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. 

History- The Score hair cream advert is an historical artefact from 1967, as such it can be examined for its historical, social and cultural contexts, particularly in its relates to gender roles, sexuality and the historical context of advertising techniques.

1967 can be seen as a period of slow transformation in western cultures with changing attitudes to the role of women – and men – in society, something that the advert can be seen to negotiate. Produced in the year of decriminilasiation of homosexuality the representation of heterosexuality could be read as signaling more anxiety than the surface level of the advert. The advertising techniques of fifty years ago are fundamentally similar to today’s adverts but there are clear signs and evolutions of techniques through out the years.

Hypermasculinity in advertising
Hypermasculinity is defined as: a psychological term for the exaggeration of male stereotypical behaviour, such as an emphasis on physical strength, aggression, and sexuality.

Advertising in the 1950s-1980s often featured a lot of hyper-masculine representation of men – and some representations in the media today still continue this.

Gelfer: Five stages of MasculinityGelfer suggests there are five stages of masculinity – how people perceive and understand what it means to be a man.
Stage 1: “unconscious masculinity” – traditional view of menStage 2: “conscious masculinity” – as above but deliberateStage 3: “critical masculinities” – feminist; socially constructedStage 4: “multiple masculinities” – anyone can be anythingStage 5: “beyond masculinities” – it doesn’t exist 
Gelfer says advertisers need to think about how their target audience views men and masculinity when creating campaigns.

Masculinity in crisis? David Gauntlett
Media theorist David Gauntlett has written extensively on gender and identity. He disagrees with the popular view that masculinity is ‘in crisis’:
“Contemporary masculinity is often said to be ‘in crisis’; as women become increasingly assertive and successful… men are said to be anxious and confused about what their role is today.”
Instead, Gauntlett suggests that many modern representations of masculinity are “about men finding a place for themselves in the modern world.” He sees this as a positive thing. (Gauntlett, 2002)

 

MEDIA LANGUAGE

MEDIA REPRESENTATION

—

Jean Kilbourne, Ed.D. (born January 4, 1943) is a public speaker, writer, filmmaker and activist who is internationally recognized for her work on the image of women in advertising and her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising.^[1] She is also credited with introducing the idea of educating about media literacy as a way to prevent problems she viewed as originating from mass media advertising campaigns. She also lectures about the topic,^[2] and her documentaries (such as the Killing Us Softly series) based on these lectures are viewed around the world.^[3]

She is a graduate of Wellesley College and holds a doctorate in education from Boston University, as well as an honorary doctorate from Westfield State College, for her “research [and] insights [that] lead us from consumerism to consciousness

James Curran and Seaton looked at power and media industries and how conglomerates (a large company which consists of smaller companies) being driven by money and power. The ownership and control over small companies means they have power in multiple industries. The focus on profit means conglomerates will rarely take risks on projects and instead focus on making profit increasing media products. Therefore, the is limited variety of content. A quote by Curran and Seaton to avoid this is ‘Media policy should seek[…] to create the conditions of greatest possible competition, thus enabling consumers to exercise sovereign control. This produces media that people want, a wide range of choice, and media independence from government’ To simplify Curran and setons power and media theory is that that media producers have different rules. For example, if the media producer is paid for by the government it must remain unbiased Liberal Free press, therefore it should be free from interference and political control, as they should be neutral and unbiased.

Another relevant theory is Gramsci’s theory of hegemony. This is linked with the idea of capitalist state and claims that the state rules and has power through force and consent, with society being a realm of force into a dominant ideology. Hegemony refers to the idea that nothing is fixed and things such as culture and identity power can be changed and the media how the power to do so, much like Curran and Seaton who said the large media companies (driven by money) have power in multiple industries.

The I newspaper was introduced in October 2010 and was originally a sister paper to The Independent a considered Liberal newspaper. It was later bought by for £49.6 million by the daily mail and the general trust a newspaper considered to be less liberal with right wing political views. Regardless of their ownership The ‘I’ still has editorial independence meaning the daily mail and general trust don’t influence the contact published by the newspaper with the stories often being presented more factual are what is considered hard news. The conglomerated of the daily mail and the general trust manages a multinational portfolio of companies, giving them horizontal integration (process of a company increasing production of goods or services at the same part of the supply chain) with total revenues of almost £2 billion. The Daily mail was introduced much earlier beginning production in Created on May 4 1896. The magazine is owned by Viscount Rothermere & Family, with lord Rothermere Jonathan Harmsworth being chairman of various newspapers including the daily mail and the general trust (which have ownership of the I newspaper) and has accumulated a net worth of 1.9 billion dollars (august 2017).

