Evaluation on Presentation

Thanks to all of my research, I thought my presentation went really well. I did a presentation about Nellie Bly, who was the first investigative journalist. To ensure I knew enough about her to present to people, I looked at everything I could possibly find about her on the internet and in books.

Although I had gathered a lot of information, I made my presentation on PowerPoint really visual to dumb everything down for the audience who knew nothing about her. The visualisations included images on each slide and a timeline I had created of the journalists life. I also showed a trailer of a film that has recently been made about Nellie Bly, to sum up to the audience what I was talking about.

To make sure I didn’t forget to expand on the simple points I had made, I wrote out a script in the notes section for each slide within PowerPoint and then I turned them into cards for me to hold while I was presenting. Although this seemed like a good idea, I realised I had placed too many text on the cards which kept making me lose where I was and forget what I was talking about. Luckily, I was able to remember what I had researched and I included the social and political impacts in my presentation. I also talked about feminism, which is an ideology we covered in the CATS Sessions, and it related a lot to Nellie Bly.

In terms of presenting, I know I did the best I could. The presentation luckily had timed to exactly ten minutes. I also dressed smartly as I spoke as loud as possible so people could hear me, although I found it a bit hard to relax.

Compared to other people’s presentations I know I did well because some weren’t visual or didn’t have enough information on, some weren’t timed as ten minutes long, you couldn’t understand some people, no eye contact was made and some people poorly presented themselves, which I thought was really bad. However, at least by looking at other people’s presentations I’m confident I did alright.

 

 

 

Feminism

Feminism is the ideology for equality between men and women. Unfortunately, many people still don’t even know what feminism is and people are still fighting for equality.

What I personally find frustrating is people’s connotations of feminism, because people always think of man hating radical feminists. It’s highly likely that the majority of people who try to imagine what a feminist looks like, will think of someone who lives up to the stereotype of someone like Andrea Dworkin.

However there are so many different types of feminism, that include:

• Radical
• Cultural/Post Colonial
• Ecofeminism
• Liberal
• Social and Marxist
• I-feminism/New Wave

Feminist Catharine MacKinnon once stated: ‘to be sexually objectified means having a social meaning imposed on your being that defines you as to be sexually used, according to your desired uses, and then using you that way. Doing this is sex in the male system’ (1). This suggests that by sexually objectifying women, it contributes to sustaining a patriarchal society.

Within the media there is a lot of sexual objectification, mainly of women. However men are also objectified in some cases, depending on who the target audience is. I suppose sexual objectification works for media platforms due to the ideology of ‘sex sells’. This idea was first introduced by Edward Bernays, who theorised unconscious desires.

Bernays was the founder of the torches of freedom campaign, which encouraged women to smoke cigarettes. At the time of this campaign women in society were seen as prostitutes if they were seen smoking, therefore the number of women buying cigarettes was very low. Bernays helped the number of cigarette sales rise through propaganda, by making models parade down a street smoking to make it seem more attractive.

The above image sums up the sexual objectification of women in the media. This is an advertisement for Stuart Weitzman Shoes. In most of their advertisements, they sexualise models by making them reveal a lot of their bodies. I can kind of understand why they advertise their shoes in this way, because it presents consumers with the idea (connotations) that if you have these shoes then you are sexy. However, I don’t see the point in showing women who are completely naked and are only wearing shoes because the images don’t even draw you to their shoes.

When looking at newspapers, it’s clear who their target audiences are through the amount of sexually objectifying images. The Sun is the newspaper I instantly think of, due to their famous page 3’s with (what used to be) topless girls. And it’s not just the third pages of The Sun with degrading images on, they can be found on most pages which indicates to me that their target audience is working class men

Overall, as a feminist, I fear that sexual objectification will never be tackled in the journalistic world because it is a very patriarchal industry.

(1) Sexuality, Pornography, and Method: “Pleasure under Patriarchy” by Catherine A. MacKinnon. Jan., 1989. Published by The University of Chicago Press.

Found on: http://www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/MacKinnon-Sexuality-Pornography-and-Method-Pleasure-under-Patriarchy.pdf

Click to access MacKinnon-Sexuality-Pornography-and-Method-Pleasure-under-Patriarchy.pdf

 

 

 

 

Marxism

Marxism is the ideology that was theorised by Karl Marx. The ideology examines the political and economical values of society. The Critical Social Theory is another name for Marxism, because it doesn’t agree with the social classes that we have. The theory also opposes:

• Capitalism
• Democracy
• Consumerism
• Materialism

This is due to the idea that all of these contribute to hegemony and the Bourgeoisie (wealthy) rule over the Proletariat (working class).

Hegemony was theorised by Antonio Gramsci and it expresses the idea that society think it’s natural for there to be a ruling class.

The above image is a great representation of Marxism and it is an image from the Battle of Orgreave. The denotation from this photograph is that there are a lot of men standing, most of them are wearing the same clothes and the man in the middle looks different because of his clothes.

