Ofcom has dismissed claims by a group of MPs that the 9pm watershed is failing to protect young children because they can now access television online. Giving evidence at a culture, media and sport committee hearing today, the Ofcom chief executive, Ed Richards, denied the regulator had put itself in an "impossible and absurd position" by not doing more to regulate objectionable content on the web. Richards was responding to claims made by Nigel Evans, the Ribble Valley conservative MP, who argued that Ofcom's powers over broadcasting should be more rigorously applied to internet content. "It's important to remember that the watershed isn't dead," Richards said. "Despite the internet, television remains remarkably resilient as a medium. The watershed is still a very important and I think it will remain so for several years." The cross-party group of MPs raised concerns about services such as the BBC iPlayer, which make it possible for anyone to view post-watershed content at any time of the day. The Ofcom partner for content and standards, Stuart Purvis, said a lot of the responsibility rested with parents to make sure their children were not watching inappropriate material. "If you look at the iPlayer, it immediately asks you if you are over 16," Purvis said. "The question that arises is: Are children going to understand that or are they going to override it?" He added that new technology had "in a sense disadvantaged parents" who might not necessarily know how to use access locks to protect children from post-watershed content. However, both Purvis and Richards dismissed suggestions that it was the role of Ofcom on its own to encourage parents to become more aware of their children's online activities. "We are definitely not the right body to deliver a mass campaign to promote media literacy," Richards said. "We are not qualified enough to do it. We don't have the skills to do it. I think somebody does have to do that, but it's not the duty of Ofcom. "That sort of mass campaign to bring parents understanding of literacy issues is not appropriate for us." Asked by the panel whether he would allow a 10-year-old to watch Channel 4 drama Shameless, Richards replied: "Parents have got to make that judgment. These are matters for parents. "The issue for us is: Is it in the right place in the schedule? I think it is." Richards also told MPs that Ofcom would be willing to cooperate if police decided to launch an investigation into ITV's premium-rate phone abuses, but he said the regulator had not yet been approached to provide evidence. Ofcom's appearance before the culture, media and sport committee comes after the publication of a report by Dr Tanya Byron in March on how to protect children on the internet. Among the key recommendations was the introduction of a national strategy for child internet safety, which involves a self-regulatory approach to internet content. The Byron report also called for better provision of information to families, after it concluded that there was a "generational digital divide", which meant parents did not feel equipped to protect their children online.
The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, has outlined ambitious plans for Freesat, the corporation's free digital satellite TV joint venture with ITV, including offering access to on-demand programming via broadband TV services such as iPlayer and Kangaroo. Thompson, speaking at the press launch of Freesat today, said the service was aiming to swiftly offer viewers broadband internet access through an in-built ethernet connection in set-top boxes. "The long-term goal of Freesat is to connect to broadband and the internet [to make] services such as the iPlayer and Kangaroo accessible through boxes like this," he added. Thompson said that offering broadband access via Freesat boxes, something that BSkyB is also aiming for with its Sky+ personal video recorder boxes, marked "something new in satellite broadcasting in this country" that would be available to all households. A senior executive at Freesat said that the plan was to offer broadband access via an ethernet connection within "months". Freesat has been pitched as a potential rival in some respects to Sky, which offers subscription and free satellite services, and its long-term plans and customer acquisition strategy. Michael Grade, the executive chairman of ITV, said that as its high definition channel would be available via Freesat the broadcaster would not necessarily now need to do a deal to offer the network via Sky's digital satellite service. "ITV HD won't be available on Sky at the moment," Grade added. "We are a commercial organisation and won't give it to Sky for nothing." However, Thompson said that Freesat was "not intended in any way to compete with BSkyB's central proposition". "Freesat represents a new choice out there in the market and more choice," he added. "Sky is pretty expensive and it is possible for many to switch to free satellite at a lower price … [Sky's] free proposition has not been front of mind to date." Emma Scott, the managing director of Freesat, said that while the service currently had no capability to offer subscription services it would be "considered in the future". "It is fundamentally a free platform," she added. Channel Five is expected to join Freesat in the near future, once programming rights issues had been resolved. For now the service will features BBC, ITV and Channel 4 networks. Grade said that Freesat, which was originally mooted to launch in 2006, "represents the final piece in the UK digital TV jigsaw". "Freesat is absolutely complementary to the UK's most popular [digital] platform Freeview," he added. "Every house can have access to free-to-air digital TV and we are confident it will be a huge success." Thompson said that Freesat would "make a real difference" in achieving the BBC's aim of transmitting its high quality programming to licence fee payers across the UK on its new HD channel. "We are moving as fast as we can to get our crown jewels in HD all onto Freesat," he said. Freesat is targeting two main demographics: households that have snapped up around 9.6m HD-ready TV sets; and the 27% of UK households that are currently unable to get digital terrestrial TV service Freeview. Even after digital switchover is complete it is estimated that around 13% of households will only be able to access around half of the channels on Freeview. Freesat has a total annual budget of £6m, funded by ITV and the BBC, of which an undisclosed amount will be spent on marketing the service to consumers. The Sky chief operating officer, Mike Darcey, criticised ITV's decision not to make ITV HD available on Sky.He said: "ITV want to have their cake and eat it. On the one hand, they are claiming to champion HD for all, while on the other, they are deliberately withholding free-to-air content from almost half a million Sky HD homes. "This is neither in viewers' interests nor in keeping with ITV's 'HD for all' posturing. All in all, this is curious behaviour for a public service broadcaster."
