Representation
of Religion:
Religion is
a controversial topic in today’s media, through the various world religions in
western media at least the most commonly discussed are Islam and Christianity. Christianity
is the primary religion in most western countries and as such media organisation
covers this topic with some bias, as they do not want to offend their main
demographic. However the Representation of Islam is a clear juxtaposition to Christianity.
Whereas Christians are perceived with a positive light, Muslims are the target
of much animosity since the first gulf war due to the western countries
involvement in conflicts with countries that are predominantly Muslim and the
various terror attacks orchestrated by those of the Muslim faith. Due to these
various incidents the western media targets the Muslim community and often
causes a large amount of hate towards the countries own Muslim population by
using fear mongering tactics that allow the less informed populace to base
their opinions on the actions of a vocal minority.
Audience:
How different audiences respond to the same Media text:
People often
perceive the same things differently based upon their own personal identity and
life experiences, reception theory states this and bases it on a number of
personal characteristics such as; Gender, Age, Ethnicity, Religion, and overall
culture. Media companies use this information to tailor a specific experience and
highlight key features that they try to push within their product, due to these
cultural experiences a person might find something offensive whereas another
person would not. Because of this a Producer might decide to develop his
product in accordance to popular culture, whereas a more controversial production
might look at this information and do the opposite in hopes that this
controversy would help them and not conform to current industry trends. Audiences
are the largest factor to the overall outcome of a product as it is how the
larger audience as a whole might react to a product that might shape its
overall aims and goals.
