audience theory

B.F Skinner operant conditioning

behavioral conditioning/management

“the fiction of free will” meaning that we are coursed and shaped into what we do. when organisations condition peoples behavior into doing or being drawn into things.

propaganda vs persuasion

propaganda is overtly political and manipulative

persuasion though is seen to gain/ sway public opinion

harold laswell was the first one to talk about the first world war . that the militry was able to use a range of properganada to get knocked into submission

hypodermic model=direct injection =meaning the idea of a passive audience

“the age of surveillance capitalism”

zuboff has a book talking about the various forms of persuasion are used to stimulate certain types of behavior while suppressing others

“technology has developed or evolved the way companies manipulate there audiences. so new methods of behavior control.”

Harold Laswell

laswell explored how we only had mass communications at the turn of the 18th centre eg first world war

also the idea of propaganda and persuasion

 each government had ‘manipulated the mass media in order to justify its actions’ in World War 1

components of Lasswell’s model 1930’s

my example;

Who (sender) the daily mail

Says what (msg) asks has the stress of covid given Boris dandruff?

Channel (medium) the daily mail newspaper October 20th 2020

To whom (receiver) lower-middle-class British women

With what affect (impact/feedback) to mock the Toris priminister

Paul Lazarfeld 1940’s

2 step flow of information/communication

we are more likely to be persuaded by people than the media.the key thing to remember is that the audiences are now active.

uses and grats 1960’s

this theory is linked with Maslows hierarchy of needs theory

George Gerbner 1970’s

George Gerbner, Larry Gross and others worked on a large-scale, positivist, in-depth, longitudinal study into the effects of television, which started in 1975. Looking primarily at the relationship between violence on television and violence in society. They developed what is known as CULTIVATION THEORY,

Gerbner and Gross assert that ‘television’s major cultural function is to stabilize social patterns and to cultivate resistance to change‘ (1978: 115). In other words, they assert the power of television to modify behaviour in support of the dominant structures of society.

(structures or organisations have more power over agencies)

Stuart Hall 1980’s

the theory of preferred reading

Hall proposed three distinct positions that could be occupied by individual viewers, determined, more or less on their subject identities. 

  1. A dominant position accepts the dominant message 
  2. A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
  3. An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading

Towards this aim he proposed the encoding/decoding model of communication, or the theory of preferred reading, where individuals are not only active in the process of interpretation and the construction of meaning, but they are also able to dismiss and reject dominant messages.

Clay Shirky 2000’s

the theory of : The End of Audiences

intersectionality

To bring this summary of different audience approaches towards a conclusion, would be to look at Clay Shirky‘s notion of the end of audience. Because what could happen if, instead of the choice of three subject positions as offered by the theory of preferred reading, there were limitless, individual subject positions available to all of us, at any time, in any place, from any perspective? A position which allowed us to produce our commentary and communication on the outside world, while still maintaining the ability to comment, feedback, accept or deny those who choose to interpret the outside world for us?

In many ways, Shirky is not too removed from the work of Hall, prioritising the power of individual agency in the relationship between audiences and institutions, for example, recognising how the audience can be both producers and consumers of media text. This can be realised in the realm of new (interactive) communication media, where individual communications can be made in what appears to be beyond State or commercial control and interest.

Zuboff 2010’s

high order thinking

Noam Chomsky is a theorist who talks about the concept of “manufacturing consent”. Chomsky explains that there are 5 filters to manufacturing consent and furthermore they can be applied to our CSP’s of the i newspaper vs the daily mail. beginning with his filter of Structures of ownership, the I was an. independent newspaper that explore both political sides and dealt with hard news. but was recently bought out by the conglomerate Daily Mail and General Trust in 2019 and by them buying this newspaper they gain more profit and a can change they newspapers product and fill it with more click bait for exchange for even more profit.

the second filter is The role of advertising this relates more with the daily mails approach to news in their newspapers than the I newspaper in my opinion because of the amount of soft news and advertisement that can be seen in the newspaper. Therefore the daily mail and general trust who own both of the newspapers make even more profit for selling spaces in their newspaper to give the advertises access to their audiences.

the 3rd filter which is probably the most important would be the “Media Elite”. the media elite manages the news and stories through the third filter.

flack’ Uniting against a ‘common enemy’

essay

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

General points:

· 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.

The i newspaper

· 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

  1. . Show your knowledge and understanding of Curran and Seaton

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.

