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Why Has YouTube Become So Popular?

Estimated Read Time: 3 Minutes 44 Seconds YouTube has become a cultural phenomenon with millions of hours of videos watched and uploaded on a weekly basis. Many YouTube creators have made a career out of producing content for this massive website. This article will use sociological theories to explain the popularity of this video-sharing website. Encoding A YouTube Video For Different Audience Types Hall, claims that “using recognized codes and conventions and by drawing on audience expectations, the producer can position the audience and create a certain amount of agreement on what the code (YouTube video in this case) means” (Hall: 1980: 128). This entails that a producer of a YouTube video can “position” the YouTube videos are open to different interpretations depending on cultural background, preferred reading of the medium and the reader’s individual circumstances. An example of interpreting videos on YouTube would be if a YouTube user were to post a video of hims...
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How Does A Story Make The News? Who Defines The News We See?

Estimated Read Time:  6 Minutes 24 Seconds The news is defined by Mitchell (2007) as any “new information or information on current events that can be presented by print media (Newspapers, magazines), broadcast media (Television, radio), Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience”. The news that consumers receive has gone through a process of news selection, essentially deeming what constitutes news and what does not. How Does A Story Become Newsworthy? Galtung and Ruge (1973) have provided ten key qualities that a story should have to become newsworthy .  These ten criteria are:  Timeliness ( frequency) of the story, for example, a story must be within the news cycle and the information is new or recently released Clarity or unambiguousness Proximity , or familiarity, of a story with regards to geographic and cultural proximity Significance or amplitude of the story,  Consonance (meets expectations or predictions) Novel...
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How Do Sources Influence Media Content?

Estimated Read Time: 3 Minutes 36 Seconds “The relationship between journalists and sources has been linked to a tug-of-war where each is trying to manage the other to his or her own advantage” (Tully, 2008: 23).  In order to produce a news story, journalists must rely on a source for information and clarity of the story. Otherwise, the news story would become non-objective, unclear and opinionated, which is what journalists try to avoid.  Journalists should select sources that will give the most appropriate information to them and therefore provide relevant information to frame a story around. Manning (2001), claims that “news media are usually regarded as a playing an important part in maintaining the flow of ideas and information upon which choices are made” (2001: 133). Manning also claims that “the less powerful are significantly disadvantaged to secure access to the media” (2001: 134). This causes problems due to the elite within society having the majority ...
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Are Memories Of Old Wars Used As The Fodder For New Ones?

Estimated Read Time: 3 Minutes 36 Seconds Collective memory , before, during, and after wartime plays a large part in forming a narrative that plays an important role in society.  The collective memory of an event is often expressed through the media, especially within the past 100 years. Habitually, this happens through the voices of bureaucratic institutions or figures. Fishman argues that these bureaucratic institutions are a “fountain of information” (1999 [1980]: 108) and journalists know that there will be vast information within these institutions. An example of bureaucratic institutions forming a narrative of war and collective memory was when journalists truthfully reported on the statements of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld regarding weapons that Iraq ‘had in their possession'. These statements made by the dominant social ideology (The United States Government) formed a pre-war (and post 1991 Gulf War) narrative that society could understand; Iraq has weapons and...
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Propaganda In Hollywood: Case Studies

Estimated Read Time: 4 Minutes 20 Seconds Propaganda originates from the Latin “Congregatiode Propaganda Fide” , meaning to "spread the faith".  The contemporary definition of the word has roots as far back as World War One when the term became associated with political messages.  Propaganda has been defined in the modern sense by Jowett and O’Donnell as, “the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist” (2006: 163).  The seven elements of propaganda contain the ability of propaganda to tap into emotions , source credibility , opinion leaders, using music or other media as a way to trigger an irrational response, group norms, visual symbols and the language used when engaging in propaganda.  A modern propagandist can gain access to many sources of mass media, including television, movies, and radio, not to mention social ...
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