Find below a range of responses for questions relating to component one section a, and component one section b.
All responses were completed in half an hour by teachers or students, and are presented unedited, with only minor corrections. Please note that these should be seen officially as examples rather than exemplars. This includes the teacher responses! In some cases, the wrong names of theorists are used, theoretical terms are used incorrectly, or paragraph structure may be imprecise. However, it is important to note that exam responses are seldom 'perfect', and are written under stressful conditions. If you spot a mistake, congratulate yourself, and consider how you can avoid doing something similar!
Please also consider: all responses here have been completed by first year media students who have not even finished their first full term. Therefore, there is going to be significant potential for improvement, and rightly so!
In what ways can newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies for their audiences?
IMPORTANT! - Please note: this question would probably appear in component one section a, where you would be prompted to discuss the front covers of The Mirror and The Times as set by the exam board. However, for the purposes of this activity, we have suggested a focus on audience theory more appropriate to component one section b. Please make sure to read the question in the final exam!
Michael's response 1
British newspapers incorporate a wide variety of ideological perspectives to their audiences to a wide variety of reasons. This may be for the purpose of constructing target audiences, the process of narrativisation, and potentially for the purpose of manipulating the ideology of the audience. In each case, ideological perspectives are encoded through a range of media language. In order to explore this aspect of ideological dissemination, I shall be drawing on the examples of The Daily Mirror, The Times, an a few other subsidiary examples. I shall conclude that ultimately, ideological perspectives are encoded for the express purpose of targeting and manipulating audiences.
The Daily Mirror, published by Reach PLC is an established British tabloid newspaper with a distinct left-wing perspective, and, as is typical of tabloids, a target working class audience. An excellent example of how The Mirror incorporates it’s ideologies is a full page article discussing the death of a one year old boy in North London. The headline, ‘man held after toddler dies in hammer attack’ is emotive and potentially manipulative of the audience. The lexis of ‘toddler’ in particular uses colloquial language to present an emotional and affecting narrative for the audience. Likewise, the lexis of ‘hammer attack’ which is anchored by the sheer size of the typeface, creates a brutal and violent image. The dominant ideology here is that the father is guilty, and the murder weapon is a hammer. It is worth noting at this point that none of these facts are actually substantiated or indeed verifiable at this stage. However, the selection and placement of the main and subsidiary images (a close up of a sad toddler’s face, a grainy shot of a hammer, a two-shot of a couple and a wide angled establishing shot of a quiet London suburb) create an intense narrative for the working class target audience. The size of the pictures reinforce the Mirror’s working class target audience, and cultivate an ideological perspective that working class people are better suited to looking at large pictures that riding involved and descriptive text.
Within the main body of text, presented as a single narrow column at the bottom right of the images, two ‘sources’ are presented, a passer-by named only as ‘gui-gui’ and a ‘close friend’ of the accused’s wife. Both of these responses allow the journalist to rely on supposition and conjecture as opposed to hard facts. In these instances, the ideological perspective of the paper is clear, that lurid, revolting and manipulative stories can be crafted from tragic real life events. A common maxim of the newspaper industry is ‘if it bleeds, it leads’. It is clear through its position in the montage of images and the vast headline that the mise-en-scene of the hammer is the most important aspect of this story, demonstrating the newspaper’s lack of concern at scandalising and narrativisng an actual, tragic and undefined event.
On first glance, the corresponding article in The Times, reporting on the same instance seems to take a more measured approach. The article, appearing on page seven features a more matter-of-fact lexis in its smaller headline: ‘man held after baby dies in ‘attack on twins’. This less sensationalist approach is typical of a broadsheet newspaper like The Times, and it demonstrates a more middle class ideological perspective to an intended middle class, middle aged target audience. The formal mode of address also infers a higher level of education in the target audience, cultivating an ideological perspective in the audience that education is important. The Times Article lacks the excessive anchorage of The Mirror, featuring only a small, understated main image, a low angled shot of a police officer knocking on the door of an archetypal London town house. This presents a very definite ideological viewpoint to the middle class audience: that this story is exceptional because of the middle class area that the event has happened in.
However, he most interesting, and perhaps the most revolting aspect of the Times ideological perspective is encoded through its distinct ethnocentric bias through the inclusion of the ethnicity of the accused. Referring to him as Indian, and his wife as Romanian, the Times presents two aspects that a purely circumstantial and not related to the case in hand. However, this according the George Gerbner is a way of cultivating the ideology that ethnic minority individuals are far more likely to commit crimes. This example of ethnic stereotyping should be avoided b newspapers, which should only comment on ethnicity if it is related to the case at hand. However, The Times clearly wishes to encode the dominant ideological perspective that ethnicity and crime are related. This in turn helps the Times to target it’s middle class, affluent and right wing audience, by presenting them with ideogical perspectives they already agree with.
