Marxist and Neo-Marxist views on the media

control, bourgeoisie, editors, journalists, particular messages, dominant ideology, power, privilege, false class consciousness, direct control, Ralph Miliband, jobs, apparent choice, bourgeoise ideologies

control, bourgeoisie, editors, journalists, particular messages, dominant ideology, power, privilege, false class consciousness, direct control, Ralph Miliband, jobs, apparent choice, bourgeoise ideologies

General Marxist views on the control of the media

Traditional Marxists argue that those who own the media also ? it. They note that the media is owned by members of the ?. They argue that these bourgeoise owners instruct ? and ? to put across ?? to the audience. These messages spread the ?? which seeks to justify the ? and ? of the bourgeoisie. Through this, the media is able to contribute towards creating a ???.

This idea of ?? by owners is sometimes associated with the writings of ??. He argued that the editors and journalists in newspapers and other media organisations depend on the owners for their ? and therefore will not use any ?? they may have to resist ??.

capitalism, patriotism, marriage and the family and male superiority

name the four examples of dominant ideologies in the UK.

bland, banal, popular, consumerism, soap operas, fashion, sports, pop, placid, docile, own exploitation, critical thinking

Marxist view of ownership of the media - Adorno

This sociologist argues that the mass media creates ? and ? ? culture consisting of ?, ??, ?, ?, ? music. This keeps people ? and ?. Prevents working classes from thinking about their ?? by the ruling class. Marxists have a very negative view of capitalism in society- the role of the media is to discourage ??.

education, information, news, negative cultural, dumbed down, soap operas, reality shows, documentaries

Marxist view of ownership of the media - Barnett and Weymour

These sociologists argue that ?, ? and ? have been increasingly side lined which has had a ?? effect. They state that over time, television in Britain has been significantly ?? as ?? and ?? have increased and ? have declined.

micromanage media content, political, economic interests, project those views, supports their interests, business interests, editors, publications, programmes, autonomy, journalists, James Whale, media moguls, business matters, national newspaper, pluralists, money, ideologies across, media content, good sales figures, Curran, Rupert Murdoch, commercial needs, sales, ideological state apparatus

Evaluating Marxist views

• Neo-Marxists point out that the bourgeois owners of media companies do not have time to ???. Traditional Marxists suggest the owners have a clear ? view and a clear set of ?? and ensure that their media companies ??? and disseminates an ideology that ???. But in reality, owners can have so many ?? that they can really only control the big picture, leaving real control of media content down to ?. Even the editors of large ? or ? cannot control everything and give some ? to their ?.

• Theorist ?? supports this as he argues that “??” are busy dealing with global ??, not what story to run in a particular ??. ? (which sociological theory) believe moguls own newspaper outlets to sell them and make lots of ?, not to put their ??s. Owners might intervene sometimes in ??, but they will do so because they want to ensure ??. 

• Even ?, whose research provides some evidence to support the Marxist perspective, argues that ??’s interventions in his publications are more based on ?? and ? than being part of the ???.

hegemony

where the norms and values of the ruling class are taken as common sense

gatekeeping

the process of choosing which items are selected for coverage, and others are kept out.

media agenda setting

deciding how media items are going to be framed, for example, who is going to be invited to discuss topics and what kind of questions are going to be asked.

journalists, media agenda, owners, gatekeeping, agenda setting, elites, media agenda, dominant ideology, hegemonic perspective, Antonio Gramsci, hegemony, agenda, cultural hegemony, direct, wealthy media owners, cultural, economic, narrow media content

The Neo-Marxist perspective of media control

Neo-Marxists say that ? have more freedom than traditional Marxists suggest, and the ?? is not directly controlled by owners. 

However, journalists share the world view of the ? and use ? and ?? to keep items which are harmful to ? out of the ?? and thus voluntarily spread the ?? or ?? on the media.

?? argued that cultural ? explains why we have a limited media ?. According to Neo-Marxists, the reason why we have a limited media agenda is because of ??, not because of ? control by ???. ? factors are more important than ? factors in explaining ???.

gatekeeping, white, middle class, 50, private schools, conservative, neo-liberal, dominant ideologies, upper middle classes, careers, content, ideologies

Neo-Marxism - journalism’s role in cultural hegemony: GUMG

The Glasgow University Media Group found that this ‘?’ is at partly because journalists are themselves mostly ? and ??, with more than ?% of them having gone to ??. 

They thus (whether consciously or subconsciously) present a ? or ?? view of the world and reinforce the ?? of the ???.

Also, journalists do not want to risk their ? by annoying owners and so are reluctant to publish ? which might go against the ? of the newspaper owners.

political parties, Green, Labour, Conservative, violence, issues, cause, industrial strikes, damage, disruption, cause, police, government, criminals, terrorists, formal social control

Neo-Marxism - examples of agenda setting and gatekeeping:

• Only having two ?? discuss a news item – the ? Party is rarely heard from and news coverage consists of mainly ? and ? Parties.

• Focussing on the ? at riots and protests, rather than the ? which are being protested about, or the ? of the riots. This is the same with ??, the focus is on the ? and ?, not the ?.

• The news taking the side of the ? and the ?, rather than hearing from ? or ?. This reinforces ???.

James Whale, mainstream media, social background, market demands, positions, attitudes, values, audiences demand, media companies, media outlets, worldview, worldviews, take over, popular, well-known, hegemony, manipulated, indoctrinated, causal relationship, views, values, audiences

Criticisms of the Neo-Marxist perspective

• Pluralists, such as ?? would argue that the views and approaches contained within ?? are not a result of the ?? of editors and journalists, but instead a result of the ?? of the audience. If some ?, ? and ? are more prevalent in the media than others, it is because those are the ones that ??.

• Pluralists would further point out that there is a diverse array of ?? and ??. While the most popular might present a particular ?, there are plenty of other media outlets that present alternative ?. If they appealed to more of the audience, they would ?? from other organisations as the ?, ?-? newspapers or channels.

• It is very hard to prove that the media helps to establish ?, just as it is hard to establish if people are ? or ?. Just because people agree with some of what they read in a newspaper or watch on television, does not prove a ??. After all, pluralists would argue that the media provides those ? and ? in order to satisfy ?, rather than the other way around.