Question –

Curran and Seaton present the view that a free press relies on a free market where individual newspapers can compete through their political stances and points of view.

Analyse the ways that The i and the Daily Mail attempt to establish a distinctive identity within this free market.  To what extent has this been successful? Refer to the specific edition of your case study – for both papers – as well as, on-line versions of these publications.

Curran and Seaton –

Currran –

Due to price increases of some PSBs some citizens are excluded by price.

‘The United Kingdom regards press freedom as an absolute freedom.’ The government leaves it to the market forces to decide which press products survive’ (1992: 53).

Seaton –

Free Press – Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely.

Free Market – The free market is an economic system based on supply and demand with little or no government control. … Free markets are characterized by a spontaneous and decentralized order of arrangements through which individuals make economic decisions.

The I attempts to establish a distinctive identity –

• Can be freely red in many large UK airports
• Doesn’t have a definitive political stance and is used more to convey news and stories rather than persuade its audience

• The i launched to pose a challenge to existing ‘quality’ newspapers with low cover price and tabloid format.

• In the context of declining newspaper sales it made a bold statement: “condense, re-format, repurpose – and produce a terse, intelligent summation of the day’s news that busy commuters can enjoy” (Peter Preston).

• It has battled to remain ‘cheap’ or at least ‘cheaper’: the weekday edition rising from 20p to 50p.

• Historical lineage going back to a much-missed ‘parent’ paper, the Independent, now defunct in print form: A significant number of staff joined the team from The Independent.

• It has maintained a reputation: named National Newspaper of the Year in 2015.

• Actually this link was broken when it was purchased by regional publisher Johnston Press (this has not affected its identity).

• It has a distinct ‘independent’ register, crisply edited: aimed at “readers and lapsed readers” of all ages and commuters with limited time: you don’t have to ‘identify’ yourself as a reader of a newspaper.

• Appearance is vital: USP: inside and out: compact, “matrices” for news, business and sports— small paragraphs of information which are expanded upon in full articles further on in the paper”.

• Its title reaches back to ‘independence’ but also forward to internet: i-pad, i-phone, i-player, i!

• The paper is active on social media, reinforcing its youthful feel: there is also a discounted student subscription that lasts for one academic year

The Daily Mail attempts to establish a distinctive identity –

• published in London in a tabloid format. Founded in 1896, it is the United Kingdom’s highest-circulated daily newspaper.
• A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for the purpose of profit or influence, this could be applied to the Daily Mail as many ideas it expresses are very right-wing.
• Overall, rate Daily Mail Right Biased and Questionable due to numerous failed fact checks and poor sourcing of information.
• Established in 1896 by Harold and Alfred Harmsworth and Kennedy Jones, The Daily Mail is a tabloid newspaper in the UK. It is edited by Geordie Greig, who took over as editor in November 2018 from Paul Dacre, who had been the editor since 1992.
• The Daily Mail’s parent company is DMGT, which owns newspapers including the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday = gatekeep information/ manufacture consent/ public sphere
• Harold Sidney Harmsworth is also known to be an admirer of Mussolini and a supporter of Nazi Germany.
• Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) reported adjusted operating profit (before tax) of £63m for the nine months to 30 June, down from £112m in 2019. DMGT also reported revenue of £934m, down an underlying seven per cent for the period.

Theories –

James Curren and Jean Seaton – SYSTEM BASED UPON SUPPLY AND COMMAND (CONSUMER RATE) Free Market. the radical press, newspapers or print media that emphasises ideologies that are considered extreme or against dominant ideologies, was so influential that the backing of other daily newspapers may convey the idea of shared interests. In addition, the rise in costs of print media during the nineteenth century meant that there was large competition between newspaper enterprises. Information used by the press is free and transparent within the public domain. Free from political control (liberal, free, neutral, transparent press) Developed Habermas’s ideas.

Noam Chomsky – Manufacturing Consent – How the media can manipulate stories ideas and concepts in order to portray a feeling of agreement and consent. Manufacturing consent works in a similar, if not the same (modern) way as propaganda.

• The five ‘filters’ of Manufacturing Consent’ –
• 1) The size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms
• 2) Advertising as the primary income source of the mass media
• 3) The reliance of the media on information provided by government, business and ‘experts’ funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power.
• 4) ‘Flak’ as a means of disciplining the media
• 5) ‘Anticommunism’ as a national religion and control mechanism. – common enemy

Habermas – Public Sphere – The idea that the media allow for wider demographics to connect and share ideas rather than ideas being mainly conveyed from socially higher powers such as government and royalty.

