IDEOLOGY CAN BE DEFINED AS A COLLECTION OF VALUES AND BELIEFS. TO WHAT EXTENT DO MEDIA PRODUCTS TARGET AUDIENCES BY CONSTRUCTING AN IDEOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE WORLD? YOU SHOULD REFER TO YOUR NEWSPAPER CLOSE STUDY PRODUCTS, THE I AND THE DAILY MAIL.

On either end of the stereotypical political scale, there is Authoritarianism, where individuals believe in more individualistic ideals, and Libertarianism, who have more community/communist beliefs. Almost all newspapers have a determined political compass. For example, The I creates contrast compared to The Daily Mail and appears that it is positioned on the left-wing spectrum. However, the I is owned by the Daily Mail General Trust which presents views of patriotism and right-wing conservative. 70% of all newspapers across the country are owned by just three companies, displaying how conglomerates narrow the public sphere and control the population.

The Daily Mail contains a number of examples of semiotic signs, theorised by Roland Barthes. Most are visible instantly on the front cover of the newspaper. These include imagery, font selections and colour schemes to back this political viewpoint. A great example of this is the text placed over the main front image, reading “Magnificent celebrations climax in pageantry and parties for millions”. This shows clear support for the Queen herself’, as well as her Jubilee and her family alongside her by the use of words such as ‘magnificent. This is idolised as a patriotic viewpoint because of how it is supporting the country. On the contrast to this, The I shows no credible incline to supporting the Queen on her outstanding achievement. The cover image is captioned with “The new Firm, Slimmed down Royal Family is revealed in Jubilee finale”, as well as “The reign of King Charles III”. The I is focusing more on the future than what is happening in the present. This is most likely because some people as a collective may want to know what life in Britain will be like under a new ruler. However, most, including myself, might find this disrespectful to her Majesty during her time of well-deserved celebration.

Livingstone and Lunt state that the values and interests of citizens and those of consumers cannot be easily connected/merged, that there is an increasing tendency in recent UK regulation policy to place the interests of consumers above those of citizens, perhaps giving newspapers more of a role in entertainment and advertising over education for the general public (an example of this is Sky TV, who now have at least 20 minutes of advertisements for every hour of scheduled programming). Curran understands now that the primary democratic role of the media is to act as a watch dog, rich and powerful companies have more control and giant conglomerates own all newspapers and enforce their political compass viewpoint onto their newspapers, Curran states that “Instead of providing conduit for rational critical debate, the media has manipulated mass opinion”.

Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, historical essayist and political activist. Sometimes called “the father of modern linguistics”. Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is a Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and an Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is the author of more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Ideologically, he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism. He theorised the 5 Filters of Mass Media Machine. This is a chain of filters that the media industry follows in order to operate.

1. The first has to do with ownership. Mass media firms are big corporations. Often, they are part of even bigger conglomerates. Their end game? Profit. And so it’s in their interests to push for whatever guarantees that profit. Naturally, critical journalism must take second place to the needs and interests of the corporation.
2. The second filter exposes the real role of advertising. Media costs a lot more than consumers will ever pay. So who fills the gap? Advertisers. And what are the advertisers paying for? Audiences. And so it isn’t so much that the media are selling you a product — their output. They are also selling advertisers a product — YOU.
3. The establishment manages the media through the third filter. Journalism cannot be a check on power because the very system encourages complicity. Governments, corporations, big institutions know how to play the media game. They know how to influence the news narrative. They feed media scoops, official accounts, interviews with the ‘experts’. They make themselves crucial to the process of journalism. So, those in power and those who report on them are in bed with each other.
4. If you want to challenge power, you’ll be pushed to the margins. When the media – journalists, whistle blowers, sources – stray away from the consensus, they get ‘flak’. This is the fourth filter. When the story is inconvenient for the powers that be, you’ll see the flak machine in action discrediting sources, trashing stories and diverting the conversation.
5. To manufacture consent, you need an enemy — a target. That common enemy is the fifth filter. Communism. Terrorists. Immigrants. A common enemy, a bogeyman to fear, helps corral public opinion.

In conclusion, The Daily Mail General Trust owns both of these newspapers. I believe that the contrasts between the two are intentional. This is for the company to broaden its target audience to the widest possible degree, and like in all businesses, in order to produce the most profit. There are clear lines to be drawn between this and Chomsky’s theory of media ownership.