Another excellent example of how newspapers can incorporate ideological perspectives is the Mail Online’s popular ‘sidebar of shame’. This selection of broadly human interest stories generally tends to represent women as hegemonically insuperior to men, and largely present purely for the purpose of being looked at by heterosexual men. One such example of this hegemonic patriarchal ideology was published Thursday 6th December, in an article entitled ‘Love Island's Montana Brown flashes some sideboob in a risqué blue and white stripe swimsuit as she hits the beach in Dubai’. A series of mid shots, clearly taken incognito with a telephoto lens, demonstrate a young, hegemonically stereotypically attractive reality star in a tight fitting swimsuit. There are over 20 images in total of this, plus an opportunity for the intended heterosexual working class female target audience to buy said swimsuit. Furthermore, the anchorage of the caption ‘Montana Brown displayed her incredible physique’ suggests to the audience that the person is doing so through her own volition, and that she is complicit in the act of showing herself, when she is clearly unaware that this is the case. This reinforces through cultivation the dominant hegemonic ideological perspective that women are purely there to be looked at by heterosexual men, and, in the case of The Mail Online, to be idolised, critiqued and emulated by heterosexual women in order to fit in t patriarchal hegemonic standard.
To conclude, it is essential that newspapers present clear ideological perspectives to their audiences. However in doing so, they invariably manipulate the ideology of their target audience, for the sole purpose of profit and power.
Michael's response 2
The producers of newspapers typically incorporate a range of ideological perspectives when creating newspapers. This is for several reasons, including commercial, ideological, and audience related. Ideology itself refers to the beliefs and viewpoints of the producer. Through media language, audiences are invited to explore and negotiate a range of responses. However, typically producers will attempt to anchor these Reponses through techniques such as captioning. In order to explore how newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies, I shall be exploring the examples of The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid newspaper catering to a working class left wing audience, and the Times, a broadsheet targeting a middle class, right wing audience. I shall also be supplementing these examples with material from The Mail Online, a particularly popular online branch of the right-wing Daily Mail that primarily targets a working-class female audience.
The front cover of The Daily Mirror on the day of Trump’s election as president of the USA is explicit in its ideological perspective. The Daily Mirror is left wing, and therefore it clearly would be opposed to Trump’s extreme right wing political leanings. This is anchored in many ways on the front cover. The main image, a heavily manipulated image of the statue of liberty clutching her face, demonstrates the clear ideology that Trump’s election is resolutely awful. The statue of Liberty functions as not only a symbolic code and metonym of America and freedom, but it also functions as a powerful referential code for the target audience. Her gesture demonstrates that not only the Daily Mirror, but also by extension America is opposed to Trump’s victory. This ideological perspective is further anchored an reinforced by the bold, san-serif headline that simply states ‘what have they done’? This functions as a direct mode of address to the audience, and also further targets the target British audience by creating a clear distinction between us (Britain) and ‘them’ (America). The ideological perspective is further anchored through a range of aspects of intertextuality. The weeping statue is a direct intertextual reference to Dr Who’s ‘weeping Angel’ antagonist, a fact that British audiences especially working class British audiences would easily be able to identify. Further elements of intertextuality include the plumes of black smoke in the background of the central image, a referential code to the generic conventions of the disaster film genre. Ultimately the front cover of The Mirror demonstrates a blunt and politically biased ideological perspective to it’s mainly left wing audience. The shocking and even scandalous nature of this cover allows the paper to attract its target audience, and therefore ensure that the edition will have a wider circulation.
The front cover of The Times, on the other hand, demonstrates an initially oppositional ideological viewpoint. A midshot double page splash wrap-around cover, saved only for the very most notable events adorns this edition. Trump gestures passively with his fist, eyes to the right of the camera, in front of the background of an American flag. The flag has clear connotations for the right wing target audience: of patriotism and of freedom and of victory. The headline, The New World is presented in a serif font, offering a sophisticated mode of address to the target middle class audience. However, the Times Does not openly ideogically support Trump in the same way that The Mirror opposes him. In an example of bias through selection, an image of Trump looking either smug or lost, depending on the negotiation of the audience is selected. His fist has symbolic connotations of power, but also functions as a proairetic code, suggesting violence ahead. This is further anchored to the sophisticated target audience through the lexis of the subheading demonstrating that Trump will send “shockwaves around the globe”. The negative connotations of shockwave make intertextual reference to the disaster genre once more. However, the dominant reading is hard for the audience to deduce. The Times neither endorses nor rejects Trump’s ideology. Even the pull quote on the back cover, with its repeated use of you will be so proud” can by polysemically interpreted by the target audience.
