Latest ABC results (december):

The Sun - under 3m

• In December the Sun sold an average of 2,985,672 copies each day, a 1.42% fall compared with the same month in 2006

The Mirror -under 1.5m

• An average of 1,494,114 copies a day.

The Daily Mail

• Steady year, a fall of 0.72% on November

GMG, which owns the MediaGuardian.co.uk website, asked 120 influential digital practitioners to predict the brands, sites and people to watch this year.

The results are as follows:

• James Murdoch, Google, and Google Android were the ones to watch out for this year.
• Out of which sites are used most from the list given, the results were- Facebook, Gmail, business social net LinkedIn
• Respondents were also asked for big predictions for 2008, with 64% saying iTunes would start to offer rights-free music formats, 52% saying LinkedIn would be bought and 50% predicting that a Chinese web firm would break into the western market.
• All the social networking sites are expected to grow

Miss Jones' Cover Work


Neela in ER.

• The clip opens with Neela arriving at Tony's house in an over the shoulder shot which shows Tony but the back of Neela. This shot immediately gives authority to the male, Caucasian character because he is the character the audience first sees thus encouraging identification with him, more than Neela's character.

• As Neela enters the house, it is clear that this is a date -conventionally, the conversation is centered around the dinner they will be having tonight. A 'date' is a western idea, so that in this clip, Neela is shown to stand stationary by the door and only moves when Tony comes to get her. She is then offered a glass of wine, that in a medium shot she drinks in one go. What this shows is that Asians cannot fully mix with the western culture; the hesitancy personified by Neela is meant to represent Asians as aliens to western life.

• As the clip progresses, it becomes clear that behind this hesitancy is the worry of having sex. It is the stereotype that Asian girls hold very strong anti-sex ideologies (especially before marriage) that is being performed here.

• However, it can be argued that Neela is also showing signs of being sexually active through the mutual kiss.

• She drinks wine, thus modernising the traditions of the Asian female.

• Neela speaks fluent English with the absence of a heavy Indian accent.

To summarise, it is clear that the BBC and other broadcasters such as E4 are attempting to introduce ethnic minorities in their programmes but elements of stereotyping are still evident; Neela explicitly says she is not used to 'dating' which shows cultural ideologies where 'dating' is absent. The issue of sex is also addressed so that it conforms to the stereotype of Asian females as being sexually 'restricted.' There are however, a few minor developments; Neela could be seen as sexually active, successfully adapting to the western culture to represent her as the new, "Western Asian."

MP's attack the BBC for failing to show the breakdown of its annual costs.

The media, culture and sports select committees in H.O.C scrutinised the BBC's annual report for failing to show how much they pay their top employees. These include Terry Wogan, Chris Evans and Jonathan Ross.

They argued back saying it would "cause commercial prejudice to the BBC" and that it was a breach of the employees confidence but it was also unclear why issues of data protection only applied to actors and presenters and not the BBC's trustees and executive board.

The committees hope that in this year's annual report the BBC will rectify these problems so that there is a layer of transparency and accountablity from the broadcaster.

The Government drops plans for junk food ad ban.

The proposed legislation outlining a pre-9pm ban on junk food advertising has been droped by the government who see this as invaluable.

Firstly, there are the huge effects on the industry, costing as much as £211m in TV ad revenue and then Brown's other options; his new obesti strategies include advertising and creating awareness.

With evidence supporting a 25% rise in children watching TV after 9pm, especially on non terrestrial channels, the ban seems useless anyhow.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vFL0w1ruiCM
Goodness Gracious Me: Typical Asian Parents.

This short 2 min clip is a stereotypical representation of what Asian parents are like. Noting that stereotypes are based on some truth, many would argue that this clip offers a true representation of the expectations parents have from their children.

As the clip opens, it becomes instantly recognisable that the parents have a ‘freshi’ accent, -or more commonly known as a heavy Indian accent on the English language. ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ stereotypes the parent’s speech to create authenticity; whilst this is promoting a generalisation in speech, there is of course a truth behind this – the immigration of Indians into Britain created this type of speech that is common in older Asians.

As the clip progresses, the results in the post signify the importance of education to these parents. There is a clear divide in the expectations from the mother and the father; the mother is happy to see her son’s results, whereas the father notices the single B amongst the four A’s, not appreciating the quality of the grades. This mother/father reaction is the generalised distinction in what occurs in Indian households and ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ plays on the binary opposition well to drive the narrative forward.

The father then compares his son’s grades to that of his friends. This is another comparison that is often found in the father’s reaction; he is never happy with the grades and the constant comparison with other children determines the son as a failure. There is social emphasis placed on what other parents in the community will think.

In terms of education, the clip conforms to almost every Indian parents expectations; that is to have their son become a doctor and this is certainly what the son aims for too. The profound influence of parents upon their children is unnoticeable, and what is further interesting is that during this entire conversation there is the absence of the son. –A symbolic entity highlighting the pressure of parents to the extent where their son is denied a voice.

Pluralism/ Marxism Consequences.

Marxism is society are told what to do according to class therefore people face inequality and there are types of media which are suited for that class.

However this is wrong so pluralist give choices to their audiences.

I agree with the person above, i do believe that there is a social class division, which splits the society up. The rich will stay rich and the rich will stay poor.

There is only a social class division if you think there is. And if you do then there are ways to stop that. Individuals split themselves up into social 'classes'.

Yeah, individuals are to express there opinions through ther media without restrictions. Such as google setting up blogger.com, as the audience get more literate they become more demanding and selective.But like you said, google owning blogger.com is an example of big companies owning small companies. Rupert Murdoch for instance owns many companies, and although he provides variety, he chooses what goes on and what doesn't in his companies and therefore his underlying message(if he was one) can still be approved throughout.

Firstly on blogger.com you can set up a blogger.com you can set set up a blog on anything so no ideologies ae fittered to us. Yes Murdoch will channel his opinions to us but in todays society there are so many sources to gain info from.

What's missing from this debate is the extent of ifluence from a Marxist viewpoint and a Pluralistic view too. This debate focuses heavily on factors for and against each view without explaining the 'how' successfully though towrads the end the media ownership of Murdoch does come to light. To make this more stronger, their also needs to be confident use of media terminologu suh as 'media conglomerates' and audience theories.

Rupert Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch is a well known media figure who owns several media institutions. Some of these include newspapers such as The Sun, The Daily Mail, and and tv stations such as Fox TV and Sky. Recently, Murdoch has brought the American Wall Street Journal (newspaper.) He is currently second in the Media 100 List. He studied economics as Oxford University.
Murdoch has in recent years extended his empire by branching out into eastern media instutitions. -He has brought Star TV from Hong Kong and Turkish TV channel, TGRT.