A key component to the I newspapers is how it positions itself neutral, this is largely to do with it target audience of fast pace, comminutors of any age and all political views meaning a wide range of readers. The ‘I’ has a readership reach of 221,083, and is a free newspaper, this means that they do not rely on costumers buying their product but instead on advisers to create a profit and keep up production, meaning they are not aiming to reach a niche audience such as right wing positioned audiences allowing the newspaper to include their own views as well as remaining more neutral and giving information for audiences to decode and form opinions on themselves. An example of a story published by the newspaper was headlined ‘reasons to vote Trump’ written by Kate Maltby who lived in the USA in 2009, she talks about various reasons to support trump exposing the positives of his presidency, this is unusual for a left wing newspaper which tend to portray Trump in a negative light. The magazine however also published an article headlining ‘Why Donald Trump falsely declaring victory and claiming voter fraud in his speech has been so widely condemned’ reflecting more negative view on Trump. I think this is a positive thing as explained by Stuarts Halls 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. The inclusion of article coming from a variety of different political stand points allows audiences to create their own opinions much like a quote from Curran and Seaton “Media policy should seek[…] to create the conditions of greatest possible competition, thus enabling consumers to exercise sovereign control”.

The Daily mail however has a more specific target audience of lower-middle class women are reach a much wider audience of 2.2million. Due to it large readership the newspaper holds a lot of power and openly positions themselves as right wing and in support of the conservative party. The magazine if known for publishing articles on supporting their views. An article recently published headlined ‘Donald trumped?’ on the front page clearly demonstrating their dislike for Trump. By doing reader who perches the magazine likely have a similar view something the newspaper does purposefully to get achieve readers. Curran and Seaton talk about conglomerates being driven by money and power, something the daily mail could be thought to do, by creating story headlines to deliberately incise audiences rather than portraying their personal politically views. However, the newspaper does also present their own view throughout the paper this could be seen as trying to persuade readers to adopt their views meaning free press is not fully achieved. 

In conclusion, the political identities which the Newspaper has created may be influenced by the want to persuade reader for certain political gain or to increase profits.

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? 

Curran and Seaton’s summary of the theory of Liberal Free Press states that “the freedom to publish in the free market ensures that the press reflects a wide range of opinions in society” This allows for no political bias in the media which suggests there will be politically balanced stories within the media, therefore expecting the press to be as “the people’s watchdog, scrutinising the actions of the government and holding the country’s rulers to account”. This theory supports the idea that the media and newspapers specifically are there to serve the public, as they need to keep the interest of their readers to stay successful and recognise that those newspapers that do not “respond to the concerns of their readers”, cannot be as successful in a competitive space than alternative news outlets that do. Curran and Seaton’s belief however, that the media is controlled by a small number of companies who are driven by: Profit, power and logic, relates to the theory of Althusser who suggests the theory of Interpolation. This theory was created by people in high social and political power, stating “an ideology always exists in an apparatus, and its practice, or practices” suggesting that within media, there is always an ideology which is presented to the audience, often used as propaganda to make the audience believe a certain political view. This then challenges the idea that the liberal free press could ever even exist, as there will always be an imbalance in presentation of views, as each outlet will still have an urge to present their own ideologies, enhanced by the pressures of “competition, choice and new technology”; leading to a narrowing in range of opinions represented in the media, with one ultimate conglomerate owning multiple subsections with a pursuit of profit at the expense of quality or creativity. 

The Daily mail was founded in 1896 and is owned by General Trust PLC which owns multinational companies, also including the I, and DMGT, which owns all stages of production, with editing and printing in their own HQ. It circulates 1,158,192 copies, currently running as the most successful UK newspaper, with the main target audience of the lower middle class.  The daily mail also has a majority female readership, with female readers consisting of 52-55% of the total daily mail readership, and has also been shown as a middle-market newspaper, with both entertainment and information. The Daily Mail thrives off the idea that most readers would not care to factcheck articles, as they are produced in often short bites, although they known to include unreliable information, highlighted on the Wikipedia page for the Daily Mail, where “In February 2017, the Daily Mail became the first source to be deprecated as an “unreliable source” to use as a reference on the English Wikipedia”.  Furthermore, both magazines participates in advertising, including multiple fashion and entertainment pages combined with full-page advertisements. Therefore meaning even with the I being a centre left newspaper, they wouldn’t be seen including frequent strong-left political opinions because they rely on capitalism to survive. However, The Daily Mail disguise this by their use of creating original, unique articles, with sources that seem to hold strong evidence, with facts and figures, which as a result is often useful for persuading readers to adopt their political viewpoints.

