Media Sociology O and A level 9699 and IGCSE

Sociology media

1. MEDIA

2. Old Media
■What is the media?
■One to Many form of communication
■Impersonal
■Lacking in immediacy(old media)
■Distant
■Organised
■Large scale and simultaneous
■Commodified

3. New Media
■Interactive
■One to many
■Many to many (peer to peer)

5. Media Ownership
■Private Ownership: Rupert Murdoch (NewsCorp)
■Public Ownership: State owns/oversees the media, PTV, BBC
■https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awRRPPE3V5Q
How do you think media ownership influences the way news is presented?
Do news agencies have hidden agendas?
Media consolidation: is it good for so much of the media to be owned by only 6
companies?
■Censorship: suppression of communication or information

6. ■Controllers
Editors or Producers who do not own the company
but control much of the day to day workings and are
important decision makers.
Trends in Media Ownership
Concentration: ownership by the few
1)Compaine(media domination by six companies)
2)Mcleish (most media is owned by private
families) What are the consequences?
3)McChesney: illusion of choice, most content is
homogenous
oHowever: New Media is constantly changing the
landscape
oAdvent of Facebook after killing MySpace and
Orkut
oAmazon and Netlix are platforms which promote
diversity (multiple languages and different
shows)

7. ■Conglomeration
Cross media ownership:
companies which own
different types of media,
newspapers, channels, film
studios
For example:
CBS Network (CW, Showtime,
CBS Radio, Simon and
Schuster)
News Corporation (Times of
London, Wall Street Journal,
ESPN, Fox Sports, shares in
Disney)
Local Examples
(Geo News, The News, Jang,
Geo Entertainment)
(Dawn, Dawn News)

9. Relationship between
Ownership and Control of the
Media
■Marxism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RRyX9mI5Lw
Ideological Social Control
Shapes how people regard the social world
Ends up being a vehicle for the justification of capitalism
Ralph Miliband: media favours the elite because he elite share common
cultural and social backgrounds.
Justify social inequality
Private property
Negatively label alternatives to capitalism
Owners decide who is the editor and the political line of the newspaper

10. False consciousness created through the media
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34LGPIXvU5M&t=112s
Have resources to present their ideas as normal
Critique:
Not always pro state
e.g. Trump, Pakistani Media and its relationship with many ex regimes
Media choice: many channels if you don’t like one point of view just flip it
Not passive recipients anymore can now analyse what media is saying and make
informed choices

12. Neo Marxism
■Differences exist between classes but also within a class e.g. free
market capitalists and interventionists e.g. Republicans often
propagate tax holidays for big corps
■Different types of capital in one market not all interlinked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js8E6C3ZnJ0
■Hegemony: leadership with the implied/real consent of the led
■Upper class doesn’t have the level of cohesion necessary to
promote manipulation
■Managers who have daily running are not the bourgeoisie nor the
proletariat
■Mutually beneficial relationship
■Strinati control maintained through consent
■Althusser Ideological state apparatus

13. ■Critique
a)New Media gives alternatives
b)No restriction to information
c)More information means people can now make informed
decisions
d)Watergate scandal
e)Liberal bias BBC

14. Pluralism
■Pluralism
a)Audience shape the media
b)Socialisation agency
c)Norms of the society
d)Choice and Competition
e)New media means new sources

15. ■Opposing views: Censorship for leftist views
■ Drive competition out of business
■Dominant Values projected
■Why is media not all powerful?
■Have to abide by audiences
■Shareholders which leads to managers and directors taking centre stage
■Government laws
■Libel Laws
■Quality of programming

16. ■Managerialism: consumers control the content because too many
shareholders who own company
■Globalisation: diversity and lack of traditional economic boundaries means that
media is owned by people from different countries.
Critiques
•Murdock and Golding: owners are often managers e.g. Arianna Huffington of
The Huffington Post
•Major shareholders still control ideas e.g. Rupert Murdoch and Fox
•Old media more trusted source of information
•Not all blogs are widely read, revered or respected
•Majority of consumer demand can be satisfied by few companies
•Web based diversity is overstated e.g. Apple and the Appstore plus apple
music and spotify
•Pluralist theories funded by media corps