The Office of Fair Trading has flagged up potential competition concerns with Kangaroo, the on-demand service planned by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. The watchdog is inviting interested parties to comment on the venture, which will be headed by Ashley Highfield, the outgoing BBC director of future media and technology. The OFT is asking for submissions by May 14. It will then consider whether it has grounds to refer Kangaroo to the Competition Commission for investigation. Kangaroo is a joint venture between the BBC's commercial division, BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4. It aims to be a shop window for the three broadcasters' programming, allowing viewers to download digital versions of shows, either for purchase or on an advertising-funded model. The service will initially be available via the web, with shows available either streamed or to download. However, the ultimate aim is to deliver Kangaroo content direct to televisions. By pooling the resources of the UK's three leading terrestrial broadcasters, Kangaroo poses a potential threat to Virgin Media, which increasingly sells itself as an on-demand operator, and BSkyB, which also offers on-demand through broadband and the Sky+ box. One point of controversy for the OFT to investigate is likely to be the relationship between Kangaroo, a commercial enterprise, and the BBC's publicly funded iPlayer, a highly successful on-demand catch-up service. The BBC Trust has yet to give its approval to Kangaroo, which will need to pass a number of tests including the need to "avoid distorting the market".
Kangaroo are facing competition from Virgin and BSkyB, who are also media giants. These two institutions also offer the same service but already have an on-demand service. BBC, ITV and Ch4 will have Kangaroo to as a venture that will sell itself as an on-demand operator.
There are renewed concerns about the UAE's commitment to press freedom following the decision by the Dubai telecom company, Du, to block any website deemed to offend the state's "moral, social and cultural values". According to the UAE telecommunications regulatory authority, the proxy server is blocking websites that contain pornography, alcohol, gambling, hatred, child abuse or terrorism. But many more sites than just those containing these subjects appear to be covered by the proxy. (Via Arabian Business)
This shows hows Dubai is an Hegemonic state, where the UAE telecommunications are blocking certain sites and injecting ideas such as Child abuse websites create moral panics. People of dubai are not able to access these sites which also shows that Dubai is a non-pluralistic society, as each individual cannot make a choice as there is no choice and emphasizing that people of Dubai are passive. Although due to adult websites and other child abuse websites, moral panics in Dubai is increasing, therefore after this ban it would reduce the moral panic in society. Yet this also breaks down Voyeurism, as people who should not be seeing something, will not be able to see it as for e.g. Adult websites.
But after-all this reinforces the ideology of capitalism; Dubai is the fastest growing economy in the world and so it holds power. Therefore money is power, and this company can do anything. Also showing Patriarchy in some extent.