An example to show the I’s moderate swing to the political left can be seen in an article for the front cover of the I edition released on November 5th, relating to the current situation with the American presidential election. The article, although appearing as only a factual piece of work, using short bullet point sentences to highlight some key points in the election, can be analysed to present a swing to the supporting of Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate. The first point states ‘poisonous legal battle begins as Trump opposes routine counting of postal ballot’, which can be understood, although subtle, as being anti-trump, as the speculation of trumps next actions were described as ‘poisonous’, which obviously holds negative connotations. The headline of the front page article also made sure to bring attention to Biden’s success by writing ‘Biden edges closer to the White House’. Whereas the Daily Mail’s headliner in their November 5th edition, known to be more right-wing aligned, highlighted Donald Trumps fight in the election, and only referenced the idea of trumps retaliation as trumps ‘campaign threatened to go to the Supreme Court’ with the phrase more so showing Trumps high authority than the huge complications he’s trying cause to bring himself back into the election. However both of these instances are intertwined into the articles so subtly, its obvious that these 2 outlets are keeping away from any strong political standpoint, as to appeal to a larger audience.

To conclude, its clear that Curran and Seatons description of the theory of the free market, is not as free as once thought, and that the idea of a truly transparent market could never exist. The Daily Mail and The i are two competing newspapers with developing ideas on how to appeal to their readers, while both maintaining individual identities. The competition between newspapers within the free market is always thriving, and consumers feed into this by purchasing the papers and engaging with articles online. The transformation of the public sphere has caused a large shift towards the political right, shown through The Daily Mail as the most popular newspaper in the UK, and the overall success of the i also in the media market.

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.

• Two theorists who co-wrote a book called “Power Without Responsibility”
• the liberal theory of press freedom:
• The broad shape and nature of the press is ultimately determined by no one but its readers
• self regulation

Curran and Seaton co-wrote a book called “Power Without Responsibility” where the liberal theory of press freedom is discussed. Curran and Seaton describe the liberal theory of press theory within Power Without Responsibility as “ultimately determined by no one but its readers”. This means that the political variety found within the press is not decided solely by its editors – but by its readers. This is shown through newspapers like the i and Daily Mail where they both display a largely differing set of political opinions, with the Daily Mail adopting more centre-right ideologies compared to the i displaying more centrist or centre left ideologies.

The Daily Mail has been known to adopt more dubious strategies to its reporting. The Daily Mail capitalises on the fact that most of its readers will not bother to factcheck articles due to a lot of the more uneducated population reading it, and often creates articles with unreliable information. This is shown on the Wikipedia page for the Daily Mail, where “In February 2017, the Daily Mail became the first source to be deprecated as an “unreliable source” to use as a reference on the English Wikipedia”. The Daily Mail has a centric enough political stance that it can influence central-aligned readers, or those “uninterested” with politics. This is shown through Chomsky’s theory of the Five Filters of Mass Media: ownership, advertising sourcing, flak and anti-communism and fear. The Daily Mail is owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust, which also owns the i. The DMG owns all stages of production, with editing and printing in their own headquarters. Furthermore, both, but particularly the daily mail participate in the advertising stage, where the daily mail includes multiple fashion pages combined with full-page advertisements. certain articles are purged in order to keep readers in the “buying mood”, meaning that despite the newspaper being centre left, the i will never include articles that hold more strong-left political opinions because each newspaper relies on capitalism to survive and a criticism of the system would not put the readers in a “buying mood”. Therefore, it can be said that the Daily Mail is especially successful from this, due to its articles being mainly centre-right (more economically based). The Daily Mail makes particular use of creating its own, unique articles, providing a source that seems to provide strong evidence, with facts and figures. This, as a result, is useful for persuading readers to adopt these political viewpoints. The Daily Mail also incorporates flak, where ideas that threaten its traditional beliefs are shunned. An example of this is an article in the Daily Mail, discussing how “The number of white male, secondary school teachers has fallen by almost 20 percent in a decade, sparking fears over a lack of role models for working class boys”. This provides flack on diversity in teaching and reinforces the idea that the increase in diversity of teachers is bad because “white boys don’t have any role models”. (Conveniently leaving out that minorities never had role models in the first place). This creates racist ramifications as it ultimately creates the idea that “minorities are invading teaching spaces”. This is used to defend the Daily Mail’s centre-right beliefs and pushes its readers to think like this. Finally, the Daily Mail uses anti-communism and fear. While 2020 is the result of a post-red-scare era, anti-communism is still used to reinforce capitalism as the main ideology, with fearmongering used to paint leftism as ‘the evil’. An example of this is a recent article n the Daily Mail. A quarter of the page is headed with read and the communist flag. The title text reads: “Russia’s Cyber War on the Olympics”. However, Russia has nothing to do with communism as the soviet union dissolved in 1992. Furthermore, Russia has become more and more neo-liberal as it has incorporated more and more forms of privatisation. The article frames Russia’s attempt to “sabotage the games” as not Russia’s attempt to sabotage the games, but communism’s attempt to sabotage the games. This reinforces the idea that leftist ideas such as socialism and communism are “evil”, and are “a threat”. This political stance has been incredibly successful for the Daily Mail, as it is currently the top selling newspaper in the UK.