Roland Bathes – Semiotics/ signs/ symbols – Don’t take everything conveyed in the media at face value, as even font style can influence a reader or convey a meaning or message.

Useful Ideas/ Quotes –

Curran and Seaton Quotes

• the suggestion that the news media ‘reinforces’ a political situation (Murdock, 1982), or the idea that
• ‘different stances different news organisations or types of organisations take toward different audiences in the marketplace‘ (Curran et al, 1980), or
• the proposition that “major media conglomerates control more and more of the world’s media. Where media are not controlled by organisations, they are generally voices of the state.”
• the propaganda model that the media ‘serve to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate the state and private activity‘ (Chomsky, 1988)
• Roland Barthes signs in the news

• The significance of economic factors, including commercial and not-for-profit public funding, to media industries and their products.

• How media organisations maintain, including through marketing, varieties of audiences nationally.

• How media producers target, attract, reach, address and potentially construct audiences.

• How media industries target audiences through the content and appeal of media products and through the ways in which they are marketed, distributed and circulated. The Liberal theory of press freedom (eg summarised by Curran & Seaton)

• In this view of freedom of expression, it is the interests of the press, not of its readers nor of the subjects of its coverage, which are fundamental. (‘Free enterprise is a pre-requisite of a free press’)

• Based on the assumption that democracy is best served by the free exchange of ideas, for which freedom of expression is vital. (‘the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market’)

• In the case of the press, with certain limited exceptions, no legal restriction is placed on the right to buy or launch a newspaper. (This ensures, in liberal theory, that the press is free, diverse and representative (Curran and Seaton 2003: 346-7).

• ‘the United Kingdom regards press freedom as an absolute freedom.’ The government leaves it to the market forces to decide which press products survive’ (1992: 53).

• ‘press freedom is a property right exercised by publishers on behalf of society.’ Any other form of regulation simply distorts the market, operates against the interests of both producers and consumers, and violates the private property rights on which this whole edifice rests.

Improvements (Based on AS question) –

• Make sure you are aware and able to discuss Curran and Seaton’s ideas around the liberal press. And that you are able to use quotation from them to support your ideas and to illustrate your knowledge. ·
• Go back to your notes on the key words, phrases and ideas; reflect, expand, develop and extend your thinking and your definitions.

• Responses are required to apply these ideas about press freedom (aka The Liberal theory of press freedom (eg summarised by Curran & Seaton) to the set newspaper and to make judgements and draw conclusions around the extent to which the product has been successful in its attempts to find its place in this free market

• Responses in the higher bands will explicitly engage with the ‘to what extent’ aspect of the question through reference to the set product and will demonstrate an understanding of the complex character of relationships between production, markets and audiences.

Structure –

( /20)

Paragraph 1 – introduction – Define Free Press & Free Market, Introduce ideas by Curran and Seaton and briefly explain how this can be linked to The Daily Mail and The i newspapers.

Paragraph 2 – In depth analysis of quote by Curran AND Seaton and how this might link in with the i and Daily Mail, using specific institutional analysis and theories such as Manufacturing Consent. How do the ideas presented by Curran AND Seaton allow for these papers to express a distinctive identity either successfully or unsuccessfully.

Paragraph 3 – Analysis of the i and the CSP pages, referring to political stance and close analysis on lexis and font style/ layout plus connotations that are presented – link to Roland Barthes, also referring to institutional analysis such as specific dates, names or stats. Refer back to question and how this might allow the i to establish a distinctive identity. Link in with ideas presented by Curran and Seaton.

Paragraph 4 – Introduce The Daily Mail, using the CSP pages and their political stance (contrast to the i) use institutional analysis and refer back to the question. Is the Daily mail more reactionary or radical? Link in with the idea of monopolies or gatekeeping or Public sphere. Link in with ideas presented by Curran and Seaton.

Paragraph 5 – Conclusion, summaries all points and closely refer and answer the points raised in the question –

• Curran and Seaton present the view that a free press relies on a free market where individual newspapers can compete through their political stances and points of view.