Question– ideology can be defined as a collection of beliefs and values and to what extent do media products target audiences by constructing an ideological view of the world

the newspapers and media its self is a (risky business) due to the fact that there are many things that are not allowed to be said or disclosed so the newspaper industry becomes either a very left wing libertarian view on the views on society like the Daily mail but there are news papers that have a way of finding this loop hole in order to write these right wing authoritarian views like in the I where there is a viewers comment section where they are allowed to post their views although not strictly support them. There are five points in media you have ownership and then you have advertising and then official sources then flack and marginalising dissent and what these points are is a construction of media and what creates media and what they do a little bit like a machine which Al Jazaal makes a video on these points called the media machine.

ownership is media conglomerates who take over other little companies in order to build a larger company and their main aim is to make profit where as media critical journalism and needs is a second to profit which Hesmond Haughl calls it a (Risky business).

advertisement is the media trying to sell us something we don’t have and how they try to persuade us to buy their products by either showing adds at a specific time or showing off a trend so it makes us try to keep in with trends although behind the scenes the advertisement companies are making money but so as the media, as a trade off the media sells us the consumers/viewers or readers while the advertisement companies give money in return for giving them customers.

official sources is the critical thinking of media where as there are things that will make you an enemy to the public or other groups. the things like this are very dangerous which relates back to media being a (risky business) like news reporters go missing or found dead after making a very right wing comment or something that will upset the targeted audience like there was one reporter presented missing but then revealed that he was killed by the prince of Saudi Arabia for making a comment.

flack is the medias way of discrediting information or controlling the media in the way they want it to be controlled and to produce what the public might want to know by giving them what they ant to hear and diverting the other types of media that are trying to expose the media by telling the truth.

marginalising dissent is the media joining up with another company who find a common enemy in order to find a more better standing with that other company and possibly partnership with that company as the phrase goes the enemy of my enemy is my friend. These thing create up the media machine.

Daily Mail is a conservative, right-wing newspaper and has been for many many years. we know this due to their article on the 6th of June where they wrote in their article about the (Joyous Jubilee) and this is very patriarchal and very safe to say and it appeases the multi media although heavily bias due to the viscount lord Rothermere owning the Daily mail but due to this status with his possible ties into the royal family we also could link a pattern with the viscounts past where the paper had been supporting hitter and Mussolini due to his close links and ties with those two although a report by the Media Reform Coalition, 81 percent of the UK-wide print media is owned and controlled by just three companies, Reach PLC (formerly Trinity Mirror), News UK and DMG Media. This links to Chomsky’s theory of Ownership and how that the media is a group of conglomerates and Curran/Seaton’s idea that the media is controlled by a few powerful media corporations. but goes against Habermas’s concept of the (Public Sphere)

The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action.  

The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to openly discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action.

‘Habermas argues that the development of early modern capitalism brought into being an autonomous arena of public debate.’

the media uses Laswell’s theory of the hypodermic media and that they are trying to persuade us into thinking we need something and that we are missing out by not having it

IDEOLOGY CAN BE DEFINED AS A COLLECTION OF VALUES AND BELIEFS. TO WHAT EXTENT DO MEDIA PRODUCTS TARGET AUDIENCES BY CONSTRUCTING AN IDEOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE WORLD? YOU SHOULD REFER TO YOUR NEWSPAPER CLOSE STUDY PRODUCTS, THE I AND THE DAILY MAIL.

The printing press was created in Germany in 1440, this invention made way for the purpose of informing the public through a different media form. Noam Chomsky explains that media products target audiences by constructing an ideological view of the world through marketing. Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher and political activist.  He is the author of more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Chomsky goes on to explain how propaganda and systematic biases function in corporate mass media. He seeks to explain how populations can be manipulated through the use of propaganda to consent for economic, social and political policies, both foreign and domestic, is “manufactured” in the public mind. This results in narrowing the public sphere with the audience engaging passively instead of actively. They no longer challenge the information they receive and believe what they are told is “facts” making them easily manipulated. The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action. The media ceased to be an agency of empowerment and rationality however instead of containing a neutral status, the media manipulated mass opinion instead of giving rational-critical debates. According to Chomsky “propaganda is to democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state,” and the mass media is the primary vehicle for delivering propaganda in the United States. We generally believe that we are more free than authoritarian states, when in fact Noam Chomsky says that we are not and that our freedom of choice is an illusion.

