UNIT FOUR

1 68 UNITFOUR2019-202069 MediaTeacher s noteToday, the media and advertising are apervasive presence in the lives of youngpeople, who may or may not have takenthe opportunity to seriously reflect uponthis fact. This Unit offers some ways bywhich we can begin to think about focus is on explaining the stronglinks between media and technology andmedia and big business. It explains howthe media sets the agenda throughinfluencing our perception of issuesworth devoting time and attention to,and issues that are neglected 6 foregrounds the widespreadeffects of the media, and attempts toconnect the issues under discussion to thelearner s own lives.

2 At the end of thechapter, we expect the learner to recognisethe role of big business in the mediacoverage of events the way news isselected for coverage, and the explicit/implicit dimensions of that coverage. Weuse two fictitious news reports todemonstrate that there is seldom just oneversion of a story or an event. Building onthis, we expect the learner to develop theskills required to critically analyse anewspaper report or a TV story throughscrutinising the information provided, aswell as understanding the logic behind theexclusion of certain ideas can be strengthened byselecting examples from actualadvertisements and structuring similarquestions around chapter concludes by linking itscontents to the idea of democracy.

3 Itemphasises, through using examples oflocal media as well as social advertising,how mainstream media and advertisingtend to favour those who have greaterfinancial as well as social resources. Thispoint can be reinforced in the classroomby using local examples of media stories,as well as posing questions about the waysin which advertising is changing what islocally available as well as locally MediaWhat is your favourite TV programme? What do you like listening to onthe radio? Which newspaper or magazine do you usually read? Do yousurf the internet and what have you found most useful about it? Did youknow that there is one word that is often used to collectively refer tothe radio, TV, newspapers, Internet and several other forms ofcommunication.

4 This word is media . In this chapter, you will readmore about the media. You will find out what is required to make itwork, as well as the ways in which the media affects our daily lives. Canyou think of one thing that you have learnt from the media this week?6 CHAPTER2019-2020 Look at the collage on the left andlist six various kinds of media thatyou artist s impression of Gutenbergprinting the first sheet of the older members of your familyabout what they used to listen toon the radio when there was noTV around. Find out from themwhen the first TV came to yourarea. When was cable TVintroduced?How many people in yourneighbourhood use the Internet?List three things that you knowabout some other part of theworld from watching television?

5 Everything ranging from the stall at the local fair tothe programme that you see on TV can be calledmedia. Media is the plural form of the word medium and it describes the various ways through which wecommunicate in society. Because media refers to allmeans of communication, everything ranging froma phone call to the evening news on TV can be calledmedia. TV, radio and newspapers are a form of mediathat reaches millions of people, or the masses, acrossthe country and the world and, thus, they are calledmass and technologyIt would probably be difficult for you to imagine yourlife without the media. But cable television and thewidespread use of the Internet is a recentphenomenon. These have been around for less thantwenty years.

6 The technology that mass media useskeeps , television and radio can reachmillions of people because they use certaintechnologies. We also tend to discuss newspapersand magazines as the print media; and TV and radioas the electronic media. Why do you thinknewspapers are called print media? As you readfurther, you will find that this naming is related tothe different technologies that these media use. Thefollowing photographs will give you a sense of theways in which technology that mass media uses haschanged over the years and continues to technology, or machines, and makingtechnology more modern, helps media to reach morepeople. It also improves the quality of sound and theimages that you see.

7 But technology does more thanthis. It also changes the ways in which we think aboutour lives. For example, today it is quite difficult forus to think of our lives without television. Televisionhas enabled us to think of ourselves as members ofa larger global world. Television images travel huge71 Chapter 6: Understanding Media2019-202072 Social and Political LifeCan you list three differentproducts that are advertisedduring your favourite TVprogramme?Take a newspaper and count thenumber of advertisements in people say that newspapershave too many advertisements. Doyou think this is true and why?John L. Baird sits in front of theapparatus with which he demonstrated tothe Royal Institute, his invention, the televisor , an early electronic typerwriters, journalismunderwent a sea-change in the through satellites and cables.

8 This allowsus to view news and entertainment channels fromother parts of the world. Most of the cartoons thatyou see on television are mostly from Japan or theUnited States. We can now be sitting in Chennai orJammu and can see images of a storm that has hitthe coast of Florida in the United States. Televisionhas brought the world closer to and moneyThe different technologies that mass media use areexpensive. Just think about the TV studio in whichthe newsreader sits it has lights, cameras, soundrecorders, transmission satellites, etc., all of whichcost a lot of a news studio, it is not only the newsreaderwho needs to be paid but also a number of otherpeople who help put the broadcast together.

9 Thisincludes those who look after the cameras and , as you read earlier the technologies that massmedia use keep changing and so a lot of money isspent on getting the latest technology. Due to thesecosts, the mass media needs a great deal of moneyto do its work. As a result, most television channelsand newspapers are part of big business media is constantly thinking of ways to makemoney. One way in which the mass media earnsmoney is by advertising different things like cars,chocolates, clothes, mobile phones, etc. You musthave noticed the number of advertisements that youhave to see while watching your favourite televisionshow. While watching a cricket match on TV, thesame advertisements are shown repeatedly betweeneach over and so you are often watching the sameimage over and over again.

10 As you will read in thefollowing chapter, advertisements are repeated in thehope that you will go out and buy what is cost to advertise on a TV channelvaries from ` 1,000 to ` 1,00,000 per10 seconds depending on the popularityof the channel and and democracyIn a democracy, the media plays a very importantrole in providing news and discussing events takingplace in the country and the world. It is on the basisof this information that citizens can, for example,learn how government works. And often, if they wishto, they can take action on the basis of these newsstories. Some of the ways in which they can do thisis by writing letters to the concerned minister,organising a public protest, starting a signaturecampaign, asking the government to rethink itsprogramme, the role that the media plays in providinginformation, it is important that the information bebalanced.