25th June 1950: Korean War- (war between North and South) 26th Oct 1950: House of Common first Broadcasted on BBC- 11th July 1950: Andy Pandy’s Screen Debut 4th Jan 1951: Tv Camera in 10 downing street 25h June 1951: CBS transmots first Colour TV programme 15th Feb 1952: King George VI (6th) 18th Dec 1952: Bill and Ben Kids show 1st July 1955: Rosa Bus Boycott 16th oct 1958: Blue peter starts
1960s
9 November 1960: JFK first youngest elected president (35th president) 12th June 1964: Nelson Mandela sentenced to imprisonment (found guilty) 1963: JKF assassinated Marilyn Monroe found dead (36 year old actress) 1967: First heart transplant 1st Jan 1964 : Top of the pops 22nd Aug 1964: Forst matvh of the day 20th april 1964: BBC 2 Launch 30th July 1966: England wins world cup 1969: Man lands on moon
1970s
1972: Newsround, News for children’s. Gas prices in US needed to increase by 35% 1979: Margaret Thatcher first female Prime Minister
1980s
Police Women introduced 1982 channel 4 launches 1989 sky lanches first satellite service 1984: Spitting image shown on TV (comedy) 1984: The Bill 1986: Aids campaign 1989-1990: Berlin war falls, Germany is united
1990s
1996 Simpsons get introduced by Sky to new audiences1997 Channel 5 gets launched by the power of five (spice girls) Margaret Thatcher resigns as British Prime Minister 1995: Gay and Lesbian TV programme 1996: Changing rooms: hosted by a women, (DIY at home) 1998: Viagra on sale 1998: Who wants to be an Millionaire (capitalist society) 1999: Queer as a Folk (gay programme)
2000s
2000: Weakest link (capitalist society) 2000: Big Brother 2000: George Bush become president 2001: Terrorist attack on Twin towers 2004: Tsunami in asia 2005: Desperate Housewives 2005: Iraq elections 2005: London 7/7 attacks
Using a comparison of two texts as a starting point, consider the issue and debates that they raise
The two texts that are being compared is the home page of ‘The Sun’ posted Friday, 4th April, a British Tabloid newspaper owned by News Corp and the BBC News report about the Tiananmen Square massacre, first broadcast on BBC1 on 04-06-89. ‘The Sun’ online homepage lists all news stories, gossip, pictures, articles and other entertainment news which are hard and soft news. The online newspaper aims to attract contemporary audience. The BBC Report about Tiananmen Square massacre aims to educate and inform the audience about the event in 1989.
Both texts The Sun online and BBC News report centre on the same narrative which is news. The Sun online, illustrates latest news headlines on its homepage, covering hard news and mostly soft news, however The Sun homepage only shows western stories, showing that it is US and UK Centric, focusing more on the western world. By looking at the homepage we do not see any other world news. On other hand the BBC news report is showing us the world news which is hard news, this shows how globalised the media has become.
BBC is serious about news, where they always Inform, Educate and entertain (Reithian values) BBC provides a wide range of news stories, covering all worldwide issues and events; this shows how Globalisation has become important in the world. Mclluhan’s theory on ‘The global village’ states that the media is able to show events and issues from around the world, therefore BBC have adapted themselves to this theory. This would make BBC more competitive as The Sun does not provide much of the world news. The news clip is considered as hard news where it educates and informs the audience about the Massacre in Tiananmen, as this is being reported from the other side of the world, this shows how BBC is concerned about international issues. On the other hand The Sun provides more Soft news where they focus mainly only on the cult of celebrity as a narrative is being created of celebrities issue by issue, however they also show national stories such as a farmer marrying a goat. Linking this to audience we presumably say that the audience back in the 1989 for the BBC news report would have been middle and upper class. However The Sun aims to attract working class citizens, but as this is a online version of the newspaper we would say that the audience would be more contemporary, so this could mean that the print media is attracting the working class, but the online version would be attracting teenagers or office workers who would be checking during their lunch times.
Furthermore Print media is a currently in decline since the last decade, as we now have online newspapers, radio and new media such as mobile phones where you can get news updates sent straight to the phone. Therefore Rupert Murdoch had decided to launch an online version so he can compete against other institutions such as BBC news online and be able to a wider audience, who can view the online version from anywhere from the world.
The main contrast which is seen is that the BBC news report has been reported by a female correspondent over in China, this implies that the women is educated, professional and independant. Nevertheless, by looking at The Sun homepage we see females being objectified and under represented through the Page 3 links and the web player of scantily clad models from page 3. This highlights that BBC is representing women in a fair way by portraying them being resourceful and this was during the late 80s, this represents BBC as liberal. Whereas in The Sun homepage, women are being objectified though such stories as Jordan dressed in a tight mermaid suit. Although The Sun’s editor is a female, women are still being placed on page 3; this is because gate-keeping is all assigned by Rupert Murdoch himself. The editor allows these kinds of pictures to appear as this will increase readership, which will grow newspaper sales. Plus audience expectations need to be met who are primarily the white van men and like to see topless women. However this is not shocking, as The Sun is infamous for its Page 3 since the birth of the paper, this is also supports Laura Mulveys theory that women are the subject of the male gaze.
The news report shows the political protests in China during the late 1980s, yet we can link this to current issues in Tibet, where people are protesting again on the political corruption. This shows China in an unstable position as there politics are not in control and this is causing havoc and is mis-representing the country. Also the news report is being told from a white Caucasian female correspondent and she is describing the situation in her own words, rather from an actual citizen who would know more about this situation, we can say that it is hegemonic, as the news report is feeding us ideologies because the audience don’t know what is happening, so we are being injected with ideologies from a white person, which is hegemonic reading. However according to today’s society, United Kingdom has become more ethnically diverse and because of multi-culturalism we would not have seen this kind of news report today on TV as it would have been offensive.