• Analyse the ways that The i and the Daily Mail attempt to establish a distinctive identity within this free market.  To what extent has this been successful?
• Refer to the specific edition of your case study – for both papers – as well as, on-line versions of these publications.

The group traces its origins to the launch in 1896 of the mid-market national newspaper the Daily Mail by Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, and his elder brother, Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe. It was incorporated in 1922 and its shares were first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1932. 

published in London in a tabloid format. Founded in 1896, it is the United Kingdom’s highest-circulated daily newspaper.

Who owns the Daily Mail?

• Viscount Rothermere

DMGT – Daily Mail and General Trust plc, a British media conglomerate, owning the Daily Mail as well as Mail on Sunday and Metro. The UK’s national newspapers are owned predominantly by 6 major media groups. Three of these corporations own 71% of national newspaper circulation, those three groups being ‘News Crop’, ‘DMG Media’ and ‘Trinity Mirror’.

Holding Company – A holding company is a company that owns the outstanding stock of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies to form a corporate group. 

Intermediate Holding – An intermediate holding is a firm that is both a holding company of another entity and a subsidiary of a larger corporation. An intermediate holding firm might be exempted from publishing financial records as a holding company of the smaller group. It gives the holding company owner a controlling interest in another without having to invest much. When the parent company purchases 51% or more of the subsidiary, it automatically gains control of the acquired firm. By not purchasing 100% of each subsidiary, a small business owner gains control of multiple entities using a very small investment.

In relation to DMG media – DMG media is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. 

Financial –

•  The company manages a multinational portfolio of companies, with total revenues of almost £2 billion. 
• The company operates in over forty countries through its subsidiaries (An example of one would be DMG media)
• Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) reported adjusted operating profit (before tax) of £63m for the nine months to 30 June, down from £112m in 2019. DMGT also reported revenue of £934m, down an underlying seven per cent for the period.
• Revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods or services related to the company’s primary operations. … Profit is the amount of income that remains after accounting for all expenses, debts, additional income streams, and operating costs
• The owner of the Daily Mail, the i and Metro said that print advertising revenues for its portfolio of titles plunged by 70% in April and May as the coronavirus lockdown hammered the newspaper industry.
• In April, DMGT said circulation revenues fell by 17%, with total advertising revenue down 46% – with print ads down 69% and digital advertising falling 16%.

Political Stance –

The Mail has traditionally been a supporter of the Conservatives and has endorsed this party in all recent general elections.

Lord Rothermere was a friend of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and directed the Mail’s editorial stance towards them in the early 1930s. Rothermere’s 1933 leader “Youth Triumphant” praised the new Nazi regime’s accomplishments, and was subsequently used as propaganda by them

Audience –

A survey in 2014 found the average age of its readers was 58, and it had the lowest demographic for 15- to 44-year-olds among the major British dailies. Uniquely for a British daily newspaper, it has a majority female readership, with women making up 52–55% of its readers

Question:	The Daily Mail	‘The i’ Newspaper
When they were first introduced?	1896	2010
Are they part of a bigger organisational structure?	Owned by ‘Daily Mail and General Trust’, a media company chaired by Viscount Rothermere	Owner – Daily Mail (as of late November 2019)
Are they known for a particular political perspective?	Right wing – Conservative	Liberal – non biased and don’t take a specific political stance
What kind of journalism do they produce?	Gossip, inaccurate scare stories of medical and scientific research, right wing politics, entertainment	Factual stories, Broadsheet
What kind of people run the paper?	Viscount Rothermere Family Editor – Geordie Grieg (2018)	Free Press
Do they have a similar readership reach?	Circulation – 1,134,184 (February 2020) Readership – 2.2 Million (daily)	Circulation – 221, 083 (October 2019)
Do they have a similar readership profile / target audience?	Women make up 52-55% of readers, Middle Class women, Right wing, average age of 58	General public, any age, all political views
How are they currently doing? Increasing or decreasing sales and revenue?	-During lockdown the circulation went down to 945,000 from 1.13 Million in March. -DMGT recorded a revenue of £1.41 Billion – Pretax profit £145 million	15% decrease of sales from June 2019 – June 2020
How are they looking to embrace new media technologies?	Daily Mail Online = 2003. (11.34 million visitors daily)	Online paper free to the reader
Do they have a similar layout and design?	Tabloid format (compact page size)	Broadsheet Layout

Louis Althusser presented the theory of Interpolation. Interpolation is an ideology which is created by people who are in high in social and political power. An example of this is, people in the government. “an ideology always exists in an apparatus, and its practice, or practices” The quote suggests that with in media, there is always an ideology which is presented to the audience which can be used as propaganda to make the audience believe a certain political view. This relates to his idea of ideological state apparatus which suggests that even outside of political media, such as governments, the dominant ideology of the government will still have its values represented. This is because the audience or consumer of the particular media will adapt the political or social ideologies to their everyday life.

