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.

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.

Jurgen Habermas proposed the theory of the public sphere. This theory suggests a free space where access to relevant information affecting the public good is widely available, , where discussion is free of domination and where all those participating on public debates do so in an equal basis”.

Both papers support Habermase’s theory due to the wide range of news information that serve the public interest. This allows all generations to interact with certain aspects of the news information and freely discuss the information. In relation to The i and The daily mail both papers support 2 different political parties. For example, Th I is more Liberal they do not openly support a particular party. The paper itself is run by free press and runs more as a public watch dog which regulates free press. Where as The daily mail is right wing they support the conservatives and is not as central as The I.

Habermas theorised the concept of the free press whereby the media and the press should be free from interference and bias, ownership and political control. He argued that the newspaper should be made by the people for the people in ‘coffee house culture’ and deliver factual and unbiased accounts.

Elements of this are evident in the ‘I Newspaper’ and in its struggle for a just and égalitarisme society. ‘Do you want the good news or the bad news?’. This interrogative headline of the 19th October 2020 edition illustrates the newspapers values.

As a liberal free press, unlike the sensationalist and inaccurate account of science and medical research in order often seen in the Daily Mail newspaper, the I strives to give through and factual accounts of current affairs, not withholding or exaggerating issues in order to increase sales currently set at 221083. This is seen as the headline offers facts from both sides of the argument in order to deliver the truth to the audience despite the outcome as it is not corrupt or influenced by political control.

This links to Habemas as it draws on his concept of free press. The I is a liberal free press, that seeks to deliver facts and true accounts to the audiences, free from bias and political control.

Gramsci talks about the theory of Hegemony. this focuses on the idea that the view of the upper class in society has the power to influence and manipulate mass audiences. Their view becomes the cultural ‘norm’.

In relation to the daily mail, it is a newspaper, which is owned by a ruiling class family. Wikipedia states that the daily mail is a unreliable source, as their aim is to simply sell their newspapers, to create profit. So, the use of front on the front paper is normally in black large, bold writing, making it more likely to sell, as it is eye catching.

So, linking back to gramscis theory, the rich (Lord Rothermere) creates a story, in order to manipulate and influence the mass audience