Week 8
Vehicle Strand: Ideologies and Power
In this first part of the class we consider Plato's
'Allegory of
the Cave', and how it relates to The Matrix.
We examine Marx's theory
of ideology and then look at how the notion has been taken up by Media Studies.
Finally, we consider Noam
Chomsky's understanding of the power and control exerted by the media,
and examine the front page of The
Times newspaper in both broadsheet and compact format.
Required Reading: Branston and Stafford
(2006), Ch. 6: 'Ideologies and Power'.
Environment Strand: Everyone a Publisher
In this second part of the class we look at the question of the control
of information online. Starting from McLuhan's suggestion that "the
Xerox makes everyone a publisher" (1977,
p. 178), we go on to examine ideological gatekeeping, focusing principally
on Dan Gillmor's book We
the Media, as well as the limitations imposed by forms of economic
gatekeeping. We close by discussing Levinson's suggestion that the avalanche
of potentially poor-quality information online is handled not by filtration
but by evaluation, exemplified by Google
and Amazon.
Optional Reading: McLuhan and Fiore, 1967,
pp. 8, 25, 68, 88, 123, 150.
Optional Reading: Levinson, 1999, Ch.10.
Module Forum
Topics under discussion in the Module Forum this week
include Plato's prisoners, Marx's critique of society, Chomsky's assessment
of the role of sport and popular entertainment, film classification, different
versions of The Times, and McLuhan on photocopiers.
For more information on the Module Forum see the section on Assessment in
the Module Handbook.
Before the Next Class You Need To...
(1) Read Branston and Stafford (2003), Ch.
14: 'Postmodernisms' (note that this is in the 3rd edition).
If you're stuck or confused, post your problem on the forum or .