Newspaper Publication

Over the last two generations, newspapers have adapted to their reduced role with the centrality of broadcasting. However, newspapers make governments publicly accountable. Although all the media play their different roles in political reporting, newspapers are still the biggest diggers for news among the mix of media organizations (Cunningham & Graeme, 2006).

This is the front page of Daily Nonpareil on Wednesday 25th March, 2009. It mainly uses Times New Roman to be the font. The contrast of the larger font bold sub-heading and the normal text are very clear so that they can be distinguished by the readers easily. There is a huge bold heading 'EXTRA! EXTRA!' placed on the upper part of the page, it can apparently draw the attention of the audiences and arouse their interest to read it. According to Walsh (2006), 'Visualizing is a process of creating a mental image that helps the reader conceptualize information'. There are some key elements that inform and engage the reader, they are the visual images placed besides the text columns.

Reading is not static, it is a constant interaction between reader and text. This interaction between reader and text can occur within a number of contexts simultaneously. Interaction between reader and text does not occur without what is traditionally referred to as decoding. Decoding involves using strategies of word recognition, pronunciation, vocabulary knowledge, and the recognition of graphic, morphemic and phonemic patterns (Walsh, 2006).

Image source: http://www.scrapbook.com/gallery/cache/245907/NewspaperMarch25r_1.jpg

References:

Cunningham.S & Turner.G, 2006, 'Media and communications in Australia', Allen & Unwin NSW.

Walsh. M, 2006, The 'textual shift': examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts, 'Reading visual and multimodal texts: how is reading different?', Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Australia, Vol. 29, pp. 24-37

Ideology, myth and discourse in Moet & Chandon advertisement

In the advertisement, Hollywood famous star Scarlett Johansson is holding a bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne and spraying it everywhere. The big text of ‘MOET’ is placed on the right hand side of the advertisement, and it is painted with graduated gold colour.

Ideology is a commonly held belief structure. It is a term that refers to coherent set of beliefs and values that dominate in a culture and that are particularly held by those who have power. Ideology is concerned with social and power relationships, and with the means by which they are made apparent (Bennett at el., 2008). The ideology presented in the advertisement is feminism. Famous star Scarlett is such a good example of a beautiful and successful woman, also she is the only person showing in the image, which implies the woman today can also live independently, although there is no man, they can still celebrate and have great fun by themselves.

Myth is defined as a shared way of talking about something that masks the value system that can be found within it. Another definition for myths is an interpellation of the ways thing are, or justification, a unifying message (Luckman, 2007). An example for myth, drinking usually makes people feel more at ease in social situations, they feel more relax and enjoyable or can even enlarge their happiness after having alcohols. The audience of this advertisement would like to have the same satisfaction, honor and gladness as Scarlett Johansson does.

Discourse, in terms of advertisement, is defined as the techniques an advertiser uses to attract the viewer’s attention. This includes text, lighting, setting, costume and make up (O’Shaughnessy, 1999). For example, the grooming and the spotlights on Scarlett; the professional shoot; the actual image of the product; the background in black; the big text and the color used of the brand name in the advertisement, they all help to express the image and to promote the product.

Image source: http://images.tuxboard.com/d/29907-2/Scarlett+Johansson+publicite+champagne+Moet+et+Chandon+2.jpg

References:

Bennett. J, Hall. K & Holmes. P, 2008, Ideology, ‘Media Studies AS & A2’, Pearson Education Limited, England, pp. 38-39.

Luckman. S, 2007, ‘Media Power’, Lecture notes, University of South Australia, South Australia., Slides 1-18.

O’Shaughnessy. M, 1999, Defining discourse and ideology, ‘Media and society: an introduction’, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Chapter 12, pp. 157-162.

Communication System -- Printed Travel Leaflet

In this information age, travel leaflet is one of the best communications systems in the world. It is a printed sheet of paper or a few printed pages that are given free to advertise or give travel information about a city or a country. The target audience of travel leaflets is the public and mostly the tourist. It can generally conduct an image or a representation of a country to their audience.

The travel leaflet ‘At a Glance’ contains all the useful information tourists need, such as the street’s names, transportation instructions, places for dinning, services of Hong Kong Tourism Board and even how to identify shops and restaurants which meet high standards. The font is clear and the size of the text is also appropriate enough, readers can read through it comfortably and get the suitable information easily. There are the relevant images provided so that people can imagine how would be the places while looking at it.

As a kind of communications system, the leaflet aims to provide useful information and to persuade people into consuming the tourism products and services being promoted. Therefore the language and images used are highly selective. They present the positive and attractive sides of the potential touristic experiences, while the negative aspects are sometimes omitted (Thwaites et al, 2002). However, the leaflet helps to build the reputation on Hong Kong tourism and makes it becomes an interesting and attractive place to visit.

Reference:

Thwaites. T, Davis. L & Mules. W, 2002, Ideology, ‘Introducing cultural and media studies’, Palgrave, New York, pp.158-175

STOP WHALING -- You Tube

New types of texts require different conceptualisations and a different way of thinking. A fluent reader makes meaning from a written text, yet the responses are evoked by the effect of visual codes such as colour, framing, line, angle, perspective and vectors, in other words the 'visual grammar' (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996).

'STOP WHALING’ uses the voice of whales to construct the whole video theme. Majestic whales swim underwater and singing their haunting songs like screaming. It aims to awaken all people that they are going to be extinct if we do not care about them. The effect of visual codes helps to motivate emotions and feelings of the audience in order to bring out more resonance and sympathy from the video.

In interpreting meanings from images it is not necessary to 'decode the words' as with print, but to be able to 'break the visual codes' in a different way. This involves interpreting a different coding system. People should identify where the image-maker is using colour, position, angle, shape and so on to construct meaning. The way people interpret any new text, whether words or images, will then produce new interpretations, new responses, and new meanings (Walsh, 2006).

References:

Video source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsLjqdviIyA

Kress.G & Van Leeuwen. T, 1998, The critical analysis of newspaper layout, ‘Approaches to media discourse’, Blackwell, Oxford, Chapter 7, pp. 186-219

Walsh. M, 2006, The ‘textual shift’: examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts, ‘Reading visual and multimodal texts: how is reading different?’, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Australia, Vol. 29, pp. 24-37