Mark Duggan/London Riots – August 2011

Figure 1 Figure 2

Figure 1 contains the riots within London, as it is considered a ‘city-centric’, cosmopolitan paper
therefore its main focus would be on the city of London itself, where as in Figure 2, the Daily Mail is
considered to be read by an audience who would be in suburban, rural areas rather than in the
cities, therefore a focus on the riots then spreading out of the city would be of more importance to
the larger majority of its readers.

The images also give an insight into the angle at what the newspaper is going towards, as one sees a
woman being rescued, showing perhaps the good work of the services in helping those, and how the
services are fighting against adversity to save London. Where as in Figure 2 it shows a fire and a
covered up face of someone participating in the riots, a somewhat intimidating image to show the
destruction and how terrible the riots actually are – they are trying to criminalise all of the rioters –
villains.

Stuart Hall – Encoding/Decoding

In 1980 Hall proposed a model of mass communication, showing how important the process of
active interpretation is within relevant codes.

The model consists of:

 A moment of encoding when the ‘institutional practices and organizational conditions and
practices of production’ take place.
 Moment of text: ‘the symbolic construction, arrangement, and perhaps performance. The
form and content of what is published and broadcast’.
  Moment of decoding: ‘the moment of reception or consumption’.

Due to an audiences ‘active role’, decoding may actually be different to the encoder’s intentions.
Hall then proposed three different readings of a text:

The Daily Mail and The Guardian both express different feelings about Brexit through the headlines
of each newspaper. Firstly the Daily Mail states ‘TAKE A BOW BRITAIN!’ – suggesting that the Britain
deciding to break away from the EU was a good thing, so much in fact that we deserve praise
through the act of ‘taking a bow’. The readers of this newspaper are typically of an older generation,
living in rural areas and therefore would view leaving the EU as the right thing to do as they would
be typically the least affected by the consequences of doing so. Whereas The Guardian has the
headline ‘Over. And out’. The simplicity of the headline as well as the period between the headline
perhaps suggests an idea that we have lost and that this is ‘the end’ – which again could be
interpreted through the content of the headline also, as over and out is typically a statement when
something is complete/finished, maybe The Guardian are somewhat suggesting the end of Britain as
we know it? The Guardian is also considered a cosmopolitan newspaper and very much for a reader
in a city location such as London, where the effects of this would be more in play.
The Daily Mail is focused the fact that the aim for gay marriage is not going particularly well (at the
time of publishing), focusing on the failures of their trials rather than perhaps the fight in favour of
gay marriage that is otherwise shown in The Guardian. Furthermore the image of The Guardian
shows perhaps this struggle and this fight as David Cameron is seen under great stress.

Word choices reflect these views again as the Daily Mail utilises words such as ‘MELTDOWN’ – again
showing this idea of the stress brought about where as The Guardian uses words such as ‘PLEADS’
and ‘SAVE’ showing again how they’re trying to make a difference rather than focusing on the
negative ideas
Fake News

The Collins definition for fake news states that it is “false, often sensational, information
disseminated under the guise of news reporting”

What is the writer’s purpose and viewpoint?

The writer’s purpose is to inform the readers of this article and fans of the television series
‘Homeland’ of the recent on goings in the life of star actress Claire Danes. However the writer may
come from a manipulative viewpoint as the contents of the article and in particular the headline is
overtly sexualised through the use of phrases such as ‘…her fit figure in tight exercise gear’ ‘…sweats
it out’. This in turn evokes an air of interest in not only the actress for her reputation of being
exceptionally good in what she does but more so for her features and her body, therefore people
have a keen interest into what she looks like to perhaps compare their body to hers or perhaps
simply admiration – linking to the idea of ‘the male gaze’.

How can you tell?

Again this can be reaffirmed through the word choices of the writer being able to be considered
somewhat sexual as shown previously, the purpose can also be reaffirmed due to the fact that
throughout the article there is a constant reference to this actress being linked in the Homeland TV
series – “To take on the role of CIA officer Carrie Mathison in her hit series Homeland she is required
to be in peak physical condition’. With this quotation being the first line of the entire article, it is
clear to understand that this is a key component of the article that the writer would intend for the
audience to see.

 Normalising bias untruth

 Manipulate
 Persuasion
 Confusion
 Strong opinion

By making accusations of fake news, you can avoid dealing with difficult topics of questions.

What can be done about fake news?

We can learn to give fake news less of an influence if instead of just absorbing the information we
see at a first glance we are more apprehensive of what the news produced in our modern society –
we must to educate ourselves on what is considered reputable websites such as the BBC and be
ready to investigate into news stories in order to clarify whether a story is in fact fake news or not.
Furthermore people can inform others of whether something is fake news, and therefore educate
them – this can be done through social media posts or utilising some websites features such as
Facebook to report something that is in fact fake news.
Cultivation Theory

Historical Context:

 In the 1950s television became a way of life in the US.

