Revision - Component1a - Newspapers

Question

How do these products make use of intertextuality and genre conventions in order to reflect the ideology of the producer?

Underline

How do these products make use of intertextuality and genre conventions in order to reflect the ideology of the producer?

Knee Jerk

Daily Mail - Conservative (right)
Daily Mirror - Labour (left)

Both newspaper are heavily influenced by the favoured political party, which is shown through the use of intertextuality and genre conventions. The Daily Mirror favours the left wing labour party while The Daily Mail is particularly right wing newspaper.

Intertextuality refers to where a media product refers to another media product in order to engage the audience.

Genre Conventions are the typical aspects the genre of the media product, and are vital to the producer to allow them to target a specific audience.

Ideology refers to the ideas and beliefs of the producer, and is used primarily to allow the audience to relate to the media product.

Plan

• 'If it bleeds it leads'

• Bias

• Semiotics - Roland Barthes

• Structuralism - Claude Levi Strauss

• Representation - Stuart Hall

• Cultivation Theory - George Gerbner

• Reception - Stuart Hall

• Pick'n'mix - David Gauntlet

• Anchorage

• Tabloids

• Repetition and Difference - Steve Neale Genre Theory

• Informal mode of address

• Working Class audience

• Binary Oppositions - Claude Levi Strauss

• Language/Lexis

• Reach PLC

• Serif/Sans Serif

• Paradigmatic Features

Content

• Daily Mail

• Through the mise-en-scene of the serif font used it is portraying a more formal mode of address. This fits Daily Mail's intended target audience as the right wing party is predominantly favoured by middle class people, by the use of the serif font it makes the newspaper more favoured to them therefore identifying with their audience.

• The use of the lexis 'hooded' reinforces the already known ideology that people with their hood up are bad and are dangerous. Through the use of this headline it makes the intertextual reference to a thriller film, so the audience then overcome a fear and paranoia due to the intertextual references from the headline.

• Dehumanisation of criminals: referred to as a disease, as something that needs to be wiped out.

• "hooded thug" highly emotive and hyperbolic lexis that anchors the audience to believe that young people who wear hoods are intrinsically murderers. Highly conventional of tabloid newspapers, creating a moral panic, targeting the mail's conservative audience who likely agree with tough measures for crime.

• Conflict between hard and soft news, allowing Mail to provide a conservative audience with a range of pleasure.

• Headline is a clear intertextual reference which takes advantage of the audience's love of crime dramas. A construction of an exciting and dangerous world. Deliberately targeting a mass, mainstream audience through manipulation.

• Daily Mirror

• One way in which the ideology of the Daily Mirror is reflected is through the use of intertextuality. For example the main image features a mid shot of a group of stereotypical assembled American Trump supporters. Their status as American is reinforced through the MES of their costume, the symbolic code presented by the red, white and blue. This clear intertextual reference to an American comedy is again reinforced through the genre convention of the exaggerated laughter, and the MES of the American flag suit is clearly ridiculous and borders on parody. A - the extreme patriotism is here presented as satire to a British audience, encouraging the British audience to take comfort in the fact that something similar is not happening here. It additionally anchors the meaning that American people are stereotypically stupid, funny and ridiculous.

• Trump is presented as the antagonist, and as a binary opposition to Hilary Clinton, even positioned on opposites sides of the page. An intertextual reference to popular action films, such as Dr No.

• Bias through selection: Mirror selects an image of Trump where he appears to have a severe learning difficulty. Preferred reading is to laugh at him, demonstrating the ideology of the Daily Mirror.

• Colour of the text is symbolic of American patriotism.

• Binary opposition created: fear over loss of jobs and immigrants, a juxtaposition between the representation of the hispanic woman holding a 'hispanics for trump' placard. Demonstrates to the audience the extreme uncertainty and confusion in America. Heavy use of irony, and the presentation of a confusing, ridiculous narrative.

• Cultivation of a left wing, anti-trump ideology to anchor the audience in to believing Trump is a force for bad, and ultimately to sell more newspapers. This is an example of Narrativisation.

• Comparison between two newspapers

• Both take a different mode of address. Daily Mail much more formal, while the Mirror adopts a more informal mode of address.