  • Show your knowledge and understanding of the theory of the liberal press
  • Show any knowledge and understanding you have of any related theoretical ideas (eg Habermas – transformation of the public sphere, Althusser, ISA/interpellation, Chomsky, 5 filters, Gramsci, hegemony). Make sure this section coherently links to the last.
  • Show your knowledge and understanding of the distinctive identity of your case studies (Daily Mail & The i) in terms of patterns of institutional ownership in the culture industries. As illustrated by:
    • statistics, names and dates related to your case studies.
    • key terminology related to ownership (media as public good, capitalist media, vertical, horizontal, transnational, conglomerate, subsidiaries, concentration of ownership, diversification, production/distribution etc etc)
  • Show your knowledge and understanding of the distinctive identity of your case studies by examining their audience profile & reach (eg ABC, psychographic profiles, readership, circulation, profit, costs, size)
  • Show your knowledge and understanding of the distinctive identity of your case studies by looking in detail at some key stories, which help you to illustrate the political stance and point of views presented in your case studies. Make sure you refer to both print and digital (and be clear about what differences and similarities you find).
  • Evaluate the success of each of your case studies in terms of:
    • quantitative / statistical analysis
    • qualitative analysis (think about the stories that you are talking about, how can they be measured as successful?)
  • Show your knowledge of audience theory to both support and criticise the way in which you can suggest qualitative success (point above). In other words, how does audience theory link to the particular identity (ie political and/or social stance) of your case study? (So you could reference Lasswell, 2 Step Flow / Lazarfeld, Skinner, U & G theory, Gerbner, Hall, Shirky, Zuboff)
  • Make some astute judgements and draw some conclusions from what you have written in your essay
  • Summarise (what you have presented as) your argument and try to end with a 2 sentence final thought.

Audience Behaviour

Operant conditioning – behaviour conditioning first thought by B.F Skinner

The Friction of free will – social conditioning determines behaviour, free will is never truly achievable in society as somewhere we were all manipulated into a certain notion even though we may feel everything is on our own choice.

Propoganda v Persuasion

Propaganda – expression of opinions or actions carried out deliberately with a view to influence the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends due to phycological manipulations

Harold Lasswel – Hypodermic model = direct injection = passive audience

the I and daily mail

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.

Analyze 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 Seaton suggest the media needs a form of regulation as if the media can post whatever they want, whenever they want this means false, unfiltered, humiliating media could get published and it won’t matter if it’s real or not so Curran suggests we need to have a filter to which media goes through what is also known as “flack”. Through this process, the government could stop negative media against them from being published and 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 against the “common man”. They also suggest the idea of the Free Press should be free from interference/ ownership/political control as if there is no free press, free from biased control there is no neutral middle ground to which consumers can make their own assumptions to decide which beliefs, political views to follow.

When considering “flacking” we can link to Chomsky as he proposes the theory of the five filters of consent to which “flacking” is one of them, the media goes through this to control the public. Firstly is scale then Advertising, sourcing mass media, flacking, and finally Common enemy.

Cohan also has his own ideas of control of media as he believes that the government shouldn’t be in control of it as I mentioned before they regulate and filter the media but there is no room of regulation on the government regulating as if they decide the media portrays negative or shameful views of the government they can decide to filter this hiding it from the public. We can relate back to Curran and Seaton as the people who regulate the regulation done by the government are Watchdogs to ensure there are no corrupt people in power hiding crucial information from the public.

We can also consider what Habermas ideology of the public sphere a safe space where the idea of making connections with each over away from the eye of the government where the public can discuss and criticize the government, also known as the rise of the people to which Habermas believes is healthy to judge what they believe is right, unfair, unjust. However, mass media, as well as globalization, has changed and affected as people don’t tend to meet in person to challenge the idea of the government in person anymore as if people are going to share their views it will be online on social media.

the Daily Mail is a right-wing paper and is owned by  Jonathan Harmsworth, who is the 4th Viscount Rothermere the current chairman and controlling shareholder of the Daily Mail and the General Trust. The Daily Mail is a conglomerate what are powerful influential groups that own various businesses what in this case the Daily Mail owns the “I” also has operations in forty and more countries through its subsidiaries, what are smaller companies controlled by larger ones ie the Daily mail controls these, RMS, DMG Information, DMG Events, Euromoney Institutional Investor, DMG Ventures and DMG Media. the average age of the Daily Mail reader is 58 years old and is of the lower middle class. Jonathan is the great-grandson of one of the original co-founders of the Daily Mail,” Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere” who was very right-wing as he supported Hitler and Nazi’s. When considering the statistics 53% of Daily Mail readers voted for the Conservative Party, compared to 21% for Labour and 17% for the Liberal Democrats so what we understand from this is is more than the majority are right-wingers, conservatives read the Dailymail. When looking at the Daily mail Let’s look at firstly Scale as the first filter of manufacturing consent in Chomsky theory in manufacturing consent, the ideology of scale is how powerful, how influential it is, For example, The “i” and the Daily Mail, The daily mail owns The “i” and when we look at the daily mail scale we can see patterns of power. The Daily Mail in 2016 made revenue of 1.6 billion pounds with 9,600 employees (in 2014) so they are quite a powerful company as they have a large number of people working for them with a high amount of revenue made. The daily mail has vertical integration what is when a production company owns the means of production, distribution and exhibition of their product, in this example newspaper, and are of the same company, because of this they will receive all of the profit. The daily mail newspaper circulates 1,158,192 copies of its newspaper.

