Timed Essay Question 5

 

Explain how political contexts influence individual producers within the newspaper industry. Refer to The Guardian and the Daily Mail to support your answer.

Many newspapers across the world will either have a left-wing perspective or a right-wing perspective, and depending on who owns the newspaper, these views will vary. Newspapers such as the Daily Mail are owned by an extremely right winged company who will enforce their ideology onto the people that buy and read the newspaper. Newspapers such as the Guardian, have a very left-wing view and each of their stories has a left-wing perspective because of the people that own the newspaper. Each of these types of newspaper are most likely to be owned and written by a white middle-class man who has either a right-wing or left-wing viewpoint, and because of their status and power they have the power to write about marginalised groups and have this dominating ideology.

Depending on whether the newspaper has a right-wing or left-wing ideology, stories are going to be told differently depending on which ideology is most present. On May 4th, 2017, two articles were published by the Guardian and the Daily Mail about the UK election and Brussels supposedly trying to interfere. The Daily Mail (right-wing) were very biased in the fact that this was an attack on the UK election, using strong language like “take your hands off of our election!” and using a picture of Teresa May as if she was the one saying this to Brussels. This side of the story is very much in favour of Teresa May, presenting her as a hero and someone who is trying to protect the election from anyomne who tries to come and ruin in. Whereas in the Guardian (left-wing) have almost a completely  different storty and representation of this event. On the may 4th article on the front page in big bold letters are the words “May declares war on Brussels”. With the headline alone readers of this newspaper can  easily identify that they do not agree with the way Teresa May is handling the situation and get right down to the elements of the story that the Daily Mail wouldn’t put in their version of the story.

 

These two newspapers are just two of the many newspapers that would have coevered this story and many would have had a similat ideology to either the Daily Mail or the Guadian. But because these are two of the most well-known and popular magazines they can avoid vertain regualtions, which has made it diffivult for the BBFC to come up with rules sop that people who read these newspapers and articles. Livinstone and Lunt brought up the idea that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to proetect people from certain parts of the media because of technology and these major newspaper companies. Despite their being rules in place, major companies can face the small loss of they write aboutsomething that flags up one of the regulations.

 

As these companies of the newspapers are able to write about what they want and present their views, only people who have the same views are going to pick up the newspaper. For example, somone who has a very rught-wing ideology, wont go and pick the Gaurdian as the ideology wirttien in the Guardian wont the same as their own ideology. The same applies ot someone with a very left-wing ideology, they wouldn’t pick up a newspaper such as the Daily Mail which has a very right-wing ideology. Each newspaper has cultivated their own views, and over time people have developoed theor own ideology and adapted it the ideology pf the newspaper they are reading. It soon becomes a part of someones identity and helped them develop as a person, they aren’t going to pick up a newspaper randomly one day and start reading it, they would want to have their own view formed first and pick a newspaper that has simialr views to their own, which would them cultivate their ideas more as they grow up.

 

 

 

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