Antonio Gramsci 

Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist philosopher who developed the theory of hegemony, in which he states that highly political figures and people with vast amount of control over media are able to dictate and set values and morals within society. The theory includes the society and the people in power attempting to set new standards through a hegemonic struggle. A cultural example of hegemony can be the United States of America, in which a group of ruling class people have authority and great influence over all of its citizens. These citizens will then shape their ideologies and opinions of the world based off the information this ruling class will feed them. 

Jurgen Habermas and the concept of the Public Sphere – arguments: that the media should work in the public’s interest and not purely in a commercial interest, that mass media has reduced the effectiveness of the public sphere though the concentration of ownership, and that in order to have democracy we must have an informed and aware society. “A public sphere between the private domain and the state in which a public opinion was formed and ‘popular’ supervision of government was established”

James Curran & Jean Seaton – the theory of the liberal free press – the idea that media should have the right to be exercised freely. The public wants a free market when it comes to the news, however laws have to be implemented to prevent media platforms from publishing highly offensive and untrue information, but if the government put too many laws in place then the news becomes controlled by the state.”The media ceased to be an agency of empowerment and rationality, and became a further means by which the public was sidelined”.

Noam Chomsky – the 5 filters that manufacture consent – presents his views on how mass media works against democracy, he thinks that media selectively chooses what to publish not based on what is best for the viewer, but for their personal agenda. Propaganda model – explains how populations are manipulated and how consent is manufactured for social, economic and political policies, includes structures of ownership, the role of advertising, links with the establishment, diversionary tactics and uniting against a common enemy

1. Jurgen Habermas and the concept of the Public Sphere

Jurgen Habermas and the concept of the Public Sphere – arguments: that the media should work in the public’s interest and not purely in a commercial interest, that mass media has reduced the effectiveness of the public sphere though the concentration of ownership, and that in order to have democracy we must have an informed and aware society. “A public sphere between the private domain and the state in which a public opinion was formed and ‘popular’ supervision of government was established”

1. James Curran & Jean Seaton – the theory of the liberal free press

 The media needs a form of regulation or they can post whatever they want and it won’t matter if it’s real or not so we have a filter what media goes through also known as “flack” so the government could stop negative information against them to never be published for the public as well as watchdogs who are mainly anonymous people who keep an eye out for the public to ensure there is no corrupt people or media. FREE PRESS should be free from interference/ ownership/political control

1. Noam Chomsky – the 5 filters that manufacture consent

Noam Chomsky co-wrote wrote the the 1988 book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. This book spoke about the five filters that manufacture consent. One to five of these filters are; Size, ownership and profit orientation. Two; The advertising license to do business. Three; the media elite. Four; Flak and the enforcers, and Five; Anti communism.

Louis Althusser – interpellation & Ideological State Appraratus

Althusser discusses the idea that social structures such as education, religion, culutre, the arts, etc. construct our individual identity. He says that these social structures follow the dominant ideology of the ‘ruling power’ ie. government and interpellate an ideological identity. This theory looks at issues of ownership, power, control, behavior management in organisations

1. Antonio Gramsci – the concept of hegemony / hegemonic struggle

Hegemony is a tug of war for power, and that the balance of power can be changed, how certain cultural forms predominate over others, which means that certain ideas are more influential than other. Post colonialism articulates a desire to reclaim, re-write and re-establish cultural identity and thus maintain power of The Empire.

Jurgen Habermas and the concept of the Public Sphere

How media lets bigger demographics consume and share unique ideas rather than the ideas released from the government or other higher economical figures like royalty.

QUOTES:

“The media do serve the public interest or general welfare whether by design or chance”

“In democratic societies, there are likely to be grounds on which an argued claim can be made”

James Curran & Jean Seaton – The Theory of The liberal free press

Media having the freedom to publish what they want, without interference from the Government. The information that is published by the press is free to use in the public domain and is open to anyone to access this information.

Public Broadcasting Services are neither commercial nor state-owned, free from political interference and pressure from commercial forces allowing the public to be informed, educated, included and also entertained.

QUOTES:

“The free market, it is also argued, makes the press a representative institution.”

“The market-based press is independent because it owes allegiance only to the public, the press is the people’s watchdog, scrutinizing the actions government and holding the country’s rulers to account”

“British broadcasting was started as a public service, and this proved as creative commercially as it was innovative culturally.”

Noam Chomsky – The 5 Filters that Manufacture Consent

How the media manipulates and controls the stories and articles they produce to portray the agreement and consent they supposedly have with the public (propaganda).

THE FIVE FILTERS:

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. ‘Flack’ as a means of disciplining the media
5. ‘Anti-Communism’ as a national religion and control mechanism. – common enemy

Louis Althusser – Interpellation & Ideological State Apparatus

How the government builds different constructs e.g. buildings, laws, food, drinks, etc that forms society and our views.