It is rare however that a newspaper will like a preferred reading, and instead will attempt to anchor the audience as much as possible. Beyond political ideological perspectives, newspapers will also typically present hegemonic ideological perspectives through representations of gender also. An excellent example of this can be found on the Mail Online’s ‘don’t miss’ column on Friday 7th December. This column frequently presents hegemonically attractive images of women in a state of undress to the heterosexual female audience to judge, with the express ideogical intention that they are aspirational. The article, headlined “Jennifer Aniston goes braless on ELLE cover shoot as she says 'science and miracles' could help her have children and insists two marriages HAVE been successful” emphasises the stereotypically attractive Anniston through a series of mid shots, emphasising her body. This emphasis is anchored through the lexis of the copy, suggesting that ‘Jen [has] defiantly [gone] braless beneath a semi-sheer white vest top. This is an example of sexualisation, where an individual, in this case a woman is represented solely through her sexual characteristics. This cultivates a hegemonically narrow ideology in the target audience, and symbolically suggests that only one body type, typically slender and white, is appropriate for women to have. By repeating almost identical stories every day. The Mail Online not only cultivates this ideology to manipulate its target audience, but to sell the product to its target audience through scandal and through sexualisation. This representation ultimately limits the ways in which women are represented in media to one that is typically sexualised and objectified, a clear example of Berger’s assertion that ‘men act, women appear’
We have seen several examples of how newspapers cultivate ideological approaches through media language. This is primarily for financial reasons, as well as ideological. By presenting a clearly anchored representation of a political figure or a well-known actor, newspapers are able to present these straightforward ideologies to vast audiences, who in turn faithful by the product and click through to advertisements day after day.
Student 1
There are many different ways in which Newspapers can incorporate ideologies. For example when reporting on stories producers will convey a dominant ideology within their media product. For example in the Daily Mirror's cover on Donald Trumps presidency they conveyed Left wing political ideologies, this was done through the mise-en-scene of the statue of liberty holding her head in her hands. The statue of liberty symbolises freedom and america's freedom, here the daily mirror may be trying to suggest that America is trapped with Donald Trump incorporating their ideology of anti-trump and his beliefs. Furthermore, the daily mirror have incorporated this ideology with a dark and miserable mise-en-scene. This could act here as a symbolic code for danger and coruptness. It also presents ideas of destruction and incorporates a post-apocalyptic genre convention, this conveys to us as an audience that America's government is in a state of unbalanced equilibrium furthermore encoding the producers political ideology towards Trump. Another way Newspaper's can incorporate ideologies is through lexis and font. in the daily mirror the lexis of 'What have they done?' acts as a direct mode of address as it questioning the audience and almost makes them reflect upon themselves as if they have done something wrong, the mise-en-scene of the red bold font also has connotations of hell and danger this further portrays the bias of anti-Trump.
Furthermore, producers can convey ideologies in media products through format and layout. For example, in The Times cover of Donald Trumps presidency we can see a layout that it is very image based containing very little lexis, the only lexis within the product is 'The New World' this could represent that Trump has reinvented a new 'greater' america, this is an example of anchorage within a media product as the producer has fixed the particular meaning into the product through the use of simple lexis.The mise-en-scene of the serif font also has connotations of positivity and conveys an ideology that Trump will have a positive impact on America. We could relate these conventions to Stuart Hall's decoding model as here the producer has encoded a positive ideology and we as an audience have decoded this and interpreted it in a positive and hopeful way due to mise-en-scene,lexis and layout. However, in media products although strong and dominant ideologies may be incorporated it is possible for audiences to deduce polysemic readings. For example in The Times they have included a very smug picture of Donald Trump one reading of this could be that audiences are slightly wary for the future this could be bias through selection as it could suggest Trump is unprepared. On the other hand, it connotes confidence and reassures the audience that Trump is a strong and confident leader.
Student 2
Newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies by the mise-en-scene, an example of this is in the Daily Mirror newspaper from when Donald Trump was elected as president. Mise-en-scene played an important role in incorporating viewpoints and ideologies due to the Statue of Liberty having connotations of freedom and almost even representing America, yet the mise-en-scene is that the statue has her hands in her head as if she is disappointed. This anchors the audience to believe that Donald Trump being elected as President is disappointing. Another way that mise-en-scene is used in this newspaper is through the smoke and war-like images behind the statue. This anchors the audience to believe that Donald Trump is as bad as war and will perhaps even bring war. The dark cloud is a proairetic code, perhaps enforcing how Trump will bring war. Mise-en-scene is also used in The Times newspaper, also from when Donald Trump was elected as president. The Times used mise-en-scene of an American flag in the background to symbolise freedom, this anchors the audience to believe that Trump will bring freedom and justice to America.
Newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies by the lexis and headlines they use. An example of this is in the Daily Mirror newspaper which was previously mentioned. This newspaper uses a lexis of "What have they done?" This rhetorical question lexis sounds as if the rest of the world is sighing at America. This newspaper also has the heading "It's President Trump" in the colour red which could signify danger and violence. In The Times newspaper mentioned above, there is lexis of "shockwaves" which could perhaps symbolise natural disasters. This could lead to the audience negotiating a negative view on President Trump. The headline of "The New World" is chosen for this newspaper. It is presented in a serif font which has connotations of positivity and could be seen as serious, as if Trump will be a global force for good. The placement of the headline is directly over Trump's heart which could demonstrate his love and intentions to shape the world. this shows an ideology that The Times believe Trump will do good for America and genuinely cares about the country, and has good intentions. The audience will read this newspaper and negotiate whether they agree or disagree.
Newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies by the images they use. An example of this is in The Mirror newspaper from when a baby was murdered in Finsbury Park. In this newspaper, the images took up the majority of the page, there is a bigger focus on images which means there is less room for writing, perhaps showing how the target audience may be a lower class. There is also an image of a hammer which the newspaper is assuming to have been used in the murder however this was not confirmed. This creates the viewpoint that this newspaper is aimed at a lower class as stereotypically they may be interested in the hammer, and may not want to read as much writing. The image of supposedly the place where the baby was killed is included, and in this image is a police car. This could show an ideology that lower class people are more interested in crime due to the police car having connotations of crime and the newspaper including this image.
Student 3
One way newspapers can incorporate viewpoints and ideologies is through the lexis they use For example emotive and colloquial language can be used to wither create a personal or informal effect. For example in the BBC news regarding a murder of a child the term "toddler is used. This is emotive language and positions the audience to feel closer to the child almost is the mothers point of view. The full sentence is "Finsbury park toddler death" After reading the article about a child being murdered the emotive language is effective as the world "toddler" conveys a very innocent tone but yet not a baby and suggests that they are old enough to know whats going on in the world therefore this conveys the producers ideology of that the murderer was a evil and diabolical man and that the whole case is very emotional and unjust.
Another way newspapers can incorporate viewpoints and ideologies is through anchorage. Anchorage is the process of fixing a particular meaning to a media text. This helps conveys the producers ideology of the topic and can often be very biased. An example of two newspapers anchoring specific ideologies are the two right and left wing newspapers: The Morning Star and The Sun. On the front page of The Morning Star the head line read "its got to be labour" in a bold typeface with a picture of Jeremy Corbyn with his thumbs up below. This anchors the idea that labour is the only way forward suggesting Corbyn has good ideas. The mise-en-scene of his thumbs up conveys a positive ideology of him anchoring the viewpoint that he is a good party. The use of the bold and large typeface suggests that the text is important and should not be missed, overall this conveys the producers ideology that The Morning Star is biased towards left wing politics and anchors the idea that we should vote for labour. On the other hand The sun is the opposite. On the front page of the sun it read "don't chuck Britain in the cor-bin" with an edited picture of Corbyn in the bun surrounded by rubbish. The mise-en-scene of the rubbish conveys a unprofessional and dirty representation of Corbyn suggesting that perhaps he is a "trash" politician this assumption is further supported by the pun "cor-bin". Overall this newspaper conveys the producers ideology that The Sun is biased towards right wing politics furthermore anchoring the audience to not vote for labour.
Moreover, another way newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies is through polysemic readings. a polysemic reading is where a media product has more than one meaning, therefor depending on how the audience interprets the reading they can lead to different views. For example back to the toddler murder in the BBC news the location Finsbury Park is used. This is a polysemic reading as many people may interpret this location differently, some may think this place is a middle class very nice place whereas some people may feel it is a working class, dirty place filled with crime. the headline for the BBC news is "Finsbury Park toddler death". This conveys the producers viewpoints and ideology that Finsbury park is a working class dirty place as the location is quickly followed by the world "death" which has negative connotations therefor presenting the producers ideology that Finsbury park is a negative place.
Another way newspapers can incorporate viewpoints an ideologies is through dominant ideology. This means that the newspaper presents a very strong belief and conveys how the producer feels. For example in The Daily Mirror the front page was about President Trump with the headline "what have they done.." with the image of the statue of liberty with her head in her hands surrounded by smoke. The mise-en-scene of the smoke behind the statue could be a intertextual reference to the 9/11 bombing suggesting that as another one could happen now trump has been elected. Also the lexis "they suggesting that we as Britain has nothing to do with it and americans have doomed their country themsleves. Therefore this use of dominant ideology conveys the producers viewpoint that trump is a bad president.
Another way newspapers can incorporate viewpoints and ideologies is through anchorage. Anchorage is the process of fixing a particular meaning to a media text. This helps conveys the producers ideology of the topic and can often be very biased. An example of two newspapers anchoring specific ideologies are the two right and left wing newspapers: The Morning Star and The Sun. On the front page of The Morning Star the head line read "its got to be labour" in a bold typeface with a picture of Jeremy Corbyn with his thumbs up below. This anchors the idea that labour is the only way forward suggesting Corbyn has good ideas. The mise-en-scene of his thumbs up conveys a positive ideology of him anchoring the viewpoint that he is a good party. The use of the bold and large typeface suggests that the text is important and should not be missed, overall this conveys the producers ideology that The Morning Star is biased towards left wing politics and anchors the idea that we should vote for labour. On the other hand The sun is the opposite. On the front page of the sun it read "don't chuck Britain in the cor-bin" with an edited picture of Corbyn in the bun surrounded by rubbish. The mise-en-scene of the rubbish conveys a unprofessional and dirty representation of Corbyn suggesting that perhaps he is a "trash" politician this assumption is further supported by the pun "cor-bin". Overall this newspaper conveys the producers ideology that The Sun is biased towards right wing politics furthermore anchoring the audience to not vote for labour.
