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.