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Context of Production / Purpose (first teaching 2022) Notes
Page: Summary of Purpose
What is Context of Production?
In this section, you will look at the main reasons why audiences engage with certain media products.
As a media consumer, you might feel like watching a Netflix show in order to entertain or distract yourself. On the other hand, you might read an e-magazine in order to take in information about the world and educate yourself.
In some cases, the purpose of a media text will depend more on the goals of the people who produce it.
People can create media products in order to support a political leader or make money for a business or demonstrate new innovations in technology.
Generally speaking, there are many reasons for audiences to consume media texts and many reasons why people create media texts.
Purposes of Media Products
| Educate | Entertainment | Escapism | Inspiration | Persuade | Social Interaction | Challenge | Affirming Personal Identity |
| To teach the audience something about a particular subject or the wider world we live in | To give audiences a pleasurable and leisurely way of filling their free time | To divert the audience’s attention away from the stresses and challenges of daily life | To encourage audiences to achieve or work towards something | To encourage the audience to either do something, buy something or believe something. | To allow audiences to communicate with one another through media | To encourage audiences to reject social norms and/or see an alternative view point | To give audiences the tools they need to construct and develop their own sense of self |
| e.g. TV documentaries, broadsheet newspapers, official website on a specialist subject | e.g. Netflix film, comic book, massively multiplayer online video games | e.g. podcast for journey home from work, TV repeats of old shows, superhero films | e.g. YouTube vlogs, self-help websites, health and fitness adverts | e.g. charity advert requesting donations | e.g. social networking sites, video call apps, leaflets for local events | e.g. topical documentary on poverty and drug use | e.g. niche-subject magazines, human interest podcasts, music videos with themes of social justice |
Types of Producers
- Media conglomerate
- Independent media producer
- Community media organisation
Public Service Broadcasting
The BBC is what is known as a public service broadcaster (PSB). Public service broadcasters are state-owned and funded by the public through TV licences. For example, anyone who owns a TV in the UK must pay for a TV licence, and this money is used to fund channels such as the BBC. Because public service broadcasters are funded by the public, they adhere to the Broadcasting Act 1990, which states that they must provide programming which informs, educates and entertains the public. Public service broadcasters do not use advertisements to fund their programming.
Commercial Broadcaster
Commercial broadcasters provide programming with the end goal of making money (via advertising or subscription fees); for example: ITV, HBO, and Netflix.
Channel 4 is a unique PSB in that it has the same obligations as the BBC under the Broadcasting Act 1990 as it is state-owned, but it is commercially financed; this is why it features advertising breaks, unlike the BBC, which is funded via TV licence payments.Motivations for Producers
| Profit | Community benefit | Raising awareness | Critical acclaim | Innovation | Experimentation | Public service responsibilities | Self-expression | Advocacy |
| To make money and enable the production company to make more content in the future | To encourage the development or improvement of a specific area, usually a town or village | To inspire the audience to engage with an important issue, possibly through donations or activism | To gain acknowledgment of artistic achievement through reviews, awards, plaudits, etc. | To create something new and original, usually in order to solve a problem that consumers experience | To push creative boundaries and try new things with technology, genre, narrative, etc. | To provide programs or services in the interest /of benefit to the general public | To express emotions, ideas, personality through the media | To express support for a particular person, group or cause |
| e.g. blockbuster films, tabloid newspapers, adverts for commercial products | e.g. regional radio programme, brochures for local events, community centre posters | e.g. TV charity advert, documentary films, online articles | e.g. awards-season films, pioneering video games, television dramas | e.g. mobile apps, official website for a new business, video games that experiment with new technology | e.g. art-house films, surreal music videos, interactive television shows | e.g. the TV programme Dispatches on Channel 4 | e.g. music artists such as Taylor Swift, Kanye West, etc. | e.g. brochure for a political party, newspaper that supports a political party, an advertisement for a charity |
Aims of Producers
To create products which are high quality, distinctive, accessible, diverse, inclusive, impartial
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