• An advert from 1967 for hair cream
• Roles of women were evolving and attitudes were changing.
• The advert was released the year that homosexuality was decriminalised – the advert shows a strong message of heterosexuality which could present an element of anxiety
• Women’s clothing depicts how women were sexualised in the 1960’s
• The advert is hyper masculine
• The setting of the jungle links to Britain trying to keep hold of power once the empire was deteriorating
• This represents Britain’s colonial values and the British Empire that was slowly starting to fall apart at the time of the release of this advert. Perhaps the producers chose to set it here to reassure the public that Britain is still in power of many other countries when it really wasn’t.

curran and seaton present the view that a free press relies on a free market where induvidual newspapers can compete through their political points of views.

Analyse the way 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. As well as online versions.

Curran & Seaton’s theory is called the Liberal Theory and this is the freedom to publish in the free market to “ensure that the press reflects a wide range of options& interests in society” a quote taken from ‘the liberal theory of press freedom’ written by curran. This is the idea that anyone can publish whatever they choose, therefore creating diversification within the media for the audience to encode, decode or negotiate. Although the cost of publishing used to be high (making it difficult to publish) the advances of technology means that it is possible for almost anyone to publish whatever they like for a smaller sum of money. Curran & Seatons theory is that there is not enough diversification and this is proved as in the 80’s new technology was developed, and it should have increased the number of newspapers being produced however it didn’t. This relates to both newspapers and current American election as the press can impact who the people vote for. For example on the front page of the Daily Mail the headline reads on Thursday the 5th of November ” Trump calls results a ‘frued’ and sends in his lawyers.” By making this the headline on the front page it may have an impact on who the people vote for. This idea thinks to Althusser’s theory of interpellation, the idea that individualsare influenced by others around them.(For example the media, family,friends and education.) This theory relates to the Daily Mail as it is owned by The Daily General Trust & owns many other meaning the editor(George Greig) has control of different platforms and can create a dominant idea among the audience. By continuously creating the same dominant idea this allows the newspapers to establish themselves a distinctive identity in which reader become aware of. An example of this is on page 7 of the Daily Mail it shows a cartoon of both Donald Trump and the Statue of Liberty stating ‘ which part of go away don’t you understand’. This implies that American does not want Trump as their leader as the statue struggles to get out of his grasp. This cartoon was drawn by Justin Webb may play a role in who the Americans vote for. The press is important when it comes to the ISA aa it informs the public and is the ‘peoples watchdog, scrutinising the actions of the government” Again an example of this is the daily mail on the online version on thursday 5th november “The View host Sunny Hostin slams 69 million ‘un-American’ voters for ‘looking the other way’ and backing ‘racist, homophobic and misogynistic’ Donald Trump” showing that the Daily Mail is informing its readers and acting as a watchdog.

Another theorist that can be linked to this is Habermas and his theory of the public sphere and can be applied to the i as it allows for the spread of information between the public without the government interfering. The public sphere is the idea that the public opinions can be shared among a society and individuals and can come together to form a ‘public’.

Demographic classifications in the UK refer to the social grade definitions, which are used to describe, measure and classify people of different social grade and income. The Daily Mail has an average daily circulation of 1,134,184 copies (February 2020) most of these being middle classed females, the newspaper uses this information of the circulation to develop the content they feed into the media as they know who is most likely to read the paper. The Daily Mail is also a tabloid format making it easier to read when people are commuting to and from work in the morning, this is because the tabloid formate is more compact and smaller than the average size newspaper making it more appealing. However is is known that Lord Rothermere was the chairman of daily mail and was also friends with Adolf Hitler and Mussolini. He was known for using the newspaper for propaganda his political statue was far right, this could have been carried down and throughout the newspaper. This could explain why the newspaper has been deemed unreliable for sources of information after providing ‘fake news’ to manipulate and influence the audience.

The idea of uses and gratifications was developed by the theorists Gurevitch, Haas and Katz. This is an approach to understanding why people seek out specific media to satisfy their needs. They created the media order of preference for satisfying needs, including A: personal needs (understanding self, enjoyment and escapism) and B: Social Needs (Knowledge about the world, self-confidence, stability etc.) The daily mails shows both knowledge about the world and enjoyment and escapism. The newspaper swings more towards the right wing and helps them to establish an identity within the free market.

