MEDIA AND DISCOURSE

 ‘Discourse’ is defined as ‘A spoken or written treatment of a subject, in which it is handled or discussed at length; a dissertation, treatise, homily, etc.’

The meaning of discourse has evolved over the years.

Today an example of discourse – Advertisements may portray luxury items a naturalized needs; this discourse there by reinforces a consumption-driven culture

Thus discourse is seen a ‘naturalizing’ social roles, an extension of our culture and ourselves.

Media Discourse

All media furthers some sort of discourse e.g. printed material, online blogs, radio and TV broadcasts.

Understand values – All media texts are constructed. Thus, they reflect social values and the views, attitudes and beliefs – of the people of the time.

Production context – When writing about a text, it is important to identify the production context. Who made the text? When was it created? For e.g. ‘Flintstones’ reflects the values of America in the 1960s and not social values of the Paleolithic Age!

Thus we need to understand that discourse refers to the creation of meaning through the interrelationship of texts, audiences and media organizations in society. A discourse is like an ongoing discussion about an idea or a social issue.

Social values are values, beliefs and attitudes held in a society. They can be dominant, emerging, oppositional or alternative.

You must have a clear understanding of when and where a text was produced in order to understand the social values it professes.