Unit Four: Media and Advertising PDF

UNIT ed FOUR T sh R l i E u b N C e p © er b t o ot n 68 Media and Advertising Teacher’s note Today, the media and advertising are a coverage,...

UNIT ed FOUR T sh R l i E u b N C e p © er b t o ot n 68 Media and Advertising Teacher’s note Today, the media and advertising are a coverage, and the explicit/implicit pervasive presence in the lives of young dimensions of that coverage. We use two people, who may or may not have taken fictitious news reports to demonstrate that the opportunity to seriously reflect upon there is seldom just one version of a story d this fact. This Unit offers some ways by or an event. Building on this, we expect e which we can begin to think about these. the learner to develop the skills required to critically analyse a newspaper report or h The focus in ‘Understanding Media’ is on a TV story through scrutinising the T s explaining the strong links between media information provided, as well as l i and technology and media and big understanding the logic behind the R business. It explains how the media ‘sets exclusion of certain perspectives. b the agenda’ through influencing our E u perception of issues worth devoting time In the advertising chapter, two fictitious and attention to, and issues that are advertisements have been created to C p neglected or overridden. In ‘Understanding systematically take the learner through the N e Advertising’ we have focused both on techniques of crafting advertisements that © er critically analysing how advertising appeal to the consumer. The examples strategies influence customers, as well as focus on the significance of the key terms demonstrating what goes into the making ‘brand’ and ‘brand values’ that are integral of an advertisement. The significance of a to advertising. These ideas can be b ‘brand’ and the need to promote the strengthened by selecting examples from uniqueness of a product is a key part of actual advertisements and structuring o advertising. The chapter identifies the similar questions around them. t mechanisms that advertisements use to appeal to the consumer, and explains how Both chapters conclude by linking their t these are powerfully linked to the contents to the idea of democracy. Both o consumer’s self-image. emphasise, through using examples of local media as well as social advertising, n Chapters 6 and 7 foreground the how mainstream media and advertising widespread effects of the media and tend to favour those who have greater advertising, and attempt to connect the financial as well as social resources. This issues under discussion to the learner’s point can be reinforced in the classroom own lives. At the end of the media chapter, by using local examples of media stories, we expect the learner to recognise the role as well as posing questions about the ways of big business in the media coverage of in which advertising is changing what is events — the way ‘news’ is selected for locally available as well as locally valued. 69  6 CHAPTER CHAPTER ed T s h R l i E u b N C e p © er b t o Media Understanding o t What is your favourite TV programme? What do you like listening to on n the radio? Which newspaper or magazine do you usually read? Do you surf the internet and what have you found most useful about it? Did you know that there is one word that is often used to collectively refer to the radio, TV, newspapers, Internet and several other forms of communication. This word is ‘media’. In this chapter, you will read more about the media. You will find out what is required to make it work, as well as the ways in which the media affects our daily lives. Can you think of one thing that you have learnt from the media this week? Everything ranging from the stall at the local fair to the programme that you see on TV can be called media. Media is the plural form of the word ‘medium’ and it describes the various ways through which we Look at the collage on the left and communicate in society. Because media refers to all list six various kinds of media that means of communication, everything ranging from you see. a phone call to the evening news on TV can be called media. TV, radio and newspapers are a form of media that reaches millions of people, or the masses, across the country and the world and, thus, they are called mass media. Media and technology ed T s It would probably be difficult for you to imagine your h l i life without the media. But cable television and the R widespread use of the Internet is a recent b phenomenon. These have been around for less than E u twenty years. The technology that mass media uses keeps changing. N C e p Newspapers, television and radio can reach © er millions of people because they use certain technologies. We also tend to discuss newspapers An artist’s impression of Gutenberg and magazines as the print media; and TV and radio printing the first sheet of the Bible. as the electronic media. Why do you think b newspapers are called print media? As you read further, you will find that this naming is related to o the different technologies that these media use. The Ask older members of your family t following photographs will give you a sense of the about what they used to listen to ways in which technology that mass media uses has on the radio when there was no t changed over the years and continues to change. TV around. Find out from them o when the first TV came to your Changing technology, or machines, and making area. When was cable TV