OPERANT CONDITIONING – B.F Skinner – “the fiction of free will?” We decide to do something because the idea has already been planted in our minds by someone/something else. Free will is an illusion.
Propaganda vs persuasion
Propaganda – overtly political and manipulative
Persuasion – concealment, strategy and manipulation
Harold Lasswell – Propaganda Technique in the World War (1927) – highlighted “subtle poison”
Shoshana Zuboff – behaviour management – persuading people to engage in certain types of behaviour
We can connect with media messages through one-to-one communication
Individuality and personal freedom vs behaviour modification – “the behavioural technology being developed in the United States today touches upon the most basic sources of individuality and the very core of personal freedom…”
Cambridge Analytica – Alexander Nix – influences people through adverts on social media
Hypodermic model (passive consumption) – model proposes a clear linear (maybe even altered) connection between a message sent > message received
Paul Lazarfeld said that a simple, linear model may not be sufficiently complex to understanding the relationship between message sent > message received. Lazarfield developed the Two Step Flow model for communication, which took account of the way in which mediated messages are not directly injected into the audience.
Katz – Uses and Gratifications theory
Escapism, social interaction, educate and inform, identification
Maslow – Hierarchy of Needs
Self actualization, esteem, love and belonging, safety, physiological
Cultivation theory – effects over time…
George Gerbner and Larry Gross developed this theory that notes the distinct characteristics of television in relation to other media forms. They suggest that “television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that sued to be acquired from other primary sources.”
Theory of preferred reading…
A dominant position accepts the dominant message
A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading
Stuart Hall suggested we can reject media messages.
Clay Shirky – the end of audience
No mass audience, only a large group of individuals
The I and Daily Mail ownership – Daily Mail and General Trust
B.F Skinner operant conditioning; we do not have free will, it is an illusion.The friction of free will. Suggesting that the environment has an effect on our behavior and other outside factors.
Schedule of reward: Instant gratification.
Propaganda vs Persuasion: Propaganda appears as overtly political and manipulative, whereas the process of persuasion often appears invisible at glance, subsequently revealed as invidious, suggesting concealment, strategy, manipulation.
Harold Lasswell: Propaganda technique in the world war (1917). This highlights the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers knocked them into submission.’
Shoshana Zuboff – early student of Skinner. Individuality and personal freedom – behavior modification.
Cambridge Analytica: Alexander Nix.
Stephen Glover from the Daily Mail, says “Who’ll rid us of these anti-Brexit grenade throwing bishops.” He says this through the right-wing newspaper The Daily Mail, to its audience who is said to be made up of lower-middle-class British women. This is to show a right-wing view that portrays anti-Brexit voters as “grenade throwing”.
Shannon and Weaver: there is more to a communication model than Lasswell`s process.
Paul Lazarfeld: Two step flow of communication (active consumption). Communication is not linear, but is active (1948).
Martin Moore: ‘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.’
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?
George Gerber: Cultivation theory- the idea that long-term exposure of violent media will lead to a distorted view that the world seems more violent than it actually is.
‘Television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources‘
Stuart Hall – The theory of preferred reading: 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: The End of Audience – no mass audience, only a huge group of individuals.
‘The fiction of free will’ – links to ideological state apparatus.
It isn’t always free will that makes us do things.
Rewards are given when you do certain things – can question if free will is actually present or not.
You can tailor the media for certain needs – if someone doesn’t want to hear heavy stories, you could make something that will appeal to those people and fill that media with what people want to see.
Propaganda VS Persuasion
Propaganda is the expression of opinions in order to manipulate people to believe a certain thin. Generally overtly political
Persuasion is more about influencing people slowly by dripping information gradually and not obviously
Harold Laswell – spoke about how the US military used a rang of different persuasive devices in WW2 to get people ‘knocked into submission’ Hypodermic model – direct injection of messages into a passive audience.
Shoshana Zuboff
Surveillance Capitalism – we are all directly communicated to be manipulated to think certain things.