From the clothing, you can tell that the men in this image are police officers due to their uniform. It’s indicated that the man in the middle is a minor (proletariat) due to the connotations from his casual ‘working class’ clothing and the fact that he has a cigarette in his hand.

In the photograph, you can see that the police (bourgeoisie) are standing together strong, with their arms linked. This supports Louis Althusser’s Ideological State Apparatus, by having a police presence as a warning to stop any violence that may occur. This image may also be presenting a Repressive State Apparatus, because the police may actually be stopping the miner from entering an area.

Although the police seem dominant, the miner is actually shown as more dominant to me. This is because he is making eye contact with the police, as if he doesn’t care. His body language also looks relaxed, like he isn’t going to do anything to the police and he isn’t scared of them.

To me, this photograph is one of the best photographs that represents Marxism because it shows the conflict between proletariats and the bourgeoisie.

 

 

Sources of Research for Presentation (Bibliography)

All of my sources of information I used for my presentation about Nellie Bly are:

• http://www.biography.com/people/nellie-bly-9216680
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/world/peopleevents/pande01.html
• https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/youngandbrave/bly.html
• http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/bly/madhouse/madhouse.html
• https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/05/05/ten-days-at-the-mad-house-nellie-bly/
• https://www.addiction.com/13829/10-days-in-a-madhouse-recounts-nellie-blys-pioneering-efforts-at-mental-health-reform/
• https://prezi.com/ts0vazfgrw0r/nellie-bly/
• http://spartacus-educational.com/USAWbly.htm
• http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/lib/detail.html?id=1123
• http://52651410.weebly.com/ten-days-in-a-madhouse.html
• Bly, Nellie, 1887. Ten Days In A Madhouse. New York: Ian. Munro.
• Eleanor Mills and Naomi Wolfe. Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs: 100 Years of the Best Journalism by Women.
  P101-103.

 

Propaganda

Propaganda has been used in so many ways to manipulate people’s ideologies throughout time. Personally, when I think of propaganda I think about war, Feminism and Marxism.

War is probably the main factor that uses propaganda and there are so many examples. One example of war propaganda is the posters that were used to persuade British citizens to join the army and fight in world war one, saying ‘your country needs you’ (as seen below). In Germany, Nazi’s also used propaganda during world war 2 to turn Germans against Jewish people so they could gain power. Nowadays, there is still war propaganda and the film American Sniper is a prime example. This is because it is very patriotic and shows American militants in a very positive light, fighting in Iraq.

Feminism can also be related to propaganda due to the sexism that’s in a lot of advertisements. A lot of advertisements in the past enforced patriarchy. This was presented by stating in the adverts that women weren’t clever and their only purpose in life was to be housewives and sex objects, who cleaned and looked after their husbands. Advertisements are less sexist nowadays but unfortunately it still happens. The Yorkie chocolate bar advertising campaigns were hugely sexist when they first started. In all the advertisements, they said that Yorkie chocolate bars weren’t for girls and the wrapping was blue to represent boys. To make this seem less sexist, they then decided to bring out another chocolate bar with pink wrapping which insinuated it was for girls due to the connotations from the colour.

Marxism also relates to propaganda because of what we see in the media. Photographs of the royal family, police and military forces etc. all relate to Louis Althusser’s ideological state apparatus. By having these in the media, it enforces power over the public and contributes to hegemony (Antonio Gramsci). The Lego Movie is a fantastic example of Marxist theories. As in the film you see the main character, Emmet, being ideologically repressed by President Business.

As a journalist, the main sources of propaganda you’re likely to come across are press releases. This is because they are all likely to be very positive about the businesses and organisations, and they miss out any negative information. Being a journalist, it would be my job to find the negative side to a business. This would then stop me from reporting something biased, by showing the good and bad.

Overall, propaganda has and will always be everywhere throughout media texts. It seems to be the most simple and subtle way to gain control over peoples ideologies.

CATS Reflection – 22/10/15 – Semiotics

Despite studying semiotics in previous years, I personally found it a bit challenging to analyse two newspapers. This is because there are so many different elements within newspapers.

However, after discussing the different denotations and connotations as a class I feel a bit more confident on what I got from my analysis. Although there are lots of things that can be discussed on the front of a newspaper, it’s easier to start with the basics. For example, picking out what makes one newspaper a tabloid (The Sun) and the other a broadsheet (The Daily Telegraph) and defining how they represent themselves.

The general comparison between the two newspapers is that The Sun’s front page mainly consists of a large image, a big bold headline, puns and informal language (slang). Whereas The Daily Telegraph has a lot of formal small text /stories that fill the front page, with a picture in the middle that takes up less space than the text. The headline in The Daily Telegraph is also indicated differently, by placing it at the top of the broadsheet in small, bold text to show its the most important.

To me as a journalist, I find semiotics really helpful. This is because it makes you think more about how different pieces of media are represented through signs and connotations. Therefore by having a developed understanding of why things look the way they do, I should be able to embed that knowledge into my own pieces of media that I create.