17. Role and Nature of the Media
Traditional Marxism
■Media as a tool to influence public influence:
Capitalist values common sense
■Values of capitalism: advertising
Processes of control
1.Owners given access to media
2.Competing groups denied interest
■Capitalism has resources to further their ideology
e.g. Glasgow media group
■Scapegoating: divisions in society
■Mass Society and Mass Culture: Nazi Germany or
present day Pakistan to a lesser extent
■Media Manipulation and the internet e.g. Twitter and
Facebook
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/19/
social-media-proganda-manipulating-public-opinion-bo
ts-accounts-facebook-twitter

18. Neo Marxism
■Centres around how media makes a broad
ideological consensus
■Rather than creating a mass culture hey
create a status quo
■Manufacturing consensus: through old
and new media
■Agenda setting: completely ignores
certain debates e.g. Socialism
■Use of headings and subheadings to
manipulate the perception about news

20. Pluralism
■Reject Marxist interpretation
■New media has increased diversity and competition
■Businesses will go out of commission if they don’t print the public views
■Media audiences are active not passive
■More media means some sections will represent the marginalised sections
Limited influence of the media
1.Variable exposure: political/personal affiliations decide how much one is
exposed to the media
2.Types of media TV>print
3.Content: language and presentation
4.Beliefs and attitudes of audience (active and passive)
5.Opinions of leaders and decision makers

21. Selection and Presentation of Media
Content
Economic Factors
Political factors
Ideological factors
News values
Agenda setting
Legitimising values
Discourse

22. Economic Factors
■Production costs: cost of developing content e.g. could a
cable network develop GoT?
■State Media channels may have more resources than a
small independent channel
■Production values: might choose to re-run shows rather
than make new content
■Space limitations: e.g. print media, competing with the
web
■Options for global media conglomerates, smaller outlets
don’t have choices
Types of competition
■Inter medium: different newspapers report news
differently
■Intra medium: different styles on paper and on web. Radio
and music streaming service
■Advertisers influence: e.g. Chrysler, Dominoes
■Mad Men, Harry Crane

23. Political
Factors
■Dictatorships have strict censorship laws
e.g. Saudi Arabia, China
■State with military influence e.g.
censorship of Geo and Jang in Pakistan
■Regulation in other countries
1.Copyright laws
2.Libel laws

24. Ideological
Factors
■What is news?
■What makes something
classify as news?
■Social construction of
values
Chibnall: News values are
criteria of relevance which
guide reporters choice and
construction of newsworthy
stories as learnt through
informal professional
socialisation.

25. Pluralism: News Values
represent consumer demand
diversity

Marxism: News values
represent how media shapes
ideas. These ideas represent
ideas of the owners and
powerful elite

28. Agenda
Setting
■McCombs and Shaw
■Each organisation has a set of news
values
■Reporters are obliged to conform
■Agenda Setting: what to report and what
not to report
People who are taken into consideration
■Owners
■Advertisers
■Audience
https://study.com/academy/lesson/agenda-
setting-definition-function-process-exampl
es.html

29. Legitimising of Values
■Editors as Gatekeepers
■Positive and Negative values attached to news
■Manipulation of perceptions

31. Discourse
■How the world is
perceived from a certain
viewpoint
■Reflection of ideas from
the point of the people in
power
■Frame media coverage
from a certain point of
view
■Good vs Evil narratives
■Cohen Mods and Rockers,
Immigrants in Trump’s
America, India and Israel
in Pakistani Media
■Folk Devils: the others

32. Media and the State
Marxism
1.Monopoly of violence: inequality
2.Althusser ISA
Policing Capitalist values

The mechanisms of control
Negative selection: exclusion of anti capitalist ideas e.g. the
Occupy protests
Positive selection: promotion of ideas which help capitalism
Disguising selection: public order
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSBtHXtwbME

33. Pluralism
■State is a mediator
■Protects the interests of the subjects and the
audience
■All competing interests are represented
■State neutrality
State maintains order in three ways
1.Social: regulation of social obligations and
conflicts
2.Political: ensuring diversity, each competing
voice heard and not blocked out
3.Legal: Libel and copyright laws
■Once these boundaries have been set media is
free
1.Maintain democratic ideals
2.Exposing corruption
3.Separate economic ownership of media and
political control

