Devereux Chapter 1

“Political Economy and Cultural Studies Approaches to the Analysis

of Media”

Political Economy

• The forces (government and corporations) which shape media content also promote the “dominant ideology of the ruling classes.”– There is social stratification– Some have more freedom to speak than others

• Money determines access to the media, thus freedom to speak and be heard

– The focus is on production• Media conglomerates pursue “the bottom line”--profits• There is conglomerate control over content and meaning

Cultural Studies

• Studies how the audience uses cultural artifacts: “as individuals have the capacity to undermine the intended meaning of texts, they can therefore subvert the relations of power within which they are located.”– The focus is on consumption– Messages are interpreted by audience members “to

make sense of their lives”• Formation of personal identity• Formation of beliefs• Formation of attitudes

Devereux, Chapter 5

“News Content Studies, Media Group Methods and Discourse Analysis: A

Comparison of Approaches

Glasgow University Media Group (GUMG)

• For decades GUMG has studied the relationship between media– News– Documentaries– Game shows– Soap operas, etc.

• And public understanding of important issues– Politics– Economy– Health care– Employer-employee relationships, etc.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Content Analysis

• GUMG rejects TOTAL reliance on traditional approaches to content analysis, which are completely quantitative– Counting words, events, times, . . .

• GUMG focuses on context and meaning

• This qualitative analysis can be followed up by a quantitative one, if it is warranted

“More Bad News” (1980)

• This book published by GUMG – Balanced news is an illusion– News is presented in such a way that only one

side “makes sense”– In this study of the miner’s strike, only the

government’s side made sense– In reporting any controversial issue there are

alternative and competing ways to describe events

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in 2000-2002

• News reports of the intifada clearly demonstrated Palestinian leaders as making anti-semitic remarks in defense of the violence

• Israel choose to ignore this, and, instead, focused on the ‘war on terror’

Reasons for Focusing on the War on Terrorism

• In interviews, researchers learned that this focus was more likely to gain sympathy for Israel from the West– Us vs. Them conflict

– Them (persons rejecting Western values)

• The focus allowed Israel to divert attention away from it’s own problematic actions of violence

GUMG’s Two-step Method of Analysis

• Step 1: identify ALL arguments on the issue which are available for journalists to select from– What is selected is “the preferred account”

• Step 2: identify word associations which have become habitual– Globalization=economic progress– Inflation=excessive wage demands

Consumers of News

• Are not likely to have the historical background knowledge to identify alternative accounts and to recognize selection and association

• Are not likely to look up original statements to see if the words used in a paraphrase reflect what the source actually said

• Are not likely to know what has been excluded (what they are NOT being told)

Reports on the Shooting of Mohammed al Durrah

French media released a videotape of a boy and his father crouched against a wall. The voice-over reported that they were shot by an Israeli soldier.

Israel’s Version of the News

• The boy was shot by Palestinian rioters– The rioters were only armed with rocks

• Palestinian police could have cleared the square– ???

• The boy was “caught unintentionally in the crossfire”– This became the preferred account

Jamal al Durrah’s Version

• “They shot at us until they hit us”

• “I saw the man who did it, the Israeli soldier”

GUMG’s “News Game” Research

• Subjects were divided into small groups and given 16 photos illustrating news stories-- one was the al Durrah photo

• Subjects were asked to write the news story each photo illustrated

• Most repeated the “caught in the crossfire” line• Some included events that had not happened at the

time of the shooting and used them to explain the Israeli response which caused the shooting in which the child was killed

FrontPageMagazine.com

• Nine years later a conservative online site argued the video was a hoax and neither father nor son was harmed

• French media have asked for an investigation and are suing