Session 11: Circulation, Ratings, and Survival
Tonight’s Program
 Reminder about Report: Strengths and Weaknesses of
one theory found in e-readings; link theory and
practice; 200o wds; due Monday, April 23, by 6 pm
 Don’t forget to submit toTurnitin.com
 Discuss Week 10 readings: Circulation, Ratings, and
Survival
 Discuss topics for final essay
 Discuss topics for Presentation 2
Report due April 23 by email
 Take one theory that we have covered this semester
and discuss its strengths and weaknesses
 Link the theory to current journalism that you read or
follow – give examples
 Use only short quotes
 Paper must be written essay style, maximum 2000
words
 Include List of Works Consulted – alphabetical by
author’s last name. list of everything you refer to in
your paper
Evaluating the Report
Rubric for Report
20 points maximum
Theory is described and analyzed for strengths and
weaknesses
4
3 examples of today’s journalism described and
evaluated in terms of theory
6 (2 per piece of journalism)
3-5 sources used to analyze theory and/or examples
of journalism
4
Essay follows clear logical structure as per template
3
Grammar, spelling, proofreading are competent
2
List of Works Consulted follows Harvard style
1
Template for report
Construction of Report
2000 words maximum
Opening paragraph: introduces theory and briefly
indicates direction of the report
150 words
Description and analysis of theory for strengths
and weakness relating to today’s journalism;
includes sources that contribute to analysis of
theory
Several paragraphs : 300-500 words total
Description and analysis of 3 examples of today’s
media – specific stories, not general coverage;
includes sources that contribute to analysis of the
media examples
Several paragraphs: 800-1000 words
Concluding analysis of theory as relating to the
examples of today’s journalism – not repetition but
moving beyond what has already been stated above
Several paragraphs: 300 – 500 words
Submit to Turnitin
Email receipt along with report
Email as Word attachment
Deadline 6pm Monday, April 23
Turnitin.com
www.turnitin.com
Class ID: 5031097
Enrolment password: MMC910
Circulation, ratings, survival
Dennis McQuail
 Need to know audience is quite new – unites everyone in
media and relates to advertising
 How much do we know about audience: does buying paper
or tuning to TV program mean absorbing information?
 Concepts of reach:
Print – total reading public
paying readers
reading audience – paper read by more than buyer
internal audience – some parts only
Circulation, ratings, survival 2
TV /radio – potential audience (own machine)
regular audience
intensity – background or watching
actual audience for a program
Films – paying audience/go to movies
renting films
buying films
films on TV
Circulation, ratings, survival 3
Roger Clausse model of audience reception
Message offered
Message receivable – location
Message received – what was that ad about?
Message registered
Message internalized – will lead to action
Target audience – ideal group to be reached
Circulation, ratings, survival 4
 Spatial dimension of audience reach – location,
regional, not national, or local; density desired
 Time dimension – instant, daily, weekly, monthly
 Intensity of use – varies in countries/habits
 Variety of audiences – gender, age, income, occupation
 More choices means more selectivity of media
 Internal diversity – like BBC, many types of programs
 External diversity – Al Jazeera, Fox News
 Trend is to more specialized channels, media
Audience Selectivity
Biocca’s five concepts
 Selectivity – don’t watch everything
 Utilitarianism – satisfies a conscious/unconscious
need
 Intentionality – audience is active
 Resistance to influence – viewer in control
 Involvement – viewer arousal
Transnational audiences
 Multilateral flow – to many countries via networks like
BBC, CNN, etc.
 National redistribution 0f foreign media
 Bilateral – spillover effect like US/Canada or
Irish/British, India/Pakistan
 Is there an international audience?
Role of the Market
Robert C. Picard
 Media industries operate in dual service market
their own product + advertising
 Media sell audiences to advertisers
 Geographic markets – not in small countries like UAE
 Media competition: inscribed vs recorded
 Media have various strengths – Picard doesn’t get into
social media which came after 1989
 Competition greatest among similar media/not across
categories
Types of Media Competition
Perfect – many
Monopolistic competition – many products, each only
from one firm
Oligopoly – only a few big firms
Monopoly – only one/gov’t controlled
Concentration of ownership – big media
Economics of Advertising
Gillian Doyle
 Why advertising?
 Does advertising work for brands more than products?
 Advertising tries to inform and persuade
 Oligopolies limit competition, to keep out new players
 Brand proliferation – different prices, targets
 How to measure advertising?
 New media – but Doyle writes in 2002/very early
Editorial Independence?
Michelle Grattan
 Piece from 1998 speech, revised
 Interesting for implications, not relevant to GCC today
 Demolishing walls between editorial and sales
 News vs entertainment
 Should media provide info no one wants to pay for?
 Decline in circulation of print newspapers, closings
 Future of print?
 Future of media?
Topics for Final Essay
Select one of these and develop the argument using
references and some of the theories you’ve studied; use
examples from current journalism:
 Being objective in journalism is impossible
 Social media has changed everything about journalism
 The print press can’t survive beyond the 21st century
 There is no future for investigative journalism
 Press freedom is growing/or not growing worldwide
 Tabloidization is taking over the media
Evaluating the Final Essay
Rubric for Final Essay
40 points maximum
Topic and approach of essay are logically explained
in opening section
10
Relevant examples of today’s journalism are used to
back up the main argument of the essay
10 – at least 3 examples
5-7 sources are used to back up main argument and
discussion of examples of journalism
10
Literature review covers subject
3
Grammar, spelling, proofreading are competent
3
In-text citations, References (only) follow Harvard
style (no footnotes)
4
Template for Final Essay
Construction of Report
4000 words maximum
Opening section: introduces topic/argument and
briefly indicates direction of the report
Several paragraphs: 500-700 words
Literature review of relevant sources
Several paragraphs: 500-800 words
Description and analysis of at least 3 examples
from current journalism to develop the argument
Several paragraphs: 500 words per example/1500
words at least
Sources used as references discussed – they may be
included in section above to analyze examples of
journalism
Several paragraphs: 500-800 words
What does it all mean – final section
Several paragraphs: 300-500 words
Submit First Draft to Turnitin
Email receipt along with report
Email First Draft as Word attachment
Deadline 6pm Monday, May 7
Draft will be returned by end of week; final version
due May 30; June 15 if working with Karen
New Turnitin receipt required with Final Version
Topics for Presentation II
What theories from after Midterm remain useful?
From Week 7 in Syllabus beginning with Ian Ward:
Team 1 Media and Market/Ethar, Anastasia, Shumaila
Team 2 Anni, Saloomeh/
Team 3 Jaidaa, Karthik, Ali/
Presentation is on April 30
Schedule for rest of semester
Week of April 23 – no class Monday or Wednesday
Report due April 23 by 6 pm – 10 am EDT
Don’t forget to email Turnitin receipt also
Work on final Essay
Monday, April 30 – discuss Week 11 readings;
Team Presentations II
Monday, May 7 – discuss Week 12 readings
Monday, May 14 - first draft of Essay due by 6 pm
Monday; work with Karen on it
Coming Up
 MMC 911 meets in KV5 – 121 on Wednesday, April 18
 Online version of Field Trip Story 2 due before 6 pm
 Team reports I on local version of international story
in class
 Wednesday, May 2 – Team Reports II on whatever you
like
See you Wednesday!