Media Ideology and Power

Muhammad Awais.Roll No. 11

M.Phil. Communication studiesResearch Track

2015-17

ICS, University of the Punjab Lahore.

What is ideology… It is a complicated term. Sometimes it is insult to call someone an

‘ideological’. But when Marxist speak of ideology, it means it is the race of power

by distorting or misrepresenting the reality. A set of beliefs or principles, especially one on which a political

system, group, party, or organization is based (i.e. socialist or capitalist, communism, racism, feminism ideology).

Karl Marx explained about the ideology of creating reality by bourgeoisie (owners of production) against the proletariat ‘have nots’.

Ideologies that are told to us repeatedly by important social institutions such as the Mosques, the law, education, government, and the media are called dominant ideologies.

Ideology. Retrieved from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ideology. Retrieved on 2015, December 26.Media and Ideology. Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/5239_Croteau_Chapter_5.pdf. Retrieved on 2015, December 07.Ideology. Retrieved from http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Ideology. Retrieved on 2015, December 05.

How ideology relates to media studies… Ideology in media is defined here as a system of ideals and values

perpetuated through media (Ton. 2015).

Media texts always reflect certain values or ideologies though sometimes we may not be aware of this. For example in some texts, such as action films like the Die Hard or the Lethal Weapon series, solving problems with force is seen as an acceptable value and reflects a certain ideology.

When studying a media text you may look for the ideology present and question whose world view is represented and which group(s) and their associated world view(s) have not been represented.

Ideology. http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Ideology. 2015, December 05Ton. A.S . 2015. Ideology in media (slide no.3). Retrieved from https://www.haikudeck.com/ideology-in-media-uncategorized-presentation-0agfCylUk4. retrieved on 20th December 2015.

Hall (n.k) says that the media are engaged in the “politics of signification,” in which they produce particular narratives that give events certain meanings.

That is to say, they do not simply “reflect” the world they “re-present,” it by engaging practices that define reality.

Studies show that when Israel does commit atrocities, they are often justified by western news outlets, and sometimes altogether suppressed.

The representation of Arab culture in Hollywood films present Arab people as barbarian, cruel, robbers, monsters, beater of women, narrow minded, fundamentalist etc.

Hall.S. (n.k). Stuart Hall and Cultural Studies: Decoding Cultural Oppression. Retrieved from http://www.corwin.com/upm-data/13286_Chapter_2_Web_Byte__Stuart_Hall.pdf. Retrieved on 2015, December 07.Stereotyping And Misrepresentation Of Arab Muslim Women Cultural Studies Essay. Retrieved from http://www.ukessays.com/essays/cultural-studies/stereotyping-and-misrepresentation-of-arab-muslim-women-cultural-studies-essay.php. Retrieved on 1st January 2016

Studies continually show strong pro-Israel bias in western media. Retrieved fromhttp://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/studies-continually-show-strong-pro-israel-bias-western-media-881718416. retrieved on 28 December 2015.

Media Ideology and Power… To understand the power of media, we have an example of “War

of the World”.

Key theoretical area underlying the study of ideology is the idea of Hegemony.

Hegemony is not simply about ideological domination or forcible imposition of views on people. It involves winning their consent through a type of cultural leadership.

The commodification of culture, Mckdonaldization and Americanization are resulted from a particular ideology of media.

Welles scares nation. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/welles-scares-nation. Retrieved on 2016, January 1 st.Media and Ideology. Retrieved from http://jclass.umd.edu/classes/cpsp222/Media%20and%20Ideology%281%29.ppt. retrieved on January 1st, 2016.

Normative Approaches to understand media ideology…

Authoritarian ideology. They eat authors… All forms of communications are under the control of the governing

elite or authorities or influential bureaucrats to protect the people .

Criticizing government programs undermines the peace.

During WWII Hitler and Mussolini used media to propagate and press couldn’t question against or publish against these two dictators.

But social media has made the picture complex to understand it. Though there was an authoritarian media in Arab countries but in ‘Arab Spring’, people use social media to take part in social change.

Omidyar, P. 2014. Social Media: Enemy of the State or Power to the People?. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/social-media-arab-spring/ 26 December 2015

Authoritarian Theory. http://communicationtheory.org/authoritarian-theory/. Retrieved on 29 th December 2015.

Libertarian Ideology. Uplift all laws and ethical considerations from the practice and

Libertarian media will be yielded.

Freedom of press will give more freedom to media to reveal the real things happening in the society without any censorship or any authority blockades.

Ignores need for reasonable control of media.

Libertarian ideology of media sees people more enough to find and judge good ideas from bad.

Free marketplace of ideas and people will follow the efficient argument.

