LANGUAGE & THE MEDIA

1. Media and Ideology LANGUAGE & THE MEDIA

2. System of beliefs that enables us to make sense of the world A "symbolic mechanism," "frames of reference" affecting how society thinks about itself, how each of us sees the world Ideas in the service of interests (power, dominance, hegemony) John Thompson: "Ideology is meaning in the service of power. Hence the study of ideology requires us to investigate the ways in which meaning is constructed and conveyed by symbolic forms of various kinds." Defining Ideology

3. Power of the mass media to define situations through: Labelling Creating a symbolic environment by framing situations ‘Legitimate language’ of powerful social actors Media discourse

4. media exert ideological guidance: agenda setting – ‘what to think’ rather than ‘how to think’ Ideology of partisan, narrowly defined political messages – difficult to distinguish from other media messages sociopoliticalimplications of all cultural products: news, entertainment, advertising, etc. Manufacture of social consensus (consent)

5. Boundary (Agenda) Setting Theory: Mass media sets the order of thought/debate on current issues i.e. focus on certain issues, none on others E.g. Who gets to decide what is ‘deviant’? Define as deviant anyone who even questions your activities Also ‘gatekeeping’ to control access to news, information and entertainment Media & Social Control

6. Organizations and individuals take advantage of (manipulate/appropriate) news value of stories to serve own economic/political agendas Agenda Setting serves social class and elite interests AS principles are central to criticalanalysis of mass media Media & Social Control (Cont’d…)

7. THE POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH ELITES APPROACH HEGEMONY APPROACH Approaches to Critical Media Analysis

8. Media ideology is a function (result/outcome) of the interests of the owners Economic production and relations are the base, ideas are the superstructure (Cf. Karl Marx) Political economists look for financial links--ownership, stock holdings, etc. Marx is a major influence in this area- not political Marxism but sociological or cultural Marxism Marx examined the role of financial and class interests in society, the nature of power, and the connection of ruling ideas to ruling interests--these important concerns are still very relevant today 1. The Political Economy Approach

9. Similar to political economy, but focuses on the people occupying strategic positions in society Elites coordinate and promotetheir interests through shared experiences in clubs, prep schools, think tanks, boards of directors, etc. Every society has elites, but to what extent do elites act in the public interest? Manipulating rather than responding to public needs and interests 2. The Elites Approach

10. Defining hegemony: influence or authority over others (M-Web) social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence (or dominance) exerted by a dominant group (M-Web) systematic but not necessarily deliberate engineering of mass consent Political values are made to appear commonsensical, because they appear so through the normal workings of the system Media control must be maintained without losing legitimacy 3. The Hegemony Approach

11. How levels of media influence "add up" to favour certain "frames," positions and interests Individual level: Few radical journalists found in newsrooms. Routines level: dependence of journalists on officials tend to lead them to reproduce the official points of view Organizational level: reporters are brought into line when they stray too far beyond ideological boundaries (including ‘self-censorship’) Extra-media level: organizations are pressured to stay within certain boundaries by watchdogs, and even indirectly through the state, think tank experts, advertisers, etc. Maintaining the status quo

12. When a breach in the ideological boundaries is evident, we can observe repair work to restore order to the status quo i.e. Damage Limitation: Downgrade the offender Distance the threat, and Reaffirm the worth of the system (i.e., Watergate). Damage Limitation

13. EXAMPLES OF MEDIA ANALYSIS Media Discourse

14. An Anarchists’ March

15. Based on framing and hegemony concepts, subtle cues serve to delegitimize social protest movements. What choice of language is used by the reporters to describe the protesters? How are the protesters framed? Who are they seen in opposition to? What visual devices in the coverage are important in framing the protesters? What aspects of the marching activity did the coverage revolve around? What kinds of sources were relied on? What other sources could have been called upon? What is the ideological effect of the coverage as a whole? A. AN ANARCHISTS’ MARCH

16. Local mainstream Print media characterization of a street demonstration of ‘anarchists’: Newspaper Headline frames event: "ANARCHISTS ORGANIZE TO WREAK HAVOC DOWNTOWN" News focuses on appearance of marchers: unruly hair, dress, etc. Actions examined based on elements of criminality: One-dollar bills burned, symbolic meaning not discussed, but police quoted saying "burning less than 2 dollars at once is not a crime." Incomplete photo showed protester burning American flag--did not show them also burning Soviet and McDonalds flag, focusing on the "anti-Americanness" B. LOCAL PRINT MEDIA

