter has 51,937 followers and has made 39,627 tweets.

MEST 4

1: Outline the Text and Topic to be investigated

Topic - why does sports hold so much importance in the current media landscape and is this through public demand or institutional control. Also the amount of media coverage and the topics they address and why.

2: Outline the proposed linked production piece

A range of pages from a sports publication.

3: List at least 2 Media texts that you plan to investigate.

4: Why have you chosen these texts?

Sky Sports News Channel - a news channel which broadcast the sports news 24 hours a day and shows obsessions of a sports fan and the types of stories which are show i.e. sports related, scandal and personal.

FourFourTwo Magazine - Typical sports focused magazine specifically football based and will give me some conventions for linked production piece

5: Apply MIGRAIN to the 2 texts.

sky sports news

M layout of the screen as well as the use of presenters, guests and so on.

I Sponsors i.e gillette. BSkyB the producers of the show and the adverts shown

G Sports News Channel

R of the sportsman, the fans, the clubs and the sports them selves

A Sport Fanatics

I Sports over everything

N the layout of the shows interviews and so on for example hourly report and Lunchtime Report

FourFourTwo

M Layout of the page, adverts and articles

I Hayemarket magazines, number of advertisers and football clubs in the magazine

G Football Magazine

R of the footballers, fans, men, women and teams

A Football Fans

I Football over everything

N articles, words to pictures.

6: What are the issues and debates surrounding these two texts?

Are people too engulfed with sports and how is it effecting people negatively. Does it unite or isolate people. Is sport fixed.

7: State why you believe the 2 texts fit the 'contemporary media landscape'.

Because are both current and on going as well as having large readership and viewership.

8: Discuss the reason this topic area resonates so deeply with you?

Because i follow a number of sports personally and what to know the effects on me as well as how society is possibly being manipulated by the institutions behind the teams.