Bill of rights

Bill of rights. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/bill-of-rights. Retrieved on 1st January 2016WikiLeaks. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/wikileaks. Retrieved on 7th January 2016.

Marketplace of ideas. Retrieved from http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Fall99/Wolff/FMP1.HTM. Retrieved on 25 th December 2015.Libertarian theory. Retrieved from http://communicationtheory.org/libertarian-theory/ Retrieved on 21st December 2015

Social Responsible ideology of Media… This ideology came due to the drawbacks of libertarian media. “Your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.” (Oliver

Wendell Holmes, Jr. 1894). Libertarian ideology only consider the active audience. People who believe media should be controlled couldn’t reach any

agreement who should be in charge or what should be the method (i.e. Cognoscenti of their own bamboozlement (Baran. p-77).

In absolute liberty, the enemies also have chances to propagate. Freedom of the press should not be absolute: it should be responsible to

society (Surrur. 2007). There is no room to report Sikandar hostile behavior live in social

responsible ideology. A quote. http://celestethebest.tumblr.com/post/17720871175/your-right-to-swing-your-fist-ends-where-my-nose retrieved on January 1st, 2016.

Social Responsibility Theory. Retrieved from http://communicationtheory.org/social-responsibility-theory/. Retrieved on January 1 st. 2016Surur. F,A. 2007. Press freedom is not absolute as it is limited with responsibility. Retrieved from http://www.arabwestreport.info/en/year-2003/week-12/2-dr-ahmed-fathi-surur-press-freedom-not-absolute-it-limited-responsibility Retrieved on January 1st. 2-16

Baran. S, J, Davis, D, K. 2010. Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment and Future. Cengage Learning. p.77

Soviet-Communist Ideology…

It emerged from Marxist, Leninist, and Stalinist thoughts after the 17th century.

State owns or in some way controls all forms of mass media directly. Media reports less on the bad things that happen under communism

and emphasizes the bad things that happen in democratic areas. Pravda: “Communism is good” by praising Stalin’s non-aggression

pact with Hitler but avoid reporting Chernobyl disaster because it may raise concerns about the Soviet Nuclear Plant (Gabby, 2012).

North Korean, China and Russian media are based on communist ideology.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

Gabby.T. 2012. Introduction to Four Theories of the Press. Retrieved from (https://epiclawyers.wordpress.com/introduction-to-four-theories-of-the-press/) on 27 December 2015.Communism. Retrieved from www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/c/Communism.htm. Retrieved on December 28 th. 2015.)

Lenin identified three Roles of Press..

PropagandistExample: Radio and world war II.

Agitator Anna Hazare and Indian media. Dharna and Pakistani media. Hutu vs. Tutsi Conflict and the role of media.

OrganizerPakistan media’s use of patriotism and sympathy appeals after December 16,

2014.

Where to Begin? Retrieved from https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/may/04.htm. retrieved on 7 December 2015.The Role of Media as Agitation. Retrieved from https://storify.com/Daisi426/t. retrieved on December 28 th 2015.

Tribune: Sep 19th 2014

Ownership and Media Ideology… Owners or their appointed top executives have final say in what the

organizations does. Nixon and Jones (1956) concluded that difference in quality is due to the

competence of owners and operators of a newspapers. Researches found that similar media with different owners vary in their

content. In 1980 the ownership of 3 big TV networks changed and widely covered. Los Angles Times’ publisher was republican and helped Richard Nixon

throughout his career. Media conglomerates: 1983, 50 corporations but in 1987, Ban Bagdikian

reported in his book that 29 corporations control most of the media business. By 2004 media ownership was concentrated in seven corporations. Five mammoth firms, now dominate the world media namely Times Warner Inc. Bertelsmann AG (West Germany). News Corporation Ltd (Murdoch’s Australia based firm). Hachette SA (France). Capital Cities/ABC Incorporation.

Nixon, R.B & Jones, R.L. 1956. Concentration of press ownership and comparison. Journalism quartely. 48Nixon Targeted The Times, Tapes Show. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/1997-03-22/news/mn-40969_1_otis-chandler. Retrieved on 28the Decemebr 2015.

Bagdikean. B. 2004. The New Media Monopoly: The Big Five. Beacon Press

Ownership and internal slant… Donohew (1967) found a direct positive relationship between a

publisher’s attitude toward an issue and in the newspaper publishing.

Chain vs Independent : Group owned media channels broadcasts more news than those that are not group owned.

Bagdikean: when chains take over paper, increase in ads and its rates, reduces serious news which is more expensive to gather and hire less qualified journalists.

Thrift (1977) found that chain newspapers published fewer argumentative editorials, fewer editorials on local matters and fewer on controversial topics than independent papers.