34. The New Right
■A Right Wing political movement which emerged during the Cold War
■Anti Liberal and very conservative
Two Main Beliefs:
1.Governments distort economic markets
2.Cross media ownership should be encouraged

Media Regulation should take place in 2 ways
Self Regulation: self censorship
Market discipline: audience will not buy newspapers on their own

35. Post Modernism
■Globalisation and new media make state control tough
■Power is now maintained through social networks rather than institutions
■Media content needs to interpreted
■Information is managed not controlled

36. Impact of the New Media on Society
Features of the New Media
1.Personalised
2.Collective control
■New media is global in nature e.g.
connects a global audience
■Interactive

37. Linearity
■Traditional media is linear:
start, middle and end
■New Media: nested
information e.g. hyperlinks
■Interconnectedness of
information
■Interconnectedness of
people: Wikipedia
■Creativity: Youtube/Flickr

38. Issues
■Legal prosecutions: Torrent websites, Napster
■Freemium model: e.g. Power ups in games, candy crush
■Hacking
1.Cyber warfare: Anonymous
2.Organisations: copyright theft
3.Individuals: Malware designed for extortion
■Loss of Privacy: Facebook shares data
■Spread of online data and breach of privacy
■Interception of online communication: Email hacking e.g. Clinton scandal,
Sony

39. Implications
■New Media has changed the landscape of society
1.Digital Optimism
2.Digital Pessimism

40. Digital Optimism
■Negroponte calls it Digital Liberation
How does media liberate the media?

■Four Spheres
1.Decentralisation
2.Globalisation
3.Harmonisation
4.Empowerment

41. Economically
■Open economic systems
■Take advantage of collaborative talents
■More talented pools of people
■Producers more receptive to demand
■Crowd Sourcing
Politically
■Weak role of state
■Repressive action is harder e.g. Arab Springs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAuxNXmAbyY
■Political Socialisation takes place

42. Culturally
■Free speech
■Whistleblowing
■The emergence of the ‘Daily Me’

43. Digital Pessimism
■Global media processes are not completely beneficial
Hidden Costs
1.Exploitation of free labour e.g. Huffington Post
2.Driving don cost and quality
3.Privacy
4.Copyrights

44. Old and New Media Similarities
1.Locking out competition: Amazon
2.Locking in consumers to products: Apple

■New Media lacks diversity same as old media
■Mass communication can be misused by repressive regimes
■The Hive Mind

45. Media Representation

■https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWP_N_FoW-I
Invisibility: groups absent from the media
Under representation: groups which appear less in the media e.g.
disabled people
Tokenism: when an unrepresented groups appear in the media in an
illusion to create balance
Stereotyping: people and groups represented in misleading ways
The gaze: Laura Mulvey, shows created with the idea of the audience
being male
Binary opposites: opposite forces, good and bad

46. Ethnicity
■The savage: Western’s, Indians, Black
villains
■Noble Savage
■Childlike primitive: people of colour
depicted as stupid and unsophisticated
■Entertainer: Black people generally singers
or dancers
■Femme Fatale
■Rich evil tyrants
■Clever tricksters
■Africans shown as thieves and muggers
■Asians with large families
■Multiculturalist approaches reinforce
cultural stereotypes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPBfi4ty8
Do

48. ■Gender
Females
■Underrepresented
■Narrow Range of Roles
■Physical Appearance
■Digital alterations
■Passive, weak and helpless
■Male Gaze
■TV vs. Video Games
■News: anchors and weather
personnel
■Advertising: Jubilee insurance Kya
ye Sahi hoga campaign
■https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=CMAFhjvvcxo

49. Males
■Strength and power
■Attractiveness based on
strength
■Independent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=ueOqYebVhtc

50. Age Groups
■Children as innocents
■Teens as rebels
■Middle aged people as
figures of authority
■Old people as burdens or as
the sage
Changing representations of
older people
■Baby boomers are aging
■Increased spending power
■Lack of roles for older
females

51. Social Class
How are classes generally represented in the media?
■Meritocracy
■Lack of meritocracy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIJENf-s6r4
Disabilities
■Lack of representation
■Villains
■Cripples
■Ridiculed
Paralympics/beyond boundaries

52. Changing Representations

■Campaigns
■Social positions
■More employment
■Demographic changes
■Purchasing power
■Diversity
■Changes to laws and policies

