TV3: http://www.tv3.ie/news_sub_page.php?locID=1.2.883&video_id=118974 RTE: https://www.rte.ie/news/2016/1221/840408-apollo-house-injunctions-high-court/
Author: JuliaWalsh
Can the news media continue to act as producers of meaning whilst remaining within the structures of formal rules about impartiality?
A Comparative Analysis This essay will analyse Irish news coverage of the high court ruling for the occupants of Apollo House to vacate the premises by January 11th 2017. RTE- public service broadcaster- and TV3- commercial broadcaster- covered this story on December 21st 2016 using similar footage and facts. However, each of these broadcasts have…
Narrative and Stories
The way in which information is communicated to us through the media is often shaped in a way that seems familiar and easy to interpret. This is due to what we as a society accept or view as being normal. Quite often, the media uses a narrative or ‘story’ to communicate this information to us….
Ownership & Means of Production
People need somewhere to get meaning and information from. That much is certain. In the past, these distributors of information were often in the form of traditional institutions such as the church. In more recent times, the media as a collective can be seen as an institution that people turn to for information and values. As the…
Semiotic Print Advertisement Analysis
Semiotics; the study of signs and symbols, is a theoretical approach which can be used to analyse media texts. The techniques of this approach can be used to decode the construction of meanings in print advertisements such as the one featured below. American Apparel’s Advert Announcing Their New Store Opening in Amsterdam The successful communication…
Semiotics 101
Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols The above poster is a simplified diagram which explains the primary semiotic theories as defined by the theorists featured. Ferdinand de Saussure, Roland Barthes, and Charles Sanders Pierce are considered to be the founding fathers of semiotics. Each identified significant approaches to take when conducting semiotic studies….
Discourse: What is it?
Discourse can be seen as the process by which the production of something is shaped and created. Anything that has an influence or contributes to how something is created can be traced back to a discourse or multiple discourses that are present in society. Discourse is not something that can be ignored. It exists in…
Circuit of Culture: Tesco Workers’ Strike Coverage
The Tesco workers’ strike began last Monday morning the 13th of February. For the last year, there have been threats against the pre-1996 contracts which are held by 250 Tesco workers in Ireland. The company wants to cancel these contracts and move these employees to new, more flexible contracts. The worry among the employees is…
Conversationalisation/Language
Language plays a vital role in the construction of preferred meanings. Spoken and written words have an effect on the way we interpret a story, therefore, the words that are used in spoken and written pieces are hugely important. Everyday language and the use of colloquial terms can have an influence on the perception of…
“Fair and Balanced”
Out-Foxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism This 2004 documentary is a presentation of the extreme bias that exists in Fox News broadcasts and how the growth of Murdoch’s media enterprise led to less freedom for the journalists who worked for Fox. It went as far as controlling exactly what was to be said by broadcasters…
Newsworthiness: “If it Bleeds it Leads”
What makes something “newsworthy”? In 2008 Spenser-Thomas “noted that editors and journalists use the concept news values to determine the newsworthiness of a particular story and to judge whether it will attract a significant readership or audience”. Miriam webster defines “newsworthy” as anything that is interesting enough to the general public to warrant reporting. However,…
Re-presentation of the Real: “Where’s My Reality”?
“All that was once directly lived has become mere representation” (Debord, 1968) In order to differentiate between what is a media re-presentation of an event and what is a real event, we have to understand what it means to re-present something. We have reality, the things that are real, happening everyday right in front of…
Julia Walsh 