Late Night Woman's Hour - BBC Radio 4 podcast A level Media Studies Fact Sheet - WJEC

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Late Night Woman's Hour - BBC Radio 4 podcast A level Media Studies Fact Sheet - WJEC
A level Media Studies Fact Sheet

Late Night Woman’s Hour
- BBC Radio 4 podcast
A level Media Studies Fact Sheet

Late Night Woman’s Hour
- BBC Radio 4 podcast
AS Component 1:                                         Consider the specialised and institutionalised
Investigating the Media                                 nature of media production and the
A level Component 1: Media Products,                    significance of economic factors to
Industries and Audiences                                media industries and their products:
                                                        •   Explore issues relating to public service
Focus areas:                                                broadcasting and consider the extent to which
Media Industries                                            Late Night Woman’s Hour meets the BBC remit
Audiences                                                   to inform, educate and entertain. Consider
Media Contexts                                              whether the broadcast is typical of products
                                                            created for the BBC and explore the hallmarks
                                                            of productions made for this institution.
PRODUCT CONTEXT
• Late Night Woman’s Hour is a spin-off from            •   Consider the significance of license fee funding
  the long-running BBC Radio 4 daily magazine               and compare this to the financial considerations
  programme, Woman’s Hour. It began                         of commercial radio e.g. would this podcast
  broadcasting in 2015 on a limited basis but               be too “niche” for commercial radio? The
  was so popular that it began a permanent run              broadcast has only female contributors, is
  as a monthly, then in 2018, a weekly podcast.             made up predominantly of unadorned dialogue
                                                            (without music, sound effects etc.) and the topic
• Late Night Woman’s Hour is recorded weekly,
                                                            is explored using intellectual and specialised
  hosted by Emma Barnett (occasionally
                                                            vocabulary. Learners might discuss why
  with founder Lauren Laverne) and features
                                                            purely commercial institutions would be
  female guests from a range of backgrounds
                                                            less likely to produce similar products.
  including science, health and entertainment.
                                                        •   How significant is the move from broadcast
• Each episode focuses on a particular theme
                                                            to podcast? What could this tell us about
  relevant to its female audience e.g. ‘Lost
                                                            the changes in the media forms the BBC is
  Friends’ and ‘Extreme Breastfeeding’. The
                                                            producing and the way they distribute them?
  original broadcast was at 11pm on Thursday
  nights, which meant explicit and honest               Consider recent technological change and media
  discussions could be had. Since becoming a            production, distribution and circulation and the
  podcast, the show has been less controversial.        impact of digitally convergent media platforms:
                                                        •   The podcast offers a number of ways to
                                                            explore recent changes to the radio industry
PART 1: STARTING POINTS – Media Industries                  in relation to digital technology such as the
Historical Contexts:                                        profound changes that have been brought
Woman’s Hour was first broadcast in the 1940s,              about by switching from analogue FM radio
so it’s worth considering the historical and                to digital audio broadcasting (DAB), and
social shifts that have occurred since the show’s           the boom in downloading and streaming.
inception. The original show reflects possible
                                                        •   A brief history of radio before the mid-
tokenism (a show set aside for women might
                                                            1990s should allow learners to appreciate the
imply all other radio content was oriented
                                                            significance of podcasting and listening to
towards men). Late Night Woman’s Hour features
                                                            broadcasts on digitally convergent platforms
frank and open discussions and demonstrates
                                                            such as computers and smartphones.
societal shifts and increased gender equality
                                                        •   In November 2018, the BBC launched its
although some of the issues raised reflect the
                                                            BBC Sounds streaming service, featuring
fact that society is not yet completely equal.
                                                            live broadcasting, audio-on-demand
                                                            and podcasts. This a good example of
                                                            technological convergence as Sounds is
                                                    1
A level Media Studies Fact Sheet

