Late Night Women's Hour (Clay Shirky) & Regulation

Late Night Women's hour

Historical Context

• In a letter to The Daily Worker, in 1946, a Mrs. Bridget Long wrote: "The programme is much too patronising. What women want is a programme to compensate us for being tied to our domestic chores, to help us keep in touch with the world outside, whether it's books, films, politics or other countries
• Subsequently, it was noted "There was a feeling among many listeners that they were being patronised by the BBC and that both the material and the style of presentation appeared to be directed to adolescents, not grown women,"

How have sociohistorical factors lead to a diversification of media output?

• Late night women's hour = created by men
• the show has not changed over the time as content reflects similar themes
• economic factors - funding 
• PBS
• LNWH exists because it has to

How have digital platforms changed the way we consume radio?

• You can listen to the radio on your television
• And on radio apps
• Spotify radios
• you can now listen to radio shows at any time anywhere now
• DIGITAL CONVERGENCE
• Analog radio still exists (can get for cheap)
• Iplayer on laptops/computers
• Iplayer offers the audience an immersive experience
• Easy access - on pretty much every piece of smart technology (digital tech)
• Digital tech = anything that involves computers
• The use of thumbnails (user interface) Iplayer has an attractive UI.
• On youtube now, podcasts etc 
• Digital allows us to 
• use of hashtags for LNWH 

Clay Shirky

• The fact we use hashtags and are able to share, this creates the idea that the audience is acting as the producer using this sharing method

How have the following aspects of distribution increased radio's audience reached?

• Audio streaming - able to access through youtube and online mediums
• DAB - lots more stations (BBC Asian station, BBC 1xtra)
• Podcasts - new genres of radio
• Cross-platform - freedom to how you access it 

Regulation

The rules and restrictions that media has to follow e.g film industry = BBFC

Radio regulation = OFCOM

this show is particularly unoffensive

• Radio and TV in the UK is broadly self-regulated
• LNWH is broadcast after the 9pm watershed.
• Regulation is ineffective due to the digital evolvement 

Localness 

- OFFCOM requires local radio stations to provide a reasonable amount of localness
- LNWH don't need to do this as they are part of a national channel
- The BBC has to witch to local based news

Regulation and LNWH

• The several references to IKEA
• "On a popular online book store" - She means Amazon but the BBC cannot legally advertise so have to remain impartial
• You're allowed to mention brands but it cannot be seen to present any ideology about the products
• Difference = talking about the store of IKEA/telling the audience where they can find particular books the audience may be interested in

Plurality

where a media product exhibits and gives voice to a wide range of ideological perspectives

• The BBC has a remit to show a range of shows for a range of audiences
• The reason why they kept on Clarkson was that they offered the audiences Plurality 
• Public service broadcaster = a service that is paid by the taxpayer and given to you. offer a service to their audience so they must diversify as it is such a broad audience
• It has a self-imposed remit to "inform, educate and entertain"

How does LNWH abide by OFCOM's regulatory framework?

- "ensure a wide range of services and a wide appeal is available"

An example = Basically talking about what it is like to be a woman, criticisms of classic presentations of gender. Mode of address. 

- "maintain plurality in broadcasting"

An example = middle class (discussion of having a winter mug)

- "protect audiences from offensive and harmful material"

An example = purposely made to be unoffensive and harmless

- "Protect audiences against unfairness or infringement of privacy"

An example = It follows their rules 

Curran and Seaton claimed that the media are controlled by a small number of companies driven by profit and power. They claimed that the concentration of media is limiting variety, creativity, and quality and that if ownership of media can be more diverse this will help to create more varied and adventurous productions. 

horizontal integration through a conglomeration

LNWH shows a clear left-wing view.
- critical of patriarchy