The I is more recent compared to its counterpart of the Daily Mail as it came to exist in 26th of October 2010. The i like I mentioned beforehand is owned by The Daily Mail and the general trust as the daily mail bought the i for approximately 49.6 million. however, unlike its owner magazine, the i is Liberal so this means its neutral as it’s not in favour of one political view. The readership is 60% male and the rest is women so it has a higher male readership. When linking back to the idea that the I is neutral we can consider Curren and Seaton as they suggest the idea of the Free Press which is when Media should be free from interference/ ownership/political control as to when there is the free press, free from biased control there is a neutral middle ground to which consumers can make their own assumptions to decide which beliefs, political views to follow for example when we consider the American election there was Biden to which he has now won the election and is part of the democratic party whereas trump is part of the republican party to which the I remained neutral as when Biden gave his speech about how he “vows to heal America” and how the opposition aren’t “enemies” but fellow “Americans” they didn’t give a specific idea on this quote they didn’t say how great he is or how he’s incompetent they remain neutral for the audience to come up with an appropriate decision to their own views.

However The Daily Mail tends to be biased in favour of right-wing ideals however this doesn’t mean they do not stray from this, for example, they posted the following “Since when did the Lamestream Media decide who the President is?’ Defiant Trump doubles down on refusing to concede and Melania backs his claims of election fraud – as he ignores Republicans telling him to give up the fight” even though the Daily mail tends to follow the right-wing ideal sometimes they will do the opposite to attract a new following as when your not neutral and bias on or political view you immediately cut down ur readership. When looking at the quote mentioned previously The Daily Mail is going against Trump saying how he’s ignoring the words of his own people, his own party as Trump as he is notorious for goes against the media saying they do not pick the president as the media at the moment are covering Biden as the new president as it a new, hot, important topic as Trump is demanding a recount of votes as once again what Trump is notorious for is the “fake” especially in the media and he believes the fake, illegal votes should not be counted and they need to recount the “legal votes”. When we consider the print language displayed below they show the tweets made by Trump and Ivanka as evidence next to a “silly” image of Trump as if to portray the idea that Trump is idiotic and the idea of having to recount the votes idiotic, devaluing his tweet by showing the “idiotic” image of Trump and the effect of this is to persuade even more people to believe Trump as a “Sore Loser” as he “digs in”. This can be a reference to two things the idea that Trump is making a “dig” at the media and the counting system as he demands a recount or how he’s staying where he is and won’t leave until he receives what he believes to be a fair counting to which is when he gets elected. By using Big Bold Font with the black background it emphasises the idea of Trump “dig”ing and the ironic idea of making a “dig” at Trump as they emphasise the devaluation and belittling Trump by referring to him by his first name, Donald, the media has a “dig” at him as he has such a bad relationship with the media.

When considering The i and the Daily MAil we can consider audience theory specifically Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to which he believes that people actively look to satisfy their needs based on a hierarchy of social and psychological desires ie the personal needs are 1.Understanding Self, 2. Enjoyment, 3.Escapism and social 1.knowledge about the world, 2.Self confidence, 3.Strengthen connections with family, lastly 4.Strengthen connections with friends. When applying this to the Daily Mail and the i what needs do they satisfy? They seem to satisfy the obvious of knowledge about the world, for example, a big event was the presidential debate but in a sense, we could argue it helps with understanding the self as the i is neutral and so this means they can provide non-biased information to which the audience decides what they agree on as the self is always changing and evolving and what consists the self are fragments of many things like morals, preference, gender, race etc and one’s views help build the self so we can argue it helps to understand our self. When considering this we can consider Gerbner cultivation theory as media shapes the way individuals think within society and how over time the effect that media has added up to our perception of the world around us helping to add to one’s self as ones view also consist to makes one’s self.

So what we can conclude from my essay is that the media can be huge, influential, powerful identities what can influence the way we think to lean more to one perspective or to simply let us the audience simply decide for ourselves as the media varies.

I Have discussed what the Daily Mail is as well as the I and who its controlled by, some history and some statistics and with help of theorists we can come to understand the effect media as on us as Paul Lazarfeld said we are active consumers who do not simply just consume media as we make our own judgements however we can be persuaded into a certain ideology/ view

MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY AUDIENCE BEHAVIOUR

Operant Conditioning – positive reinforcement, rewards and punishment. Create connotations. B.F Skinner

This can be transposed onto the media and how audiences feel coheres into certain matter of behaviour.

‘The fiction of free will’ – deterministic- false idea hate wee have a free will.

social conditioning determines behaviour not free will.

PROPAGANDA AND PERSUASION

propaganda is overtly political and manipulative whereas persuasion often appears visible at first glance and subsequently revealed as insidious.

STRUCTURE OVER AGENCY

HAROLD LESSWELL

  • propaganda technique in the world war.
  • Propagandais the expression of opinions or actions carried out deliberately by individuals or groups with a view to influence the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends through psychological manipulations.”

Individually liberty & personal freedom vs behaviour modification-technology has developed new method of behaviour control capable of altering not just an individual’s actions but his very personality and manner of thinking.