17. Great attention given to thoughts of bystanders, esp. those who disagree with the march Considerable attention to official points of view: e.g. the Deputy chief of police Meaning of ‘anarchy’ not addressed: stereotype of society in disorder, chaos, ruled by will of the strong. Anarchy actually contrasted with hierarchy of people in power

18. Anarchist media coverage by The Guardian newspaper: “OVERTHROW” Emphasizes planning behind march Gives clear statements of rationale behind each stop on march e.g.: Pillsbury was picketed because of "ownership of Burger King and other fast food enterprises which contribute to the destruction of the world's largest remaining rain forests in Central and South America." C. COVERAGE BY ANARCHISTS' OWN MEDIA

19. Characterizes events as peaceful and cooperative Portrays police as instigators rather than respondents of violence Criticizes local media for concentrating on "punks" rather than older demonstrators Estimates crowd at 200 in first march. ( The Star & Tribune: quoted bystanders as estimating crowd at 100)

20. Presented in law and order, social control frame “These protesters call themselves anarchists. They claim they're opposed to any and all forms of government. (Delegitimizing) Blame violence on protesters (none of the anarchists given air-time to speak) Pictures shot from behind the police, thus adopting that visual viewpoint (Framing) Stories framed as anarchists vs. police, rather than vs. president of local bank, or CEO of Pillsbury, e.g. (speaking to these may have legitimized the protest) Variations in coverage Clear distinction between mainstream (pro-government) and alternative (opposition) media D. TELEVISION COVERAGE

21. IDEOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF THE MEDIA Managing deviance, reaffirming social order We live in a media-dependent society Essential to be able to think clearly about: the important values in our culture, how they are reproduced and transmitted by the mass media, the institutions that affect that process, the people, groups and interests that benefit and those who are harmed. COVERAGE DEMONSTRATES…

22. LINGUISTIC DIRECTION IN GULF REPORTING Myths, stories, and metaphor give meaning to events, affect the way we come to know things, direct our thinking e.g. “Mother of all battles” One of the important new theoretical areas in media studies is the role of language. Metaphors, in particular, are powerful in the way they structure our thinking about issues. E.g.: sports metaphors abound in discussing war, but improperly so: The objective in sports is simply to win. In war, we must question what it is that we are winning. IDEOLOGY AND THE PERSIAN GULF WAR

23. WAR DEPICTED AS ‘NATURAL EVENT’ Desert Storm War Erupts War breaks out Bombs "rain," Scuds "shower" (Compare with “The vase broke” – no agent)

24. WAR AS ‘CONTEST’ Turkey shoot Showdown in the gulf Pummel/pound/punch/knock out opponents Sink 'em troops

25. DEHUMANIZATION OF ENEMY Saddam's war machine Mosquito (Iraq) biting elephant (the USA) The enemy is: crafty, peculiar, surprising, unpredictable, mysterious, horrifying, unreliable, weak, haphazard, desperate, unspeakable, bizarre, demonic, devilish, satanic, criminal, ruthless, cruel, complex, random We are: meticulous, successful, precise, accurate, careful, scrupulous, tough, cool calm, swift, decisive, effective, confident, cautious, eager, enthusiastic (Strategy of negative Other-representation and positive Self-representation)

26. MAKE KILLING ABSTRACT Suppressing assets Collateral damage Neutralizing targets Degrade/Downgrade initiatives Acquire assets Soften up targets

27. HIDING THE ACTOR (OR AGENT) "Its war" “Non-combatants died” (Again, ‘The vase broke’…) DEMONIZATION PROCESS Gaddafi vs. Hussein: The most dangerous man in the world in Newsweek features on both men Visual changes in Hussein picture in New Republic (to make him look like a demon)

28. HOW WAS OPINION MOBILIZED IN THE GULF WAR? Early support was mixed In November, NYT ran front page story on public uncertainty about Gulf policy. Sec. of State Baker, claimed it was about "jobs,"--"to bring it down to the level of the average citizen" Support for troops is converted to support for policy: “We support our boys in the Gulf. They are fighting for the nation.” Think about ideological influences of media: Isn't it remarkable that public opinion materialised so dramatically over that short period of time? Once troops are committed, a powerful set of routines and messages are engaged which establish their own logic, making it difficult to envision alternative policies. Support for the troops has been given the corporate and Hollywood treatment: Yellow ribbon ads in Austin Weekly; several Welcome Home Troops ads