Although the BBC news report discusses on a major issue in China back in 1989, The Sun newspaper focuses on many different news stories centred mainly on celebrities (soft news) and big local news stories. These sensationalised news headlines on the sun’s homepage create moral panics in the country such as ‘Teenage Worries about drugs’. Whereas the BBC has serious dedicated news focusing on political and economical issues (hard news) and be updating news every hour just for the audience who are willing to be informed.
Using a comparison of two texts as a starting point, consider the issue and debates that they raise
The two texts that are being compared is a ‘BBC Radio times Magazine’ published April 1976 London and the opening sequence of American TV programme ‘ER’ season 13, 2007. The ‘BBC Radio times Magazine’ lists all TV and radio programmes that are air on the BBC network. The opening sequence of ‘ER’ aims to introduce the characters of the Hospital drama series.
Both texts ‘BBC Radio times Magazine’ and the opening sequence of ‘ER’ are centred on the same genre which is Hospital drama. Clearly for the Radio times this is seen from looking at the iconographic props that are seen from the front cover like the X-ray print and the typical nurse uniform, being the typical repertoire of genre. From looking at the opening sequence of ‘ER’ it follows the general conventions of the genre, the setting gives us the hint that it set in a hospital, we see iconographic scenes of patients on ward beds, an ambulance arriving in emergency, and Defibrillators being used, these are typical repertoires of the genre. The colours also connote state of emergency as the colour blue is used.
The editing of the opening sequence of ‘ER’ is fast paced, the reason for this can be that the programme wants to introduce the drama quick as possible, also display the characters on screen to show who is starring in the drama. The other meaning of presenting a fast paced opening sequence is that it reflects the type of narrative it is and generally how the atmosphere of Hospitals are like. The non-diegetic music that is played over the opening sequence is quite intense which creates a mood for the audience, engaging them right from the start.
The audience will have visceral pleasures, where they see different scenes being shown of the drama series, which pulls together a opening sequence, our mood changes to different scenes that are shown, just like at different points on a rollercoaster ride. This would also attract the genre communities which enjoy watching the particular genre. The audience for BBC’s programme ‘Angels’ will initially be females, because they would identify themselves with the characters. Plus BBC is a mass audience institution which already has a set audience, therefore fans of BBC will definitely watch their programmes, more than looking back at the 1970s there was not a variety of channels to select from compared to today, where there are many competing institutions like Sky, Virgin, BT.
Women that are shown in the Radio times, highlight the female workforce during the 1970s in hospitals, which subverted the typical house-wives stereotype. Yet these females are nurses, which are at the bottom of the hierarchy compared to Doctors and Surgeons, this under-represents them being inferior to their seniors, it creates sense of patriarchy as these five women are just nurses. Although the stereotype of nurses is being fulfilled as we usually see female nurses in hospitals. If this advert was to be made in today’s time, and then we would not see all white-Caucasian nurses, they would be from different ethnic backgrounds. If we had seen all white Caucasian female nurses on the front cover today, it would be portray the ideology of racism, and as it is a regional print for London, presently this would be invalid as London is very multi-cultural. The opening sequence of the American TV series ‘ER’ displays both genders, however the first character that is introduced is male doctor, this signifies that the role of a Doctor is commonly held by males and they are more skilled, if we had seen a female character being introduced first then there would had been greater impact to the representation of females. However we do see female characters on screen, most of them are white-Caucasian, however only one of them is an Asian female which has seen to be centric, this is because the character ‘Parminder Nagra’ is shown many times through the opening sequence, showing that Asian women are active and are successful, this breaks the stereotype of the typical housewife, but supports the stereotype of Asians becoming doctors/surgeons.
The Institutions of these texts are completely different, for the Radio times front cover of programme ‘Angels’, BBC are the makers of it who are a British media institution. BBC aims to inform, educate and entertain, as the programme ‘Angels’ shows the life of nurses in hospitals it fulfils it’s missions statement which was though by Lord Reithian. The programme ‘ER’ is an American TV series which is aired on NBC, as this institution makes high budgeted dramas, it was able to show this type of genre in a realistic way which inevitably received many viewings, not only that but this programme is also available on NBC HD (High Definition) which is more appealing for contemporary people.
The ‘Radio times’ front cover does not clearly show its narrative; however by looking at the picture we can build a narrative around it, being a hospital drama. There are binary oppositions that are illustrated, which is the title ‘Angels’ denotating someone good and the genre being Hospital drama denotating the fight of disease. Other enigmas that are created are by the text information which states ‘too good to be true’ which can reflect the narrative.