THEORIES AND APPROACHES TO AUDIENCE
Hypodermic model (passive corruption)

  • Early theoretical work on the relationship (or effects) of media consumption are often traced back to Harold Lasswell
  • HE developed the theoretical tool of ‘content analysis’ and in 1927 wrote ‘Propaganda Technique in the World War‘ which highlighted the idea of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers . . . knocked them into submission’
  • Lasswell, as a behavioural scientist researching areas connected with political communication and propaganda, believed each government had ‘manipulated the mass media in order to justify its actions’ in World War 1 .
  • we must think about who
  • Linear method of communication
  • (WHO, SAYS WHAT, THROUGH WHAT CHANNEL, TO WHOM, TO WHAT EFFECT)

IN-TERMS OF THE I ARTICLE

The I says that’s the Covid-19 app is being downloaded up at down the country by 43% of smartphone users and that according to celebrity doctor Amir Khan the app can protect patients and health workers.

SHANNON AND WEAVER

  • This approach was later adapted by Shannon and Weaver in 1949
  • the name it the  Transmission model of Communication
  • It included other elements, such as NOISEERRORENCODING and FEEDBACK.
  • There is the suggestion that the process of sending and receiving a message is clear-cut, predicable or reliable and is dependent on a range of other factors that need to be taken into consideration. 

PAUL LAZARFELD

  • Two Step Flow of Communication (active consumption)
  • ecognised that a simple, linear model may not be sufficiently complex to understanding the relationship between message sent > message received. 
  • in 1948 he developed the Two Step Flow model of communication
  • It took account of the way in which mediated 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 audience is active and actively decoding the information given.

USES AND GRATIFICATION

  • The distinction is this approach is rather than categorising the audience as passive consumers of messages, either directly from source, or from opinion leaders, this theory recognises the decision making process of the audience themselves.
  • As Elihu Katz explains the Uses and Gratifications theory diverges from other media theories to focus on: what do people do with media? 
  • They put forward research to show that individual audience members are more active than previously thought and were actually key to the processes of selectioninterpretation and feedback.
  • Individuals sought particular pleasures, uses and gratifications from individual media texts, which can be categorised as:
  • information / education,
  • empathy and identity, 
  • social interaction, 
  • entertainment,
  • escapism,

GEORGE GERBNER

  • Cultivation Theory,
  • Looking primarily at the relationship between violence on television and violence in society.
  • They developed what is known as CULTIVATION THEORY, the distinct characteristics of television in relation to other media forms.
  • they suggest that ‘television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources‘ (Gerbner et al 1986).
  • Television shapes the way individuals within society think and relate to each other.
  • watching television doesn’t cause a particular behaviour, but instead watching television over time adds up to our perception of the world around us‘ (cited in West, 2014).
  • they assert the power of television to modify behaviour in support of the dominant structures of society.

LOUIS ALTHUSSER 

  • It is also worth noting the work of Louis Althusser as at this particular time, he was concerned to raise the idea that the State asserted power and control through a number of key agencies and structures, which he calledIDEOLOGICAL STATE APPRATUSES (ISA’s),
  • he saw this as deliberating working in the interests of State power to modify individual behaviours. Alongside prison, psychiatric hospitals, schools and families,
  • Althusser was also critical of the role and function of the media, which he saw as working within and for the dominant interests of society – often at a subtle level of interaction, which audiences may not even be aware of – so again an invidious transmission of information produced for a specific set of messaging. S
  • o perhaps the hypodermic model as a lived-in experience? Althusser illustrates this with the concept of “hailing” or “interpellation” a process which calls individuals into a network of (dominant) ideological values, attitudes and beliefs. 

STUART HALL

  • Preferred reading
  • Also developing a critical theory that looked to analyse mass media communication and popular culture as a way of both uncovering the invidious work of the State and Big Business, as well as looking for ways of subverting that process.
  • Hall was working at a time of great societal upheaval and unrest in the UK,
  • Hall suggested that power, control and therefore, behaviour management cannot be exerted directly, willfully and without resistance.
  • Towards this aim he proposed the encoding/decoding model of communication, or the theory of preferred reading.
  • This is where individuals are not only active in the process of interpretation and the construction of meaning, but they are also able to dismiss and reject dominant messages.
  • Hall proposed three distinct positions that could be occupied by individual viewers, determined, more or less on their subject identities. 
  • A dominant position accepts the dominant message 
  • A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
  • An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading
  • view presents people as producers and consumers of culture at the same time. It means they are active in the making (or rejecting) of meaning through mass communication

CLAY SHIRKY

  • The End of Audience,
  • To bring this summary of different audience approaches towards a conclusion, would be to look at Clay Shirky‘s notion of the end of audience,
  • Shirky is not too removed from the work of Hall, prioritising the power of individual agency in the relationship between audiences and institutions, for example, recognising how the audience can be both producers and consumers of media text,

ZUBOFF

  • surveillance capitalism we are directly targeted

NEWSPAPERS ASSESSMENT

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 concept of the free market, which is where media sources (such as newspapers) are allowed to publish what they want freely, without any restrictions from the Governments on what they can and can’t do. Curran has published a book called Media and Democracy, in which he stated how  “The assumption that ‘anyone’ is free to start as new paper has been an illusion ever since the industrialization of the press.”. This means that anyone could start up a newspaper, however, according to Curran, to make it successful,  “Newspapers and magazines must respond to the concerns of their readers if they are to stay in business”.

