Representation in the Media

Gender

Symbolic Annihilation

Tuchmann Women’s achievements are subject to omission, trivialisation or condemnation.

Cult of Femininity

Ferguson Women are encouraged to conform to he feminine ideal focused on appearance and relationships rather than careers.

Male Gaze

Wolf/Mulvey Women are presented as sec objects that are viewed from a male perspective to conform to the ‘beauty myth’

Hegemonic Gender Identity

Connell Envourages socialisation into gender norms based around hierarchy, behaviour, appearance, language, and social position

Retributive Masculinity

Gauntlett The backlash against metro sexuality has encouraged more media content that attempts to regain hegemonic gender identities in the face of toxic masculinity.

Sexuality

The dominant view is heterosexual to reflect that of the owners and editors.

Homosexuals are viewed as deviant or a threat.

Gay men are seen as camp, macho or deviant Craig

Cowan and Valentine found that gay people were five times more likely to be represented negatively.

Gay women are either butch or over-sexualised for the pleasure of men (Stonewall, 2010)

Historic representation of gay men was shaped by the HIV and AIDS epidemic of the 1908s which caused a threat and moral panic.

Fear of a loss of revenue.

Gross media often symbolically annihilates gays and lesbians by excluding them altogether, or trivialised.

Stonewall they are underrepresented in the media, whilst 36% were represented in negative ways.

Representations appeal to certain news values creating a titration for an audience that view homosexuality as abnormal or perverse sex.

McNamara metrosexual male- in touch with emotional feminine side, especially through fatherhood.

Theoretical perspectives on media representation

Feminist

Mass media plays a role in construction of gender roles

Limiting effect on young females’ behaviour and aspirations, especially in adolescence.

Liberal feminists: media is slow to change, to reflect women’s achievements.

Mills argues that the newsroom is a very male culture.

Lauzen Only 27% of creators, directors, writers, producers, editors were women working in prime-time TV. Also paid less.

Marxist feminist: Media professionals mainly men looking for profit, so reflect social consensus of men and women occupying tradiitonal gender roles

Women who do not fit these stereotypes are excluded because tradiitonal audiences will be turnt off.

Media owners also promote false needs to gain from adverts.

Radical feminists: McRobbie ‘popular feminism’ rejection of traditional feminism embracing ‘girl power’ which focused on patriarchal forms of exploitation

Develop own language for dealing with sexual inequality.

Now mainstream culture whereas the former was marginalised.

Postmodernist

Gauntlett focused on the relationship between mass media and identity, where men and women no longer are suggested one ideal.

New emphasis on men’s emotions and problems

Pluralist

Argue that symbolic annihilation underestimates women’s ability to see through gender stereotyping and manipulation.

Example George Michael- as lead singer in ‘Wham’ was not openly gay as he was recognised as a heterosexual ideal for women.

Disability

Barnes

Argues mass media representations of disability have been generally oppressive and negative.

People with disabilities are rarely presented as people with their own identities.

Pitiable and pathetic

Sinister and evil (James Bond villains)

Atmospheric- unease and mystery.

Super-cripples (Blind people as visionaries)

Roper

Suggests mass media representations of disability focus on pity. IN particular, telethons can create problems for people with disabilities.

Telethons are not representative of the range of disabled people and focus on ‘cute’ children to monetise off givers.

There is a greater need for public entertainment, which capitalised off of audience viewership.

Media representations confirm social prejudices about the disabled.

Sancho

Reported on the representation and portrayal of disabled people in peak-time programmes on five UK terrestrial TV channels using content analysis, focus groups and questionnaires.

Disabled people were identitified in 11% of programmes in 2002 but contributed to 1% of the overall television population.

Broadcasting Standards Commission and Ofcom

Found 80% of disabilities portrayed were related to mobility, sensory impairment and disfigurement.

The wheelchair is seen as an icon from disability bu those wishing to represent disability in the media.

Sancho found that 60% of appearances portrayed the impairment as central to the character rather than showing a story line about a character who happens to be disabled- this is now changing EastEnders character Donna Yates.

The media can be used positively for disability representation.

Strictly Come Dancing 2021 winner Rose Ayling-Ellis, 11 million people watched the first deaf winner. Later campaigned for British Sign Language to be recognised as an official language.

Ethnicity

Hegemonic Marxism

Marxist

Pluralist

Not about racism- but economics.

White experts are seen as the most credible.

Majority of the population is white- the largest audiences attract the greatest profit so white opinion is reflected.

Tabloidisation of news leads to highlighting issues of race- but does not address full complexity.

Reflect identity of owners

Journalists ignore non-institutional or ethnic minority sources in reporting.

Media professionals do not want to risk alienating their white audience which means other groups are marginalised.

Hall ethnic minorities are criminalised in the media as folk devils and subsequent moral panics.

Media presents ethnic minorities are represented as more problematic than extreme inequalities in income distribution or poverty.

Media is an ideological state apparatus which functions to divide and rule the working class.

Newspapers act in the interest of the readers by demanding those in power take action to control ethnic minority groups.

Media content is shaped by the market

If they do not give the audience what they want, they will go out of business.

Representation of ethnic minorities in the media reflect real fears in society.

Van Dijk Minority groups as criminal, a threat, or unimportant

Criminal

A Threat

Unimportant

Back reporting of inner-city race disturbances are referred to as ‘riots’ rather than ‘uprisings’ as this indicates social injustice.