‘Angels’ has a great impact on feminism, as this would be a breakthrough for them, showing that females are active and not passive, yet not being objectified in anyway. Although we do not see any other ethnicity in the picture, which states that BBC encouraged the invisibility of ethnic minorities, as confronter Enoch Powell had fed the idea of ‘rivers of blood’ into the people, so ethnic minorities were never seen in programmes as institutions thought them as the ‘other’. However if we look at the remake of ‘Angels’ women are now being more objectified which backs up Laura Mulvey’s theory of women being the object of the male gaze. Although in the remake version we see an Asian character playing a role of a nurse yet is a lesbian which mis-represents Asians, the token Asian female in the drama.
‘ER’ on the other hand also shows tokenism of Asian and black ethnicity, however according to the opening sequence, the Asian female is seen to hold a major role, as she has been shown a couple of times. This portrays Asians being successful and skilful, furthermore highlighting the rise of the brown pound. This shows how multicultural the society in America and in the UK is.
Similarities - Mainly female character(s) are involved in both trailers - Following the generic conventions of Horror (genre) - Events happening to kids/students, who are unmarried - Blood is involved; props such as daggers/knives are used. Diegetic sound used: Screams. Non-Diegetic sound: Music
Differences - ‘Death Tunnel’ has objectified women way more than in ‘Nightmare of elm Street - ‘Death Tunnel’ has a more modern way of following the genre elements compared to ‘Nightmare of elm Street’ - ‘Death Tunnel’ narrative based around real events at ‘Waverly Hills Sanatorium’ whereas ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ is imaginary and fictionous. - Trailer of ‘Death tunnel’ provides more text information in the trailer such as website (telling us how new/modern it is) other text which help us to understand the narrative, reviews by critics/magazines and other credits. Whereas in ‘Nightmare on Elm street’ we just see the title of the film half way through the trailer and finally at the end with the directors name and production/distribution company. - The style of editing in Nightmare on Elm street is very plain, just straight cuts, whereas in Death tunnel editing is completely different such as having fast paced cuts, fades, blurs and other fancy/special edits. - Music: Death Tunnel has Rock Music, Nightmare on Elm Street has more subtle eerie music, piano/keyboard based. - From different centuries, one is new and other is old.
Issues & Debates - Patriarchy still valid, Voice over done by a man. - Increasing objectification of women over time.
S.H.E.P Social: Women are sinners, and if they are they get punishments for it. Historical: ‘Death tunnel’ based around true events, showing history of ‘Waverly Hills Sanatorium’
Other Related texts Wes Craven Directed: ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ ‘The hills have eyes’ ‘Last house on the left’
Essay
The two texts which I comparing are ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ directed by Wes Craven, 1984 and ‘Death Tunnel’directed by Philip Adrian Booth, 2005. Both of these texts are trailers which are there to attract the targeted audiences, they aim to sell the film through these trailers, which has a great impact on the influencing the audience to go and watch the film.
The ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ trailer has a complete different style of editing. Throughout the trailer we don’t see any scenes flowing along, yet we see a narrative building up, there are only straight cuts shown which gives us a new scene; very different from the previous. comparing this to ‘Death tunnel’ we are shown many different editing techniques, such as fades, blurs, straight cuts and other fancy edits which gives the trailer a kick, it also is successful in building up a generic narrative. The type of editing which is used in ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ is very plain, this does not build up any tension but some drastic emotions one after the other, however ‘Death Tunnel’ builds tension up along, we expect to see more after the first scene. This clearly shows that these films are not from the same era, it can be quite easily differentiated.
The characters that are shown in both films are victims of death, which follows the generic conventions of the genre which is horror and slasher. Both films have shown female victims of the predator(s) that is ‘Freddy Kruger’ for Nightmare on Elm Street and ‘the five ghosts’ for Death Tunnel. This can be linked to the ideology ‘patriarchy’ because the idea of the females in the trailers being controlled by the predator shows some sort of patriarchy, which is in Nightmare on Elm Street by Freddy Kruger which is a man, and in Death Tunnel by the five ghosts, which shows that women are easily victimised and so are shown being dominated under some sort of figure, foreseeing it to be man. These films also reinforce objectification, not that the trailers show or expose explicit scenes of women of any kind, yet what we see is that women are being put on screen, where we as viewers are seeing them, just like voyeurs. Linking this to audience ,we definitely know that the target audience are both male and females, because the genre aims at both genders although due to the slasher genre, we expect to see more male audiences, which tells us that there would be the ‘male gaze’ where women are objectified.