53. Modernism and Postmodernism
■Postmodernism: The way a certain class is represented is its reality
■Modernism: Media representations distort reality

Baudrillard
1.Concepts do not have an authentic reality. The way they are represented
or misrepresented becomes their reality e.g. Black Rap Culture ref.
Straight Outta Compton
2.Reality is interpreted differently by who you are and where you are from.
Nothing is authentic

54. Hyper-Reality
■Media creates realities that are more real than the ones which they say
they represent e.g. African representations and the Wild West.
■Reality constructed by individuals picking and choosing different ideas
which support their beliefs (simulacra)

55. ■Sherry Turkle:
1.Culture of simulation; identify more with TV than
the world around us e.g. LARPing, Cosplays,
Comic-Con events
2.Virtual Reality gaming: Occulus Rift, Samsung VR

■Globalisation
1.World increasingly global because of media
2.Blurring of lines between image and reality e.g.
cosplays in Pakistan, Westeros Café, Harry Potter
café
3.Undermining of traditional concepts
4.Relativity of values

56. ■Power
Power is not concentrated in a top down model
Challenges Marxism and Feminism
Flow of information from different points within a network.
Many centres of information
No dominant centre

57. Criticisms of Post Modernity
■Webster
Media has not changed society
How information is perceived stays the same
Important questions like what sort of info has increased are not asked?
Who generates information and for what purpose?
Obscures poverty, oppression and inequality

58. Explanations of the influence of the
media
Hypodermic Syringe Model
■Direct and immediate effect
■Passive and soaks up media messages
Two Reasons
1.Advertising would be successful
2.Propaganda like in Germany and the USSR
■Modern renditions of the hypodermic syringe model talk of opinion
leaders

59. ■An example of copycat violence in the media- after watching the film
Childs Play 3, A gang in Manchester tortured a 16-year-old girl, set her
afire and left her dying, while one of the attackers repeated a line from
the movie: "I’m Chucky– wanna play?"
■Psychologist (Bandura) carried out an experiment on the relationship
between media images and behaviour. Bandura concluded that violent
media content could lead to imitation or copy cat violence
■McCabe and Martin (2005) concluded that media violence has
a disinhibition effect – it convinces children that in some social
situations, the ‘normal’ rules that govern conflict and difference can be
suspended, i.e. discussion and negotiation can be replaced with
violence with no repercussion
■Newson argued that sadistic images in films were too easily available
and that films encouraged viewers to identify with violent perpetrators
rather than victims e.g. Anders B. Breivik Dogville massacre

60. Critique of HSM
•Fesbach and Sanger (1971) found that screen violence can actually provide a safe
outlet for people’s aggressive tendencies. This is known as catharsis. They
suggest that watching an exciting film releases aggressive energy into safe outlets
as the viewers immerse themselves in the action.
•Young (1981), argues that seeing the effects of violence and especially the pain
and suffering that it causes to the victim and their families, may make us more
aware of its consequences and so less inclined to commit violent
acts. Sensitisation to certain crimes therefore may make people more aware and
responsible so that they avoid getting involved in violence
■Gauntlett (2008) argues that people, especially children, do not behave as
naturally under laboratory conditions as they would in their everyday
environment, e.g. children’s media habits are generally influenced and controlled
by parents, especially when they are very young
■Fails to put violence into context, e.g. it views all violence as wrong, however
trivial, and fails to see that audiences interpret it according to narrative context.
Research by Morrison suggests that the context in which screen violence occurs
affects its impact on the audience.
■Some sociologists believe that children are not as vulnerable as the
hypodermic syringe model implies, e.g. research indicates that most
children can distinguish between fictional/cartoon violence and real
violence from a very early age, and generally know that it should not be
imitated

61. Two Step Flow Model
■Katz and Lazarsfeld (1965) suggest that personal relationships and
conversations with significant others, such as family members, friends,
teachers and work colleagues, result in people modifying or rejecting media
messages. They argue that social networks are usually dominated by
opinion leaders, i.e. people of influence whom others in the network look up
to and listen to
■Opinion leaders expose themselves to different types of media and form an
opinion on their content. These interpretations are then passed on to other
members of their social circle e.g. beauty influencers
1.The opinion leader is exposed to the media content.
2.Those who respect the opinion leader internalize their interpretation of that
content.