Some theorists that can be linked to The I and The Daily Mail include Habermas and the concept of the public sphere, Similarly to the concept of free press, the public sphere explores how people can freely be connected to others horizontally rather than vertically, however Habermas has argued that over time, the public sphere has broken down due to globalisation and the introduction of mass media. Within the public sphere, you have personal places, such as your home to communicate with your family and then social places, such as coffee shops, where you can communicate and socialise with others and see what is going on, therefore connecting beyond our family and personal relationships. Socialising with others in public spaces means you can transform your life and socialise with anyone throughout the whole World, in which links to the Daily Mail and the I because they are available in shops and airports across the world. Another theorist that can be applied to the production of newspapers is Noam Chomsky. Noam Chomsky came up with the theory of manufacturing consent, where he argued that there are 5 filters of the mass media machine. These 5 filters are financial ownership, advertising, the media elite, flak and the common enemy. This links to the two CSPs because in 2019, the Daily Mail bought out the I newspaper for £49.6million. Following on with the 5 filters of manufacturing consent, advertising links to the newspapers because they include adverts, in which company’s pay to get published, meaning the newspaper will generate revenue from advertising. Usually, the newspapers, such as the I and Daily Mail, would keep to very generic adverts such as supermarket ones in order to attract a wider audience, however, more specific gender-orientated media, such as magazines would include adverts that would appeal to their target audience (for example New magazine is aimed at women so will include adverts such as ones for makeup in order to attract their primary audiences). The third filter looks at the media elite, which explains how the big media corporations will publish media scoops, exclusive interviews and celebrities in order to attract their audience. Flak is the 4th filter and is where there is a negative viewpoint towards media sources. Newspapers commonly use flak to remove any articles that are being out up for publishing. An example of this is that a right-winged newspaper (Daily Mail) will disregard any left-wing articles journalists write for them because they want to influence their readers to be right-winged on the political spectrum. An example of Flak in the Daily Mail was in 2016, with the election of the new Prime Minister. The Daily Mail was heavily supporting Teresa May, a Conservative, yet had a negative viewpoint towards Jeremy Corbyn (Labour). One example of this was their use of support such as their masthead “Your tactical voting guide to boost the Tories and Brexit”. However, the I juxtaposes this viewpoint held by the Daily Mail and instead was showing support for Corbyn and the Labour Party and tried to create a negative viewpoint towards Theresa May and the Conservative Party. The final filter is having a common enemy. The Daily Mail often uses their common enemy of terrorists, in order to help create a negative public opinion towards them. A final theorist I will explore is Antonio Gramsci, who came up with the theory of hegemony. Hegemony outlines how certain ideas can be influential to others and this is shown by the lack of power that the working class would have over the higher class. Hegemony is shown in the Daily Mail because they have been criticised for using media sensationalism and overdramatising their news articles, as a technique to attract their audiences and change their viewpoint. This is very different to the I because they have not been criticised for media sensationalism and while they are left-winged, they include some right-wing articles, which suggest they are more central on the political spectrum.

The Daily Mail is a politically aligned, right wing newspaper, who is owned by the Daily Mail General Trust (DMGT). The I, however, if a politically aligned left wing newspaper, which was also bought out by the DMGT in 2019. It is significant that by buying out the I, the DMGT has been able to generate more revenue because they are attracting people from both the different sides of the political spectrum. It can be argued that another reason why the DMGT bought out the I, was to cover wider demographics. This is because the Daily Mail, primarily targets working-class middle aged women (social classes A/B/C1). However, the I primarily targets younger audiences (young adults) which a social class of C1/C2/D. While the Daily Mail has around 999,997 newspapers in circulation (as of June 2020), the I newspaper only had circulation of around 140,154. Therefore, it could be argued that the DMGT bought out the I to maximise their sales because Daily Mail readers would have brand loyalty to the newspaper, so would most likely buy their subsidiaries, thus meaning more will be enticed to buy the I and if all small newspapers are bought out by the DMGT, they could become a monopoly and dominate the newspaper industry. Both the I and the Daily Mail are available online as well as in print form, which attracts new audiences because phones are the new age of our generation. By having mobile editions of their papers, it can attract younger audiences and bring awareness to their newspaper. While these newspapers are hold very contradicting viewpoints and are oppositely aligned on the political spectrum, they both include a mixture of hard and soft news and a range of articles, such as games, sports and breaking news in order to attract an all rounded audience, rather than 1 specific audience, which will mean that they will be generating as much revenue as possible