     available on PCs, laptops, tablets, phones.                 content to the Woman’s Hour brand, which
•    Late Night Woman’s Hour used to have an                     previously had a ‘safe’ reputation.
     11pm broadcast time that was suitable for the           •   The podcast format - available without age
     adult discussions taking place. The switch to               restrictions or post-watershed scheduling -
     weekly podcast gives the producers more time                may have needed a less controversial host.
     to discuss a greater range of issues, but the           •   The topics are not strictly based around female
     topics and discussion are less explicit. Episodes           experiences. Though topics like ‘extreme breast-
     can be any length, usually 10-30 minutes.                   feeding’ are female-centric, other discussions
•    Podcasts have soared in popularity in the past              about grief, male/female friendships and
     few years, with many - such as Serial - becoming            modern slavery offer a female perspective on
     cultural events in their own right. Minority                issues that would also interest male listeners.
     groups who have traditionally been excluded
                                                             Consider theoretical approaches:
     from mainstream radio have used podcasts
                                                             Power and media industries - Curran and Seaton
     to find a voice, and producers have utilised
     the lack of regulation to discuss controversial         •   It could be argued that Late Night Woman’s
     issues, especially personal or sexual matters.              Hour challenges the idea that media is
                                                                 controlled by a small number of companies
•    Female-produced podcasts such as The High
                                                                 driven by the logic of profit and power.
     Low and The Broad Experience not only
     explore issues affecting women in society, they         •   Whilst the BBC is inarguably a large, significant
     also attract high profile guests that rival those           company, the nature of PSB (discussed above)
     of traditional radio. Comedy podcast Dope                   and the content of the broadcast seem to be
     Queens even had Michelle Obama as a guest!                  at odds with the “logic of profit and power”.
                                                                 Consider the funding of the BBC in comparison
•    BBC Radio, whilst being a traditional
                                                                 with commercial organisations. Candidates
     media institution, does not treat these
                                                                 might explore the extent to which the license
     independent podcasts as competition. Rather
                                                                 fee frees BBC producers from the pressure
     they build a symbiotic relationship with the
                                                                 to generate profit and the way in which this
     presenters, often inviting them to guest on
                                                                 impacts the content of their broadcasts.
     BBC Radio programmes (Radio 1, 4 and 6
     particularly do this). This could be seen as            •   Late Night Woman’s Hour podcast format
     an example of cross-media convergence.                      might also be used to support Curran and
                                                                 Seaton’s idea that socially diverse patterns
•    A good example of this is regular LNWH
                                                                 of ownership help create conditions for
     guest Chidera Eggerue, who writes and
                                                                 varied and adventurous productions.
     presents The Slumflower blog and podcast.
     Controversial comments she made about                   •   Candidates might consider the proliferation
     race and feminism were re-tweeted and                       of podcasts across a wide range of topics
     shared across social media, creating debate                 and genres in recent years. Do the relative
     and promoting the ‘edgy and candid’ brand                   low production costs of this medium and
     identity of both The Slumflower and LNWH.                   the inexpensive hosting/digital distribution
                                                                 costs offer producers (and often prosumers)
Consider how media producers                                     opportunities to take risks and develop
maintain varieties of audiences:                                 adventurous content that still manages to
•    The current presenter is Emma Barnett, a                    reach diverse international audiences?
     journalist and broadcaster, who also presents
                                                             Regulation ‐ Livingston and Lunt
     the BBC Radio 5 Live late morning show. She
     also writes the ‘Tough Love’ ‘agony aunt’               •   As a PSB, the BBC has quite strict guidelines
     advice column in the Sunday Times Magazine,                 about what content can be broadcast or
     where she explores extremes of peoples’                     published. BBC1 for instance rarely features
     personal lives. Her style therefore is light-               sex, nudity or swearing, and all the broadcast
     hearted yet unafraid to explore emotionally                 channels (TV and radio) follow the ‘watershed’.
     sensitive issues. This suits the LNWM format.           •   The original LNWH was broadcast at 11pm
•    Barnett took over from founding presenter                   on Radio 4, where shocking discussions and
     Lauren Laverne, who was renowned for                        swearing were acceptable. The podcast version
     bringing controversial, adult and explicit                  is somewhat ‘safer’ and less controversial, whilst
                                                                 having uncompromising and honest discussion.
                                                         2
A level Media Studies Fact Sheet