The i has adopted a centre-let political stance, but despite seeming somewhat different to the Daily Mail, they are both owned by the same conglomerate: the Daily Mail General Trust. A notable article in the i is a politics article titled “Even a win is not good news for Democrats”. Further in the article, it questions socialists if socialism is “just an idea” and “would never become a reality”: “The uncomfortable closeness of the election will empower the socialists in his party to push a niggling counterfactual: what if it had been an ideologue, not an establishment-type, at the top of the ticket?”. While the i appears centre-left, it can be argued that both of its opinions of leftism, especially far leftism, are the same, with the i expressing ideas of socialism as “unrealistic” and the Daily Mail expressing stronger ideas of counter-leftism. It can be argued that, historically, the public sphere was a lot more diverse, with a lot of early post-world-war two newspapers taking a leftist, anti-capitalist approach, being allowed to criticise the capitalist system. This was changed after these local newspapers either died out from a lack of funding or were pushed to become more right-wing as they required funding through advertising, which would require complying with the capitalist system. This has meant that the public sphere as a whole since then has shifted more and more to the right, with right wing views beginning to dominate the public consciousness, and as a result, has changed the public sphere to care less about socialist ideas and more about economy-based ideas. The point being, newspaper identities have shifted closer and closer together, to the point where it is a lot harder to tell the difference between centre-right and centre-left.

In conclusion, it can be argued that the identities the Daily Mail and the i have created are not as distinctive as they seem. The Daily Mail General Trust owns not only both newspapers, but all forms of journalism and production. The transformation of the public sphere has caused a large shift towards the political right, which is shown where The Daily Mail is the most popular newspaper in the UK, compared to the i, which is 7th. Furthermore, the i itself has started to shift more to the right, complying with the dominant ideology more and more

1. 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.
2. 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:
   1. statistics, names and dates related to your case studies.
   2. key terminology related to ownership (media as public good, capitalist media, vertical, horizontal, transnational, conglomerate, subsidiaries, concentration of ownership, diversification, production/distribution etc etc)
3. 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)
4. 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).
5. Evaluate the success of each of your case studies in terms of:
   1. quantitative / statistical analysis
   2. qualitative analysis (think about the stories that you are talking about, how can they be measured as successful?)
6. 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)
7. Make some astute judgements and draw some conclusions from what you have written in your essay
8. Summarise (what you have presented as) your argument and try to end with a 2 sentence final though

lasswell’s model: the daily mail article

WHO:

Sarah Harris and joshua fullard

SAYS WHAT:

“The number of white male, secondary school teachers has fallen by almost 20 percent in a decade, sparking fears over a lack of role models for working class boys”

CHANNEL:

The daily mail newspaper

TO WHOM:

right-wing aligned or centre-right aligned audience

WITH WHAT EFFECT:

reinforces the idea that the increase in diversity of teachers is bad because “white boys don’t have any role models”. (Conveniently leaving out that minorities never had role models in the first place). This creates racist ramifications as it ultimately creates the idea that “minorities are invading teaching spaces”