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The importance of ethnography in media research

1998, pg. 24) Yet in a similar but more symbolic and grounded way Willis goes further in that media:
invite certain expectations, that young people have not only learnt the codes, but have learnt to play with interpreting the codes, to reshape forms, to interrelate the media through their own grounded aestheticThe meanings they derive from these things inform all their activities.' (Abercrombie/Longhurst, 1998. pg. 24)

There are criticisms of ethnographic research, particularly in respect to the negotiated reading of the research undertaken and the basic subjectivity of the researcher. On a simple level J. Walter Thompson argues: I am always interested in original approaches to analyzing problems, but my concern about ethnography in a commercial context is that it will not lead to original explanation, but to microscopic reflections of the everyday.' (Thompson, 2003) He goes on to say that ethnography is merely a recollection of behavior filtered through the eye of the researcher and that it can be an additional input, but it is no replacement for thoughtful and intelligent analysis'. (Thompson, 2003). This however appears to be a rather superficial argument given that most research is governed in some way by the politics, motivations and subject matter of any mass communication study undertaken. At its core it seems to be criticism of media ethnography in that while it strives to find meaning in culture, only creates a filtered negotiated meaning based on the any number of biased anchoring on the researcher's part. Thompson believes in old-fashioned research techniques, that it is the actions of people that are the insights. It is not the way we interpret them, how we might apply them to the problem, or what they signify, but literally the behavior itself.' (Thompson, 2003)

The issue it seems is that it is impossible to differentiate method and organization of knowledge from knowledge itself simply, the method of ethnographic research is fundamentally flawed because the formation of conclusions and meanings are based on the filtered', grounded and constrained knowledge' created by the researcher. Murphy explains further, Thus, to speak of negotiation', in the study of media reception is also to engage the notion that the ethnographic encounter itself is squarely based on a ongoing negotiation of the researcher's identity.' (Murphy, 2004) In essence, such research is entirely anchored by the researcher's own background, that of his/her political upbringing,


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