Here it is. The big one. The one of Institutions.
I liked how Brian linked the social institution of marriage to media institutions. I think this draws on what my PB4 group is trying to achieve in exploring how media institutions are seen as a sort of social institutions nowadays. In a way, nowadays, people look to the media to know how to act and how to be, they (sometimes) follow social customs when posting online and look to the media for guidance. To me this sounds like media institutions have replaced the church and religion.
The In-Class Activity was very helpful in looking into the way in which media institutions work. I think the prompts that were given to us were very helpful for me in understanding media institutions:
•Relationship to audience/users (‘mode of address’)?
•What are their core values?
•What is their status?
•How are their activities ‘professionalised’
•How are they more than a business?
•What forms of regulations constrain their activities (internal & external)?
•In what sense are they conduits for flows of power?
•What other institutions are they related to?engaged/aligned with?
In the lectorial i explored Community Media. I think this is most interesting because community broadcasters aim to only appease a niche and small demographic so they’re relationship with their audience is a lot more personal than a bigger corporation.
Here is the brainstorm we came up with:
