Page 17 - Communication Cultural and Media Studies The Key Concepts

ACCESSING

Eco speculated: ‘We could discover that the community of the users
has such freedom in decoding as to make the influencing power of the
organisation much weaker than one could have thought. Or just the
opposite’ (1972: 107). This research agenda proved remarkably stable.
Its combination of textual (semiotic) and audience (sociological)
analysis designed to assess the ideological power of media and the
room for manoeuvre of audiences remains to this day at the core of
academic media research.
Eco’s article was translated (by Paola Splendore) and published in
the journal of Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies
(CCS), Working Papers in Cultural Studies, in 1972. It was a source of
influence for Stuart Hall’s ‘encoding/decoding’ thesis and for much
subsequent work by media researchers at the CCCS, for instance,
Charlotte Brunsdon and David Morley, Ian Connell and Lydia Curti,
and thence made its way into the mainstream of media studies.

ACCESSING

The practice of including verbal quotations and film/tape interviews
or statements (in news/current affairs coverage) which originate from
people or groups not directly employed by the media organisation
itself. Access is a serious matter in broadcasting organisations, because
scarcity of airtime means that it has to be heavily rationed, which is
why for such organisations it is a political issue. In post-broadcast
media such as the Internet, access does not need to be rationed and
therefore is not an issue.
Demands for broadcast access are based on a reflection theory of the
media – that is, that the media ought to reflect the plurality of different
groups, politics or lifestyles that can be identified outside the media in
social life. Many groups argue that their access to television is blocked
and that as a result they are unable to establish their point of viewin the
public mind. The assumption often is that the blockage is caused by a
more or less deliberate conspiracy by the media to exclude them.
Even when access is achieved, ‘minority groups’ are often
disappointed with the coverage they receive. Commercial and
industrial organisations with an extensive division of labour and an
occupational ideology of professionalism won’t let you simply appear
on television or radio and state your case or tell your story. Despite the
media’s centrality to public life and to citizenship, there is no right of
access. Whether you get on air depends on the professionals’
assessment of your talent, newsworthiness or representative status,

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