Moreover, another way newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies is through polysemic readings. a polysemic reading is where a media product has more than one meaning, therefor depending on how the audience interprets the reading they can lead to different views. For example back to the toddler murder in the BBC news the location Finsbury Park is used. This is a polysemic reading as many people may interpret this location differently, some may think this place is a middle class very nice place whereas some people may feel it is a working class, dirty place filled with crime. the headline for the BBC news is "Finsbury Park toddler death". This conveys the producers viewpoints and ideology that Finsbury park is a working class dirty place as the location is quickly followed by the world "death" which has negative connotations therefor presenting the producers ideology that Finsbury park is a negative place.
Another way newspapers can incorporate viewpoints an ideologies is through dominant ideology. This means that the newspaper presents a very strong belief and conveys how the producer feels. For example in The Daily Mirror the front page was about President Trump with the headline "what have they done.." with the image of the statue of liberty with her head in her hands surrounded by smoke. The mise-en-scene of the smoke behind the statue could be a intertextual reference to the 9/11 bombing suggesting that as another one could happen now trump has been elected. Also the lexis "they suggesting that we as Britain has nothing to do with it and americans have doomed their country themsleves. Therefore this use of dominant ideology conveys the producers viewpoint that trump is a bad president.
Student 4
Newspapers incorporate ideologies and viewpoints in many different ways including the lexis used and images chose to represent their stories.
Firstly, the lexis used by the newspaper is a big factor in how audiences view ideologies. For example, in a daily mirror newspaper about a 1 year old who was killed, the newspaper decided to use words such as toddler whereas other papers, such as the times, used words like young boy. This small difference creates a big impact on the audience as ‘toddler’ and ‘young boy’ create different reactions towards the suspected ‘murder’. For example, the daily mirror’s use of the word toddler makes the child seem more innocent and defenceless than young boy. This is one way the newspaper incorporated their ideology as they believed the murderer was an awful person and wanted the audience to think the same thing so they used more emotive language.
Another way newspapers can incorporate their own ideologies is through the images selected. Newspapers can create positive or negative viewpoints of people or events simply by the images used. For example, the daily mirror, when reporting on Donald trump winning the 2016 elections used an image of the statue of liberty with her hands covering her face in shame. This can create polysemic readings for the audience and overall creates a negative ideology of Donald trump. This is because the statue of liberty is a symbol of hope and the way she is covering her face suggests that there is no hope for America. Furthermore, there is a sense of intertextuality between the destruction in the background and disaster movies. This reinforces the ideology that Donald trump is bad for the world. This creates a link for the audience between Donald trump and destruction/disaster which links to George Gerbner’s theory of cultivation which suggests that if an audience is exposed to repeated patterns of representation, it will influence how they perceive that thing/person. Therefore, in adding this intertextuality, the newspaper is incorporating their ideology that Donald trump is dangerous and unfit to lead.
Thirdly, the positioning of certain headings/subheadings etc.. create different viewpoints for the audience. For example, the times’ newspaper also covering the 2016 presidential elections presented trump in a more positive way. A subheading on the front cover that read ‘THE NEW WORLD’ was positioned directly over Donald trump’s heart which has connotations of love, respect, power and unity. Just above the heading, Donald trump’s fist is in the air which represents power and patriotism. However, one possible negotiation for the audience could be that it represents dictatorship and possibly danger as it shows he is not afraid to use his power. This is one example of how newspapers can incorporate more than one ideology into the same thing. This is also shown through the image used and Donald trump’s unsure face. This creates the ideology that he is unprepared and possibly scared of his responsibility.
Student 5
In The Daily Mirror on the day of Trumps presidency, the ideology in that Trumps presidential position would be devastating is incorporated. One way in which The Daily Mirror have done this is through the choice of lexis "What have they done?". This headline presents a rhetorical question to the audience, creating an uncomfortable direct mode of address. This anchors the audience to believe viewpoints that the Americans have made a huge mistake and that the consequences should be fatal. The use of sans serif font in this headline acts as a hermeneutic connotation for the audience, that it is formal and blunt this suggests trump being president will lack informality, also a connotation of a tabloid newspaper. The mise-en-scene of the red text situated at the bottom suggests danger and destruction further insinuation that the mirror us biased against trump. Also in the mise-en-scene is a representation of terrorism, we can link this to Stuart Hall's theory of representation and the idea that in order to incorporate viewpoints and ideologies, newspapers such as The Daily Mirror use representation to convey their attitudes to the audience. The Daily Mirror presents this ideology of terrorism through the use of smoke and bombings in the background. This use of a polysemy or polysemic reading is a way in which newspapers/ producers create these viewpoints and ideologies. For example the mise-en-scene of the smoke connotes bombings and war. This infers to the audience that as a result of Trumps presidency ahh hell will break loose. Another way newspapers such as The Daily Mirror can convey these ideologies and viewpoints is through the use of intertextuality. The use of the Statue of Liberty, as seen in other media texts such as films and also other newspapers, is in a example of this. This intertextual reference creates a new way in which the audience can interpret the media language. A dominant ideology produced in this text is the ideology that trumps presidency will be explosive, for all of the wrong reasons. This is because the Mirrors use of the image of New York and the Statue of Liberty within the composition , connotes and gives reference to 9/11. As a result of this we can incorporate the viewpoints of The Mirror and construct the opinion that they are holding bias towards left wing politics, we know this due to their negative attitudes and the way in which they represent trump. Their agenda and use of only referring to Trumps surname is also assumptious towards its working class audience and presuming the fact that they know who Trump is and what has happened. They may be presumptuous of this because in The Daily Mirrors opinion this story is massive and life changing for many people.