Both newspaper can be seen as successful as both newspapers as they both have such high circulation numbers, and the Daily Mail have won multiple awards including the National Newspaper of the Year award from the The Press Awards eight times since 1995. However the circulation numbers only mean how many people have purchased the physical newspaper there is a theory of the 2- step flow theory( by Paul Lazarfel) of communication meaning messages are not directly injected into the audience, but while also subject to noise, error, feedback etc, they are also filtered through opinion leaders, those who interpret media messages first and then relay them back to a bigger audience.

The daily mail bought the i for 49.6 million pounds, although the Daily mail is seen to be right wing police, the i is seen to have a more balanced view on things it is known to be more informational and to give straight facts rather than mocking or judging. There is a section on the Daily Mail called ‘female’ which talks about the stereotypically ‘female thing’ like hair, nails and beauty this backs the idea that the newspaper is sexist and stereotypical, however is acting on the fact that its readers are mostly female and is trying to cater for that specific gender.

Therefore to conclude both newspapers are successful in which they establish themselves within the free market however the daily mail as a higher circulation than the i as it is known to be the highest circulated newspaper in the UK. Both papers have established themselves in different ways and the i has a more neutral perspective whereas the Daily Mil is more right wing.

Released in 1967

Equal pay act in 1970

The male gaze is pulled by the short tied up clothing revelling lots of skin and heavy makeup

The use of adventurer clothing and jungle décor make shows a dangerous setting forcing the women to go to the man for “protection”

It also has connotations to Britain’s colonial past to attempt to show power although many colonies where leaving around this time and after

The only person with a gun is the male continuing the notion of protection of the women by the man. The stereotypical male, strong independent brave, gets emphasised with the outfit and gun

The women carry the man showing the subservient nature expected of women at the time. And there political and social position in the UK at the time

The 5 women to 1 man ratio attracts a male audience and the male gaze and hints to the ability of the cream to get you women

The muscular hair man aids the heterosexual notion of the advert and society at the time ; along side the gathering of admiring women

The lack of POC gives us an insight into the rampant racism at the time

“Get what u always wanted” targets the dominant ideology of the male audience at the time to be swarmed by women and to be more powerful then them.

“made by men” The product has no hint of female interaction as that wouldn’t be masculine.

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.

James curran and Jean Seaton came up with the theory of the liberal free press – this is the idea that the media should have the right to be exercised freely. In order to have a free press there must be no government interference. They argue that the media should work for the public’s interest to inform them with correct information (especially to do with the government, authority and control) and not purely in a commercial interest. Beveridge suggested ‘the work of broadcasting should be regarded as a public service for a social purpose’, which Curran and Seaton are known to support. The public wants a free market when it comes to the news, however laws have to be implemented to prevent them from publishing or broadcasting untrue or offensive information. Curran stated in his book Media and Democracy Revisited ‘The media ceased to be an agency of empowerment and rationality, and became a further means by which the public was sidelined’. However, if the government implements too many laws then the news becomes controlled by the state. Therefore it can be argued whether we have a free market or if we don’t have a free market.

Regardless, newspapers can still operate and compete through their political stances. For example, the Daily Mail, the UK tabloid news paper is known to lean to the right of the political spectrum supporting conservative ideologies. The daily mail was founded in 1896, their average daily circulation is 1,134,184 copies in addition to having 218 million website visits, making it the most highly circulated UK news paper. They are a middle market newspaper that has an audience with an average NRS social grade of ABC1, which is also the same average social grade as people that vote conservative. They are owned by a company called DMGT who also own other news platforms, one of which being a newspaper called the i. The i is a less popular broadsheet  newspaper with an average daily circulation of 221,083. It was founded in 2010 but was bought by DMGT in 2019 for £49.6 million. The i writes its articles from both left and right wing perspectives, claiming to have a political stance in the middle of the spectrum. Nick Clegg, former UK prime minister and Lib-Dem leader is a columnist for the i, along with conservative columnist John Hawkins – which shows the paper provides different perspectives in current affairs. For example, the headline on the front page of the i newspaper for the 9th of november read ‘Hello, Mr president’ referencing the new US democratic president-elect Joe Biden, they are referencing the results of the election in a positive way which is considered left wing.  This demonstrates that using political stances in the newspaper market has helped different companies to establish a distinctive identity.