On each end of the political spectrum there is Authoritarianism, who believe in more individualistic ideals, and Libertarianism, who believe more community/communist ideals. All newspapers hold their own political compass. For example the “I” creates contrast compared to “The Daily Mail” and appears that it is positioned on the left-wing spectrum, however the I is owned by DMGT (Daily Mail General Trust) which presents views of patriotism and right-wing conservative. (70% of news papers are owned by just three companies). Showing how conglomerates narrow the public sphere and control the population.

The daily mail uses a handful of Roland Barthes theory on semiotic signs which includes font, colours and pictures to represent their ideas and political viewpoint. For instance the front page of the Daily Mail reads “Magnificent celebrations” with two pictures of the Queen looking up towards the right hand corner and smiling creates an impression for the reader of a strong and noble Queen. This shows their support for the royal family and their patriotic attitude. The use of “magnificent” shows their pride and support of such a rare occasion and also shows their more right-wing compass as someone on the left-wing might argue the tax pay leading up to the celebration. The Daily Mail’s ownership supports the UK conservative party as on page 18 it states “Britain’s outcomes compare well with the rest of the developed world” which suggests that Britain dealt with the pandemic better than the rest of the world or even implying that Britain set the standard for the rest of the world. The use of developed also infers a sense of racial superiority in comparison, this shows a more authoritarian belief as they support the Prime Minister.

Q7 Media Paper 1: Ideology can be defined as a collection of values and beliefs. To what extent do media products target audiences by constructing an ideological view of the world?
You should refer to your newspaper Close Study Products, The i and The Daily Mail.

Intro

Chomsky explains how propaganda and systemic biases function in corporate mass media. The model seeks to explain how populations are manipulated and how consent for economic, social, and political policies, both foreign and domestic, is “manufactured” in the public mind due to this propaganda, the printing press- created in Germany in 1440 by Gutenberg – made it much easier for the public to express their different views and ideologies, through study this was known as the development of the public sphere, to which Chomsky shows the mass production of media forms closed that sphere and became a tactical output to manipulate the publics consent and beliefs.

Stereotypically there are two ends of a political spectrum, authoritarianism in countries such as China, and libertarianism in countries such as the US, however Chomsky says that we are being controlled by the mass media (because people in power produce their ideologies and distribute it through mass media) to manufacture the general publics consent- in addition to big conglomerates owning most mass media; heavily reducing the public sphere by narrowing the beliefs of other companies and people, since people are being told “facts” from media without comprehending the idea that media will also have a political compass. The I for example might seem more leftist however it is still right winged just less right winged from the daily mail – both are owned by DMGT which the 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chairman for (70% of newspapers are owned by just three companies which breaks Habermas’ theory of the public sphere)

Livingstone and Lunt argue that the interests of citizens and those of consumers cannot be easily merged, that there is an increasing tendency in recent UK regulation policy to place the interests of consumers above those of citizens, perhaps giving newspapers are role in entertainment and advertising over education for the general public. Curran expands in his studies that the primary democratic role of the media is to act as a watch dog, big rich companies have more power and giant conglomerates all own the newspapers and enforce a political compass/ viewpoint onto the newspapers, breaking the theory by Habermas public sphere and reducing the expression between people of our own ideas and opinions: Curran writes that “Instead of providing conduit for rational critical debate, the media manipulated mass opinion”. A political economical approach to the media argues that, patterns of ownership and control are the most significant factors, in how the media operates, such as in Chomsky’s 5 filters of the mass media machine theory, this is showing how links to the establishment such as media representors or distributers are in debt and work with the people in power, those who go against them are pushed to the margins and not seen as much as a divisionary tactic, to keep the political compass presented on the news in a fixed position. This also gives the impressions there are newspapers and media products that have different viewpoints and ideologies however i am going to be arguing with both of those newspapers who are both owned by the same company, how the difference in content can trick people in to thinking they have different ideologies.