62. Critiques
■However, critics of this model point out two problems.
•There is no guarantee that the opinion leader has not been subjected to an
imitative or desensitizing effect, e.g. a leader of a peer group, such as a
street gang, might convince other members that violence is acceptable
because he has been exposed to computer games that strongly transmit the
message that violence is an acceptable problem-solving strategy.
•People who may be most at risk of being influenced by the media may be
socially isolated individuals who are not members of any social network and
so do not have access to an opinion leader who might help interpret media
content in a healthy way.

63. Selective Filter Model
■The selective filter model
In his selective filter model, Klapper (1960) suggests that, for a media message to have any
effect, it must pass through three filters.
•Selective exposure – the audience must choose to view, read or listen to the content of
specific media. Media messages can have no effect if no one sees or hears them. However,
what the audience chooses depends upon their interests, education, work commitments
and so on.
•Selective perception – the audience may not accept the message; some people may take
notice of some media content, but decide to reject or ignore others.
•Selective retention – the messages have to ‘stick’ in the mind of those who have accessed
the media content. However, research indicates that most people have a tendency to
remember only the things they broadly agree with

64. Uses and Gratifications Model
Blumler and McQuail identify four basic needs which people use the media to
satisfy.
■Diversion – people may immerse themselves in particular types of media
to make up for the lack of satisfaction at work or in their daily lives, e.g.
women may compensate for the lack of romance in their marriages by
reading Mills and Boon romantic novels. Some people even have
alternative lives and identities as avatars on websites such as Second Life.
Spy Kids 3
■Personal relationships – media products such as soap operas may
compensate for the decline of community in our lives, e.g. socially isolated
elderly people may see soap opera characters as companions they can
identify with and worry about in the absence of interaction with family
members. Cyber-communities on the Internet may also be seen by users as
alternative families.
■Personal identity – people may use the media to ‘make over’ or to modify
their identity. Social networking websites, such as Facebook, allow people
to use the media to present their particular identities to the wider world in a
way that they can control.
■Surveillance – people use the media to obtain information and news in
order to help them make up their minds on particular issues.
■Marxists are critical of this model because they suggest that social needs
may be socially manufactured by the media and may therefore be ‘false
needs’.

65. The reception analysis model

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xh9FjcQTWE
■Media is not accepted as a passive truth e.g. David Morley Nationwide
Morley concluded that people choose to read or interpret media content in
three ways.
1.The preferred (or dominant) reading accepts the media content as
legitimate, e.g. the British people generally approve of the Royal Family, so
very few people are likely to interpret stories about them in a critical
fashion. This dominant reading is often shared by journalists and editors,
and underpins news values.
2.The oppositional reading opposes the views expressed in media content.
3.The negotiated reading whereby the audience reinterpret the media
content to fit in with their own opinions and values, e.g. they may not have
any strong views on the Royal Family, but enjoy reading about celebrity
lives.
Morley argues that the average person belongs to several sub-cultural groups and this
may complicate a person’s reading of media content in the sense that they may not
be consistent in their interpretation of it. Reception analysis theory therefore
suggests that audiences are not passive, impressionable and homogeneous. 

66. The cultural effects model
■Media as a very powerful ideological influence that is mainly concerned
with transmitting capitalist values and norms. 
■Marxists argue that media content contains strong ideological messages
that reflect the values of those who own, control and produce the media.
■Marxists believe that television content, in particular, has been
deliberately dumbed down and this has resulted in a decline in serious
programmes such as news, documentaries and drama that might make
audiences think critically about the state of the world.
■However, in criticism of the cultural effects model, these ‘cause’ and
‘effects’ are very difficult to operationalize and measure. It also implies
that Marxists are the only ones who can see the ‘true’ ideological
interpretation of media content, which suggests that most members of
society are ‘cultural dopes’.