• Repressive state apparatuses (RSA) makes the most dominant class with the highest amount of power use their to control the working class.
• Ideological State Apparatus uses pacifist methods in order to ‘maintain control’ over a population.

Antonio Gramsci – The Concept of Hegemony/Hegemonic Struggle

Hegemony is the struggle between the most powerful class and the lower classes, the struggle between the independence of different groups and their identities. Imagine a tug of war between your own identity and what other people are telling you.

QUOTES:

“How certain cultural forms predominate over others, which means that certain ideas are more influential than others”

CHOMSKY’S 5 FILTERS

Ownership: Mass media firms are big corporations and are often part of even bigger conglomerates, their goal is profit and they will push for whatever guarantees that profit. 

Advertising: The second filter exposes the role of advertising. As media costs a lot more then consumers pay, advertisers fill the gap and pay for audiences. 

The Media Elite: The establishment manages the media through the third filter. Elite news companies have the resources to ease the news-gathering process. 

Flak: Flak refers to the negative commentary to a new story or journalist. Flak includes lawsuits, complaints, petitions, and government sanctions. 

Anti-Communism and Fear: This filter still operates; it mobilizes the population against a common enemy (terrorism etc) while demonizing opponents.  

Noam Chomsky co-wrote wrote the the 1988 book Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media. This book spoke about the five filters that manufacture consent and presents ideas on how the mass media can work against the democracy’s best interests. One to five of these filters are; Size, ownership and profit orientation. Two; The advertising license to do business. Three; the media elite. Four; Flak and the enforcers, and Five; Anti communism. Chomsky is also an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic and political activist.

Jugen Habermas – concept of the public sphere

The Public Sphere is where people come to discuss societies problems. Habermas came up with the idea of the public sphere. Through this public discussion, it therefore influences the political action, such as the news. The idea of the public sphere is that it allows people to connect horizontally rather than vertically, and help society change.

James Curran and Jean Seaton – the theory of the liberal free press

• the freedom to publish in the free market ensures that the press reflects a wide range of opinions and interests in society.
• the free market makes the press a representative institution.

Noam Chomsky – the 5 filters that manufacture consent

• ownership of the medium – the dominant mass media outlets are large profit based companies – they must cater to the financial interests of the owners, such as corporations and controlling investors.

• advertising – advertisers are paying for audiences
• links with establishment / sourcing – the establishment manages the media through the third filter.
• flak – if journalist, whistle blowers, sources want to challenge the press, you will be pushed to the margins – when the story is inconvenient for the powers, you get “flak”
• anti – communism / fear ideology – to manufacture consent, you need an enemy: communism, terrorist, emigrants – this helps corral public opinion

• this determines the type of news that is presented in the news media

Louis Althusser – interpellation and ideological state apparatus

Antonio Gramsci

Gramsci says the dominant ideology is created by the state and the rich and powerful who own the large businesses. This then creates the values and beliefs of the mass population creating hegemonic struggle for those who don’t align with those ideas. Hegemonic societies are enforced not only through violence and physical enforcement but via media outlets and more subconscious ways of imparting views. This is done through the ownership of most media by one-person e.g. Rupert Murdoch.

Louis Althusser

Ideological state apparatus aligns with Gramsci but specifies the ways that the world views and beliefs are formed/created. Althusser claims even our actions and choices in society are formed by the upper class and those in power and we need to be agent of freedom to break from the constructed lives that have been planned for us

Curran and Seaton

Free press is the isolation of press media from governments and powers interference in the stories and views shown creating a neutral and transparent press.

Noam Chomsky

Chomsky says that the mass communication media are powerful ideological institutions that support the powerful with market force and covert coercion. To manufacture consent of the governed

The five filters are the ways in which the media manufacture consent. His book A Propaganda Model

• Ownership: The owner of a media company will always have an impact of the bias of the information given out either subconsciously or consciously
• Advertising : This is a large way the dominant ideology is forced into even working class press as all outlets need advertisement to fund their business. This means those with money can buy all the advertisement keeping the ideology of the powerful
• Sourcing : News companies need to guarantee news to meet schedules therefore can not afford to risk more radical stories and have to stay to mainstream dominant news sources.
• Flak : It is a way of negatively representing a business in a way that creates a dislike in the audience or there downfall. It is used to destroy smaller or rival companies
• Fear as a control mechanism : In america Communism is used as a way to scare the audience away from a idea of business . The media uses the countries prejudices to attack or discourage

Jurgen Habermas

Habermas and the Public Sphere

The Public Sphere is a theory by Habermas where people can come together to freely discuss problems within society.

The Theory of Free Press – Curran and Seaton

Curran and Seaton write about how the media should be free from interference or political control so they are neutral, transparent.

Noam Chomsky and Manufacturing Consent

Chomsky talks about ownership and how mass media forms are large corporations or even conglomerates. He says how every business has the same goal which is money/profit. He says that every company puts profit as their first priority over everything else.