CATS Reflection on Semiotics – 15/10/15

Semiotics, the study of signs, was founded by Ferdinand De Saussure. The study of signs is very important to me, as a journalist, because it helps me get a clearer understanding of what readers would get from my work.

Saussure came up with the theory that there is a signifier, signified and a sign. A signifier is any material thing, which would be what my readers literally see (image, facial expression etc.). The signified is a concept that a signifier refers to, and then when the signifier and signified are both together it makes up the sign. To me, signs are very important because they are the communications between people. Bignell (1997) once stated that “news is not just facts, but representations produced in language and other signs like photographs”.

Another concept from semiotics is connotation and denotation. This is the most simple theory to me and it really helps with visualisations that I create. Denotation is the actual thing that you can see, for example a red love heart. This red love heart would then have connotations of love, romance and valentines day. By taking this into mind when I create things like infographics, I will hopefully be able to send the right message across to my audiences.

There are also communication theories that I have researched, that help explain how we pass messages on. The main theorists are Shannon and Weaver (1949) and Lasswell (1948). Shannon and Weaver’s theory suggests that there is a source, which then goes to a sender, which then goes to a message, and then goes to a receiver, which then goes to a destination. During this communication process, Shannon and Weaver came up with the idea that there may be noise that would interrupt the messages. Lasswell’s theory is very similar to Shannon and Weaver’s, but it suggests that every form of communication is an act of persuasion and it presumes every message has an effect. Laswell’s formula asks ‘who?’, which then goes to ‘says what?’, which then asks ‘in which channels?’, which then asks ‘to whom?’ and then it asks ‘with what effect?’. Personally, I prefer Shannon and Weaver’s theory because to me it’s a more realistic process of communication.

Local Media Ownership

Media organisations are either commercially owned companies of state owned companies. Nowadays, there are more commercially owned companies than state owned companies and they are a lot more popular. Media organisations include broadcast, radio, print and online, and they all have news coverage.

The main, and possibly the only, state owned media company is the BBC. The British Broadcasting Company was established in 1992 and the government introduced TV licences to everyone in the UK. By making everyone who owns a TV pay for a license, it creates a fund for the BBC to run. Many people argue that the TV license should be stopped because BBC isn’t as popular as it used to be, due to all the other media companies there are.

Commercially funded companies are a lot more popular than state owned, because they are more diverse. However, media companies are still regulated by the state through Ofcom and so there are still limitations. ITV and Channel 4 are two of the main publicly owned broadcast companies who often go against the BBC by slating them and ensuring they cover anything that the BBC does wrong. This is likely to be because they think it’s unfair that they have to work hard and carry on running as a business whilst the BBC always have a guaranteed fund.

Personally, I think the TV license should be abolished. This is because more people watch and listen to commercial companies, and retrieve their news from other media platforms instead of the BBC. Therefore, it’s unfair to make the public pay for an unwanted service.

CATS Reflection, The History Of Journalism – 08/10/15

It is shocking to think how back journalism started. It was obvious how far back storytelling goes because of cave paintings and folk tales. However, I never thought that journalistic products went as far back as 59BC (Acta Durna news sheet in Ancient Rome). Printing press technology also surprised me with how old it is, as it was developed in 593AD in China. Printing press has definitely had a huge impact on journalism, as it allows stories to be spread out over larger areas, and it’s an essential. I think if we didn’t have printing press technology, journalists would have to spend a lot more time in producing their work so it can be shared with as many people as possible.

I find the evolution of newspapers very interesting. Dating as far back as over 500 years, the authorities published newspapers. I think this was a very smart move for the government (bourgeoisie), because it allowed them to gain control over the public through propaganda. However I think that propaganda shouldn’t be allowed, especially during wars, because the public (proletariats) deserve to know what is actually happening in the world. Luckily we now have the freedom to publish our own newspapers, which allows there to be lot of different types for different people. The type of newspaper I think has had the most impact on journalism is tabloid, and particularly News of the World. This is because of the phone hacking scandal in 2012-2014, which has caused there to be even more negativity towards journalists.

Digital journalism is now probably the largest journalistic product there is. This first started in British cinemas to inform the public about the war, in 1916. Again, these newsreels were forms of propaganda because they were run by the government. However, they were extremely popular in the 1920’s because people enjoyed the visualisation of news.

The BBC (British Broadcasting Company) has probably been the largest broadcasting company since it was created. However I don’t think it is the most popular anymore, with their aim to ‘inform, educate and entertain’, Nowadays I think it’s wrong that we should have to pay for a TV licence, which funds BBC, because not everyone watches or consumes anything to do with the BBC due to all the other options that are available.

Overall, by looking at the history of journalism it is clear that there are so many different media platforms used. These different media platforms are vital because they keep wide audiences interested in the news and they are always changing, which helps me understand why you shouldn’t just rely on one media platform to share news when you’re a journalist.

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