However, The Times newspaper incorporate different viewpoints and ideologies. The dominant ideology being that Trump is great and that his presidency will bring only good things. One way newspapers can do this is through their choice of what is placed into the mise-en-scene of the images they select. For example Trump's red tie is connotative of hope, positivity, and patriotism. Red is also the colour of the republican party. Media language and lexis is also used to incorporate ideologies and viewpoints by The Times as it is by The Daily Mirror. The headline 'THE NEW WORLD is presented in sans-serif font which has connotations of positivity, seriousness, and the ideology that Trump will be a global force for good. Polysemic readings are also used by The Times like The Daily Mirror, for example lexis and choice of the word 'shockwaves' is perhaps symbolic of natural disasters. Potentially, the audience may negotiate a negative response to Trump which contrasts with other ideologies the audience can incorporate from the article. The composition and number of pages used to inform the audience of the information within the article by the producer is also a method used by newspapers. For example we know that Time Times think largely of Trump as their article takes us a two- page spread. This image chosen is flattering and the Media Language is positive and influential. The headline is placed at the top of the article. However in contrast to this The Daily Mirror think lesser of Trump as their article is spread over one single page. The article is also structured differently for example the image takes up most of the spread and is not even of Trump. Overall we can infer that The Times use a variety of methods to incorporate their ideologies and viewpoints for example they anchor ideologies that are more positive. One main ideology we can conceive is that ultimately, by generally supporting Trump, The Times has demonstrated a significant right wing bias. Further reinforces the ideological perspective of the newspaper.
However, The Times newspaper incorporate different viewpoints and ideologies. The dominant ideology being that Trump is great and that his presidency will bring only good things. One way newspapers can do this is through their choice of what is placed into the mise-en-scene of the images they select. For example Trump's red tie is connotative of hope, positivity, and patriotism. Red is also the colour of the republican party. Media language and lexis is also used to incorporate ideologies and viewpoints by The Times as it is by The Daily Mirror. The headline 'THE NEW WORLD is presented in sans-serif font which has connotations of positivity, seriousness, and the ideology that Trump will be a global force for good. Polysemic readings are also used by The Times like The Daily Mirror, for example lexis and choice of the word 'shockwaves' is perhaps symbolic of natural disasters. Potentially, the audience may negotiate a negative response to Trump which contrasts with other ideologies the audience can incorporate from the article. The composition and number of pages used to inform the audience of the information within the article by the producer is also a method used by newspapers. For example we know that Time Times think largely of Trump as their article takes us a two- page spread. This image chosen is flattering and the Media Language is positive and influential. The headline is placed at the top of the article. However in contrast to this The Daily Mirror think lesser of Trump as their article is spread over one single page. The article is also structured differently for example the image takes up most of the spread and is not even of Trump. Overall we can infer that The Times use a variety of methods to incorporate their ideologies and viewpoints for example they anchor ideologies that are more positive. One main ideology we can conceive is that ultimately, by generally supporting Trump, The Times has demonstrated a significant right wing bias. Further reinforces the ideological perspective of the newspaper.
Student 6
Newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideology in many different ways including in the Daily Mirrors front cover from Thursday the 10th of November 2016 when Donald Trump was elected at President of the United States. the Mise-en-scene of the front covers background of the dark coloured clouds and smokey sky which we have seen before as war ideology ,acts a s proairetic code which suggests that trump will bring war to the country this anchors the audience to believe that he will not do good for the country and will bring war to them. another example of Mise-en-scene from the newspaper front cover is the sans serif font lexis of "what have they done" this suggests that the world is disappointed with this decision and anchors the audience to feel this way too if they don't already.The mise-en -scene of the image of the statue of liberty covering her face, is important because the audience are aware of it and know that the statue is a reference of liberty which means freedom, so the fact that the statue of liberty is covering her face in a disappointed way it could suggest that the producers viewpoint is that the countries freedom has been taken away from them.
The Times newspaper also wrote an article about the presidential election of Donald trump whereas the Daily mirrors front page article has a much more negative approach the Times is much more patriarchal and demonstrates a positive viewpoint of Trump in the sense that it includes the american flag in the background which suggests that the producers of this newspapers ideology about trump is that he will do well for them as a country. The mise- en-scene of the headline in serif font of "the new world"has connotations of positivity, seriousness and ideology that trump will be a global force of good.also the producers have deliberately placed the the headline directly over Trumps heart which demonstrates his love and intentions to shape the world , the producers have done this to help connote a positive viewpoint of the new President. The back page lexis of the pull quote" you will be so proud of your president, you will be so proud" the lexis demonstrates the new presidents egotism , but may be comparative to other people such as martin luther king , however also intertextual reference to a comic book villain. Also because they colour being yellow in the repetition of "you will be so proud" have connotations of strength and vibrance.