Evidence is presented by The Daily Mail and The I newspapers. The Daily mail was founded in 1896 and is owned by General Trust PLC which owns multinational companies and the chairman of the company is The viscount Rothermere. The paper also has a right winged political view. This is shown through the paper which uses propaganda such as talking highly and agrees with Boris Jhonson who supports the conservative party. This is unlike The I newspaper. The I was founded in 2010 which is where radical left ideologies were more viewed. The paper claims to have an unbiased political view and the paper focuses on social and political issues.

Noam Chomsky created the 5 filters that the media use to influence their audience like puppets. These filters are ownership, advertising, sourcing news, flak and ideology. 

Owning a declining newspaper company may loose you money. however the ownership and having control of the media will make you a valuable asset to the politician such as the owner of the I (Evgeny Lebedev) has backed Borris Johnson. This is a positive for Johnson because they will be critical of labour as a right wing news paper. Even though the I isn’t gaining profit Johnson could change some laws or policies in other industries to give Evgeny Lebedev profit or favourable policies. Evgeny Lebedev was nominated for a life peerage by Boris Johnson for his services to the British media industry and philanthropic work, including in wildlife conservation.

The I and Daily mail would advertise products that apply to it’s readership and demographic guaranteeing the advertiser would get an audience. on the left is the I which is advertising the latest model phone and on the left the daily mail is advertising middle class furniture.

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What is the theory?

Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist philosopher who came up with the idea of hegemony. Hegemony is a theory which suggests that ideas are enforced by an ongoing hegemonic struggle between the elite class and the working class, with the elite class generally having the upper hand resulting in them creating new cultural norms.

Evidence from CSP?

The idea of hegemony is vividly projected from big newspaper company Daily Mail as we can find evidence for this theory by exploring its ownership. The Daily Mail is owned by Daily Mail and General Trust which is owned by Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Rothermere who is a prominent supporter of the conservative party in the UK and David Cameron. The Daily Mail and General Trust has been passed down the family in terms of ownership starting in 1896 with Alfred Harmsworth (Jonathans grandfather) .The Daily Mail also happens to be supporting the conservative party in all recent elections which shows us solid proof of the elite class (Jonathan Harmsworth) enforcing ideas on the working class through powerful forms of communication and information sources such as newspapers.

What does this tell us?

This ownership of big newspaper companies show us sufficient evidence for Gramsci’s theory of hegemony as we can clearly see the elite ruling class enforcing their ideologies and political stances on the working class, in this case Jonathan Harmsworth enforcing his political stance on the UK society. A good example of this taking place in UK politics was Brexit gaining the majority of votes which was more seen as a conservative choice within the UK.

Chomsky’s theory consists of the idea that there are five general classes of “filters” that determine the type of news that is presented in news media. These five classes are: ownership of the medium, the medium’s funding sources, sourcing, flak and the common enemy.

In terms of advertising, The Daily Mail (especially online) is full of adverts which have been deliberately included to persuade and encourage the target audience to buy. The adverts shown online are more personal as they have access to a persons likes and dislikes, therefore they can advertise things you are interested in.

Antonio Gramsci talks about the theory of ‘Hegemonic Struggle’, which connects to the idea that there is a control of oppressed groups by those who are upper class (the elite) in society. An example of this can be the opposition of representation and social injustice between white people and people of colour.

