Political ideology

Introduction: lets make this political

Ideology refers to the beliefs and values of the producer of a media product. But it also refers to our own beliefs and values.

Politics refers to how power is distributed. When we say 'politics', we tend to think of government, politicians, and world leaders like Emanuel Macron, Joe Biden and Liz Truss I mean Rishi Sunak.

For some people, EVERYTHING is political, as everything is about power and its exchange. For example public transport is political, as it reflects a decision as to how easily certain people can and cannot move freely. Videogames are political, as they reflect certain ideologies about sex and violence, and this can be reflected in society. When we think like this, the world becomes very complicated, and even scary.

For other people, NOTHING should be political. Games should just be games, books should just be books, and things like gender and race should be less important. You might have heard the phrase: "let's not make this political". When we think like this, the world becomes very straightforward.

For media studies, we are more likely to assume that everything is political. This is because, at it's heart, media studies is the study of power, who has this power, and how it gets distributed. One aspect of media studies that is unarguably political, however, are newspapers, which always demonstrate a political ideology, and therefore always demonstrate a political bias.

Bias - to favour one perspective, opinion

Types of bias

Bias through selection - where a particular story, image or source is used to reinforce a certain ideology

Bias through omission - where a particular story, image or source is NOT used, to reinforce a certain ideology

This handy guide represents the political ideologies of many of the major UK newspapers. Of course, this is completely up to interpretation, but generally I think it's spot on! Image via Nathan Gamester

Researching the difference between left and right wing politics

You may have heard these terms before, but what do they actually mean? Well, you are going to use the internet to find out!

Task 1: make two headings: right wing and left wing, and make notes about what these could mean underneath them.

BUT: this task is filled with difficulty. Why? Because every media product, and every person is biased. Yes, this includes me. It is absolutely impossible to avoid bias. So please, look at several sources when completing your research. 

By way if example, here's how my father in law explained right and left wing policy to his children when they were young:

"If you worked really hard for your money, would you just give it to someone who hadn't worked at all for it? Let's say you were on a desert island. You work really hard to make a hut and a running water supply. You grow crops and make a toilet. But this other guy lazes around and does nothing. Should he get to use your hut? No. That's why I'm right wing"

This is a pretty unhelpful analogy, even if it is very simple. It is extremely specific and is related to an imagined society of two people rather than 70 million. But most of all, it is deliberately emotive, and is designed to accept one answer. "Yes, I would let the bad man live in my hut" is clearly the wrong answer. In general, simple analogies like this tell us absolutely nothing about our world. A similar example might be "Rishi Sunak is literally Hitler". This is also simple, straightforward, emotive, and means that if you argue against it, you are probably a Nazi.

This type of argument is called a 'persuasive definition'. You cannot disagree with it without looking like a fool. It's a terrible way to make an argument, as it is made to deliberately wind up the recipient

However, newspapers use biased and emotive ideological perspectives like this all the time

Bias in action 1

The above page was published on the night of a general election between Teresa May's conservative government and Jeremy Corbyn's labour government. It is probably the most open and extreme example of political bias ever seen in a UK newspaper. 

Task 2 - use the textual analysis toolkit to answer the below questions

• What techniques are used to construct representations in this front page?
• How does the front page utilise both bias through selection and bias through omission? How do you know?
• How does this newspaper use 'persuasive definitions'? What are you if you disagree with the ideology of the newspaper?
• Why is this newspaper being so blatant with it's ideology? What is it trying to achieve? AND WHY?

Bias in action 2

You're probably really familiar with the above image. If you are sitting the exam in 2024 and beyond, you will be expected to make reference to this front page!

So, exactly the same:

Task 3 - use the textual analysis toolkit to answer the below questions

• What techniques are used to construct representations in this front page?
• How does the front page utilise both bias through selection and bias through omission? How do you know?
• How does this newspaper use 'persuasive definitions'? What are you if you disagree with the ideology of the newspaper?
• Why is this newspaper being so blatant with it's ideology? What is it trying to achieve? AND WHY?

What is your own ideology?

You might have a clear idea of your ideology. You might not. You might not care. But ideology, and politics influences every aspect of your life, weather you chose to think about it or not. 

I Stand With is a comprehensive online tool that lets you answer a number of questions, and then will tell you which UK political party best suits your ideology, based on their own manifestos (which are essentially a list of promises that parties make if they are to get voted in. Whether or not they actually do these things is another story!)

There are some difficult questions on here, and you can click to get more information. Remember, that every definition is potentially biased, and even something like I Stand With, which broadly seems legit, is swimming with bias. But it's a good starting point.

Task 4 - what political ideology are you? Take this quiz to find out!

Click here to take the quiz