Wayne et al 50% of news coverage of Black young people were about crime

ligali black victims of crime are not given as much coverage as other groups.

Van Dijk Immigrants, refugees, Muslims due to large numbers, abusers of the welfare state and the enemy within.

Poole Islam has always been demonised and distorted by the western media.

Homogenised as ‘backwards, irrational, unchanging fundamentalists and misogynists’

Moore- Identified 4 negative ideological messages of Islam

  1. Islam is dangerous
  2. Multiculturalism is allowing the spread of extremism
  3. Clash of civilisations between the west and Muslim world
  4. Major threat to British way of life with the focus of Sharia law.

Shah Tokenism is causing a number of ethnic minorities to get visible jobs in the media whether they are the right person or not.

Social Class

Representations of the Upper Class
Neo Marxists argue mass media representations celebrate hierarchy and wealth, hardly posed critically.

They do not want to draw attention to inequalities so as not to become focus of social debate.

TV programmes and films portray members as eccentric or nostalgic

  • Downton Abbey: ideologies don’t picture represented by honour, high-culture and good breeding.

Representations of Wealth
Newman argues media focus positively on lifestyles of wealthy and privileged.

  • Focus on consumerism only th wealthy can afford.

Highlight focus on economic and financial section of broadsheets and news programmes, in the interest of investors, not the inequities of capitalism

Pluralists argue that these representations can be justified by

  • Meritocracy
  • Motivation for ordinary people to succeed
  • Reflect importance in society.

Representations of the Middle Class

They and their concerns are overrepresented in the media. In TV programmes, they are concerned about manners, decency and decorum, social respectability and so on.

British newspapers predominantly target middle class audiences, assigned to their consumption, also incite moral panics on issues such as immigration.

Most creative personnel in the media are middle class: gatekeeping their own issues, highlighting other groups’ fallings short.

Representations of the Working Class
Marxists argue representations are part of the capitalist ideology.

Newman notes very few situation comedies on everyday lives of working class, despite constituting large section of society.

Jones argues media coverage of working class constitutes a middle-class assault on working class values, institutions and communities.

Many middle class journalists suffer from a ‘liberal bigotry’ assuming all working class people are feckless, promiscuous, racists, with reporting of poverty, unemployment of single-parenting suggesting personal inadequacy.

Curran and Seaton argue newspapers aimed at working classes assume they are uninterested in politics or social organisation with debate limited to simplistic conflict.

Newspapers’ content is aimed to distract the working class from inadequacies of capitalism

Pluralists argue that tabloid readers do not want to read about politics, and broadsheets are available to them.

Emergence of more sympathetic views, portraying issues in a dignified, realistic and supportive way, commenting on wider structural social inequality.

  • Pride (2014)

Representations of Poverty and the Underclass
McKendrick et al concluded coverage of poverty in the UK was marginal, causes and consequences of poverty are rarely explored.

Cohen argues media concerned about ‘trumping good fortune’ of capitalism opposed to its ‘casualites’,arguing some sections of media benefit from commissioning shows deliberately portraying the poor as parasitic scroungers.

Lawler argues that media use discriminatory and offensive language (chav) to socially stigmatise underclass and ‘white trash’ symbolised by a certain appearance fraudulent benefit claims and criminality.

This neutralises public concern or sympathy for social and economic plight.

Age
Functionalists argue representations are part of the socialisation process, equipping young people with appropriate norms and values, and engage in boundary maintenance.

Representations of Childhood
Fairly positive, suggesting six stereotypes

  • Cute
  • Little devils
  • Brilliant
  • Brave little angels
  • Accessories
  • Modern

Heintz-Knowles found children rarely coping with societal issues, but most are positive, with pro-social actions (telling the truth), 40% do not (lying bullying)

Socialised to become active consumers

  • Evans and Chandler emergence of pester power.

Representation of Youth

  • Whole industry dedicated to socially construct youth in terms of lifestyle and identity.
  • Often portrayed as a social problem, consequently constructed folk devils

Moral panics are established from deviant subcultures, and disapproving behaviour from those in authority.

Wayne et al young people portrayed as a threat to society, and rarely feature their perspective or opinion.

Argue it distracts from the real problems such as homelessness, housing, unemployment, mental health caused by structural issues.

Pluralists argue this reflects wider society, young people commit more crimes, and criminal behaviour is newsworthy.

Interactionists argue that children are labelled by older people because they challenge their authority

Postmodernists argue that negative portrayals are small representations in comparison to the diverse and pluralistic media saturation.

Representation of Old Age

Newman notes that higher class elderly people (especially men) are portrayed occupying higher roles, healthy, fit and socially involved.

Stoller and Gibson argue elderly women are mainly shown in social, family, and recreational settings, represented as passice, socially isolated and poor.

Generally devalued with emphasis on youth and beauty, especially in television.

Age Concern identified three ways media portrayals are generally ageist

  • Grumpy
  • Mentally challenged
  • A burden (economic)

Lee et al representation fo elderly is lows, but the majority of advertisements are positive

Some argue this is unrealistic as they do not address the wide range of experiences people have as they age.

Feminists argue that representations are becoming more problematic with oversexualising childhood (Balenciaga), observing more girls worrying about appearance, and a premature interest in sex.