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| Pretty sure the skyline story about the ebola virus should get slightly more page space than 'young man goes clubbing' |
Newspapers are an excellent potential example of cultivation in action. Due to their generally daily frequency and often massive, national circulation figures, producers of newspapers are in a privileged position to present their ideology on a massive scale. Repetition is a powerful tool. Through repetition, a catchy song can become lodged in your head, a key fact can finally be understood, and you can learn a complex physical skill, like remaining upright on a bike. None of these things are likely to become so ingrained after only one exposure.
Twitter user Adam Keyworth outlined the many instances of how British newspapers have criticised the footballer Raheem Sterling. In most cases, these criticisms have nothing to do with his football ability. In many cases, the criticisms are typical tabloid muckraking. There are accusations of partying too hard, of having poor taste, of being paid too much. There are also strange, oppositional accusations of being thrifty. Shopping at Poundland, taking a Ryanair budget flight, or shopping in Primark.
The number one offender is the right wing tabloid The Sun, though other right wing tabloids like The Daily Mail and The Star also feature. Criticism of footballers, and of public figures in general is commonplace in tabloids. However, the sheer number of these reports, and Sterling's ethnicity makes things significantly more complicated.
Unfortunately, like many black and ethnic minority footballers, Sterling has been subject to racist taunts. As The Sun themselves reported on 11th December
The Met Police are probing claims the player was called a “f****** black c***”.
The 60-year-old, from Beckenham, in South East London, apologised for his actions but denied he was a racist, telling the Daily Mail: “I’m deeply ashamed by own behaviour and I feel really bad.
"But I didn’t call him a black c***, I called him a Manc c***.”
What a nice guy...
Whether you believe him or not, there is a long history of football fans across the world demonstrating racist behaviour, from chants, throwing objects at players, and in one case harassing a black commuter.
As media students, you must consider to what extent audiences are influenced by news media. There are of course a range of factors that determine an individual's ideology, including upbringing, location, social class and so on. However, persistent exposure to media may also be responsible for the manipulation of ideology, or at the very least the legitimisation of certain ideological perspectives.
Naturally, when The Sun was accused of promoting racist ideologies, it went on the defence, stating
The suggestion is ridiculous and offensive — and the idea it inspired racists is baseless. His media mates should engage their brains before dishing out accusations without a shred of evidence.
Why so defensive? Surely at some point in the boardroom, as yet another negative story about Sterling was published, an editor may have stepped in and thought about how it could be perceived? What responsibilities should traditionally produced 'mass media' such as newspapers have?
What do you think?