Media and UK Politics Exam

  • Manufacturing of consent

    • Two distinctive ways of conceptualizing the media in western countries

      • Liberal model

        • commercialism

        • low state intervention

        • professionalism

        • moderate political parallelism

        • commercial project and watchdog of power aw

      • Democratic corporatist model

        • strong public service

        • high political parallelism

        • state intervention

        • professionalism

        • key component of public sphere

    • Raises the questions

      • How should the media function

      • How does the media function

      • Is the media a counterweight to government

        • Cantankerous, obstinate, ubiquotous

  • Media presenting the world

    • Presents a picture that defends the economic, social and political agenda of privileged groups

    • Groups dominate domestic economy, control the government

  • The Propoganda Model

    • Media select topics, distribute concerns, frame issues, filter information, focus analysis → through emphasis and tone

  • Media champions interests of society, but doesn’t question power structures

    • Major politicians all attended Oxford → come from privileged and well educated background

  • Control over government

    • Shifts between various elite social groupings

      • Tactical disagreeents between these groups

  • Propoganda model as a method of prediction

    • Predicts entire range of elite perspectives will be reflected in the media

  • Need to control the public mind origninates from the English Civil was in 1640s

    • Landed gentry and rising merchant class vs. traditional elites

  • Authority challenged through radical publishing

    • King and parliament lose power to coerce

  • Defining the propoganda model

    • Conscious and intelligent manipulation of organized habits and opinions of the masses → central feature of a democratic system

    • Minorities carry out manipulation of attitudes and opinions of masses

    • Corporate media serves as propoganda in capitalist society

  • David VanReybrouck on who has the final say (2016)

    • Democracy serves as an instrumet for the elites to ensure their position

    • In past centuries democratic processes selected personnel through volunteering and lottert

    • Communications managent and collaboration gives the elite an edge in democratic decision making

  • Edward Barnays on propoganda

    • Propoganda is the executive arm of the invisible government

  • Propaganda Model is misleading

    • Assumes UK media presents a unified, pro-conservative position, dictated by owners

    • Interference by advertisers and investors unquantifiable

    • Size and ocmplexity of national news and broadcasters, competing professional values and political views of journalists and media employees allow media to represent more than owner’s voice

    • Political affiliation of UK newspapers have become more fluid → voters de-aligned from political parties, and so did the press

  • National newspapers supporting elections

    • From 1940s to 2010 → saw variation in the parties papers like the Times, the Sun, and the Guardian supported

  • Noam Chomsky on five filters that determine selection of news → believe any country that shares basic economic structures and organizing principles can face these media biases

    • Ownership of the medium

    • Medium’s funding sources

    • Sourcing

    • Flak

    • Anti-communism aand fear of ideology

  • Corporation’s tinged objectivity

    • Mainstream media outlets owned by large corporations and conglomerates → information presented to public is aligned with interest of owner

    • Corporate and financial interest may be endangered when certain information is published

    • Maximizing profit = sacrificing news objectivity

  • Polly Tonybee on war to the death, who rules the country

    • Brexit-Referendum was a battle of strength

    • Paul Dacre (Daily Mail) vs. Rupert Murdoch (Sun and Times)

  • Richard Desmond

    • Business man with 1.5 billion dollar networth

    • Owner of Daily Star, Daily Express

    • Know to have accused the Daily Telegraph executives of giving into the nazis for decision to ponder a takeover by German publishing house

  • Advertising as a tool used by elites to control news agenda

    • News is a filter to get privileged readers to see advertisements

    • Range of news is limited

    • Stories that conflict with buying mood are marginalized

    • Audiences are sold to advertisers and news is an instrument

  • Preventing dissent in news

    • Threats and punitive action by political and corporate elites

    • Letters, phone calls, petitions, lawsuits

    • Efforts to discredit news media that disagree

  • Alastair Campbell

    • Known to shout at and bully journalists to the point where his calls and complaints were ignored

  • Nick Davies on the state of journalism

    • Emphasis on the debilitating consequences of journalists’ reliance on sources of news

    • Considers Chomsky’s concerns with media ownership and advertising revenues as overly conspiratorial

  • Situational pressure on journalists

    • Britains flagship naval vessel demanded that BBC be turned off on ship beecause they saw pro-Iraq bias during Iraq war