n technology more modern, helps media to reach more introduced? people. It also improves the quality of sound and the images that you see. But technology does more than How many people in your this. It also changes the ways in which we think about neighbourhood use the Internet? our lives. For example, today it is quite difficult for us to think of our lives without television. Television List three things that you know has enabled us to think of ourselves as members of about some other part of the a larger global world. Television images travel huge world from watching television? Chapter 6: Understanding Media 71  distances through satellites and cables. This allows us to view news and entertainment channels from other parts of the world. Most of the cartoons that you see on television are mostly from Japan or the United States. We can now be sitting in Chennai or Jammu and can see images of a storm that has hit the coast of Florida in the United States. Television has brought the world closer to us. With electronic typerwriters, journalism underwent a sea-change in the 1940s. Media and money ed The different technologies that mass media use are expensive. Just think about the TV studio in which h the newsreader sits – it has lights, cameras, sound T s recorders, transmission satellites, etc., all of which l i cost a lot of money. ER b In a news studio, it is not only the newsreader u who needs to be paid but also a number of other people who help put the broadcast together. This C p includes those who look after the cameras and lights. N e Also, as you read earlier the technologies that mass © er media use keep changing and so a lot of money is spent on getting the latest technology. Due to these costs, the mass media needs a great deal of money to do its work. As a result, most television channels b and newspapers are part of big business houses. John L. Baird sits in front of the o apparatus with which he demonstrated to Mass media is constantly thinking of ways to make t the Royal Institute, his invention, the money. One way in which the mass media earns ‘televisor’, an early television. money is by advertising different things like cars, t chocolates, clothes, mobile phones, etc. You must o Can you list three different have noticed the number of advertisements that you products that are advertised have to see while watching your favourite television n during your favourite TV show. While watching a cricket match on TV, the programme? same advertisements are shown repeatedly between each over and so you are often watching the same Take a newspaper and count the image over and over again. As you will read in the number of advertisements in it. following chapter, advertisements are repeated in the Some people say that newspapers hope that you will go out and buy what is advertised. have too many advertisements. Do you think this is true and why? 72 Social and Political Life  ed T s h R l i E u b Media and democracy N C e p The cost to advertise on a news channel varies from Rs 500 to Rs 8,000 per 10 © er In a democracy, the media plays a very important seconds depending on the popularity of role in providing news and discussing events taking the channel. place in the country and the world. It is on the basis b of this information that citizens can, for example, learn how government works. And often, if they wish o to, they can take action on the basis of these news t stories. Some of the ways in which they can do this is by writing letters to the concerned minister, t organising a public protest protest, starting a signature o campaign, asking the government to rethink its programme, etc. n Given the role that the media plays in providing information, it is important that the information be balanced. Let us understand what we mean by a balanced media report by reading two versions of the same news event given on the next page. Chapter 6: Understanding Media 73  India Daily Report Closure of factories caus News of India Report Daily News Service es unrest Crackdown on polluting fa ctories Protestors block roads and dis rupt traffic T he clo su re of on e lak h city’s residential areas is a serious issue. On Monda fa cto rie s in th e likely to become Radhika Malik | INN Mo reo ver the lev els of y, thousands of factory owners and workers took lution in the city will be to the streets to strongly Violent protests by owners pol pr ot es t th is cl os ur e. atly red uce d by this Th ey sa id th at th ei r and workers brought the gre livelihoods would be los sure. Mr. Jain a well- t. They say that the fault city to a standstill today. clo lies with the municipal wn figure in the city corporation because it Peo ple get ting to wo rk kno continued to issue licen d d, “W ith our city ses for new factories to could not do so on time sai be set up in residential are dua lly bec om ing as.They also say that e bec aus e of hug e traf fic gra there were no adequate ias’s new business hub, relocation efforts. The jam s. The ow ner s and Ind owners and workers pla h is important that it be a n a one-day city bandh workers are protesting the it to protest against this clo an and gre en city. sure. Mr. Sharma, one s government’s decision to cle T of the factory owners said, i luting factories should “The government says clo se dow n pol lut ing Pol l that it has done a lot to rel mo ved. The fac tor y ocate us. But the areas factory units. Although the be R they have sent us to have ner s and wo rke rs no facilities