Donohew, L. et al. 1967. Content analysis of communications. New York: Macmillan.

Bagdikian. B. 2004, The Media Monopoly Ch. 4. Thrift, R. (1977). How chain Ownership Affects Editorial Vigor of Newspapers. Journalism Quarterly, 54(2), 327-331.

Rupert Murdoch: A Case StudyHe is considered a s the most notorious journalist in America.

Rupert Murdock bought Chicago Sun Times and made it sensationalistic like in New York Post and Boston Herald. This influence the management and columnist like Ellen Goodman and Garry Wells and forced them to resign (Tuccille 1989).

He used his British Newspaper The Sun and The Times of London to support P.M Margret Thatcher. Same was done before selling New York Post in 1988 in favor of Ronald Reagan.

Tuccille, J. 1989. Rupert Murdoch: Creator of a Worldwide Media Empire. New York. D. I. Fine. P-105-130Rupert Murdoch. Encyclopedia. Retrieved from www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Rupert_Murdoch.aspx retrieved on 22nd December 2015.

Media Ideology and Agenda Setting… ‘Agenda setting’ enables the media to create pictures in our

head. People react to pictures in their head instead of actual events(Anderson, K. 2012).

Media and the press filter and shape reality rather than reflect it (Marie. A lesson 9).

It is the ideology which required to set the agenda to be implemented.

Agenda setting therefore results in cultural hegemony. The basic principles of capitalism – private enterprise, profit, the free market and the rights of property ownership – dominate media content and are presented as ‘normal’ and ‘natural’.

Anderson, K. (2012). Agenda Setting Theory and Ideology. Retrieved date, 2015 December 22. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/7uhrwn_myyhy/agenda-setting-theory-and-ideology/Marie, A. (n.k). Agenda Setting: Definition, Function, Process & Examples. Chapter 9, Lesson 18. Retrieved date 15, December 2015. Retrived from http://study.com/academy/lesson/agenda-setting-definition-function-process-examples.html.

Engineering consent and the war in Iraq: A case study

Through the media Saddam Hussain was portrayed as terrorist who was producing the nuclear weapons which was a threat to Americans.

For bureaucratic reasons we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on (Black. 2003).

Saddam Hussein is bad, the imagery of nuclear mushroom clouds, the links between al-Qaida and Saddam and similar depiction of media had welcomed the cost and the number of soldiers and troops needed (Rich. 2004, p-12).

All the manufactured justifications were deception and dissolution. Tony Blaire (six years after the war) told BBC that Saddam Hussain’s

presence in the Middle East was enough of a threat to justify the war, but obviously you would have had to use and deploy different arguments about the nature of the threat (Ritchie, 2009).

Black, E. (2003). After Iraq, It’s a War of Words, Evidence; Was Arms Threat Exaggerated? Minneapolis Star-Tribune, June 8: 1A.Rich, F. (2004). A Perfect Storm of Mind-Bending Pictures from Iraq. Providence Journal, 9: 12.

Ritchie, A. (2009). Blair Iraq War Admission Sparks Fresh Outrage. Yahoo News, December 13. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ afp/article/ALeqM5jTebENCJbPdSLM1qftov5P0JhsvQ).

Steve Rendall and Tara Broughel (2003). "Amplifying Officials, Squelching Dissent". Extra! (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting).

A FAIR study found that in the lead up to the Iraq War, most sources were overwhelmingly in favor of the invasion…

What we spent on Iraq: http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/business/What_We_Spent_On_Iraq_In_Context.JPG. Retrieved 8 January 2016.Art feeling addvertising agency.2013. Iraq Media Profile 2012 13. http://www.slideshare.net/SarhadIAbdulbaqi/iraq-media-profile-2012-13 . Slide no.12. retrieved 1 january 2016

American media’s ideology before and after 9/11… If we compare two movies “Rambo III” and “American Sniper”, it

can be seen that the ideologies change in accord to perspective. “Taliban” … before 9/11, they were friends of US but after that top

in list of enemies. Before 9/11, Hollywood believed Afghanistan is a land of lions, the

people of Afghanistan are brave. They portrayed in such a way that the enmity of Afghanistan and the poison of the snake results same.

And they encouraged that Afghanistan people can defeat USSR. But after 9/11, they changed their ideology in accord to

battleground. The heroes in their films shoot people of Afghanistan to head and says ‘Rest in Hell”.

Study found that Bollywood movies have changed the religious beliefs as well. 7% of the students of BZU believed that religion is not mattered if you want to marry someone (Shabbir, 2015).