This concentration of ownership (DMGT owning multiple newspapers) raises further questions on whether we have a free market or not. 71% of UK major newspaper tiles are owned by 4 companies, with fewer people owning many assets in one industry the public are at risk of being manipulated. As Chomsky and Said explain in their agenda setting model, the media filter and shape reality and consent is manufactured for social, economic and political policies. This concentration of ownership in the UK newspaper market can also be applied to Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, he presents his ideas on how certain cultural forms predominate over others, which means that certain ideas are more influential than others, usually in line with the dominant ideas, the dominant groups and their corresponding dominant interests. 

In conclusion, the i has proved successful in establishing a distinctive identity because it is unlike others as they have a neutral perspective. We know it is successful as they have a daily circulation of 221,083 which results in a profit of 1million GBP per month. The daily mail have also proved successful competing through their right wing stance, as they are the most highly circulated UK news paper. 

-white mans world

-falsification of reality: of how if you use their product you will become irresistible to women as they lock around you-sexism

-Misrepresentation: It is when you give fake or misleading information that could have a negative impact on a certain state or action: This CSP is a misrepresentation of woman as just because you use their product woman arent primal creatures that will just flock to you due to some hair gel

1967:

The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of rock’s most acclaimed albums. The Beatles release the double A-sided single with Penny Lane on one side and “Strawberry Fields Forever” on the other side. The Musical “Hair” opens off-Broadway.

January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of the Republic of Vietnam troops launch Operation Deckhouse Five in the Mekong Delta. January 8 – Vietnam War: Operation Cedar Falls starts. January 10 – Segregationist Lester Maddox is sworn in as Governor of Georgia

.

-stereotypes are ways people are looked at as a collective can be negative or positive ie in the CSP negative stereotype of a woman as they are all slim, groomed

-When considering feminist critical thinking in relation to an institutional analysis we could look at Michelene Wander who said: “sexism refers to the systematic ways in which men and women are brought up to view each other antagonistically, on the assumption that the male is always superior to the female” and this means there was always be opposition and discord between the two genders as woman fight for their right to equals rights.

-Dominant ideology: Is the communal and more dominant beliefs, value, morals and ideas of a group: When consider the time sexism was common at the main ideology was men are dominant and woman are sub servant.

MEDIA LANGUAGE & MEDIA REPRESENTATION

Media Language

• The advert was produced and released in 1967. This was seen as a period of change in the UK in regards to the changing attitudes towards the role of women and men in society. 
• The equal pay act was introduced in 1970,
• Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1967,
• This period is known as the ‘swinging 60s’- where drugs and sex were at their peak

• Hypermasculinity in advertisinG
• Hypermasculinity is defined as: psychological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behaviour, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality.
• With Advertising in the 1950s-1980s often featuring a hypermasculine representation of men – and some representations in the media today still continue this.
• Historical, social and cultural contexts 
• an historical artefact from 1967,
• 1967 can be seen as a period of slow transformation in western cultures with changing attitudes to the role of women – and men (something that the advert can be seen to negotiate.)
• This was Produced in the year of decriminalisation of homosexuality.
• The advertising techniques of fifty years ago are fundamentally similar to today – if more explicit.
• COMPARISON TO MENS HEALTH:
• Men’s Health magazine represents a notable social and cultural shift in expectations of contemporary masculinity.
• The study of Men’s Health can be linked to social and cultural contexts through reference to body image and changes in what society deems acceptable and unacceptable representations.
• Similarly, comparisons with Maybelline campaign and Oh! magazine would be useful in exploring a range of different theoretical ideas and approaches: feminist critical thinking, postcolonialism, postmodernism.
• how is costume, make-up and placement of models constructed to show male dominance?
• Costume & makeup:
• Both the male and female models are wearing clothing suited for camping or an adventure.
• The women are wearing short sleeved shirts that are tied up and extremely short skirts.
• The fact that their clothes are really revealing depicts how women were sexualised in these times and perceived as objects. The women’s makeup is also quite heavy and very smoky, creating a seductive nature to the advert and reinforcing the male gaze.
• Setting:
• The setting has been created to be harmonious with the costume choices of the advert.
• The advert seems to be set in a jungle.
• This represents Britain’s colonial values and the British Empire that was slowly starting to fall apart at the time of the release of this advert.
• Perhaps the producers chose to set it here to reassure the public that Britain is still in power of many other countries when it really wasn’t.
• Furthermore, the jungle is a dangerous place that requires a tough male character. This reinforces the extreme heterosexuality of the advert.
• Props:
• The main prop in the advert is probably the gun that the male model is proudly holding.
• This creates a traditional view of men where they are expected to be strong, brave and protective.
• The gun makes him appear powerful which depicts men as the dominant ones in society.
• However, it can also be depicted as a phallic symbol that informs the male target audience that the score hair cream will give them women and pleasure. 
• There is also a pedestal that the women are carrying the male on. This alludes to the fact that men are above women n society and should therefore be served by women.
• Actors
• The most obvious point is that there are 5 women in the advert while there is only one male. This would attract a male audience to the Score hair cream as they are made to believe that having good hair will make them attractive to women- and that is what they want. Three of the females are completely focused on the male character- either staring at him, desperately trying to touch him or admiring him. The model on the left is the only one not looking at him, instead she is staring directly at the camera. This creates eye contact with the audience and suggests to them that using the Score hair cream meas ‘this could be you’ in this current situation. 
• It is also important to note that all of the models seem to be British and are all white. This is probably due to the fact that racism was still around around the time of this advert. Furthermore, the male model has muscular, hairy arms which further creates an extremely heterosexual advert.
• Lighting:
• Bright lighting is used, probably to convey the hot weather and scorching sun of the jungle. 

