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.