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.