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 are two theorists who developed the theory of the liberal press. This is where the freedom to publish in the free market, ensures that the press reflects in a wide range of opinions and interests in society. Furthermore, the shape and creation of the press is determined by its own readers. In context of the Daily Mail, its average daily readership is the ABC1 demographic, which helps to form the news within the media.

The press can be seen as biased due but to the theory of the liberal free press from curran and Seaton, which he states that despite the fact anyone is free to make newspapers, this is not the case, due to financial status and stability. So, the wealthy people are the ones who have the power to address their opinions and put forward it to the public. This is done through the media press. The audience (lower class) read the news (created by the upper class). Linking in Gramsci, he talks about the theory of Hegemony. This focuses on the idea that the view of the upper class in society have the power to influence and manipulate mass audiences and create a hegemonic society. Their view becomes the cultural ‘norm’. We are almost being brainwashed by the superior. However, what makes a good newspaper? Is it the entertainment? Trump supporters? Biden supporters? In the 1960s, the idea of uses and gratifications was developed by the theorists Gurevitch, Haas and Katz. This is an approach to understanding why and how people seek out specific media to satisfy needs. They created the media order of preference for satisfying needs, including A: personal needs (understanding self, enjoyment and escapism) and B: Social Needs (Knowledge about the world, self-confidence, stability etc.) Looking at the Daily mail, it is multi-various, as it gives your knowledge about the world, escapism and enjoyment. In 1960s, Skinner, a psychologist and theorist developed the study on operant conditioning. The conclusion of the theory is that institutions will appeal to what people want. If people want information about trump put in the newspapers, they will do that, to satisfy the personal needs. We can link this to Zuboff, where he looks into individualism and personal freedom vs behavioral modification. Through his book on “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” he states that “technology has begun to develop new methods of behavior control capable of altering not just an individual’s actions but his very personality and manner of thinking.

The Daily Mail is a British middle market newspaper published in London with a target audience of 55% being lower middle-class British women. It is owned by Jonathon Harmsworth also known as Lord Rothermere, who is worth 1.9 billion pounds. It is companied by a sister paper of the daily mail on Sunday, which was launched in 1882. This newspaper tends to lean more to the right wing, which helps to distinguish them from their competitive as a unique platform of media. The right wing is characterized by the emphasis on notions such as authority, hierarchy, duty and nationalism. This would include republicans such as Donald Trump and Boris Johnson.