Persuasion through behaviour controlled technology
‘various form of persuasion are used to stimulate certain types of behaviours’
‘new methods of behaviour control’
‘ the power this technology gives one man to impose his views and values on another.’ – talking about the Donald Trump Campaign
Project Alamo
Helped to get donald trump elected
Campaign messages that are overwhelmingly negative towards the other party
Harold Lasswell
Developed the theoretical tool of ‘content analysis’ and in 1927 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’
If people are spoon fed information, they will believe it
Article with Boris Johnson having dandruff
Who = Caroline Jones (Journalist)
Says what = writes about the Priminister having dandruff
Channel = The Daily Mail
To Whom = the readers of the newspaper
With what effect = to mock Boris
Shannon and Weaver (1949)
They criticse that model and came up with the Transmission model of Communication, which included other elements, such as NOISE, ERROR, ENCODING and FEEDBACK.
Paul Lazarfeld – Two Step Flow Theory
Says that a linear approach doesn’t work
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.
Example = In class you ask a question to your friend about something you didn’t understand from the teacher.
We’re more likely to take information from individuals rather than one big source. The individual is known as the ‘Opinion Leaders’.
The audience are active
Uses and Gratification
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.
This theory recognises that people do choose things themselves and aren’t forced into thinking or choosing something.
Cultivation Theory – 1975
George Gerbner
We can be shaped by the media. Over time we can make people believe certain things.
Even if they are doing this through the media that the people want, they can still sneak those opinions into this.
In other words, television shapes the way individuals within society think and relate to each other. However, the research also notes that the effects of television are limited and as such, the overall position is that ‘watching television doesn’t cause a particular behaviour, but instead watching television over time adds up to our perception of the world around us‘.
Structure (organisations and big corporations) have more power than the individual. Individuals don’t know that they don’t have any power but are tricked into thinking they do.
Stuart Hall – 1980’s
The Theory of Preferred Reading
The idea that you can present information in one way but other people will reject the reading and not accept the desired message.
A dominant position accepts the dominant message
A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading
Everyone is encoding and decoding things in a different way. Everyone reads things differently.
Clay Shirky: The End of Audience
‘the more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with.’
the fiction of free will the idea that social conditioning is determining free will not behavior or the individual.
Propaganda v Persuasion
Propaganda information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.
Persuasion is the action or process of persuading someone or of being persuaded to do or believe something.
Hypodermic model
The hypodermic needle model is a model of communication suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver.
Zuboff wrote an Age of surveillance capitalism
‘A major segment of the emerging behavioral control technology is concerned with conditioning’ ‘technology has begun to develop new methods of behavior control capable of altering not just an individuals action but his very personality and manner of thinking’
Audience theories timeline
Lasswell Hyperdormic model (1920-30)
‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers . . . knocked them into submission’ a passive consumption of media can cause people to act in a way that the encoder wants
The Daily Mail says Tories in turmoil over Rashfords free school meals through the mail on Sunday to readers which are usually females aged 15-34 years old to persuade them that conservatives are in panic over Marcus Rashford giving free school meals
However shanon and weaver later adapt this model as some receivers may not decode the message properly or there is error and the message may be decoded in different ways or not decoded at all.
Paul Lazarfeld Two step flow theory
Lazarfeld said that people don’t actually take info from the media but instead interact with each other and discuss information instead of just being spoon fed information
Uses and Gratification theory/ Maslows pyramid 1960s
How people think based off the media
Cultivation theory George Gerbner 1970s
If you keep giving people information they want you put bits of information into what people want and it will change how they think based off the things you want to see. ‘watching television doesn’t cause a particular behavior, but instead watching television over time adds up to our perception of the world around us‘ structure has more power over individual agencies.
Stuart Hall theory of preferred reading 1980s
There are three ways of interpreting a message:
A dominant position accepts the dominant message
A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading
Clay Shirky The End of Audience 2000s
Roughly the same as Stuart Hall but there is no such thing as one audience but lots of group of audiences which interpret whats being encoded in different ways and act on it based of how they interpret it.
Fiction of Free Will = links to Marxs, Gramsci, Allthessar – social conditioning determines behaviour not free will
Predetermined – companies – promise of reward – conditioned by algorithms
Propaganda vs persuasion:
propaganda – expressions of opinions or actions carried out deliberately by individual;s or groups with a view to influence the opinions or actions of the other individuals or groups for predetermined ends through psychological manipulations – Ellul 1965
appears overtly political and manipulative, whereas the process of persuasion often appears invisible at first, subsequently revealed as invidious, suggesting concealment, strategies, manipulation.