The representation of women is clearly shown through the props, acting and dialogues. In Nightmare on Elm Street, we see that the female protagonist is scantily clad on the bed yet her boyfriend out of bed, whereby guessing they just had a sexual intercourse. We assume that they are not married and that the female is a sinner for premarital sex, this is why she is getting punished through these nightmares. this follows the conventions of the typical genre. Although the idea that comes across is that both films are ostensibly promoting violence against women.
The lighting in both trailers is low-key, which supports the generic elements of the genre. Darker colours show mysteriousness, which makes the audience feel uncomfortable to see around and which finally they identify themselves with the character, as if they are in their position searching their way. The non-diegetic music played in the background of both trailers differ from each other, ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ plays rather subtle eerie, piano/keyboard based music yet it is parallel, which is very traditional for horror films. however ‘Death Tunnel’ has rock Music being played over half way of the trailer which can be contrapuntal or parallel towards the trailer, though modern films usually have adapted to this idea as it supports the intense graphic violence being shown, yet it can be argued that how rock music is relevant to horror genre in general. Referring to ’28 days later’ (2003) another horror film, also plays rock music in the background. Looking at both films the voice-over is done by a man, which shows since 1984 and till today patriarchy is still valid in society.
Both films are from the Hollywood industry, which are able to create high-budgeted films. The Hollywood industry is very big, without a doubt having mass audiences. ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ directed by Wes craven, who produced similar films such as ‘The hills have eyes’ and ‘Last house on the left’ and ‘Scream’ his films are seen by genre communities, which love the horror genre, and cultural communities who are the fans. ‘Death Tunnel’ directed by Philip Adrian Booth who is not very well known, although the film will receive viewings due to the genre communities and the truth behind the whole narrative. Overall the institution also impacts on appealing the audience to see the film.
The Guardian has landed the most nominations for an individual newspaper for this year's British Press Awards with 14 on the shortlists published today. In terms of overall nominations, close behind the Guardian is the Sunday Times with 13, the Independent with 12 and the Times with 11. Tom Newton Dunn, the Sun's defence editor, is nominated three times, including for reporter of the year – along with his colleague John Kay – and scoop of the year, for his "Friendly fire kills Matty Hull story" story. Newton Dunn is also shortlisted in the BPA's campaign of the year category, for the Sun's Help for Heroes initiative. He has already won the What the Papers' Say scoop of the year award for the Matty Hull story. Overall, the Sun has nine BPA nominations, the same as the Daily Mail. The Mail on Sunday received eight nominations, while the Daily Mirror, the Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph share six each. The Observer has five nominations and the Independent on Sunday and the Sunday Telegraph have two apiece. The Sunday Mirror has three nominations. But there are no BPA nominations for the News of the World, the Daily Express, Sunday Express, Daily Star and Sunday Star A News of the World source confirmed that the News International title did put forward entries for consideration by the BPA judges. However, Northern and Shell, publisher of the Express and Star titles, was unable to confirm at the time of publication whether any of their journalists or stories were put forward for nomination. In the reporter of the year category, the Sun's Newton Dunn is up against competition from the Mail on Sunday's Dennis Rice, Andrew Gilligan of the London Evening Standard and the FT's Gillian Tett. Others nominated for reporter of the year are Stephen Wright (Daily Mail), David Leppard (Sunday Times) and Lori Campbell (Sunday Mirror). For scoop of the year, Newton Dunn faces rivals including the Daily Mirror's Stephen Moyes, David Leigh and Rob Evans of the Guardian, and the Sunday Times' Holly Watt and Robert Winnett. The British Press Awards, organised by Press Gazette, were relaunched last year after a boycott in 2006 by Associated Newspapers and the Telegraph Media Group. Shortlisted nominees were chosen by 100 judges drawn from all the national newspapers, the regional press and independent figures from the world of journalism. The winners will be announced at the awards dinner on April 8 at the Grosvenor House hotel in London, hosted by Jon Snow. Shortlists for newspaper of the year, journalist of the year and international journalist of the year are to be announced next week.