•    This seems to challenge Livingston and                •   Explore responses to Late Night Woman’s
     Lunt’s assumption that ‘new media’ is                     Hour on Twitter and other social media
     harder to regulate. The BBC has considered                platforms. The Spectator described the
     the access of potential audiences and                     initial response to the show as a “twitter
     regulated within the institution.                         storm” and candidates might discuss the ways
•    The sacking of Radio 2 DJ Danny Baker in                  in which the broadcast has been designed
     May 2019 after an inappropriate tweet shows               to invite audience members to enter the
     how strictly the BBC regulates their content.             discussion through social media platforms.
                                                           •   The topics in the podcast tend to be more focused
PART 2: STARTING POINTS – Audiences                            on personal experiences, some serious (e.g.
                                                               ‘taking your child to work’) some more light-
Social and cultural contexts:                                  hearted (e.g. ‘objects you just can’t throw away’)
A gendered discussion of the podcast is likely to              compared to the broadcast version. This may be
benefit from some context regarding the changing               intended to create discussion on social media.
roles of women in the UK over the past 70 years.           •   Candidates could conduct some audience
Woman’s Hour was originally broadcast in the                   research into male and female responses
1940s and candidates might consider how different              to the podcast - what do male audiences
life in the UK is for women now (possibly focusing             find interesting (or not)? Does it make a
on shifts from the 1950s housewife towards the                 difference if the guests are all women?
independence of young women in the 1960s and
comparing this with present day). What about
the changes to a male’s role in society and their          Consider how media organisations reflect
representation in the media? Candidates may use            the different needs of mass and specialised
this information to consider the way that audience         audiences, including through targeting:
responses to, and interpretations of, media products       •   A return to the remit of PSB here could invite
reflect social and cultural circumstances.                     discussion about the BBC and attempts to
There has been a raised awareness about inequality             produce content for all audience demographics.
between males and females in the media, and                    Candidates might ask whether the broadcast
the BBC has made efforts to address gender                     has been designed to explicitly appeal to a
imbalance. With a roster of female presenters                  specialised (educated, female) audience as
across it’s radio channels, some people have                   part of the remit of the organisation itself.
questioned the relevance of a show just dedicated              An extension of this discussion might explore
to women, and then having a ‘late night’ spin-off.             whether there are any other media products
The impact of the #MeToo campaign and other                    that appeal to this specific target audience
social media campaigns highlighting sexism, and                on the radio (BBC or otherwise).
the popularity of women’s podcasts, show there is a        •   In 2014 the BBC famously introduced a ban
diverse and engaged audience for ‘women’s media’.              on all-male TV and radio panels to offset this
                                                               dominance. Candidates might use this as a
Consider how audiences interpret the media,
                                                               discussion point to consider preferred readings
including how and why audiences may
                                                               of Late Night Woman’s Hour and why it might
interpret the same media in different ways:
                                                               be particularly welcome to some audiences.
•    Candidates might consider a male response
     to the content of the show. They might
     consider how many other media texts are               Consider theoretical approaches:
     composed of only female members (even                 Reception theory ‐ Stuart Hall
     Loose Women, for instance, has male guests)           •   Discuss possible different readings of the
     and how this might be unsettling or alienating            broadcast. What is the intended meaning?
     for male listeners. They might compare this               What might be a negotiated meaning
     to a female audience and question whether                 (e.g. from a male audience member)?
     or not this same gender composition might                 What might be an oppositional response
     be appealing to some female audiences.                    (e.g. from a sexist male listener)?

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Feminist theory ‐ Van Zoonen                      Feminist theory ‐ bell hooks
•   To what extent does LNWH achieve Van          •   Radio 4’s audience is often pigeonholed as
    Zoonen’s suggestion that gender stereotypes       being white and conservative middle class.
    in the media can only change if more women        Bell Hooks has written about how women
    produce and appear in the media?                  of lower class or different ethnicity are even
                                                      more oppressed by patriarchy. To what extent
                                                      does LNWH challenge this by featuring guests
                                                      and issues that reflect the diversity in the
                                                      female audience? Think about regular guests
                                                      Chidera Eggerue and Ambreen Razia.

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