Zuboff – 1974 = various forms of persuasion are used to stimulate certain types of behaviors while suppressing others.
technology has began new methods of behaviour control capable of altering not just an individuals actions but his very personality and manner of thinking.
New Tech – a control technology – manipulating and altering.
fiction of free will – links to althusser, gramsci – theory of iterpellation
social conditioning is what determines free will
propaganda vs persuasion
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
propaganda appears as overtly political and manipulative
Harold Lasswell – propaganda technique in the world (1927)
hypodermic model =
direct injection =
passive audience
Shoshana Zuboff
drawing on the 1974 subcommitee report:
“a major segment of the emerging behaviour
“various form of persuasion are used to stimulate certain types of behaviours”
“new methods of behaviour control”
“the power this technology gives one man to impose his views and values on another.”
– BF Skinner = came up with the concept of operant conditioning
– The friction of free will is a statement by Skinner, where you can teach people through different social conditions to change their behavior and how they act
Propaganda vs Persuasion
– Propaganda = opinions/actions that are carried out deliberately by a group of individuals to influence other individuals through the use of psychological manipulations
– Persuasion = when you try to influences someone’s action and beliefs to do something which they may not be intending to do
– Harold Lasswell was the first one to talk about how in WW1, the US Military used a range of persuasive devices to serve propaganda
– Laswell came up with the hypodermic model of behavior conditioning
– Shoshana Zubof highlights in her book, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” that various forms of persuasion influence different types of behaviors, while suppressing others.
– Zubof = “technology has begun to develop new methods of behavior control capable of altering not just an individual’s actions, but their very personality and manner of thinking”
– Zubof = “the most serious threat…is the power that technology gives one man to impose his view and values on others”
Audience Theory
1920-1930: Laswell (Hypodermic Model)
– Laswell developed a linnear model of communication, which breaks down the line of communication from Point A to Point B.
– In this model, the sender is transferring a message through a medium (media), which will have a direct effect on the reader
– Laswell 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’
The Linear Model of Communication
Example:
– Who = Larissa Brown
– Says what = 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
– Channel = The Daily Mail (page 3)
– To whom = Daily Mail Readers/British Public. The main target audience of the Daily Mail is middle-aged women.
– With what effect = Pejorative (negative) viewpoint on the Russians and to attract people due to the use of a big worldwide event. Secondary audience is it may attract people from countries who participate in the Olympics (ie USA, China)
1940: Shannon and Weaver and Paul Lazerfeld’s Two Step Flow
– Shannon and Weaver adapted the Transmission Model of Communication in 1949.
– In their adaption, Shannon and Weaver included other elements, such as noise, error, encoding and feedback
– In other words, there’s 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.
– In 1948, Paul Lazerfeld says that the transmission model of communication doesn’t work in a linear way and instead, Lazerfeld developed the Two Step Flow Of Communication
The Two Step Flow of Communication
– 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).
– Communication/the media is susceptible to bias, interpretation, rejection, amplification, support and change.
– People are more likely to be influenced by others, such as what the opinion leader will tell the masses
1960s: Uses and Gratifications Theory
– 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?
– In 1969, Denis McQuail and Jay Blumer studied the 1964 UK election and were joined by Elihu Katz, Joseph Brown, Michael Gurevitch and Hadassah Haas in 1970.
– Much of the Uses and Gratifications theory is linked with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need (1954)
– Maslow 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
1970s: George Gurbner (Skinner vs Noam Chomsky)
– George Gurbner and Larry Gross developed the Cultivation Theory
– The Cultivation Theory notes 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).
– 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 behavior in support of the dominant structures of society.
– Skinner came up with the theory of operant conditioning, where you can teach people through different social conditions to change their behavior and how they act
– However, Chomsky argued Skinner’s theories and came up with the concept of manufacturing consent, in which the theory of the 5 filters of the mass media machine was created
– It is argued that structure over agency (institutions have more power over small agencies)
1980s: Stuart Hall (Theory of Preferred Reading)
– Stuart Hall developed 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 proposed 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.