67. Post Modernist
■Strinati (1995) argues that the media today are the most influential shapers of identity
and offer a greater range of consumption choices in terms of identities and lifestyles. 
■ The globalisation of communication has become more intensive and extensive, and
this has had great significance for local cultures, in that all consumers of the global
media are both citizens of the world and of their locality. Seeing other global experience
allows people to think critically about their own place in the world. E.g. LBTQ
community

68. Moral Panics
■The term moral panic was popularised by Cohen (1972) in his classic work
Folk Devils and Moral Panics. It refers to media reactions to particular social
groups and activities that are defined as threatening social consensus.
■Both the publicity and social reaction to the panic may create the potential
for further crime and deviance in the future. In other words, the social
reaction may lead to the amplification of deviance e.g. refugees
■https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFL54R9g5Io

69. ■Why do moral panics occur?
■Furedi argues that moral panics arise when society fails to adapt to dramatic
social changes and it is felt that there is a loss of control, especially over
powerless groups such as the young.
■Some commentators argue that moral panics are simply a product of news
values and the desire of journalists and editors to sell newspapers – they are a
good example of how audiences are manipulated by the media for commercial
purposes. 
■Marxists, such as Hall, see moral panics as serving an ideological function. His
study of the media coverage of Black muggers in the 1970s (Hall et al., 1978)
concluded that it had the effect of labelling all young African-Caribbeans as
criminals and a potential threat to White people.
■Left Realists argue, however, that moral panics should not be dismissed as a
product of ruling class ideology or news values. Moral panics have a very real
basis in reality, i.e. the media often identifies groups who are a real threat to
those living in inner-city areas.

70. Violence
Theories on Media Violence
■Imitation
■Cultivation: violence will cultivate a violent world view
■Social Development: if violent media is consumed from a young way a person
is more likely to grow up violent
■Desensitization: violence will be accepted as a way of life

71. Positive impacts of the Media
■Diversion
■Education
■Community
■Identity formation: personal and social
■Empowerment
■Awareness: Economic, Cultural and Politcal

72. Problems of researching media
effects
The mass media are generally defined by sociologists as those agencies of
communication that transmit information, education, news and entertainment to
mass audiences.
■There are broadly three types of media.
■The print media – newspapers, magazines, comics, books and some forms of
advertising.
■The audio-visual media – terrestrial and satellite television, radio, cinema,
DVDs and music. Most companies which produce this type of media are
commercially owned, but state-owned public broadcasting such as the BBC
also plays a big role in audio-visual production.
■The cybermedia or digital media

73. The influence of semiotics
■Sociological researchers studying the media have developed more qualitative
versions of content analysis.
■These have been influenced by the academic discipline of semiotics, i.e. the
scientific study of signs or codes.
■In terms of media texts, semiotics aims to uncover the hidden meanings that
lie behind the use of particular words or images.
■ Signs are said to be made up of two parts – the signifier (or denotation) and
the signified (or connotation).
■ The signifier is quite simply what we can see or hear, whereas the signified is
its meaning, i.e. what it symbolises.

74. ■The critique of semiotics
Critics of semiotic based research argue that semiotics lack methodological
rigour because there are few methodological guidelines for practising
semiotics.
■Consequently it has a number of weaknesses.
■It is seen to lack reliability because the method is very reliant on the
researcher’s subjective and often selective interpretation of the text or image
which may be at odds with the interpretations of other researchers and the
audience. Consequently, it is very doubtful whether such research can be
replicated.
■It may lack validity because the data collected may merely reflect the
sociologist’s own biases and prejudices.
■It tells sociologists little about why the text was created in the way it was or
about the media’s effect on the audience.

75. ■The Internet
The Internet is increasingly being used as a source of information about the social
world by sociologists. Lee argues that the Internet has several advantages for the
sociological researcher.
■It is generally an unobtrusive method in that sifting through the secondary data
does not directly influence or harm human behaviour in any way.
■The democratic nature of the Internet has produce fantastic amounts of data for
the sociologist to explore – most of it is easily accessible and free of charge. The
information available can easily be retrieved even when the data is located at a site
thousands of miles away.
■Many social activities and relationships which are difficult to study directly are
recorded and can be traced on-line, e.g. many illegal and deviant activities are
represented on the Internet and in chat rooms. Consequently researchers can study
(by examining the websites and/or going into virtual chat-rooms) how people who
subscribe to such activities relate to the activity and each other.
■However, Stein (2002) urges caution in the use of the Internet as a source of
secondary data because its content has not been academically or scientifically
verified and checked for reliability or accuracy – much of the content of websites is
inaccurate and the product of rumour and speculation.
■Digital Divide

76. ■Audience
1.Not homogenous
2.Media literacy
3.Producers and Consumers