Yahoo formally rejected Microsoft's unsolicited $31-a-share takeover bid today, claiming the offer — which values Yahoo at around $41bn (£21bn) — was too low. The internet firm said it had "carefully reviewed Microsoft's unsolicited proposal with Yahoo's management team and financial and legal advisers and has unanimously concluded that the proposal is not in the best interests of Yahoo and our stockholders". Yahoo's shares rose 0.8 per cent to $29.43 in morning trading on Wall Street, indicating that traders believe a larger bid may follow. Shares in Microsoft, which must now decide whether to come back with a higher bid, go hostile or walk away from a deal, were down almost 2 per cent. The Yahoo board had spent 10 days reviewing the bid, during which time it fell in value by around 7 per cent along with Microsoft's share price. The software giant is proposing to pay $31 each for half of Yahoo's outstanding shares and 0.9509 of a Microsoft share for the other half. On February 1, when the offer was announced, this valued its target at $44.6bn and was a 62 per cent premium on Yahoo's share price before the bid. But while Yahoo's shares have since soared, Microsoft's share price has dropped steadily. Media reports over the weekend claimed Yahoo's board had concluded that a $40-a-share offer would be fair. This would value the company at more than $57bn. The Times reported today that Yahoo was exploring tie-ups with other media companies, such as Disney or AOL, as a way of avoiding being taken over by Microsoft. Analyst firm Sanford C Bernstein predicted in a note to clients that Microsoft would increase its offer to $35 a share and could go as high as $40. Other analysts say Yahoo's board believes the company is worth more than $31 a share because recent changes in strategy have not yet come to fruition. "The board is saying, 'We think we can keep the company together and do far better with it than Microsoft ever will,''' said Daniel Taylor, an analyst at research firm Yankee Group in Boston. If the deal goes through, it would create an online search and advertising group that could rival the market leader, Google. Between them, Microsoft and Yahoo offer desktop, mobile and server operating systems, office applications, online services such as email and search, photo sharing and social bookmarking. Microsoft made its offer just a few days after Yahoo announced a sharp drop in profits and said it would cut 7 per cent of its staff. Some commentators believe Microsoft is unwilling to launch a hostile bid because the resultant disruption could encourage Yahoo staff to seek alternative employment, making a succesful integration of the two companies more difficult.
The acting Virgin Media chief executive, Neil Berkett, today described its attempt to buy ITV as "a moment in time", apparently quashing any chance that it might revisit the scheme. The cable company approached ITV about a potential takeover in November 2006 only to see its plan thwarted by satellite rival BSkyB, which bought a 17.9% stake in the producer and broadcaster. "The bid for ITV was a moment in time, which was a view of the apparent value of the asset, a view of what Virgin Media could do with that asset and a view of potentially monetising some of our tax position," Berkett said today at a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch. "The market is completely different today to what it was then and for us to reconsider anything in the acquisition of a production [company], an ITV lookalike, we would have to view it on its merits. But I'm not commenting on our M&A [merger and acquisitions] activity." He added: "If you look at any organisation they will take their strategy and they will look at the assets that become available in the context of that strategy and the context of the time." Berkett also cast doubt on the wisdom of Sky's move, which looks set to be unravelled at a potential cost of £250m, after the government told the satellite broadcaster to sell down its ITV stake. He added: "The flipside is was it sensible for somebody else to acquire 18% of ITV? Was that part of their strategy? Does that mean they don't have a clearly defined position?" Berkett added that Virgin was now focusing on emphasising the technical superiority of its broadband offering, which it is starting to make available at super-fast speeds of 50Mb. He described broadband as Virgin's "hero product" alongside the rest of its quad-play offering of TV, fixed-line telephony and mobile. Berkett said Virgin was concentrating on "mid-range" customers rather than taking on Sky at the premium end of the market for exclusive TV rights to sport or films. "That happens to be where the profit pool is growing," he said. "In premium TV we don't have an advantage and the profit pool is stagnating." The company would not be investing in premium content such as sports rights, Berkett added. "Unless there's a change in the regulatory landscape, you won't see us put shareholder capital in premium content, although I happen to think there should be a change in the regulatory landscape," he said. Despite the failed ITV bid, the company retains an interest in TV programming through owning Virgin Media TV, formerly Flextech, which operates channels including Living TV and a 50% share of UKTV, a joint venture with BBC Worldwide. Berkett also pointed to other content ventures such as Virgin's collaboration with Setanta and ITN to set up a sports news channel to rival Sky Sports News. "The biggest mistake we could make in broadband would be to become a utility and therefore how we ensure we are not just a pipe is absolutely critical in evolving the strategy," he said. "Content control and content in some shape or form has to be a critical component of that." Berkett has been acting as chief executive since August, when Steve Burch left Virgin. He said it was for the board decide who the permanent replacement would be, adding that he would like to continue as chief executive.
1) Position of the camera 2) Lighting 3) Composition (how is it set up) 4) Framing 5) Focus 6) Objects and people (positioning of) 7) Meanings which result
Iconic – Signs which are what they represent Indexical – Signs linked o a certain aspect e.g. cardboard boxes imply homelessness Symbolic level – Signs with deeper levels of meaning e.g. American Flag – freedom Signifier – the physical form of the sign Signified – what the sound or image expresses
The medium being analysed is print and is a movie poster for 'I am Legend' although it is not clear what the movie title is unless you see the website address. The poster is there to sell the movie, it is there to promote it to attract the targeted audience.
