TMEDIA TERMINOLOGY

key terms in media analysis

CODESAll media texts are encoded. The codes themselves are symbolic, technical, or written. The technical code used depends on the platform J

xENCODING/DECODINGmeanings are encoded by producers and decoded by the audience

DPOSITIONING

media texts attempt to place the audience in a position whereby they

hold a point of view, or feel a particular emotion

(in other words, we’re talking about

manipulation)

dPREFERRED/DOMINANT

A preferred meaning is one that might be put in place by the producers, or by the dominant values of society

gRESISTANT/ABERRANT

An aberrant reading takes place when the

audience is resistant to the dominant values of society and instead

negotiates* or resists the intended meaning

*see reception theory

QNARRATIVEThe media trains us to see the world in terms of narrative: beginning (equilibrium), middle (disruption and conflict), & end (new equilibrium). All media texts have a narrative structure

OGENRE

a category of texts with common conventions of

style, narrative, and structure

mICONOGRAPHYparticular visual signs associated with certain genres.“The iconography of this text includes a deserted house and a sinister clown, both evocative of the horror genre”

HMEDIATIONanything we experience through the media (as opposed to directly) is mediated.

NMISE-EN-SCÈNEwhatever appears within the frame –setting, lighting, characters, props“The director uses the mise-en-scène to create a sense of loneliness by framing the character against an enormous, empty landscape.”

CREGULATION

Laws, rules, guidelines which define and restrict the parameters within which the media work.

Self-regulation – within the industry (e.g. press complaints commission)

Government regulation: often operated by QANGOs! (Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisations - like OFCOM)

qDISMEMBERMENT

in advertising especially,

women’s bodies are cropped/

masked in order to emphasise

sexualised body parts.

lNEWSVALUEScriteria applied to determine what is newsworthy.

“News values determine the prominence given to news stories, their order, and whether they are included or excluded from the news agenda.”

cSTEREOTYPEAn oversimplified, sometimes humorous, representation which is used to categorise and evaluate members of a particular group

bVOYEURISMThe practice of gaining pleasure from looking at other people whilst remaining anonymous.

AUDIENCEthere are

main ways

of looking

at

audiences

3 1. Hypodermic model

2. Uses & Gratifications

model3. Reception

model

xHYPODERMIC

the media is powerful and influential, able to

inject ideas & behaviours directly

into the audience — which must be

protected from its power.

z

USES&GRATIFICATIONSTheory of audience

which emphasises the range of needs/

pleasures fulfilled by consumption of

the media.

9RECEPTIONTheory of audience that emphasises the range of ways in which audiences receive and respond to media texts – including resistant or negotiated readings