CATS Questions for Essay

After been given the choice of questions to decide from, I have identified four of which I believe I can relate most efficiently to my vocation.

CATS essay ideas

Questions I may consider:

1.       Discuss changing representations of femininity and masculinity in visual culture, and the factors that have influenced them.

Reason: I may look at the different ways in which the world of journalism has evolved and women have integrated into what was once a male dominated occupation. Has the equality of visuals such as women appearing on specific news Television as presenters, rather than being the ‘sidekick’ or just the weather girl, made the occupation more open, or led the leading organisations to use women as a balancing tool on air. (The fact that BBC news, either have one woman, or one man solely presenting, or one man and one woman, or sometimes two women, but never two men)

2. Compare the terms interpret and negotiate in relation to the process by which viewers and readers make meaning in relation to a journalist’s intentions.

Reason: I would consider the broadsheets and tabloids headlines on similar storylines, such as the Princess Dianna death, The war in Iraq, and Prime Minister elections, to draw the interpretations made in each, and compare these to identify the way the newspaper is intending to negotiate the terms they are trying to employ to their readers, and influence them to have a particular view or understanding through the way their message is communicated.

3. The effects of war have often acted as a catalyst for photographers and journalists.

Reason: The way wars are communicated to a reader or viewer can often be the only source of intelligence that the public receive into war relations. I would like to use examples of true journalism and photography, such as the Life magazine’s reporting on WW2, and compare these to ‘unknown’ or or propaganda tools used, and how these have been exploited, such as in the Drama, ‘The Promise,’ which covers the war in Palestine and Israel.  I would argue wars being a reason to report or a reason to exploit for journalists.

4. The rise in social media is changing the nature of contemporary society.

Reason: How social media is impacting on real life decisions, and how it is changing the methods of communicating a story to readers through interactive mediums, such as Twitter, and Storify. I would look at the difference between storytelling by public through interactive communications and visual media, and the way journalists are using social media as a new form of communicating their stories. How can the difference be identified, and what separates a story being a piece of journalism and news, from just being a story.