The Daily Mirror incorporate positive viewpoints and ideologies where as the the Times producers have very different producers viewpoints and ideologies for example the lexis of the head line of newspaper plays a huge part in telling the audience the viewpoints of the producers as in the Daily mirror sans serif font is used which has connotations of being bold and dramatic which may be connoting that the producers feel this way about the election. but very differently in the Times serif font is used which has connotations of class and sophistication which not only could reflect the producers viewpoint but also the class of the people who the newspaper is aimed at.
Student 7
News papers can portray their ideological views in many different ways to get the ideas and believes across that they want their target audience to believe or negotiate with. It is beneficial that all newspapers incorporate their viewpoints and ideologies in subtle ways so to attract the right target audience, portray a message and create entertainment which all overall, make money for the newspaper industries.
Newspapers need to be different from each other so that they stand out. One of the main ways you can identify a newspapers ideology is by the language used and the image(s) selected firstly on the front cover; these all give indication as to what target audience the newspaper is trying to appeal to, and also what ideological perspective they are trying to manipulate into the main story. One clear example of opposing ideologies on the same event is when Donald Trump won the Election in America and therefore became president. The Daily Mirror presented their viewpoint to be one of disappointment and worry for the future of not only the country, but the world. Its obvious that the newspaper do not like Trump by the way they have presented their newspaper front cover: The main image chosen is very effective as it includes hidden connotations of war and explosions behind the statue of liberty which is (ironically) covering her face in fear, also giving indications of intertextuality because the background of the picture looks like a scene from an action/war movie - more specifically the planet of the apes- which references the ideology that Trump may cause the end of the world. the mise-en-scene of the statue of liberty covering her face shows that the Daily Mirror think Trump is untrustworthy; the statue of Liberty is symbolic for hope, freedom and liberty, a binary opposition is created by having her appear worried for the country. The slogan "what have they done?" shows a British perspective asking why Donald Trump was elected, however it also looks like the Statue of liberty is saying this whilst watching over the country. This Newspaper assumes that the target audience knows about politics and the American election as it's referring to him only by his second name, it says "its president Trump..." which assumes that we know that he won and that elections were going on in America, the colour of the text is also red which gives the proairetic code of danger and violence, emphasising their viewpoint that Trump is untrustworthy and a bad mistake. This newspaper is clearly targeted to a stereotypical, middle class audience who take interest in politics and disagree with the outcome of the election.
A second example of how news papers can shows ideological perspectives is The Times representation of the election. This newspaper is seen to be more positive as it features the american flag and states " the new world" over trumps heart giving it more positive connotations. the composition of the main image shows it is a special event as it is over a double page spread which isn't the usual form of a newspapers front cover- this will entice an audience to buy the newspaper and read it. The newspaper anchors us to focus on the fact Trump has won, the mise-en-scene of his fist in the air makes him victorious and strong, however this has polysemic views of slyness as it also portrays violence.
Student 8
Industry needs to promote its institution to attract more customers and in turn to appeal to their target audience, for instance the Daily Mirror and the Case Study of their newspaper with the headline “It’s President Trump” “What have they Done”. This headline is on top of the Main image of the statue of liberty weeping into its hands. This case study presents many ideological points portrayed by the producer. The Mise-en-scene of the weeping statue of liberty symbolizes that a great tragedy has forsaken all of America as the statue of liberty is commonly shown to represent America. There too is an instance of intertextuality with the weeping angels from Doctor Who a British TV show in which in one of the episodes the Statue of Liberty is shown covering its face weeping however behind its hands is a demonic and terrifying face, this shows that the Daily mirror is targeting this paper to a British audience and also anchoring to a more liberal point of view as Trump, the winner of the election is depicted to be the worst possible choice and that with him as president, America and in turn the world will be thrown into chaos. This article clearly depicts how newspapers can hold political biases and dominant ideologies doing so in order to please their target audience.
So as seen in the Daily mirror many factors can show a newspapers viewpoint and ideologies of specific events, another event that can be used to shown is how one news story is covered by different news corporations, showing the differences between their ideological biases. The story covered was that of a 1 year old boy found dead and how his father had been arrested due to suspicion of having attacked the young boy and the babies twin sister. The Times covers the story under the folio of News however it is page 7 news suggesting the times news doesn’t see this story to be very newsworthy, being that less people would be interested in reading it, and the way the article is compacted into the top of page seven not a full page such as shown by the daily mirror it enforces that the Times beliefs this article isn’t of much relevance to its target demographic. In this article the Times suggests in its headline “Man held after baby dies ‘in attack on twins’” that the baby was brutally murdered yet in the article itself there is no suggestion of such a thing, in fact there is no reason of death at all inside the article. Another article that covered the events was the Daily Mirror who dedicated an entire page to this story showing their ideological bias to the relevance of this story, Large bold headline used to make the story appeal to the audience, and an image of parents located to the side of the part of the article discussing mental health and this message of the parents being mentally ill is enforced by the body language of the parents in the image chosen looking rather sinister. Use of the name of the eye witness suggests authenticity of the article this quote however is not used in the article by the Times.