      • Ship’s newsfeed replaced with Sky News

    • Later discovered in study by Cardiff University professor that the BBC was the most pro-war of all British networks

  • McCombs and Shaw’s Agenda-Setting Theory

    • How mass media influences public perception by prioritizing certain topics over others

    • Two levels of operation: selection of topics, framing of selected topics by emphasizing certain facts and downplaying others

  • Two-step-flow of communications

    • People are intervening factors between stimuli of media and resulting opinions

  • Legacy media; dead tree press problems

    • Declining circulations

    • Falling revenues

    • Difficulty attracting news consumers

  • Why decline of legacy media matters

    • Appeals to older demographic

    • Still reaches large audiences with same news/views

    • Free to campaign/editorialize and has resources

    • Pays for online versions

    • Symbiosis with social media

  • Features that define societal role of legacy media and explain political clout

    • Successful in attracting huge online audiences

    • Highly trusted

  • Rupert Murdoch

    • Owns News UK (Sun and The Times) and hundreds of newspapers around the world

    • Owned Sky until 2018

    • Owns Fox Corporation

  • Lord Rothermere

    • Owns DMG Media (Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Mailonline, Metro, i)

    • Papers held mixed views on Brexit

  • The Guardian ownership

    • Owned by Guardian Media group

    • One shareholder → The Scott Trust, named after CP Scott (longeest serving editor)

  • Dangers of media barons

    • Conventional critical narrative

    • Control print media, use it to pursue interests and agendas

    • UK media is skewed right

  • Murdoch and Maxwell battle over The Sun

    • Clashed over bid for The Sun

    • Murdoch gained backing of print unions by promising he would make fewer staff redundant

  • Leveson Inquiry

    • Into culture, practices, and ethics of the press

    • MPs and government depend on media and want to be liked by them, causing cowardice in political decisions

  • IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation)

    • Industry regulator since 2014

    • Promote and uphold professional standards of journalism

    • Code deals with accuracy, invasion of privacy

    • Watch dogs of media

  • Pack journalism

    • The Sun creates, news, followed by Sky, putting pressure on BBC to follow suit

  • Prime Minister S. Baldwin

    • What the proprietorship of these papers is aiming at is power, and power without responsibility

  • Legacy media feared in Westminster

    • Large scale data and strategic whistlblowing

    • Confrontation between news media and government reach new unprecedented level

    • E.x. The Guardian and WikiLeaks collaborate to publish NSA material → received threats by White Hall, visited by UK intelligence to destroy files

Summarization of notes

  • The media in Western countries serve to:
       - Present information while protecting the economic, social, and political interests of privileged groups.
       - Raise important questions about how the media should function, how it currently functions, and whether it acts as a counterweight to government.

  • Two key conceptualizations of media arise from its dual role in society.

  • The Propaganda Model details how:
       - Media selects topics, frames issues, filters information, and emphasizes specific narratives reflecting elite perspectives.
       - The concept highlights a historical need for control over public opinion, rooted in conflicts like the English Civil War.

  • Edward Bernays defined propaganda as crucial to the functioning of democracy, viewing it as the executive arm of an invisible government.

  • Critics argue that the Propaganda Model is misleading as it assumes a unified, pro-conservative media stance dictated by owners.
       - Interference from advertisers and the complexity of national news provide diverse perspectives beyond just owners' voices.

  • Noam Chomsky identified five filters affecting media selection:
       1. Ownership of the medium.
       2. Funding sources.
       3. Sourcing of information.
       4. Flak or criticism against media.
       5. Anti-communism and ideological fears.

  • Corporate influence often risks news objectivity, prioritizing profits over factual reporting.

  • The decline of legacy media poses challenges:
       - Declining circulations and revenues lead to struggles in attracting audiences.
       - However, it still commands significant influence, particularly among older demographics.
       - Legacy media's ability to engage with large audiences and maintain credibility continues to affect public discourse.

  • Changes in media ownership shift political alignments and impact reporting, emphasizing the relationship between media barons and political narratives.

  • The Leveson Inquiry revealed the complexities of media ethics and the political relationship with the press.

  • Overall, the media acts both as a lens for public information and as a tool for elite interests, shaping narratives that influence societal perceptions and actions.