Ownership and Control of the Media

Question 1

What are the key features of the Marxist (instrumentalist/manipulative) view?

Answer 1

• Ruling class use the media for they own interest
• Support of capitalist ideas
• Reinforcement of dominant ideology
• Relationship with audience is direct

Question 2

How do the ruling class use the media for their own interest? (Marxist)

Answer 2

Only very few member of the ruling class own the majority of the media, not only do they use it to maintain wealth but also control through manipulating the working class. The media is a powerful tool of socialisation and the ruling class use it to form a false class-consciousness.

Question 3

False class consciousness

Answer 3

The working class do not recognise that they are being exploited by the ruling class.

Question 4

How does the media support capitalist ideas? (Marxist)

Answer 4

The ruling class control the content of the media often directing attention away from capitalism and onto other causes of social problems to justify their control. This sends subtle but powerful messages to people which shapes their view of the world.

Question 5

How does the media reinforce dominant ideology? (Marxist)

Answer 5

The media being held in the hands of increasingly small numbers of companies reinforces the dominant ideology as the owners will likely share a cultural capital- as argued by Miliband

Question 6

Cultural Capital

Answer 6

The social assets of a person that promote social mobility, e.g. what school they attended, their social network, etc…

Question 7

Additional Miliband research (Marxist view)

Answer 7

The editors and journalist of media organisations depend on the owners for a job and therefore they won’t use any apparent autonomy they have to resist spreading the ruling class ideology

Question 8

What is the relationship between the media and its audience? (Marxist)

Answer 8

Owners of the media see their audience as passive and unquestioning, so feed them simple and undemanding info. and anyone working for the big companies is encouraged to support the owners political views leading to less objective news reports. This prevents simple issues like economic inequalities being tackled.

Question 9

Critiques of Marxist ideas on the media

Answer 9

• Ignores the fact many news reports highlight the problems of inequalities which does lead to a positive effect on the poor.
• The public is not passive, they can partake in media creation too through citizen journalism, so the media does reflect many different views- not just one dominant ideology
  However, it is accurate in that many media owners do use their companies to further economic interest.

Question 10

Bagdikian’s research

Answer 10

“The Media Monopoly” reflects the fact that the number of media companies has dropped, meaning concentration has increased significantly. This narrows down sources to the few media owners who use their power to influence people’s political and social views

Question 11

Curran’s research

Answer 11

Curran argued that the media acts as an extension for the government and not an independent institution serving the public

Question 12

The Glasgow University Media Group (GMG)’s research

Answer 12

The media tries to manipulate viewers into a particular emotional response (i.e anger towards political issues that work against the dominant ideology), thus reinforcing the ideas of the dominant ruling class

Question 13

Extra Miliband research

Answer 13

He argued that the media attacks anything that opposes the government, and growing advertisements are encouraging people to identify with the capitalist society’s ideology