In these case studies show how articles can show their viewpoints and portray them to their audience, and how it can be done in many different ways. And as Stuart Halls theory of representation dictates different people will perceive the articles in their own opinion.
Student 9
Stuart Hall's theory of representation can be used to answer this by looking at how the producer's ideology can be decoded by the audience, the different readings from the audience; the oppositional reading with those who don't relate to the story and therefore may disagree with it, and then the negotiated reading in which the audience may relate to the media product however disagree with how it comes across to the audience. For example, The Times' front cover from a couple of years ago is polysemic, this is because it shows Trump looking proud and powerful with him holding his fist to the air, bringing connotations of freedom and strength; in which the audience may see the spread image biased towards Trump as well as the huge American flag behind the two figures suggesting patriotism and that he will have a large, positive impact on America. However the polysemy comes by how you interpret the front cover as the pull quote 'You will be so proud of your president, you will be so proud' which reinforces his ego as well as possibly making the reader feel uncomfortable due to the fact it feels as if it's being forced upon the audience. This links to how audiences can respond and interpret the ideological perspectives of the newspapers because it shows how they have multiple readings and that it's just how the audience sees the news stories, and how their personal views can affect how they interpret it.
Intertextuality is also important in helping the audience interpret the ideological perspectives of newspapers. Intertextuality is typically used in tabloid papers because of how it could be seen as informal, going against the whole tone of broadsheet papers. An example of intertextuality could be seen in the Daily Mirrors front cover of Trump's success with the elections, showing the statue of liberty weeping with a dark and gloomy setting, giving off connotations of a post-apocalyptic future; maybe implying Trump being in the White House will cause such tragic events such as 9/11 which can also be seen through the front cover with the smoke in the background, clearly a tragic world-known event. The use of sans-serif font has a hermeneutic connotation for the audience, with it being formal and blunt, further suggesting Trump will lack formallity. Hall's theory of reception can be used again here to see that the dominant reading from the front cover is clearly anti-Trump and that him being in power will lead to horrible futures; a negotiated reading of Trump being in power will not end well but not to the extent of the world coming to an end as we know it. The oppositional reading would be from people who favour Trump over his opposition which most likely isn't many people due to the fact the Daily Mirror is aimed at the working class in Britain, with not many people over here liking him as a person or a politician, again leading to it's all down to how the reader interprets the newspapers over their own personal views but for the majority of the time the newspaper's producer would have anchored their ideology within the news story through the headline, masthead, pull quote, etc.
Often newspapers use human interest stories to entertain the reader, stories that won't affect the audience in anyway but cause the reader to react in such way to entertain them. This is a common method of including multiple readings within a story, the majority of the time it uses your social and political backgrounds to determine how you feel about the news story. For example a right wing conservative may feel differently to a news story about a child gone missing in an area known for crime in comparison to someone in the working class who opposes their beliefs. Furthermore, the newspapers allow this to happen for one simple reason, profit. Allowing the audience to interpret the newspapers however they like could mean a wider audience
Student 10
In what ways can newspapers incorporate viewpoints and ideologies? An example of contrasting viewpoints showed in newspaper is the two different covers of two mainstream newspapers on Trumps inauguration day. The Daily Mirror used fictional mise en scene to create an almost apocalyptic idea of what was to come with trump has president. The background smoke and weeping statue of liberty acted as a proairetic code foreshadowing what the ideologies of the daily mirror and what they believe is going to happen. On the other hand, the more right winged newspaper The Times had a more formal and optimistic cover. The mise en scene of the American flag was symbolic of the renowned American values: freedom, justice. This leads us to believe that the ideologies of the times is the they are anchoring the audience to think that Trump becoming president is a positive. Another way the newspapers are shown to be different is the font used, the times is using serif font which connotes to being formal and serious however the Daily Mirror uses a much more informal font, which highlights the idea that Trump is not someone who should be taken seriously despite his new role. A polysemic reading of the Times cover could be the quote used from Trump “ You will be so proud of your president. You will be so proud.” This could be seen as a criticism of Trumps arrogance. Furthermore, a very common ideology shown in many newspapers, tabloid especially, is the unrealistic and negative representation of women. An example of this is an article by the Daily Mirror in which multiple pictures of girls in very minimal clothing were plastered all over the website and the excuse for this was that they were looking at their bedroom floors. This article put the women in the picture in a very vulnerable position as hundreds of people used the comment section the voice their opinions. The comment section is another example of a way in which newspapers can incorporate different viewpoints as they have created a space where anyone can voice their own viewpoint. The theorist Liesbet Van Zoonen, discusses the theory of feminism, in which she believes that women’s bodies are used in media products as spectacle for heterosexual male audiences which reinforces patriarchal hegemony. Not only was the article previously discussed a prime example of this, but this idea is also found on the infamous ‘side bar of shame’ where daily pictures are posted of women’s bodies where men are able to discuss whether they think their bodies are acceptable or not. The ideologies shown through these articles are not only objectifying but also have an impact on the women reading the articles who start to think they need to live up to the standards created by the media, in this case newspapers such as the daily mirror, to be validated in society.