and have b government did take this ow not been developed for the the E uld acc ept last five years.” decision rather hastily, the sho u cation being offered by protestors have known for relo C government instead of quite some time that their the uni ts are not leg al. pro N e p testing.” © er The fact is that if you had read either newspaper Are the above stories in the two you would only know one side of the story. If you newspapers similar? And if not, had read the News of India, you would most likely b why not? What, in your view, are think of the protestors as a nuisance. Their the similarities and the disrupting traffic and continually polluting the city o differences? with their factories leaves you with a bad impression t about them. But on the other hand, if you had read If you read the story in the News the story in the India Daily, you would know that t of India, what would you think the protests are because a lot of livelihoods will be o about the issue? lost if the factories close because the relocation efforts have not been adequate. Neither of these stories is a n balanced report. A balanced report is one that discusses all points of view of a particular story and then leaves it to the readers to make up their minds. Writing a balanced report, however, depends on the media being independent. An independent media means that no one should control and influence its coverage of news. No one should tell the media what 74 Social and Political Life can be included and what should not be included in a news story. An independent media is important in Do you think it is important to a democracy. As you read above, it is on the basis of know both sides of the story? the information that the media provides that we take Why? action as citizens, so it is important that this information is reliable and not biased. Pretend that you are a journalist for a newspaper and write a However, the reality is that media is far from balanced story from the two news independent. This is mainly because of two reasons. reports. The first is the control that the government has on the media. When the government prevents either a d news item, or scenes from a movie, or the lyrics of a e song from being shared with the larger public, this is referred to as censorship censorship. There have been periods h in Indian history when the government censored the T s media. The worst of these was the Emergency l i between 1975-1977. ER b What does TV do to us and what can we do with TV? C u In many of our homes, TV is on a lot of the time. In many ways, a lot of our impressions p about the world around us are formed by what we see on TV: it is like a ‘window on the N e world’. How do you think it influences us? TV has different types of programmes, soap © er operas, like Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, game shows, like Kaun Banega Crorepati, reality TV shows like Big Boss, news, sports and cartoons. Before, in between and after each programme are advertisements. Since TV time costs so much b money, only those programmes that can attract the maximum number of viewers are shown. Can you think of what such programmes might be? o Think of what are the kinds of things that TV t shows and what it does not. Does it show us t more about the lives of the rich or the poor? o We need to think about what TV does to us, how it shapes our views of the world, our beliefs, n attitudes and values. We need to realise that it gives us a partial view of the world.While we enjoy our favourite programmes, we should always be aware of the large exciting world beyond our TV screens. There is so much happening out there that TV ignores. A world beyond film stars, celebrities and rich lifestyles, a world that all of us need to reach out to and respond to in various ways. We need to be active viewers, who question whatever we see and hear, while we may enjoy it too! Chapter 6: Understanding Media 75  While the government does continue to censor films, it does not really censor the media’s coverage of news. Despite the absence of censorship by the government, most newspapers nowadays still fail to provide a balanced story. The reasons for this are complicated. Persons who research the media have said that this happens because business houses control the media. At times, it is in the interest of these businesses to focus on only one side of the story. Media’s continual need for money and its links to advertising means that it becomes difficult for d media to be reporting against people who give them e advertisements. Media is, thus, no longer considered independent because of its close links to business. T s h Besides the above, the media also tends to focus l i on a particular aspect of a story because they believe R this makes the story interesting. Also, if they want b to increase public support for an issue, they often E u do this by focusing on one side of a story. N C e p Setting agendas © er The media also plays an important role in deciding what stories to focus on, and therefore, decides on what is newsworthy. For example, the annual b function at your school is unlikely to make the news. But if a famous actor is invited as the Chief Guest, o then the media might be interested in covering it. By t focusing on particular issues, the media influences our thoughts, feelings and actions, and brings those t issues to our attention. Due to the significant o influence it plays in our lives and in shaping our thoughts, it is