• Ownership: mass media firms are big corporations and are often part of even bigger conglomerates, their goal is profit and they will push for whatever guarantees that profit. 
• Advertising: exposes the role of advertising. As media costs a lot more then consumers pay, advertisers fill the gap and pay for audiences. 
• The Media Elite: the establishment manages the media through the third filter. Elite news companies have the resources to ease the news-gathering process. 
• Flak: flak refers to the negative commentary to a new story or journalist. Flak includes lawsuits, complaints, petitions, and government sanctions. 
• Anti-Communism and Fear: this filter still operates; it mobilises the population against a common enemy (terrorism etc) while demonising opponents.  

Louis Althusser and the theory of the ideological state apparatus.

Althusser created the theory of the ideological state apparatus (ISA) to describe the structure of complex relationships in society.

He argues that the ideological state apparatuses (ISA) are the sites of ideological conflict among the social classes of a society. That, in contrast to the repressive state apparatuses (RSA), such as the military and the police forces, the ISA exist as a plurality. While the ruling class in power can readily control the repressive state apparatuses, the ISA are both the sites and the stakes (the objects) of class struggle. Moreover, the ISA are not monolithic social entities, and are distributed throughout the society, as public and as private sites of continual class struggle.

Althusser said the ideological apparatuses of the state are over-determined zones of society that complex elements of the ideologies of previous modes of production, so the sites of continual political activity in a society. Which are:

• the religious ISA (the system of Churches)
• the educational ISA (the systems of public and private schools),
• the family ISA,
• the legal ISA,
• the political ISA (the political system, e.g. political parties),
• the trade union ISA,
• the communications ISA (press, radio, television, etc.)
• the cultural ISA (literature, the arts, sport, etc.)

Antonio Gramsci and the concept of hegemony

Hegemony is a tug of war for power and that the balance of power can be changed.

In terms of cultural forms, Frantz Fanon on ‘national culture’ said “From America, black voices will take up the hymn with fuller unison. The ‘black world’ will see the light”. Gramsci comments how certain cultural forms predominate over others, which means that certain ideas are more influential than other, post colonialism articulates a desire to reclaim, re-write and re-establish cultural identity and thus maintain power of The Empire.

Gramsci came up with the theory of cultural hegemony. Cultural hegemony is the domination of a culturally diverse society by the ruling class which manipulates the culture of that society so that the ruling-class view becomes the accepted norm.

The Theory of the Liberal Free Press

• “The Flat Earth News is free to sell a million copies. What it lacks is the ability to find a million people with a conviction that the earth is flat. Freedom is neutral” – Curran Press Freedom
• ” ‘The broad shape and nature of the press’, proclaim John Whale, ‘is ultimately determined by no one but it readers’. This is because newspapers and magazines must respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business.” – Curran Press Freedom
• “Some liberal theorists view the market as an analogue of the electoral process. They claim that newspapers submit themselves to public judgement every time they go on sale, whereas politicians stand for election at infrequent intervals. Consequently newspapers are closer to the people than are their elected representatives.” – Curran Press Freedom

1- Jurgen 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.

2 – 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 politcal control (liberal, free, neutral, transparent press) Developed Habermasses ideas.

3 – 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

4 – Louis Althusser – Interpellation and Ideological State Apparatus – State institutions such as education, media and churches that were originally not under state control however more recently express ideas that the State or higher powers support.

• The ruling class uses the repressive state apparatuses (RSA) to dominate the working class.
• Ideological State Apparatus works differently, usinf non-violent methods in order to ‘maintain control’ or influence over a population

5 – Antonio Gramsci – Hegemonic Struggle – The struggle between the indepencdence of different groups and their identities. Hegemony – struggles between the rulling class and the lower classes.

Louis Althussar – argues that “there is no ideology except by the subject and for the subject” and that ‘All ideology hails or interpellates concrete individuals as concrete subjects, through the functioning of the category of the subject’. So Ideological state apparatus is a theoretical concept which is used to describe the way in which structures of civic society (education, culture, the arts, the family, religion etc) keeps people in their place – ‘the ruling ideology, which is the ideology of ‘the ruling class’.

Antonio Gramsci – Hegemony is a tug of war for power, and that the balance of power can be changed, how certain cultural forms predominate over others, which means that certain ideas are more influential than other. Post colonialism articulates a desire to reclaim, re-write and re-establish cultural identity and thus maintain power of The Empire.

Habermas- the creation of the public sphere an area for the people safe from the government the idea of making connections with each over rather underneath the control of the government, safe haven to discuss them.

Curran- The media needs a form of regulation or they can post whatever they want and it won’t matter if it’s real or not so we have a filter what media goes through also known as “flack” so the government could stop negative information against them to never be published for the public as well as watchdogs who are mainly anonymous people who keep an eye out for the public to ensure there is no corrupt people or media. FREE PRESS should be free from interference and be impartial/transparent.

Chomsky– the five filters of consent is the process that the media goes through to control and manipulate the public. Advertising, common enemy, flacking, Scale and