Newspapers often use propaganda and persuasion. Harold Laswwell, a leading American political scientist and communications theorist, wrote a book on “Proganda Technique propaganda is the expression of opinions or actions carried out deliberately to individuals or groups with the view to influence the opinions or actions of the other individuals or groups for predetermined ends through psychological manipulations. On the other hand, propaganda appears as overly political and manipulative

This links to cultivation theory, Gerbner’s, which says that over time we can be persuaded by the media. So, with the daily mail, there’s a section called “Femail”, where they talk about typical female characteristics, such as manicures, hair salons and Botox, and makes women look shallow, as they only think about their looks, as it states “I prayed to the grooming gods”. It’s not explicitly said, so it’s not propaganda, therefore its persuasion, as they are hinting and dripping information to audience that you should believe in certain things. Over time readers will believe that this is an ideology that they should follow. This newspaper has been clever, as their audience is mainly women, they are more likely to be persuaded by the media.

Structures and corporations such as the news have more power than individual agencies. They are simply unaware of manipulation. This can be linked to Skinners theory of operant conditioning, and the concept of the fiction of free, where we as an audience feel powerful as we believe we come up with the ideas and opinions ourselves, when really, they are the ones who have been manipulated by the power. Linking to the Daily Mail, when the audience read certain headlines and articles, they may believe they came up with their own ideas, when really, they have been subtly manipulated into that idea by the media, the power, Lord Rothermere.

We can associate this with Gramsci 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.

The i newspaper was first introduced on 26^th of October 2010. It is owned by the daily mail and general trust, along with a sister paper called the “The I Sunday”. The i is known to give balanced political views to its audience, which is 60% male, 40% female. The daily mail bought the i for approximately 49.6 million pounds. Its readers are people who are travelling to and from work, who don’t have a specific political viewpoint and are liberal. The paper doesn’t favor the left or right wing, they just deliver information that has been said in the news, without favoring a specific party. They keep their audience interested though publishing new article daily.

An article in the i, “Biden vows to ‘heal America’ as armed trump supporters warn ‘this isn’t over’”. This is evidence that the I doesn’t favor either left or right wing, as they are simply addressing plain English information, with no puns, indicating a liberal press. Ironically, the statement displayed on the top right corner “Biden just made his victory speech while trump lost his dignity”, suggests that they are leaning more to the left wing, as they seem more in favor of democrats, such as Biden. We can argue that the The i was developed to take a right-wing approach, after the Daily Mail bought the I for 49.6 million pounds. We can see this through the i article “Donald Trump Jr mocked for geographically wrong election prediction map. This shows that he is being mocked by the public. They use the method of persuasion to send the news to the public. When addressing information to the audience, they can decode the message however they want. The theorist Stuart Hall developed the theory of reception in 1980s, where media texts are encoded and decoded. The producer encodes messages and values in their media which are then decoded by the audience. In relation to The i’s article “Donald Trump Jr mocked for geographically wrong election prediction map” the media can present a statement, but the audience can read it in a different way (if you don’t agree with the statements, you can reject the reading. Stuart hall says that there are three ways of reading a message. A dominant position accepts the dominant message, a negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading and an oppositional position rejects the dominant reading. So through the method of persuasion, the audience can decode the message in any way they want to.

In conclusion, The i and the Daily Mail attempt to establish a distinctive identity within this free market in different ways. As two competing newspapers, with the I having a daily circulation of 221,083, and the daily mail with 1,134,184, both papers are successfully of creating an individually identity.

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 are two theorists who developed the theory of The Liberal Free Press. Free press is the idea that anyone is entitled to starting a newspaper and informing the public of news. However, it is recognised that not everyone has the money to do this. Due to this, there are only a limited amount of people and organisations able to feed news to the public and as a result, society are only being given a small amount of opinions. Gramsci is an American theorist who talks about interpellation and tells us that those in power such as the state and the ruling classes, maintain power within capitalist societies through the media and the gradual implantation of dominant ideologies to people of a lower class. This is a form of persuasion that helps the media infect people with specific ideas. When online news was first developed, it was believed that there could possibly be more chance for people with less money to begin broadcasting news, ‘the internet has enhanced the freedom to publish by lowering entry costs.’. However, Curran and Seaton dispute this and claim that despite these facts, the majority of online news is still controlled by large companies and make this clear in the book The Liberal Theory of Press Freedom, ‘the list of the ten most-visited news sites is dominated by large news organizations like BBC News’.

