2. Neo-Marxists views on Ownership & control of the media

Question 1

A01

Outline Neo-marxists views on Ownership & control of the media

Answer 1

Neo-marxist agree with marx role of the media is the dissemination of Bourgeois messages & ideology.
The audience is passive
However argue media spreads dominat ideology cause editors & journalists come from privileged backgrounds thus employed by owners & companies whos values fit theirs,

Journalists share the world view of the owners & use gatekeeping & agenda setting to keep items which are harmful to elites out of the media agenda & thus voluntarily spread the dominant ideology.

Dissemination-action of spreading something

e.g when Murdoch or Desmond were choosing editors for their papers, they did not pick revolutionary socialists, instead they chose people who shared similar world view of themselves

Question 2

Application A02

Outline an application study supporting neo-marxist views

Answer 2

Glasgow Uni media group(GUMG) found that in 1970s , majority of journalists working in national media were white,middle class men , so share same views as elite

journalists dont want to upset owners, but also need to attract audiences & advertisers.

The GMG explore’agenda setting’ or‘gatekeeping’, these processes excluded some news from being reported,meaning audiences have little choice of media content, as products are produced in the framework of the dominant ideology.**

Found media takes a conservative view, because people who make news come from a section of society that is conservative (and benefits materially from maintaining status Quo)

Question 3

A01

Outline hegemony-refer to neo-marxist views

Gramsci

Answer 3

For Neo-marxists, the journalists & editors are not consciously disseminating the dominant ideology , in order to create false class consciousness ,Instead, ruling class have established Hegemony(Gramsci)

The reason why we have a limited media agenda is because of cultural hegemony, not because of direct control by wealthy media owners.

Journalists have accepted the conservative worldview of the ruling class as common sense, and they share this world view with the ruling class – they thus unconsciously spread the dominant ideology themselves without the need for direct control by the media owners.

Hegemony is where the norms and values of the ruling class are taken as common sense

Question 4

A01

Outline Agenda setting & gatekeeping-Neo-marixsm

Answer 4

Agenda setting and gatekeeping are the two processes through which journalists limit media content.

They are normally used in relation to the selection and presentation of The News.

Gatekeeping = the process of choosing which items are selected for coverage, and others are kept out.

Agenda setting = deciding how media items are going to be framed, i.e who is going to be invited to discuss topics and what kind of questions are going to be asked.

Question 5

A03

Evaluate Neo-marxism

Answer 5

• Pluralist-Whale(1997) argue views contained within mainstream media is not a result of the social background of editors or journalists but instead is a result of market demands of the audience.
  If some positions, & values are more prevalent in the media than others its cause those are the ones audience demands
• Pluralists -there is a diverse array of media companies and media outlets.
• Whilst most popular present a particular worldview there ,other media outlets present alternative worldviews. The parts of the audience that want to read/hear already can do. If they appealed to more of the audience they would take over from other organisations as the popular, well-known newspapers or channels
• Pluralists point out Neo-marxists tends to assume the audience are passive and easily swayed by the dominant ideology. In reality, the audience may be more active and critical.