The daily mail:

The daily mail uses a handful of Roland Barthes theory on semiotic signs to represent subtly their ideas and political viewpoint without making it blatantly obvious towards the public. For instance, on the front page “Joyous Jubilee” with a picture of the queen smiling, this syntagm of signs show their support for the royal family, the queen smiling is indexical to joyfulness surrounding there royal family and the word joyous in the tagline furthermore supports the statement, this is a more right winged compass as someone on the more left side would be questioning about things such as the tax pay towards the celebration, and by looking at institutional evidence against the daily mail, I have been able to infer that The Daily Mail’s ownership supports the UK conservative party, and the paper prominently supports Brexit. For example, according to a Reuters Article, the Daily Mail blatantly labelled judges ruling against the Brexit decision as “enemies of the people.” This is furthermore enhanced by the font used in the banner of the newspaper being an olden fashioned calligraphy styled font, almost like chainmail which indexically signifies the imagery of knights, royalty and monarchy- or an olden fashioned view point which reflects affectively on the papers political compass. This points out their views on the conservative party (right) which sets the political compass for the rest of the newspaper. Another piece of institutional evidence shows that Daily Mail scored an average Factual Grade of 39.7%. This is well below the average of 61.9%, and shows the inaccuracy of “facts” and “news” the public are consuming and believing everyday, being subtly manipulated into believing news that benefit the conservative party. The Daily mail also has a more authoritarian stance, by using an editorial (one voice over other voices) can be a represented of an authoritarian society however in general narrows the views of other people and the public sphere by only allowing one belief to be represented throughout the newspaper and furthermore, institutional evidence can show their authoritarian and right winged viewpoint such as third-party assessments from media bias organizations such as AllSides and Media Bias/Fact Check. Based on this data, The Factual assigns Daily Mail a “Right” bias.

Chomsky says to keep an eye out for the five filters of the mass media machine that are trying to manufacture consent, I believe that the most prominent filter one is links to the establishment, Lord Rothermere was also friends with Adolf Hitler which we can say is a link to the establishment regarding Chomsky’s theory of the 5 mass filters of media. As the public gains knowledge from the media- they are also being programmed through advertisement and media exhibition (Laswell’s passive consumption model- hypodermic model) to view the world through the political compass of the media product. Building on Lasswell consumption model Shannon and Weaver adapted the model and introduced the idea of noise and error disrupting the passive model, active consumption can be enabled by educating yourself about the tactics of the media and start thinking your own thoughts and to keep an eye out on the Chomsky theory of 5 Filters on the mass media machine- and how those filters prevent media from representing all sides of the political compass and how they are mostly right winged authoritarian. Through vertical and horizontal integration (structure of ownership) we can see that the Daily Mails owners (DMGT) also control the next CSP and therefore is showing the control that mass conglomerates have over the ideologies presented to the public, which i will expand on in the I analysis.

The I:

The I presents are more leftist/libertarianism view in comparison to the daily mail, and overall has less right-authoritarianism representation throughout the newspaper, however this doesn’t make it completely left. Chomsky describes through links with the establishment (media representors or distributers are in debt and work with the people in power, those who go against them are pushed to the margins and not seen as much.) and divisionary tactics (People and other media sources who aren’t helping the people in power are divided away by flack, other sources discredit their views and divert the story onto something else to make the opposing media seem unreliable.) how dangerous it is to work against the people in power, if you want to sell newspapers or any media it is already described by hesmondhalgh as a risky business but is furthermore enhanced when you go against someone in power and then get discredited as a reliable source, as well as the I being ran by the same company, there isn’t a reason for the same company to produce two newspapers on different ends of the political spectrum.

The front cover of the I shows beliefs against the conservative party. ‘Johnson future turning toxic for Tories’ seems to be against Conservative / Boris Johnson which is a more leftist view, in addition to the huge institutional evidence that the i represents beliefs that go against the conservative party: Nick Clegg, former UK Deputy Prime Minister and former leader of the Liberal democrats , a centrist party, is a fortnightly columnist for the i. His column usually features in the “My View” comment section of the paper. Secondly, during an interview for the i in December 2017, then Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn declared himself to be a dedicated reader of the i, saying that its compact size and concise articles suited his busy lifestyle as Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition. The i does not have voice of editor like the daily mail, but an ‘Opinion Matrix’ instead, basically a range of different voices and opinion – creating so much more freedom in voice and thought and enhancing Habermas theory on the public sphere. This clearly benefited the newspaper as institutional evidence suggests In March 2019, the i overtook The Guardian to become the most trusted digital news brand on-line, and third in print. Overall i do think the i has a more left libertarian political compass however they wouldn’t ever promote an extreme left belief that would harm their link to the establishmen.