Introduction to the Times and Constructing Representation

Introduction to the Times and Constructing Representation

• What advantages are there to a newspaper demonstrating a particular political/ideological bias?
• System of control and power.
• Hegemony.
• Having an ideology means you can attract more of a target audience.
• Helps to be part of your identity.
• To gain the support of a political party.
• Our ideas are challenged and this is repeated over and over again.

• Whats the difference between a Tabloid and a Broadsheet?
• Tabloid is more gossip whereas Broadsheet is 'actual news'.
• The Daily Mirror is aimed at working class people.
• Less eye catching images in the broadsheet compared to the Tabloid.
• The tabloids slang term is 'a red top' as they have red titles, and broadsheet is known as the 'serious press'. 
• The headlines on the Tabloid are larger than the Broadsheet.
• The level of literacy is below GCSE level to read the Daily Mirror (Tabloid) whereas the level of literacy is above GCSE to read The Guardian (Broadsheet).
• Broadsheet has a story on the front page, apart from the masthead and above it just looks like the inside of a normal newspaper.
• Broadsheet's are much more expensive than Tabloids which gives an idea of the income of their target audience of the higher social groups.

Polysemy - Polysemic

• Polysemy
• Not everything has a single meaning. One of the best ways of applying Media Theory, is through suggesting two or more possible meanings.

• In creating a newspaper, producers typically attempt to avoid polysemic readings. The process of forcing an audience in to a particular reading is called anchoring.

• Anchorage 
• The 'fixing' of a particular meaning to a media text, often through the use of captions.

• Taking inferences from a un captioned image.
• Strength, Anger, Power, Hope, Unity. 

The Sun - Right Wing VS. Morning Star - Left Wing (Communist)

• The Sun is going for a slating the opposition approach, not saying what good conservatives will be, but rather what bad the labour party will be. Whereas, the Morning Star say how good the labour party will be and dont mention the conservatives.
• The Sun also use mise-en-scene to portray their ideas of Corbin as they have set him in a dirty council housing street and placed him in the bin.
• The Sun is also using direct address towards the audience saying 'we've had enough' they've positioned the audience into the text and in a direct mode of address.
• 'Terrorists Friend' shows the key information and the main point of the back story.
• Morning Star is much more positive.
• They both use the bullet points.
• In the Sun he is looking quite shifty and looks silly whereas in the Morning Star he is looking happy and good.
• Heroic language through the Morning Star's language.
• The sun is a very blunt and brutal.
• The sun has gone to an effort to make sure that he is seen horrible and brutal through words and choice of image whereas the Morning Star is portrayed that they haven't actually tried to hard and they've still managed to make him seem good.

Bias and Agenda

• Bias
• You favour one opinion over another when you are biased.
• Agenda
• Trying to do something with your opinion, doing something for a reason.

Discourse Analysis - How to Assess Bias

• Bias through selection and omission.
• Bias through placement.
• Bias by headline.
• Bias by photos, captions and camera angles.
• Bias through use of names and titles.
• Bias through statistics and crowd counts.
• Bias by source control.
• Bias through word choice and tone.