The Daily Mail is a British national newspaper, founded in 1896, which tends to lean in favour of the right wing. The paper is owned by Jonathon Harmsworth who has a current net worth of £1.9 billion. With a target audience of lower middle-class women forming up to 55% of readers, the paper is successful in maintaining a distinctive identity by tailoring their stories to please these readers. As The Daily Mail is a predominantly right wing newspaper, they generally hint their favour towards the Conservatives in the UK and the Republicans in American News, however this is not always explicitly seen. In an article on page 5 of the paper in the close study product from the 5^th of November 2020 reads, ‘Ultimately, Biden may owe a victory to the single electoral college vote he gained against the presidents five in Nebraska’. This is an example of persuasion as the writer subtly hints toward the idea that Biden is only leading the race due to chance and are presenting him with a backhanded compliment on his success. This relates to the Cultivation Theory from George Gerbner, which states that over time, our perception of the world we live in can be morphed. We believe we are in control of what we consume when in fact structure (organisations and big corporations) have more power than us; the individual. Information is subtly dropped into the news we read without us realising, with the intention of the reader eventually coming to a conclusion that they believed to be their own, when in fact they have been persuaded to think this way. The writer in this Daily Mail article is attempting to persuade the readers that the right wing is superior, by making Biden look bad. B.F Skinner talks about ‘The Fiction of Free Will’ which states that we believe we are in control when in fact we are being manipulated to believe certain things. This theory links clearly to this article for the same reasons previously stated. The Daily Mail created an online version of the paper in 2003 which now achieves 11.34 million visitors every day. This free version of the paper appeals to a wider audience range. Due to this online version’s accessibility, they have been very successful at reaching a younger demographic and in 2017 were voted ‘Newspaper of the Year’, a title they still publish on the front of their newspaper every day.

The i newspaper was launched in 2010 as a sister newspaper to The Independent and as of November 2019, is owned by The Daily Mail. The paper and its website were bought by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) on the 29^th of November 2019, for £49.6 million, 3 years after The Independent Newspaper went completely digital. The paper was originally targeted at commuters of all ages and political viewpoints as a convenience paper; easy to grab whilst travelling to or from work. In December 2017, the owners of The i announced that they were bringing in a monthly profit of around £1 million and as of October 2019 achieve a daily circulation of 221,083.Despite its ownership, the newspaper maintains its liberal viewpoint and claims to be politically neutral. In order to achieve their distinctive identity within the free market, they aim to focus their stories on social issues rather than politics. They report on political events but do not take a specific side. In the Close Study Product from the 5^th of November 2020, the paper has used a headline reading ‘Biden edges closer to the White House’, and below, a photo of now President elect Joe Biden. This headline does not include any puns or sarcasm. Instead the headline discusses the information without being biased, they are simply reporting on information. Katz, Gurevitch and Haas talk about the Uses and Gratification theory. This theory tells us that we use the media for personal needs, social needs or a mixture of the two. The i could be considered as a newspaper that audiences read as a form of escapism. The stories in the paper are not slanderous to any particular people and are therefore simply informative. Regular readers of The i therefore may read their stories to escape the rivalries displayed in other newspapers. 

In ‘The Liberal Theory of Press Freedom’, Curran claims that ‘newspapers and magazines must respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business’. This can be seen in both The Daily Mail and The i in individual ways. The Daily Mail dedicates a whole segment of their paper to a women’s category entitled ‘Femail’. In this segment, topics such as fashion, relationships, manicures and Botox are discussed. As the general reader demographic of The Daily Mail are middle aged women, this segment has been tailored to appeal to their interests. From this segment we can also see examples of persuasion and cultivation theory as the paper uses predominantly feminine characteristics to the articles. The use of pink fonts and trivial topics could link to Shoshana Zuboff and some ideas in her book ‘Surveillance Capitalism’. In the book, Zuboff writes ‘various forms of persuasion are used to stimulate certain types of behaviour’. In the ‘femail’ segment of the paper, the writers are demonstrating what the right wing believes a woman should be. The dumbing down of women in this section can have an effect on women over time as they are persuaded these are the ‘normal’ characteristics of a woman, when in fact they are being carefully manipulated by the bourgeoise into conforming to the dominant ideology. 