 The widespread influence of TV became a concern for many scholars and policy makers.
LEADING TO THE CULTIVATION THEORY
 First proposed by Professor George Gerber

Main Arguments:

 Looking at TV as a social agent he studies the effect of TV exposure

 This of course now extends to social media and the internet
 The more we live with TV, the more invisible It becomes – Chandler 1995
 Watching TV changes the viewers attitudes rather than behaviour
 The exposure to television overtime will shape viewer’s perceptions of reality
 Having long term effects which are small, gradual, indirect but significant

Has 2 order effects:

 First order effects: general beliefs about the world day.

 Second order effects: specific attitudes and judgements
 This divides viewers into two levels: light viewers, heavy viewers.

Heavy Viewer’s Demographics:

 Young People
 Low socio-economic groups
 Those watching TV more than 4 hours/day
 Being affected by Mean World Syndrome
 (They see the world as a nastier and more violent than what it really is)
 Less selective in what they view
 More likely to expect to be involved in violence (e.g. game online)
 ‘monkey see, monkey do’ – completely passive in the way we are psychologically influenced.
 EXAMPLE: Grand Theft Auto’s Victim, Devin Moore in 2005 stated – “Life’s like a video game,
you’ve got to die sometime”.
 More fearful about life (e.g. worried about walking alone at night, overestimating the size of
law enforcement, distrustful of people).
 BUT they’re unaware of any influence of TV exposure on their attitudes.
 A CYCLE: SCARY – STAYING AT HOME – WATCHING TV
UK Press – “Regulation VS. Free Press”

 PCC – Press Complaints Commission

 UK always trying to find a balance between regulation and free press.

Leveson Inquiry:

 It was a ‘public judge-led inquiry’ that began in July 2011.

 This began a series of public hearings through 2011-2012.
 It was set up by David Cameron as a means to investigate the press – this was put into place
after journalists at News of The World were accused of illegally accessing voicemail
messages of sports stars, celebrities and in particular the voicemail messages of a young
teenage girl Milly Dowler who had been murdered, but missing at the time.
 Due to this investigation it resulted in the owner of News of The World, News International
to close down.
 Lord Justice Leveson recommended that the press should be regulated by:
 Newspapers continuing to be self-regulated and the government should have no power over
what newspapers publish.
 Legislation should be provided to ensure this new press standards organisation would be
independent and effective in dealing with public complaints – Independent Press Standards
Organisation (IPSO).
 More than 4,000 people had been identified as being affected by this hacking scandal.
 Leveson suggested that a new ‘Watchdog independent of MPs and newspapers, with
statutory underpinning’ – something where there is no influence from other industries, as
well as the government. The PCC isn’t fit for purpose.
 Government should be making a duty to allow the freedom of the press, as well as there
being an independent regulator, organised by the industry.
 The watchdog should have “sufficient powers to carry out investigations into both suspected
serious or systemic breaches of the code”.
 Leveson recommended that although newspapers are able to opt out of the regulatory
body, they should join the independent regulator. If not they should be policed by the
broadcast watchdog – Ofcom.

Findings of the Leveson Inquiry:

 Convinced that the phone hacking was most likely confined to one or two people – and
therefore a secret/undercover task.
 Newspapers are constantly in pursuit of sensational stories, with this being a priority.
Newspapers do not think about the thoughts/feelings of those affected by these stories
produced.
 Families of actors and footballers also have the rights to privacy, previously newspapers had
the potential to destroy important, personal moments.
 Condemns covert surveillance
 Failure of compliance and governance at the News of the World.
 Free Press

 A plural press – e.g. when a story is produced, it is in more than one different way.
 Allows the individual to decide their own opinion on an event.
 We value the pursuit of truth and freedom of information in a democracy.
 Looking for impartiality, and non-bias.
 Digitization of media has allowed various voices/choices in press.
 Although a lot of it can be considered fake news.
 Two things that need to be promoted in order to have free speech:
1. The right to know
2. The right to tell/share

What is a free press?

 A free press is where various forms of media, e.g. newspapers, television and radio stations
are enabled to express any point of view/opinion that they wish, even if this is a criticism of
a government or another organisation.

Why is it so important in a democracy?

 The idea of a free press is important in a democracy. This is due to the fact that in a
democracy people are able to have a variety of opinions – therefore all of these opinions
cannot be expressed unless there is a free press put into place, this allows for everyone to
be included no matter how controversial or unpopular it is. Furthermore in a democracy
people are allowed the right to information and the right to form an opinion on this
information and again without the presence of a free press both of these would be stripped
away from those in a democratic society.