MEDIATION

By now you will have realised that the ‘reality’ we see on our television screens and read in newspapers is constructed. Every time we watch or read a media text we are not seeing ‘reality’ but someone else’s version of it.

We rely upon receiving our information about a range of events from different sources as we cannot actually be there to witness what is happening first hand.

However, what we finally experience has gone through a process of mediation.

Think of mediation as a machine. Real events and real groups of people get put in at one end and their representation in the media is what comes out the other end. 
The machine puts them through a process of:

Selection

Whatever ends up on the screen or in print, a lot more will have been left out. Someone will have made the decision about what will be included and what to omit. 

Organisation/Construction

The elements that go to make up the final text will have been constructed in a way that real life is not. When we witness an accident in real life we do not see it from three different camera angles and in slow motion, this is often the way we view an event in a hospital drama. In ‘real life’ arguments, we do not have the use of close ups to show emotion 

– these are regularly used in films and on television to heighten the experience for the audience. What we see when we watch TV is often a construction of the hours of filming which have been edited often to show a particular viewpoint about a storyline or character.

Focus

Mediation encourages the audience to focus upon a particular text to push us towards making assumptions and to draw conclusions. In a drama the camera may focus upon a particular character. Similarly, our eyes are drawn to the headlines and coverlines in newspapers and magazines.

The newspaper front page below represents England in some very specific ways that encourage us to believe certain things about what Britain stands for and what it is preoccupied with – let’s take a closer look at how this has been through the mediation machine…

Selection

The choices made for this front cover is what news story should be on the front page of the paper?
 As Britain’s biggest selling newspaper – any story appearing will represent Britain. The Sun have chosen England’s world cup draw and used it to fill the entire front page. This obviously representes Britain as a football obsessed nation. The selection of images are all England players celebrating which connotes victory and pride in the nation. The comparison with the group ‘The Beatles’ represents a pride in past achievements, albeit in a completely different field – but again reinforces the general sense of national pride.

Construction/Organisation

The headline has been constructed as an acrostic with the names of the countries written down to spell the word ‘EASY’ this joke may be seen by some as representing Britain as arrogant or over confident, although others may see the joke as ironic and even part of a British tradition of self-deprecating humour as the word ‘Phew’ in the top left of the page implies an uncertainty of our abilities. More revealing is the use of the word ‘Yanks’ which is a slang word for Americans, this implies a superiority over America – and a playful disrespect of their team.

Focus

The clear focus of this magazine cover is an interest in fashion football and the forthcoming World Cup. With only room for one other small article at the top of the page, the paper represents Britain as die hard football fans, suggesting that any other news just isn’t as important.

Task 1:

Watch this advert about Brits Abroad made for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Analyse how the representation of Britain has been mediated by each stage of the process.

Task 2:
Find three examples of where Britain or Britishness has been represented in the media where you can summarise representation and the elements of ..

• Selection, 
• Construction & 
• Focus.