Another theorist which can be applied to both the I and the Daily Mail is Laswell’s Hypodermic Model of Communication, in which it is explored how the sender will transfer a message through a piece of media and it will have a direct effect on the receiver. An example of this is the Daily Mail, where journalist Larisa Brown reports how how “British Spies exposed and disrupted Russia’s Cyber War on the Olympics. Russia plotted to sabotage the Olympic Games using a series of Cyber Attacks”. This article by Larisa Brown will then be received by the Daily Mail readers (predominantly the British Public) and the effect that will be created will be a pejorative viewpoint on Russians. It is apparent that the Daily Mail/Larisa Brown talks about the Olympics because it is a famous event, therefore it will intrigue the audience to buy the newspaper and read it because it is reporting about something that interests them and address global issues. However, this article is in the words of Larisa Brown, therefore due to the liberal free press explored by Curran and Seaton, Larisa Brown was free to publish her personal viewpoint on the story. Due to the article being somebody’s personal viewpoint, it is not 100% evident she is being truthful, therefore she could be saying how she is feeling and spreading so called “fake news” to their audiences. With the I newspaper, they are politically left winged and will focus on left-wing articles. Using Laswell’s hypodermic model, Nigel Morris speaks about how Biden and Boris Johnson never met. This article from Morris will be received by Daily Mail readers and following the 2020 US Presidential Election, creates the message that the I favours their support for the Democratic Party because they are objecting to a claim. While this is qualitative data written by Morris, it can be seen as more reliable than Larisa Brown’s article because it is backed up by 10 Downing Street and a key political figure (Boris Johnson and his associate), rather than just being the viewpoint of the journalist writing the article. Another theorist than can be applied it Katz, who came up with the uses and gratifications theory. The uses and gratifications theory is linked with Malsow’s hierachy of needs and for newspapers, it can be identified that by using the uses and gratifications theory, newspapers serve the purpose for knowledge about the world and escapism. This is because both the I and the Daily Mail cover news articles from both locally around the UK, as well as having a few pages for global news. Paul Lazerfeld’s two step flow can also be applied to the CSPs. This is because while it can be susceptible to bias, interpretation, support and changes , newspapers have are the main source of media and the opinion leader would be the reader, who may choose to believe something written in the newspaper and tell their friends, influencing them to change their decisions. This is a common strategy the I and the Daily Mail use because they are politically aligned a certain way and would want their readers to adopt the same political spectrum viewpoint they have (the I being left-winged and the Daily Mail being right-winged).

To conclude, both the I and the Daily Mail have been mostly successful at creating their own distinctive identity. This is shown by the theory of the free press as they have both been able to publish what they want without any restrictions or interference from the government. However, it is significant that while the Daily Mail is one of highest circulating newspapers in the UK, They have received criticisms for publishing inaccurate stories, such as the qualitative article from Larisa Brown that has her view on The Russians doing a cyber war at the Olympics. Contrastingly, it can be argued that the I is a more reliable newspaper source than the Daily Mail because it has included accounts from key political figures in the UK, such as Boris Johnson and 10 Downing Street. However, overall they have created a distinctive identity, having both been under the conglomerate company Daily Mail General Trust and being two newspapers who are owned by the same company, yet hold very contradicting political stances, which is beneficial for the Daily Mail General Trust because they will generate more revenue, since they are attracted reader from both sides of the political spectrum.

Media-Psychology and The 2020 US Election (Audience Theories)

Behaviour conditioning first thought of by B.F. Skinner. He said that we can change behaviour. He got pigeons to read by giving them an instruction through a word, they learnt to do what the word said as if they did they got a reward (food). The gives a fake idea of free will as he puts it “the fiction of free will” which suggests that over time we get used to do something so we think that we are choosing to do something however it has be feed into us over time so that we do something out of habit. An example of it is when a phone *dings* almost every teenager will instantly look at it to see who has messaged them or what has happened so we think that we are looking out of choice but really phone manufacters have made phones do that so that they use their product often and rely on it. Another example would be homework as we do not have to do it however if we do it we will not get punished so we doing it to avoid punishment and over time we just do it as we get used to it.

Propaganda appears overtly political and manipulative however Persuasion often appears invisible at first however over time it suggests stuff and manipulates you. This is essentially a form of behaviour management (see above).

Hypodermic model = direct injection = massive audience

Shoshana Zuboff wrote a book (The Age of Surveillance Capitalism) about “various forms of persuasion are used to stimulate certain types of behaviour while suppressing others”. She also said “Technology has begun to develop new methods of behaviour control capable of altering not just an individual’s actions but their very personality and manner of thinking”.

Lasswell – Hypodermic Model (Passive Consumption) – 1920s-30s

Harold Lasswell developed the theoretical took of “content analysis” and in 1927 he wrote Propaganda Technique in the World War which highlighted the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers . . . knocked them into submission’. Lasswell, as a behavioural scientist researching areas connected with political communication and propaganda, believed each government had ‘manipulated the mass media in order to justify its actions’ in World War 1 (2019 reprint – page 122).

in 1948 he developed a linear model of communication, one that breaks down the line of communication from point A to point B, in which the SENDER is transferring a MESSAGE, through a MEDIUM (eg Print, radio, TV, etc) that has a direct effect on the RECEIVER.

Example – Jill Colvin (Sender) Trump will loose the election but Biden cannot afford a victory lap (Message) Newspaper – The I – 19th October 2020 – Page 15 (Medium) Readers of The I (Reciever) To get people to vote Biden by stating that Trump is bad as he uses fear tactics (Feedback).

Shannon and Weaver – Transmission Model of Communication – 1940s

Lasswell’s Hypodermic model was adapted by Shannon and Weaver in 1949, as the Transmission model of Communication, which included other elements, such as NOISE, ERROR, ENCODING and FEEDBACK. In other words, Lasswell’s model is not reliable as the process of sending and receiving a message is clear-cut, predicable or reliable and is dependent on a range of other factors that need to be taken into consideration.

