Marxists
Marxist views of the media tend to suggest that media makes us more passive than active. Depending on which theorists you look at they forward a number of arguments:
1. That the media injects ideas into us in a manner that resembles the hypodermic syringe model and that audiences are passive.
2. That those ideas create dominant ideologies. Dominant ideologies might provide models of behaviour or thinking.
3. Dominant ideologies can make us cut negatively towards certain groups in society. Women, different ethnicities, different sexualities, class based groups.
4. Marxists also believe that the media serves the interests of others, that dominant ideologies legitimise inequalities in society.
According to Marxist theorists, our identities are shaped by the mass media and that we are powerless to resist.
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Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky is most noted for his five filters that enable the media to "manufacture consent". According to Chomsky the media is able channel our believes because of the the following:
1. Ownership: ownership of the media is concentrated in the hands of a tiny number of media conglomerates. As a result, the media is incapable of diversity. At a more sinister level, one could argue that the media is directly controlled by those who own these conglomerates.
2. Advertising: Chomsky suggests that advertising determines content, that advertising revenues and the reliance of companies on advertising revenues creates bias within their editorial decisions.
3. Official sources: most news, Chomsky argues, relies, on official sources (government departments, corporate press releases and so on) in order to write their editorial content. This reliance compromises the editorial neutrality of the news and means that news agendas are beyond the control of the media
4. Flak: perhaps the most sinister filter in that Chomsky suggests that the media can be purposefully fed disinformation by those in power in order to mislead or distract.
5. The enemy: Chomsky argues that the media are distracted by the creation of enemies: terrorists, jihadis and religious fundamentalists in todays world. This enemy, Chomsky argues, distracts us from real news.
1. Ownership: ownership of the media is concentrated in the hands of a tiny number of media conglomerates. As a result, the media is incapable of diversity. At a more sinister level, one could argue that the media is directly controlled by those who own these conglomerates.
2. Advertising: Chomsky suggests that advertising determines content, that advertising revenues and the reliance of companies on advertising revenues creates bias within their editorial decisions.
3. Official sources: most news, Chomsky argues, relies, on official sources (government departments, corporate press releases and so on) in order to write their editorial content. This reliance compromises the editorial neutrality of the news and means that news agendas are beyond the control of the media
4. Flak: perhaps the most sinister filter in that Chomsky suggests that the media can be purposefully fed disinformation by those in power in order to mislead or distract.
5. The enemy: Chomsky argues that the media are distracted by the creation of enemies: terrorists, jihadis and religious fundamentalists in todays world. This enemy, Chomsky argues, distracts us from real news.
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Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes theory of 'naturalisation' suggests that media's power lies in its ability to convince us that certain ideas or behaviours are 'natural' to us. Advertising in particular uses messages that convince us that it is unquestionably natural for us to consume the products or services that they are selling.
Similarly, Barthes talks about how products or ideas are positioned with 'mythic' qualities, qualities that are so deeply ingrained within the fabric of our culture that we never question their correctness or validity. Adverts, for example, tell us that products are inherently British generating 'myth' like narratives to sell to us.
Similarly, Barthes talks about how products or ideas are positioned with 'mythic' qualities, qualities that are so deeply ingrained within the fabric of our culture that we never question their correctness or validity. Adverts, for example, tell us that products are inherently British generating 'myth' like narratives to sell to us.
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Owen Jones
Jones draws our attention to the treatment of the working class. He firstly draws attention to lack of media products that deal with working class issues or are created by media producers who are from working class backgrounds.
To Jones, the media is saturated with representatives from middle class backgrounds. This is partially explained by the reliance that media products have upon advertising, advertising for products that only ABC1 audiences can afford. As a result, the media serves middle class audiences in a bid to create affluent audiences for whom such advertising is designed.
Jones also argues that working class values and communities are vilified by the media, partially due to the lack of self representing texts, but also for ideological reasons, because the lower classes represent an 'other' to the values of an urban and highly educated middle class.
To Jones, the media is saturated with representatives from middle class backgrounds. This is partially explained by the reliance that media products have upon advertising, advertising for products that only ABC1 audiences can afford. As a result, the media serves middle class audiences in a bid to create affluent audiences for whom such advertising is designed.
Jones also argues that working class values and communities are vilified by the media, partially due to the lack of self representing texts, but also for ideological reasons, because the lower classes represent an 'other' to the values of an urban and highly educated middle class.
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Antonio Gramsci
Antonio Gramsci introduced the concept of hegemony. He used this concept to explain how popular culture contributed to the manufacturing of consent for bourgeoisie power within capitalist societies by presenting certain divisions in society as ‘common sense’ (for example, the representations of middle-class people in positions of power and influence).
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