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?

Ideology means a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy and assumptions that we make about the world. Media products largely target audiences by constructing an ideological view of the world in order to get the public more interested in the opinions and ideas of important people around the world, and also both international and national events. These media products include newspapers such as the I and the daily mail. The daily mail being a right wing type newspaper, meaning the conservative party and the I being a centralistic newspaper and having no political party.

Daily Mail is an example of a commercial, for profit publication, which is owned by a plc, Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT). DMGT is a conglomerate which owns property and financial companies, as well as print media. It was was originally created to tell people what is happening with the world which was what the Public Sphere was, they were said to be aware of what was going on in the world with democracy being around. It is considered a conservative right-wing newspaper, as suggested in the 6th June 2022 edition, on the front page, there are patriarchal quotes such as “Joyous Jubilee” praising the royal family, which can suggest that the Daily Mail frequently targets audiences by constructing an ideological view of the world. Another example suggesting that the Daily Mail supports the royal family is that it contains a number of examples of semiotic signs, theorised by Roland Barthes which are shown on the front cover of the newspaper. These include imagery, font selections and colour schemes to back this political viewpoint. A significant example of this is the text placed over the main front image, reading “Magnificent celebrations climax in pageantry and parties for millions”. The paper is owned by Viscount Lord Rothermere, meaning it is likely to be bias, this is because he is likely to be in strong and healthy relations with the royal family due to his position.  Doing this will draw the conservative party and right wing citizens in to read their product and ultimately agree with it for the owners of the media product to reach their end goal of profit. Daily mail had many political views in these media products, particularly on the prime minister at this time, Boris Johnson. On the editorial part of the newspaper on page 18, it states that Boris is the best person to lead the nation by a “country mile” along with the head title being “Boris is right and Macron wrong. Saving Putin’s face is a mug’s game” This further proves that this is a far right wing newspaper, meaning it cares more for the business rather than the people.

However, the I is an example of a commercial, for profit publication, owned by a plc – The Johnston Press which owns over 200 titles in the UK. The value of which is decided by the
price of shares on the London stock exchange: the I is therefore
driven by commercial needs which can determine its news values. The I is a more left wing newspaper with a more liberal way of conveying their views which are done in a more centrist political orientation way meaning they neither fall into the left or right wing category. Although, compared to the Daily Mail, the I is a lot more left wing; proven on page 16 ‘Have you heard about the hunger crisis in East africa? Do you know people are dying right now?’. This suggests to the readers that they care more about the people rather than the business. However, the I is proven to be not fully left wing, this is because it is also owned by Daily Mail and General Trust, although they say they don’t have a political view, it can be hard not to fall into a certain section. On page 20 “Thank you for saying what needed to be said about the Isralian state” which supports Habermas’ theory of the public sphere. Habermas suggested that the public sphere was the mass spread of communication that came around with the production of newspapers and letters, which we can see is used here to spread information about the Isralian state. The I can just be seen to state the current news and propositions on current world problems we face today and mainly focuses on the news aspect rather than political views like the daily mail does, however, they both have the same goal of profit in the end.

In conclusion, The conglomerate of the Daily Mail General Trust owns both of these newspapers. It is clear that the contrasts between the two are intentional. This is so that the company can broaden its target audience to the widest possible degree, and like in all businesses, produce the most profit. There are clear lines to be drawn between this and Chomsky’s theory of media ownership of “he who controls the mind of the media controls the public”. Both the Daily Mail’s and The i’s journalism construct their views to target the audiences that buy into those views and increase profits which supports Chomsky’s theory. The Daily Mail has an editorial column, which can show the editors views and therefore, does not give a voice to many, whereas, the I has an “opinion matrix” instead; which can include a range of different voices and opinions and gives more freedom, overall suggesting a more libertarian view.

For my newspaper NEA I am going to produce the front cover and a double page spread of a local newspaper called The Jersey Times. It will be aimed at an audience of all ages living in the region who are interested in national and international news stories as well as stories relating specifically to the local area, especially those that concern the right’s of islanders and want to be aware of news regarding

My article concerns a local issue – the housing crisis in Jersey. This will make it easy for me to take an original photograph as I can easily go and take a picture in Jersey. This will have links to theories of the ‘Liberal Free Press’ by Curran and Seaton as well as Habermas in terms of creating the newspaper.

The style model I will be following is from our CSPs: The Daily Mail and The i. I will produce a masthead at the top of the page, which will be made in photoshop at the top of the page, similar to the Daily Mail and The i. I will also include the date of publication, the price of the newspaper and the barcode. My main image will be of a picture of town with lots of buildings and some houses and flats as a dominant signifier, which will make the readers aware of what the article is about. As well as this, it will also include the headline, ‘The Looming Housing Crisis of an Affluent Island’ in wrapped text to follow my style models and the main body of the the article in three columns (approximately 200 words) with the first letter being a drop cap, it will also include a page number to refer to the article at greater length somewhere else in the newspaper to resemble the real life product of a newspaper. A strapline will be included to draw the readers/audience in. There will also be included plugs to other stories in the newspaper with their page numbers. I will use Times New Romans font to try and resemble the professional look of a conventional newspaper. The colour scheme will be black and white for a more contemporary and clean appeal.

My newspaper will have a libertarian compass, as it is concerned with society and humanitarian ideologies rather than authoritarianism and individualistic matters. This links to Haubermas’s theory of ‘The Public Sphere’ and how the intention was for newspaper to allow for a ‘libertarian expression of thought and opinion’. In addition, this will also relate to Laswell’s hypodermic model theory, sender transfers a message, through a medium that has a direct effect on the receiver.

The article will follow the ‘Inverted Pyramid Structure’ to appeal more to the readers/audience.

Body text

House prices have gone through the roof in the small, wealthy island of Jersey. Former Jersey resident, John Le Breton, says that he ‘had to leave the island after my family had lived here for generations as he could not afford to afford a home. Which is a great shame as Jersey is a safe, beautiful place to live in but it is just too expensive to live here’.

Young people as well as retirees are especially struggling to purchase a house in Jersey. Even, for middle class families that are educated and are employed. Research has found that a standard three-bedroom house in Jersey costs on average is £861,000. A one-bedroom flat comes with the average cost of £339,000, which comes to a nearly £40,000 increase in comparison to 12 months prior. In addition to this, working class households are not able to ‘service a mortgage affordably’ for a two bedroom flat, according to the most recent House Price Index report released by Statistics Jersey, based on the final quarter from 2021.

Evidentially, Islanders are really struggling to afford to live in a place they call home. What is even worse is that, politicians are denying that the housing crisis exists which of course does not help the people of Jersey feel any better. Michael Van Neste, Consultant of the Jersey Homes Trust who has been working there for 26 years, says that the housing crisis is down to an ‘ineffective government’ and is ‘causing poverty and despair’.