The first aspect of the poster which stands out is the bold typography. 'The Last man on Earth Is not Alone' hints us the narrative of the movie, although we are not sure that if it is the film title, it seems more like a tag line. The assumption of the tag line hinting us the narrative/genre corrresponds to the setting which is behind the typography. The text is transparent which allows the audience to see the background. It covers most of the poster frame, the font size gets bigger as it goes down the poster. The word 'Alone' is directly behind the person who may be the protagonist in the movie this implies that he may be the last man on earth and is not alone. Other credits we see is 'Will Smith' which is above the film title, this is the protagonists name, i can say this because the character is well known within the action genre. Some other credits such as 'december' is understandable that is the release month and 'iamlegend.com' would undoubtedly be the direct website address for the film, this would be for the contemporary people who use computers, so the advertisers not only just want to use print media but also electronic media i.e. diversification in advertising, this would sell the movie to more people, trying to attract a wider audience.
There is low key lighting used, which implies gloomyness and mysteriousness, this realates to the genre of the movie, which can be urban action and thriller this can be said by looking at the Mise-en-scene of the poster and relating by the well known protagonist. Also the film looks like it is set in a urban area, we can see the New York skyline in the background, the Empire state building is a symbolic sign as it is linked and it represents Amercia, the indexical sign is identified by the audience and know that the film is set in America-New York, it strikes out to the audience as it is is well known skyscraper.
The Character is more focused than anything on the poster, so this implies that they are quite important in the film. The focus of the background is quite faint, which makes it quite gloomy. The postion of the character emphasise confidence, it seems as if he/she is walking from completing a mission/or saving the day. Although the character covers a small part of the poster but he/she is clearly focused. The characteristics of the protagonist seems masculine and that it is a man, the props that they wear are casual clothes, this shows a fair representation of the character, it seems that he is an normal city citizen. We can clearly see the protagonist is ethnically black, mature adult. 'Will Smith' has always represented the Black ethnicity in his films and has shown that he holds a responsible role in any film he does. This may be because he wants to break the general stereotyping of Black men and that not everyone is bad or violent, but helpful and that Black people can hold resourceful/responsible roles. Overall the poster tries to hold a neutral representation of black people.
The target market that would be for this film would be 15 year olds or over. The primary target market would be people who are interested in the type of genre, this would usually be men. The male audience would be attracted becuase of the genre or as they would identify themselves with Will Smith. On the other hand the secondary audience would be the Female audience, the female will only be attracted by the character Will Smith, as the character would be a sexual object for the female, which would fulfil their fantasy.
The poster reinforces many ideologies and values, the main one is Nationalism, this is becuase Will Smith is American and we see the Empire State Building so this tells us that the protagonist is showing nationalism, a slightly showing the patrioism Ideology, as he is representing America. However there is patriarchy ideology shown in the poster, as there is no other person except one man, the text that appears on the poster 'the last man...' tells us that the last person in the world is a man, corresponds to the first person on earth which was 'Adam'. This reinforces the fact that man rules the world.
The Institution of the text is not stated, but it seems a big budget film.
The Narrative is not known, but the audience can create some own ideas about the movie.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has bought a 14.6% stake in German pay-TV operator Premiere for €287m (£214m), five years after losing £1bn on a previous investment in the broadcaster. News Corp and BSkyB, the UK satellite company in which it holds a 39% stake, withdrew from the German TV market after a failed investment in the stricken media empire Kirch, Premiere's owner until 2002. At the time Murdoch described the loss as a "black eye" and all but decided to pull out of mainland Europe, although he moved into Italy shortly afterwards. The News Corp chairman and chief executive today hailed Premiere - which was floated in 2005 by private equity group Permira - as Germany's "foremost pay-TV business". "Pay-TV is a core business for News Corporation and it's a category that's thriving across Europe with a multitude of new services and innovations," Rupert Murdoch said. "We see enormous potential for growth in Germany and believe the time is right to invest in its foremost pay-TV business, Premiere." Premiere has more than 10 million viewers and more than 4m subscribers in Germany and Austria, News Corp said. News Corp bought its stake from the German cable operator Unitymedia. Shares in Premiere jumped 26% after the announcement. The deal is the first major investment since Murdoch's son James stepped up from being Sky's chief executive to News Corp chairman and chief executive, Europe and Asia. News Corp has been taking a closer interest in mainland Europe in recent years, making investments in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Poland and Latvia, and also further afield in Georgia. The company also owns Sky Italia, which has more than 4m subscribers, while Sky has built up its customer base in the UK and Ireland to 8.7m.
Murdoch is spreading his influence over to Europe, this just builds his power over the media.