Lazarfeld – Two Step Flow of Communication (Active Consumption) – 1940s-50s

At the same time Paul Lazarfeld recognised that a simple, linear model may not be sufficiently complex to understanding the relationship between message sent > message received. As such, in 1948 he developed the Two Step Flow model of communication, which took account of the way in which mediated 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.

As Martin Moore suggests, ‘people’s political views are not, as contemporaries thought, much changed by what they read or heard in the media. Voters were far more influenced by their friends, their families and their colleagues’ (2019:124).

Think for example, of the role of the journalist or broadcaster whose job it is to inform the public. Think further about the role of key individuals in society, teachers, doctors, trade union leaders, your boss at work, parents, friends and family all of whom are capable of exerting an influence on the process of communication, making it subject to bias, interpretation, rejection, amplification, support and change.

Katz, Gurevitch & Haas – Uses and Gratifications (Active Selection) – 1960s

The distinction is this approach is rather than categorising the audience as passive consumers of messages, either directly from source, or from opinion leaders, this theory recognises the decision making process of the audience themselves. As Elihu Katz explains the Uses and Gratifications theory diverges from other media effect theories that question: what does media do to people?, to focus on: what do people do with media?

Research into this area began with Denis McQuail and Jay Blumler, who in 1969, looked to study the 1964 UK Election. In the early 1970’s they were joined by Elihu Katz, Joseph Brown, Michael Gurevitch and Hadassah Haas. In essence, they put forward research to show that individual audience members are more active than had previously been thought and were actually key to the processes of selectioninterpretation and feedback. In essence, individuals sought particular pleasures, uses and gratifications from individual media texts, which can be categorised as:

  1. information / education
  2. empathy and identity
  3. social interaction
  4. entertainment
  5. escapism

It is suggested that much of this research was informed by Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs (1954), which argues that people actively looked to satisfy their needs based on a hierarchy of social and psychological desires. Maslow’s thinking was centred around Humanistic psychology. According the web page ‘Humanist Psychology’ (link here) the basic principle behind humanistic psychology is simple and can be reduced to identify the most significant aspect of human existence, which is to attain personal growth and understanding, as ‘only through constant self-improvement and self-understanding can an individual ever be truly happy‘.

Skinner – Behavioural-Modification Research

The media make articles that will sell so they make articles that the readers want about current affairs that they want to know about. This allows them to achieve more sales. (See top of post for more)

Gerbner – Cultivation Theory – 1970s

George Gerbner’s cultivation theory suggests that the more you show people something the more they start to believe it. The media use this to get readers to read a “easy-read” article (e.g. about celebrities) but next to it they will put an article that puts their views across (e.g. an article about Trump and the election).

Hall – Theory of Preferred Reading – 1980s

At around the same time Stuart Hall, working at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), at the University of Birmingham, was also developing a critical theory that looked to analyse mass media communication and popular culture as a way of both uncovering the invidious work of the State and Big Business, as well as looking for ways of subverting that process. Hall was working at a time of great societal upheaval and unrest in the UK and was therefore committed to understand the relationship between power, communication, culture, control and . . . behaviour management.

As presented earlier, ‘where other media theorists argue that messages are imposed on people from above, Hall said power is not as simple as that. Hall suggested that power, control and therefore, behaviour management cannot be exerted directly, wilfully and without resistance. Towards this aim he proposed the encoding/decoding model of communication, or the theory of preferred reading, where individuals are not only active in the process of interpretation and the construction of meaning, but they are also able to dismiss and reject dominant messages. Although it could be argued that we all take up different readings of different media, Hall proposed three distinct positions that could be occupied by individual viewers, determined, more or less on their subject identities.

  1. A dominant position accepts the dominant message
  2. A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
  3. An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading

This view presents people as producers and consumers of culture at the same time. It means they are active in the making (or rejecting) of meaning through mass communication. An example, of this came from the Nationwide project, an influential media audience research project conducted by the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS), in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Its principal researchers were David Morley and Charlotte Brunsdon but clearly this came under focus of audience research developed by Hall. The BBC television current affairs programme Nationwide was selected to study the encoding/decoding model, as part of reception theory, and was concerned with ‘the programme’s distinctive ideological themes and with the particular ways in which Nationwide addressed the viewer‘. (Moores, 1993, p.19)

Shirky – The End of Audience – 2000s

To bring this summary of different audience approaches towards a conclusion, would be to look at Clay Shirky‘s notion of the end of audience. Because what could happen if, instead of the choice of three subject positions as offered by the theory of preferred reading, there were limitless, individual subject positions available to all of us, at any time, in any place, from any perspective? A position which allowed us to produce our commentary and communication on the outside world, while still maintaining the ability to comment, feedback, accept or deny those who choose to interpret the outside world for us?

In many ways, Shirky is not too removed from the work of Hall, prioritising the power of individual agency in the relationship between audiences and institutions, for example, recognising how the audience can be both producers and consumers of media text. This can be realised in the realm of new (interactive) communication media, where individual communications can be made in what appears to be beyond State or commercial control and interest.

