classics in media and ideology

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Classics in media and ideology

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This chapte r will introduceyou to:the concepts o fideology and hegemony _in media Studies;the emergence ofpostmoder nism as away of think ing abomdiscourse and language

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chapter) '"and th e role o f power;

th eorization abou t thepublic sphere .

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C hapter 4 introduced some of the majo r models in med ia ef fe ct s resea rch .many o r ig ina t ing in the 'adm in is t ra t iv e research ' trad i tion . In th is chapterwe will exp lore the 'c r itic al re sea rch ' tradition and it s varia tions. This chapterwill introduce you to: the concepts of ideo logy and hegemony in m edia stu d ies ;

the em ergence of postmoderni sm as a way of th ink in g about d iscou rse andlanguage and the role of power;

theorizat ion about the pub lic sphere.'Newspapers should blacklist poorly per fo rm ing industr ies and denounce the ineffi-cien t. They should uncover the bad types in all parts of society and punish them!'

This proposed aim of newspap ers did not come from a sour econ omist or a moralrights crusader. The proposal is Lenin's, the communist revolutionary. who argued for'an effective, ru th less and truly revolu tionary war against the specific wrongdoers: Theprimary role o f the press, he says, is to condemn the bad and to make appeals to '[earnfrom the good' (Lenin, 1918, in Matte lart an d Siegelaub, 1983). Lenin is talking about


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brought ideology, power and legitimation to the fore In media analysis. Issues of socia classand inequality have not disappearedPostmodernism and postst ructurali sm. Postmodernism is a general term whichdescribes approaches that are opposed to ideas of laws of behaviour and reality, wretherbehaviOUrist, empiricist, or traditional Marxist. PoststrucrurallSm. similarly, holds that thereare no law-like structures In human sOCiety. Postmodernists and posmructuralists hold thatpower certainly exists in society but it is maintained through the discursive or semIOticpractices that occur in everyday life. Cultural studies, as a discipline, draws on a range ofperspectives in its analysis of media.

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Marx employed a base/superstructure model. Describe this model and discuss ~ m ofthe advantages/problemswhen applying it m the study of the inAuence ofmedia onsociety.Pick a specific kind of 'deviance' identified by the media as deviant behaviour. Whatpatterns do the media follow? How is the issue:

identified;COntraSted with normal behaviour;linked to other problems;part ofcalls for something to be done.

Does the treatment ofdeviance align with elite or ruling class interests?Select a media news programme - through tradItional or new media. Try to identify theunexamined assumptions that limit the terms of the discussion (ask yourselfwhat issuesare NOT raised). Try m identify the key concepts, especially those WIth political content.whose meaning is taken for granted.Select a given media news story that is running in traditional and new media (with theInternet this can include blogs aswell as commercial outlets). Monitor the stor.,. for tWOto three nights in succession and try to identify those working habits and c o n v ~ t i o n sthat seem to you to be bound to ideological assumptions or that seem to give rise toideological outcomes, Be sure that you pay attemion to as many aspects of the newsmessage as possible - the news script itself, visual material. the relationship beeNeen thetWO, interViewing techniques, narrative style, the semiotics of the nf"NSdesk.. an::! so on.Do blogs prOvide more objective accounts?Who are (he e1ites in your society? Do they inAuence the natureof coment in medialGive examples.Choose a series of items from popular literature or television or the Internet (forexample detective/police smries, love stories. and so on). In what ways would you saythat the narrative patterns in that literature embody 'ideology' or 'mythology: nBarthes's sense?In the 1996 Massey Lectures, John Ralston Saul (The Unconscious Civilization, Penguin1977) argued that the world in the 20th century had been gripped by a seriesof holisticideologies and all had failed. Is the current popular ideology ofcorporatism (le: freemarkets determine everything) a better analytical tool?

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actz'vz'ty Choose one of the following theorists and thinkers (or find anQ[her inconversation with your lecturer) In media and communications studIes(we have indudei:l media anthropology as well). Research and read as much of their work asyou can: books, media interviews. journal articles. research reports, and opinion pieces. Writea short account of their work to date and why it is inAuemial in the field In general. and whatimpact it has on the way you think about media. Report back to tutorial at the end of~ e s t e r .

Sonia Livingstone ling Wang John Hartley Mick TaussigRoger Silvel}[Qne Laura Mulvey Faye Ginsburg Simon DuringManuel Castells David Buckingham TobyMiller Howard TumberJames Katz Graeme Turner Geert Lovink James Curran

urther readin Carey, J. (1977), Mass communication research and cultural studies: an American view. In J.Curran, M, Gurevitch and J. Woollacon (eds) Mass communication and society (409-26).Edward Arnold in association with Open University Press.

Couldry, N. and (urran, J. (eds) (W03). Contesting media power: Alternative media In anetworked world. Feldham: Rowman and Lltdelield.

Miller. 1. (2001). Sportsex. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Miller, T. (1998). Technologies of truth: Cultural citizenshIp and the popularmedia, Minneapohs:University of Minnesota Press.

Miller, T. Govil N. McMurria, J. and Maxwell. R. (2001).Global Hollywood. London: Bntish FilmInstitute.

O'Sullivan. T. Hardey, J. Saunders, D. and Fiske, J. (1998). Key corl(epts in communicatIOn andcultural studIeS. London: Roudedge.

Williams, R. (1985). Keywords: a vocabulary of culture and sociefy. Oxford: Oxford UniverSityPres,

classics in media and ideology

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