To conclude, it is made clear that the free market that Curran and Seaton describe, is not in fact as free as is said. The Daily Mail and The i are two competing newspapers that have developed their strategies through the years in order to appeal to their readers and have both maintained their own individual identities. The competition between newspapers within the free market is always thriving, and consumers feed into this by purchasing the papers and visiting the websites. The Daily Mail has a daily circulation of 1,134,184 while The i has a much smaller circulation of 221,083. The Daily Mail is also much more widely available as it is easy to buy in almost every supermarket and convenience store in the UK, however, The i does very well on their digital platform and in March 2019, overtook The Guardian as the most trusted digital news brand. 

Both papers thrive in the free market for individual reasons and seem to be able to satisfy their reader demographic as they continue to publish and develop their identity as the media evolves. 

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 are two theorist which researched the power of media by creating theories that look in free press. In their book Power Without Responsibility, they state “the freedom to publish in the free market ensures that the press reflects a wide range of opinions and interests in society” this shows that Curran and Seaton believe that the press should be free from interference or ownership without any political control. However, currently there are many large conglomerates which control large portions of the media which are able to change the views of the public. An example of this is the Murdoch family which own fox news, sky and many more large media corporations. “the claim that the free market renders the press diverse, representative and independent” this quote can be seen to contradict current media as not everyone can produce media and it apparently enables people to “scrutinize government” which links to Noam Chomsky’s 5 filters. Chomsky’s 5 filters which state that all media which opposes the government or power will receive flack and be discarded as fake. Another theory to link to free press is Habermas and the transformation of the public sphere. In the late 1700s people started to print media which changed how people thought and interacted as people use to speak to each other in coffee shops the print media was able to convey messages to people long distances away from the public interests. The public was a place where people could interact and communicate with others underneath the government “public control of media has often been advocated on the grounds of public interest”. 

My first case study is the Daily Mail which a form of media which can be seen using the internet or through newspapers which links to Habermas and how media has evolved to be seen while sitting at home compared how news use to spread through people talking at coffee shops. The Daily Mail is an English newspaper which has adapted into a North African edition called Continetial Daily and an edition in India called Mail Today. It is owned by parent company Daily Mail and General Trust which is owned by Rothermere Continuation Limited. In January 2020 the Daily Mail had the 3^rd most circulations with 1,134,000. The target audience of the are mainly women aged 35+ which live in London or the rest of Great Britain. While the newspaper has a decreasing circulation, the online website has more than 218 million unique visitors per month according to Wikipedia. Daily Mail is typically a right wing however, it has released articles which are left wing for example an article headlined “Tories in turmoil over Rashford’s free school meals” which could have been done to increase the range in their audience and people that will be willing to read the paper. This headline could be seen as making fun of conservatives but also to entice people to read their paper as they may like or know about Marcus Rashford as he’s seen as a celebrity. 

Another newspaper is the I it is also a British paper published in London by Daily Mail and General Trust, its target audience is “readers and lapsed readers” of “quality” newspaper for those of all ages. The I is a sister paper to the independent and claims to be politically neutral. This can be seen in the I’s sister newspaper the independent when put into a survey most people believed it was central. One article on the I website is “Lib Dems move to block Brexit bill ‘threatening UK unity”. Lib Dems are said to be more left however they are more focused on liberal vs authorial, in this article the I say they are threatening which is negative against the Lib Dems showing that the I can be seen as right and authoritarian. However, this is only one article. In another article “Lib Dem leadership result” they praise the new leader of the party and but quotes from others congratulating the party. The I has had a decline in average daily circulation from just over 300,000 in March 2013 to just over 233,000 in February 2019 but it has had 28 million average monthly readers online. The I sell for £1 on Saturday and 65p every other day, it also has a Portuguese version which won a European award for best design but has only every had 16,000 circulation in one month 

In conclusion I believe the daily mail is a lot more successful having an operating profit of 63 million for nine months whereas the I make a million a month. However, both companies are on the decline along with nearly every other newspaper. This has caused each company adapt to making online forms of news and media which allows them to reach a larger audience but also allows them to collect data on each person that visits their website. Which can link to Noam Chomsky 5 filters, advertising allows big companies to sell consumers as a product so that advertisers can persuade large amounts of people to buy their product or service. I also think the newspapers use 2 step flow theory as they share their views on politics using statistics or facts which may not even be real, but consumers then talk to other people about it which allows the media to manipulate how consumers think. Overall, the daily mail and the I both share their views on politics and can manipulate the audience while receiving information and revenue off them.