In a TED talk from 2013, Shirky stated that, ‘the more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with.’ In other words, Shirky makes claim for the emancipation gained from new media technologies, liberating individual consumers from the behavioural management techniques of the State that were positioned as problematic by Hall, Althusser, Chomsky and others. A position that is the revolution of new media technologies, which in many holds similarities with the introduction of the printing press in the 1500’s, a potential to transform the working machinery of public discourse and to reinvigorate democracy (re: Habermas and the Transformation of the Public Sphere).

Shirky’s ideas are supported by Henry Jenkins, another advocate of participatory, on-line communication, which he sees as providing new spaces for individuals to become active and creative in the process of mass mass media. ‘We may not overturn entrenched power . . . What they are talking about is a shift in the public’s role in the political process. . . toward the collaborative concept of a monitorial citizen‘ (2008, p. 219).

New Technology. Old Tricks? – 2010s

However, as many are now coming to recognise, although, ‘it was impossible to imagine the means of behavioral modification as anything other than owned and operated by the government‘. Very few saw that the project would ‘resurface in a wholly unexpected incarnation as a creature of the market, it’s unprecedented digital capabilities, scale, and scope now flourishing under the flag of surveillance capitalism.’ (Zuboff, 2019 p.325)

The arena of digital intrusion, of excessive, experimental and at times, unlawful, data mining is the subject of another post. It is enough perhaps to end on this lengthy quote from Zuboff, which seems to summarise the current concerns around media communication technologies, the role of those in power to adjust and manipulate our behaviour and ultimately the future of human freedom and individual liberty.

High Order Thinking

Chomsky

Chomsky came up with the theory of manufacturing consent and the five filters. These are ownership, advertising, the media elite, flak and the common enemy. These are used together to influence your opinion of something and to gain your trust whilst the people in power get their opinions passed down to the readers as they have control over what goes in the newspaper to ensure they keep their power and wealth. However, in order to sell papers there is often articles that are not the most important or main news but they are interesting so they make it easier to sell; this is called flak.

On both front covers of The I and The Daily Mail both have flak articles to get sales. For example, The I newspaper on Tuesday 20th October 2020 there was an advert on the front cover saying there was an article about “The Superstars we don’t recognise, Inside the world of voice acting” on page 38. This is not an important article however it is interesting so some will buy the newspaper for it.

Image

The I and The Daily Mail

The IThe Daily Mail
When were they first introduced? 26th October 2010 4th May 1896 
 Are they part of a bigger organisational structure? Originally set up as a sister paper to the Liberal newspaper the independent. Eventually the paper and its website were bought by the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) on 29 November 2019, for £49.6 million. Started by Viscount Rothermere and Viscount Northcliffe and the newspaper ownership has been handed down over generations to Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere today. Published by the Daily Mail and General Trust Media company (DMGT).
Are they known for a particular political perspective? The Viewpoints that the I expresses usually align with Centrist or left wing (liberal) political views. The Daily Mail is a right wing newspaper
What kind of journalism do they produce? What is their USP? What stories do they specialise in? News and information focused in a broadsheet style.A middle-market newspaper so entertainment and news focused.
What kind of people run the paper? Produce the stories?The Daily Mail and General Trust, the Company that owns the Daily Mail newspaper, bought the I newspaper in 2019. The editor is Oliver Duff, a 38 year-old British Journalist educated at Cambridge, so he is smart and well-off. With the youngest editor of a UK national newspaper, Duff is likely to include less conservative views as younger people are generally more liberal. Jonathan Harmsworth, the great-grandson of one of the founders, owns the Daily mail, but the editor is Geordie Greig, a 59 year-old British Journalist educated at Eton and Oxford. With an older editor and a powerful owner supervising the newspaper, the views are more likely to be conservative as that ideology provides the upper classes try to preserve their power, by maintaining their social and economic positions. 
Do they have a similar readership reach? As of October 2019, the Daily circulation of the I was 221,083. The main target audience is mostly middle class people that do not have a lot of time so the paper is to the point.The Daily Mail circulates 1,158,192 copies, currently the most successful UK newspaper in terms of circulation. The daily mail’s main target audience is the lower middle class, or C1.
Do they have a similar readership profile / target audience? Targets upper middle class.Targets lower middle class with conservative views.
How are they currently doing? Increasing or decreasing sales and revenue? The circulation dropped from 233,869 in Feb 2019 to 221,083 in Oct 2019.The Daily Mail overtook The Sun (Murdoch’s Dynasty) as the UK’s best selling newspaper in June 2020.
How are they looking to embrace new media technologies? The I has a website but they mainly focus on physical copies of their newspapers.The Daily Mail has a the MailOnline (there website). They also have multiple social media accounts that target a younger audience (Snapchat stories 12.6 million subscribers)
Do they have a similar layout and design? It is a compact (broadsheet quality in a tabloid format) format newspaper.It is a tabloid (smaller than a broadsheet) middle-market newspaper, meaning it covers a mix of news and entertainment.