In relation to the Daily Mail, a news subsidiary owned by the conglomerate Daily Mail and General Trust, is overall owned by an elite class family. The theory of Hegemonic Struggle can be seen within this because of the political stance The Daily Mail takes with how it supports the publication of insulting and derogative stories. The rich (in this case, Lord Rothermere) creates a story, in order to manipulate and influence the dominant opinion. An example of the Daily Mail trying to influence their extreme opinions and influence their audience is in the image below. Richard Littlejohn seems to had been faced with having no interesting stories to publish and a pending column deadline in September leading Littlejohn to randomly publish a false rant about burka wearing boys, creating controversy from thin air. He wrote: “Diversity nazis are now hell-bent on eradicating any notion of ‘men’ and ‘women’ as part of their crusade to destroy every last vestige of traditionalism.”, “Politicians and public bodies were always going to be a pushover. You can rely on taxpayer-funded organisations to advance the diversity agenda.” and “Now education authorities have put hijabs for five-year-olds on the uniform list, it’s probably only a matter of time before some right-on retailer starts selling burqas for boys.”. In relation to Gramsci, hegemonic struggle is very much evident here as The Daily Mail talks about a respected religion and transgender rights but yet makes fun of how people are changing some rules in order to accomodate for everyone and make sure each person feels comfortable. (SOURCE: https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/12/28/12)

As Gramsci’s ideas can very evidently be seen through The Daily Mail, this leads me to believe that his theories are accurate in terms of the struggles between how each article is formulated to shock and offend the audience in order for them to read on and buy the newspaper in order for The Daily Mail to be able to gatekeep certain information and ideas and apply and force dominant ideologies onto their audiences that they may not want to be changed.

In Chomksy’s book Manufacturing consent: the political economy of the mass media, he talks about how the mass media is focused on making money rather than doing what’s right for the public and is largely dominated by a few large conglomerates. He also talks about how the mass media aims to control its audience through framing products and concepts in a certain way to make people believe what they believe and planting ideologies into their heads which they don’t even realise, the public believe they have a freedom of choice when in reality the media is using it’s power to manipulate the population. Forcing people to accept ideas they may not believe in at first.

The Daily Mail is a right wing newspaper meaning they support the conservative parties in politics. In the 2004 UK election 53% of the Daily Mail’s readers (52-55% of readers female) voted for the conservatives. The daily mail uses strong words such as CRUSH the opposition to sway people to vote for certain parties over others based on them being a right wing newspaper. They make the parties they support seem favourable to their readers such as saying things like A HUG FOR HIS DAUGHTER AS BLAIR WINS A SECOND TERM this tells the Daily Mail’s readers that the people they support are nicer than the opposing parties making their readers like them more than others, manipulating their thoughts on who to vote for.

This reinforces Chomsky’s theory of manufacturing consent as it shows how dominant media companies use their power to frame an ideology in a certain to make it appear to readers how the company wants them to perceive he ideology, meaning there is little freedom for thought when you are influenced by the media. You can’t understand the world without the media but when taking in the media you can’t avoid companies manipulating your thoughts and ideas to fit in with what they want you to think. The Daily Mail’s use of strong words creates a common enemy between the company and its readers, where they can then led on from this and plant ideas into their heads over time.

Antonio Gramsci expresses the idea of ‘hegemonic struggle’, which links in with the control of oppressed/ inferior groups by those who are seen as ‘the dominant ideology’ in society. For example, the binary opposition of representation between men and women. Hegemony can also be seen as a ‘social injustice’ among a certain group or class, women for example, are commonly seen as inferior to men.

In relation the the Daily Mail, Gramsci’s idea of hegemonic struggle can be applied due to the political stance the newspaper takes and how that political stance leads to the support and representation of more ‘shocking’/ ‘offensive’ stories. (Ultimately used for entertainment and profit purposes). The image below shows dominant newspapers, such as The Daily Mail, can use the likes expressed by their demographic in order to draw in viewers. Rather than focussing on the key factor of this story – Brexit – the story rather moves attention to the politicians legs, also linking in with the idea of the male guise expressed by Laura Mulvey. However, if the subjects in this image were men, it is highly unlikely that they would be sexualised and objectified like this; the story would be a lot more formal and news-based rather than a joke almost mocking the women in the image. In relation to Gramsci, hegemonic struggle is clearly evident here as although they are discussing a topic that will change the course of a nation, the newspaper manipulates this and objectifies it, which contrasts to the second front cover where the headline is used to support the politician rather than mock them.

Ultimately, I believe that the ideas coined by Gramsci are accurate as they can be applied to the daily mail in terms of the struggles between Genders and how women are negatively represented in the media where as men are generally more supported. Therefore, the newspaper can use these ideas on gender in order to gatekeep certain information and ideas and reinforce dominant ideologies that they may not want to be changed or influenced.