28 May Mediation Essay – Jada Scott
This essay will argue that journalists play a very significant role in mediating the reporting of news. It will explore some of the key research and arguments made by Stuart Hall in exploration of this assertion, in relation to the print media. This essay will also be looking at his encoding-decoding model; the theories proposed in his book ‘Policing the Crisis’ and the response of academics and journalists to his work.
In the words of (Hall et al. 1978: 53):
The media do not simply and transparently report events which are ‘naturally’ newsworthy in themselves. ‘News’ is the end-product of a complex process which begins with a systematic sorting and selecting of events and topics according to a socially constructed set of categories.
This theory is based on mediation and the idea that Journalists pick and choose what is defined as ‘news’ according to society.
On discussing representation in print media, Stuart Hall proposed the theory that the media ultimately tell the audience how to feel towards a story, through the news angle they create. In using the example of a terrorist and their victims, Hall states that a journalist can affect the sentiment of a text by either focusing on how ‘troubled’ the terrorist was or how unlucky and unfortunate the victims were. A supporting quote for this idea:
The media define for the majority of the population what significant events are taking place, but, also, they offer powerful interpretations of how to understand these events. Implicit in those interpretations are orientations towards the events and the people or groups involved in them. (Hall et al, 1978, p. 57).
In addition to this, most Journalists working in the print media industry, work in either newspapers or magazines – both of which have a large entertainment aspect. This then puts a limit on the content that they are able to produce as they have to ensure it is entertaining, whilst also newsworthy and informative. The following quote sums up the idea:
The journalists who wrote such reports will have been consciously looking for anecdotes, killer quotes and keywords that animate information and elevate it into an acceptable story. As we have seen, they were keenly aware of their role in using such techniques to manufacture news according to unspoken expectations (the formula), and some even felt alienated from this process. But in writing to type – moreover, in helping by their writing to construct a particular type of ‘[black] mugger’ – they surely would have said that they were only doing their job (Calcutt and Hammond, 2011, p.80)
Referring to Stuart Hall’s mugging theory, the quote implies that the media pick out the elements of a story that they believe will increase readability and make it sound more interesting. Many argued that the process was not ethically correct, they were ultimately manipulating a story to make it adhere to the way in which people saw society at that moment in time. Hall further explored this notion stating:
The media are not only a powerful source of ideas about race. They are also one place where these ideas are articulated, worked on, transformed and elaborated . . . It would be simple and convenient if all the media were simply the ventriloquists of a unified and racist ‘ruling class’ conception of the world. But neither a unified conspiratorial media nor indeed a unified racist ‘ruling class’ exist in anything like that simple way. (Hall 1990: 11–12).
The quote suggests that it’s not an upper class as such, connoting these ideas to the rest of society – nor is it the mainstream media coming up with them. It is instead the general views of society that the media are trying to conform to, and the upper class are promoting. It can be argued that this way of delivering news is somewhat biased as not all information is being shared with the public, many Journalists believe that they are doing this to give the public what they want to hear and by doing so, are efficiently mediating the media.
It can also be argued that Journalists play a significant role in mediating the news through ‘Consensual Views’, a concept where society is thought to share a similar view and ideology of what is and isn’t news. The theory can be further explained through the quote:
Because we occupy the same society and belong to roughly the same ‘culture’, it is assumed that there is, basically, only one perspective on events: that provided by what is sometimes called the culture, or (by some social scientists) the ‘central value system’. (Hall et al, 1978, p.55).
Journalists believe that determining what is and isn’t news through this method is a fair and unbiased way, as it is ultimately up to society to decide on the news values. It can be argued that as Journalists have a duty to remain neutral and impartial, mediating the news through consensual views allows them to do so, in a way that won’t impact their duty to the audience. The quote “…selecting, from the many contending items within any one category, those that are felt will be of interest to the reader” (Hall et al, 1978, p.53), helps to validate this point as it states that although many things may be considered to be newsworthy, this method enables Journalists to identify and pick out the ones that will be of actual interest to the audience, in a way that will not cause them any offence or create any bias.
This same point, however, can be used to argue that Journalists do not mediate the news and that it is in fact society, who are doing it by default. A quote to support this idea stems from the same book, (Hall et al, 1978, p.53), “If we did not inhabit, to some degree, the same classifications of social reality, we could not ‘make sense of the world together’. This implies that for society to be able to comprehend what is news, they first must be able to agree on what exactly makes something – newsworthy. This further adds to the idea that Journalists are just members of wider society and that rather than deliberately mediating the news, they are just reflecting society’s priorities and prejudices in the limelight.
Another argument that Journalists do not mediate the news can be seen through Becker’s Hierarchy of Credibility. Hall et al describe the system as “The likelihood that those in powerful or high-status positions in society who offer opinions about controversial topics will have their definitions accepted… The result of this structured preference given in the media to the opinions of the powerful is that these ‘spokesmen’ become what we call the ‘primary definers’ of topics.” (1978, p.58). This discusses the idea that it is indeed the higher-ups in society who decide the way in which things are to be interpreted. As Journalists are below the upper class in this ideology, this further portrays the idea that in the media, the ‘primary definers’ set the definition/interpretation of the particular topic in question. People in society who do not agree or go against the primary definers interpretation of things are then typically ostracized and “forced to insert themselves into its definition of ‘what is at issue’ (Hall et al, 1978, p.58). This additionally enforces the idea that it is not Journalists that mediate the news, but society and everyone who goes against them is seen as ‘defying the norm’ and going against what is correct.
In conclusion, it is clear to see that journalists do play a role in mediating the reporting of the news in print media. Although their roles cover a lot of ground, they cannot cover/ report on everything that happens, hence why it is necessary for mediation to take place. The extent, however, to which society and the upper-class play in mediating the news are greater than the impact made by journalists. The primary definers essentially force them to do this through the system that they have put in place. It should be taken into consideration that today’s society is a lot different, and in a world where rules and regulations are continuously being enforced to maintain media standards.
It should also be taken into consideration that a large proportion of mediation in the media takes place through ownership. Over 50% of the UK’s newspapers are owned by 2 men (Lord Rothermere and Rupert Murdoch), who are both very vocal with their political stances. This means that members of the British public who are regular newspapers buyers, will typically be exposed to some form of mediation and political bias – most of the time subliminally. Although Journalists may play a large part in mediating the UK’s print media, their mediation is not the most significant to the British public.
Bibliography
Hall, S; Critcher, C; Jefferson, T; Clarke, J and Roberts, B ., 1978. Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State and Law and Order (Critical Social Studies). Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 53-77.
Merrill, J. C. (1984). Journalistic objectivity is not possible. In E. E. Dennis & J. C. Merrill, Basic issues in mass communication: A debate (pp. 104–110). New York: Macmillan.
Pang, A., 2010. Mediating the media: a journalist-centric media relations model. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, pp. 192-204.
Allan, S. (2010) News Culture (Third Edition). Buckingham: Open University Press. pp. 171-178.
Becker, H. S., 1967. Whose Side Are We On?. Social Problems, 14(3), pp. 239-247.
Calcutt, A. & Hammond, P., 2011. Journalism Studies. In: A critical introduction. Milton Park: Routledge, pp. 67-81.
