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"