WHOSE TREWS

A follow up piece - how the [right-wing] media respond to Brand 



http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/apr/29/ed-miliband-russell-brand-interview-sun-mail

THE TREWS IS OUT THERE

Here is a comparison task to get you thinking about some key issues that Section B will be covering.

The first is our old friend Steve Emerson from good old Fox News. This clip has become part of the popular cultural landscape [and as Brummie's we have a particular issue with it] but it does offer something a little more serious about the power of media institutions and in particular the rise of the 'expert'. We might begin by thinking about relevant media theories here - let's start with 2 Step flow and proceed from that point to see which deeper tools might be applicable

The second product is a little more left-field but offers a comment on the power of the media. Russel Brand launched a you tube TV channel called 'The Trews', essentially a platform for his anti-hegemonic stance in taking apart the language and focus of mass media.

Here is his response to an editorial from Fox news on the same issues

Does this develop the applicable theory - how might 2 Step Flow be used here? 

Why has old Rusty Rockets decided to launch such a venture?

Let's now look at a episode where he responds to an attack on Trews by Fox.

What issues arise here regarding your own personal understanding of Citizen Journalism; the impact of technology on media access; pluralism versus hegemonic; gatekeeper theory etc

There have been criticisms of Brand - that the venture is self-serving publicity for his career as stand-up comedian and writer. the most vicious attacks on him have come from the media institutions he himself savages most frequently - Murdoch and the Sun; the Daily Mail and. most notably, Fox news. Watch the opening 4 minutes of this episode.

Here we can see some of the issues played out. 

• Brand himself points to the ludicrousness of a major Media corporation taking time to attack a one-man-band You Tube channel - [why do they do so?]
• the David vs Goliath issue that plays to Brand's sense that he must be doing something 'right'
• the one man and a camera channel - developments in technology
• the notions of celebrity -Brand is often portrayed as a 'Champagne Socialist'
• The personalisation of issues and positions - attacks on Brand for 'who he is' rather than on his points
• The economic elite - hegemonic power of Murdoch
• news agendas - the economic interests of Murdoch in oil and military [gatekeeper]