Shabbir R. 2015. Jab tak hai jaan: A case Study. BZU library (unpublished)

The Independent. Monday 6 December 1993 Daily News & New York Post. Monday May 2, 2011

That Time Ronald Reagan Hosted Those 'Freedom Fighters' At The Oval Office: The Business Insider

Media Ideology and Gatekeeping… Few countries blocked wiki leaks website

from its country to maintain the internal security because the wiki leaks was not ready to compromise with government censorship and releasing classified documents against the government.

In the era of radio propaganda, countries used different techniques for the purpose of tackling it.

All the rival news channels are banned from going on air on cable in India and Pakistan.

But the social media hindered the power of gatekeeping.

http://professionaljobprep.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Gate-Keeper.gif. Retrieved 2 January 2015

Dube. R. 2012 5 Worst Examples Of The WikiLeaks Sites Banned Or Censored. http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-worst-examples-wikileaks-site-banned-censured/. retrieved 2 January 2016.White, David Manning. (1964). "The 'Gatekeeper': A Case Study In the Selection of News, In: Lewis A. Dexter / David M. White (Hrsg.): People, Society and Mass Communications. London S. 160 - 172.

‘Agents of Power’. Altschull worked for so many media organizations. During his

professional career, he was approached so many times by the inlfulentional persons inside and outside the organization.

He was forced to angle the stories of the victory of Adenaur’s 1957 in West Germany as the victory over communism (Altschull, p-10).

To expect that the news media will make a dramatic U-turn and scoff at the wishes of the paymasters is to engage in the wildest kind of utopian fantasies."(Altschull, 1984, p. 299)

Altschull, J.H. 1984. Agents of Power: The role of the news media in human affairs. Longman Inc. Philadelphia. P-10

All press systems are based on a belief in free expression -- although it is defined in different ways.

All systems endorse social responsibility and say that they serve the needs and interests of the people and promise people access to media.

He also founds that journalism schools in each system transmit ideologies and value systems of the society in which they exist and assist people in power in maintaining control of the media -- and that press practices always differ from theory.

Common factors in all press models. http://hope.journ.wwu.edu/tpilgrim/j190/shoemakernew.html 28 December 2018.

After a review of press systems in 1995, he concluded that 3 models of the press dominates…

1. Market (or capitalist) ideology

2. Communitarian (or socialist) ideology

3. Advancing (or developing countries’) ideology

3 models of press in the world. http://hope.journ.wwu.edu/tpilgrim/j190/shoemakernew.html 29 December 2016.

Market (or capitalist) model…

Free marketplace of ideas. Absolute freedom in the market of ideas

disseminated by the media. Holds all the characteristics which libertarian

ideology have.Implications…

Globalization Results in cultural imperialism. Western cultural products in the world: Mcdonaldization, Nike, Coca etc.

Hybridization and homoculturalization.

Commodifiaction of culture by media

Coffee/Tea in the morning.

Chines food, Mexican food, dresses

KFC culture. Cell phone use; media made all of them our necessity.

Communitarian Model… not to be confused with Communism.

Emphasizes the connection between media, individual and community. Article 29 of the 1948 Universal Declaration on Human Right:

"Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible". This should be seen as applying to the news media as well.

The communitarian role of the news media, is also grounds for its duties. The news media is a member of the community either as a "legal person" (a corporate entity) or by nature of the individual it is comprised of –journalists, editors and publishers, photographers , which are all community members. As a member of the community, the news media bears certain duties towards other members (Roy. (n.k).

The news media lives and grows in the heart of the community. Community radios. (Mahooli and gambling, Tamboli community and

butchers, Haiti Community radio).

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/. Retrieved date January 1st, 2016.Roy. P. (n.k). https://communitariannetwork.org/sites/communitariannetwork.org/files/downloads/Communitarian%20Grounds%20for%20Media%20Duties.pdf. Retrieved on January 1st. 2016.

The 40 Best Little Radio Stations in the U.S. www.pastemagazine.com/.../the-best-little-radio-stations-in-the-us.html. Retrieved on December 29, 2015.

Advancing (or developing countries) model…

Not only in establishing and strengthening democracy, media can play an effective role in developing an underdeveloped or under developing countries.

Malthus theory and communication. Health issues. Wilbur Schram, E.M Rogers, Alan Chalkley, Juan Mercado and Daniel

Learner consider media as an engine to change from traditional to modern society.

Denis McQuail's Theories.

Malthusian Theory of Population Growth. http://study.com/academy/lesson/malthusian-theory-of-population-growth-definition-lesson-quiz.html. Retrieved on December 28, 2015.Development communication. http://download.nos.org/srsec335new/ch4.pdf. retrieved on December 22, 2015.

The Final Words…