– 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
– 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.
2000s: Clay Shirky (End of Audience)
– Links to the Feminist Critical thinking of intersectionality and post-modernism, which identifies that we all are different and fragmented, just like thoughts and ideas
– Shirky is not too removed from the work of Hall, prioritising the power of individual agency in the relationship between audiences and institutions
– 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.
– 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.
2019: Shoshana Zubof (Surveillance Capitalism)
– Today’s means of behavioural modification are aimed unabashedly at “us.” Everyone is swept up in this new market dragnet, including teh pscyhodramas ofordinary, unsuspecting fourteen-year-olds approaching the weekend with anxiety. Every avenue of connectivity serves to bolster private power’s need to seize behaviour for profit. Where is the hammer of democracy now, when the threat comes from your phone, your digital assistant, your Facebook login? Who will stand for freedom now, when Facebook threatens to retreat into the shadows if we dare to be the friction that disrupts economies of action that have been carefully, elaborately, and expensively constructed to exploit our natural empathy, elude our awareness, and circumvent our prospects for self-determination? If we fail to take notice, how long before we are numb to this incursion and to all the incursions? How long until we notice nothing at all? How long before we forget who we were before they owned us . . . (p. 326 – Surveillance Capitalism)
Operant conditioning – where you enforce an behavior
the fiction of free will – when you believe you have free will but actually u don’t and are being manipulated in one sense or the other but you believe it to be you own idea
Propaganda v persuasion
propaganda- is the expression of opinions and appears overtly political and manipulative
Harold lasswel – Hypodermic model = direct injection = passive audience
Shoshana Zuboff- persuasion behavior control technology is concerned with conditioning
in the turn of the 1800 so 1910,1903 etc was the start of mass media
“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”
Model example:
who: Daily Mail
Says what: theres a correlation of trump in power and rising corona cases ie Trump isn’t helping reduce cases
Chanel: Article
To whom: people who are anti trump/ left wingers
With what effect: To persuade to people to be anti trump
This approach was later 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, 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 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.
The audience is active
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 selection, interpretation and feedback. In essence, 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
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.
Looking primarily at the relationship between violence on television and violence in society. They developed what is known as CULTIVATION THEORY, noting 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). In other words, television shapes the way individuals within society think and relate to each other. However, the research also notes that the effects of television are limited and as such, the overall position is that ‘watching television doesn’t cause a particular behavior, but instead watching television over time adds up to our perception of the world around us‘
uis 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), which he saw 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. So 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.
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, willfully 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.
A dominant position accepts the dominant message
A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
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.
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).
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.
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 –
Currran –
Due to price increases of some PSBs some citizens are excluded by price.
‘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).
Seaton –
Free Press – Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exercised freely.
Free Market – The free market is an economic system based on supply and demand with little or no government control. … Free markets are characterized by a spontaneous and decentralized order of arrangements through which individuals make economic decisions.
The I attempts to establish a distinctive identity –
Can be freely red in many large UK airports
Doesn’t have a definitive political stance and is used more to convey news and stories rather than persuade its audience
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
The Daily Mail attempts to establish a distinctive identity –
published in London in a tabloid format. Founded in 1896, it is the United Kingdom’s highest-circulated daily newspaper.
A questionable source exhibits one or more of the following: extreme bias, consistent promotion of propaganda/conspiracies, poor or no sourcing to credible information, a complete lack of transparency and/or is fake news. Fake News is the deliberate attempt to publish hoaxes and/or disinformation for the purpose of profit or influence, this could be applied to the Daily Mail as many ideas it expresses are very right-wing.
Overall, rate Daily Mail Right Biased and Questionable due to numerous failed fact checks and poor sourcing of information.
Established in 1896 by Harold and Alfred Harmsworth and Kennedy Jones, The Daily Mail is a tabloid newspaper in the UK. It is edited by Geordie Greig, who took over as editor in November 2018 from Paul Dacre, who had been the editor since 1992.
The Daily Mail’s parent company is DMGT, which owns newspapers including the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday = gatekeep information/ manufacture consent/ public sphere
Harold Sidney Harmsworthis also known to be an admirer of Mussolini and a supporter of Nazi Germany.
Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) reported adjusted operating profit (before tax) of £63m for the nine months to 30 June, down from £112m in 2019. DMGT also reported revenue of £934m, down an underlying seven per cent for the period.
Theories –
James Curren and Jean Seaton – SYSTEM BASED UPON SUPPLY AND COMMAND (CONSUMER RATE) Free Market. the radical press, newspapers or print media that emphasises ideologies that are considered extreme or against dominant ideologies, was so influential that the backing of other daily newspapers may convey the idea of shared interests. In addition, the rise in costs of print media during the nineteenth century meant that there was large competition between newspaper enterprises. Information used by the press is free and transparent within the public domain. Free from political control (liberal, free, neutral, transparent press) Developed Habermas’s ideas.
Noam Chomsky – Manufacturing Consent – How the media can manipulate stories ideas and concepts in order to portray a feeling of agreement and consent. Manufacturing consent works in a similar, if not the same (modern) way as propaganda.
The five ‘filters’ of Manufacturing Consent’ –
1) The size, concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms
2) Advertising as the primary income source of the mass media
3) The reliance of the media oninformation provided by government, business and ‘experts’ funded and approved by these primary sources and agents of power.
4) ‘Flak’ as a means of disciplining the media
5) ‘Anticommunism’ as a national religion and control mechanism. – common enemy
Habermas – Public Sphere – The idea that the media allow for wider demographics to connect and share ideas rather than ideas being mainly conveyed from socially higher powers such as government and royalty.
Roland Bathes – Semiotics/ signs/ symbols – Don’t take everything conveyed in the media at face value, as even font style can influence a reader or convey a meaning or message.
the suggestion that the news media ‘reinforces’ a political situation (Murdock, 1982), or the idea that
‘different stances different news organisations or types of organisations take toward different audiences in the marketplace‘ (Curran et al, 1980), or
the proposition that “major media conglomerates control more and more of the world’s media. Where media are not controlled by organisations, they are generally voices of the state.”
the propaganda model that the media ‘serve to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate the state and private activity‘ (Chomsky, 1988)
Roland Barthes signs in the news
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.
Improvements (Based on AS question) –
Make sure you are aware and able to discuss Curran and Seaton’s ideas around the liberal press. And that you are able to use quotation from them to support your ideas and to illustrate your knowledge. ·
Go back to your notes on the key words, phrases and ideas; reflect, expand, develop and extend your thinking and your definitions.
Responses are required to apply these ideas about press freedom (aka The Liberal theory of press freedom (eg summarised by Curran & Seaton) to the set newspaper and to make judgements and draw conclusions around the extent to which the product has been successful in its attempts to find its place in this free market
Responses in the higher bands will explicitly engage with the ‘to what extent’ aspect of the question through reference to the set product and will demonstrate an understanding of the complex character of relationships between production, markets and audiences.
Structure –
( /20)
Paragraph 1 – introduction – Define Free Press & Free Market, Introduce ideas by Curran and Seaton and briefly explain how this can be linked to The Daily Mail and The i newspapers.
Paragraph 2 – In depth analysis of quote by Curran AND Seaton and how this might link in with the i and Daily Mail, using specific institutional analysis and theories such as Manufacturing Consent. How do the ideas presented by Curran AND Seaton allow for these papers to express a distinctive identity either successfully or unsuccessfully.
Paragraph 3 – Analysis of the i and the CSP pages, referring to political stance and close analysis on lexis and font style/ layout plus connotations that are presented – link to Roland Barthes, also referring to institutional analysis such as specific dates, names or stats. Refer back to question and how this might allow the i to establish a distinctive identity. Link in with ideas presented by Curran and Seaton.
Paragraph 4 – Introduce The Daily Mail, using the CSP pages and their political stance (contrast to the i) use institutional analysis and refer back to the question. Is the Daily mail more reactionary or radical? Link in with the idea of monopolies or gatekeeping or Public sphere. Link in with ideas presented by Curran and Seaton.
Paragraph 5 – Conclusion, summaries all points and closely refer and answer the points raised in the question –
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.