commonly said that the media ‘sets n the agenda’. Very recently, the media drew our attention to alarming levels of pesticides in cola drinks. They published reports that indicated the high level of pesticides and, thus, made us aware of the need to regularly monitor these colas according to international quality and safety standards. They did 76 Social and Political Life this despite the government’s resistance by boldly declaring that colas were unsafe. In covering this story, the media positively helped us focus on an issue that affects our lives and one that we might not even have been aware of it had it not been for media reporting. There are several instances when the media fails to focus on issues that are significant in our lives. For example, drinking water is a major problem in the country. Every year, thousands of people suffer d Fashion shows are very popular with the and die because they do not get safe drinking water. e media. However, we seldom find the media discussing this issue. A well-known Indian journalist wrote of how h the Fashion Week, in which clothes designers show What is the consequence of the T s their new creations to rich people, formed the front media ‘setting the agenda’ by l i page headlines of all the newspapers while several reporting on the Fashion Week R slums were being demolished in Mumbai, the very rather than the slum demolitions? b same week, and this was not even noticed! E Can you think of an issue that u As citizens of a democracy, the media has a very does not seem important to you C p important role to play in our lives because it is because it is never featured in the N e through the media that we hear about issues related media? © er Local media Recognising that the media will not be interested in b covering ‘small’ issues that involve ordinary people and their daily lives, several local groups have come forward o to start their own media. Several people use community t radio to tell farmers about the prices of different crops and advise them on the use of seeds and fertilisers. t Others make documentary films with fairly cheap and o easily available video cameras on real-life conditions faced by different poor communities, and, at times, have n even given the poor these video cameras to make films on their own lives. Another example is a newspaper called Khabar Lahriya which is a fortnightly that is run by eight Dalit women in Chitrakoot district in Uttar Pradesh. Written in the local language, Bundeli, this eight-page newspaper reports on Dalit issues and cases of violence against women and political corruption. The newspaper reaches farmers, shopkeepers, panchayat members, school teachers and women who have recently learnt to read and write. Chapter 6: Understanding Media 77  ed T s h R l i E u b N C e p The print media offers a large variety of information to suit the tastes of different to the working of the government. The media decides what to focus on and in this way it ‘sets the agenda’. © er readers. The government can, at times, prevent the media from publishing a story and this is called censorship. Nowadays, media’s close relationship with business b often means that a balanced report is difficult to come by. Given this, it is important for us to be aware that the ‘factual information’ that a news report provides o is often not complete and can be one-sided. We, t therefore, need to analyse the news by asking the t following questions: what is the information I am learning from this report? What information is not o being provided? From whose point of view is the n article being written? Whose point of view is being left out and why? 78 Social and Political Life  EXERCISES 1. In what ways does the media play an important role in a democracy? BIG BUSINESS HOUSES 2. Can you give this diagram a title? What do you understand about the link between media and big business from this Some own radio, diagram? TV, newspaper People buy 3. You have read about the ways in which the media ‘sets advertise products their seen in the the agenda’. What kind of effect does this have in a d products media. democracy? Provide two examples to support your point Money, e therefore, of view. flows back to big business h houses 4. As a class project, decide to focus on a particular news s topic and cut out stories from different newspapers on R T l i this. Also watch the coverage of this topic on TV news. Compare two newspapers and write down the similarity b and differences in their reports. It might help to ask the E following questions– MEDIA C p u a. What information is this article providing? b. What information is it leaving out? promotes products through READERS, VIEWERS, N e advertisements LISTENERS © er c. From whose point of view is the article being written? d. Whose point of view is being left out and why? Glossary b o Publish: This refers to newsreports, articles, interviews, stories, etc., that are printed in newspapers, t magazines and books for a wide audience to read. t Censorship: This refers to the powers that government has to disallow media from publishing or o showing certain stories. n Broadcast: In this chapter this word is used to refer to a TV or radio programme that is widely transmitted. Public protest: When a large number of people come together and openly state their opposition to some issue. Organising a rally, starting a signature campaign, blocking roads etc. are some of the ways in which this is done. Chapter 6: Understanding Media 79