Producers of Media, often advertisers but also in the case of entertainment and sometimes even News, try to get their audience to associate their content with a learned narrative. This is so that the content will seem familiar to them and will therefore be more easily digested. This is due to the naturalisation of certain elements of culture through the media. Various elements (paradigmatic axis) in a piece of mediated texts often come together to form what we interpret as a bigger picture – a narrative (syntagmatic axis).
The above image represents an advertisement in the 1990 Victoria’s Secret Valentines issue which relies on the narrative of romance to get it’s meaning across.
We associate the words “she said” as being part of a larger dialogue – one that involves a he. The words “I have a surprise for you, too” are seen as being in response to a valentines gift given to “she” by the implied “he” – these words are a gesture of gratitude. The bedroom suggests a theme of elegance, luxury and romance and the bed is unmade – they’ve just had a wonderful night together and her gift to him was a success.
The lingerie worn by the woman in the picture, though it is the subject of the advertisement, is part of another narrative – that a woman’s role is to keep her man happy.
Another narrative that could be present here it that of the reciprocation of a gesture. It is important to have a gift ready in case someone gives you one!
The myth of romance and the set of stories associated with it works in this situation to sell a product without the use of many words or images. Certain symbols within the image such as the flowers on the table, the unmade bed, her facial expression and her pose – these are all indexical signs helping to tell the story of love and romance in the air. The colors scheme and the tilted angle of the text are also symbols of romance in the story. Our culturally learned interpretation of such elements is what aids us in our understanding of the meaning of this advertisement.
The media plays an integral part in the production of meaning and every day cultural understandings in modern societies. In doing so, we can view media institutions as social institutions – part of the socialisation process within society, providing support, guidance and regulation for those within it. It is through his means of mental production, that we learn how to conduct ourselves in our environments and how we learn to view the world. As the media grows more and more prominent in every-day life, it is taking over the role of traditional social institutions such as the school, the church, the government and the family. We are therefore able to refer to the media as a social institution. By examining the basic elements of social institutions: Economics, Politics and Culture, we can gather a better understanding of the influences on media production, distribution and consumption.
The media play a role in the shaping of our cultural understandings by formalising and maintaining practices and procedures and providing direction and guidance for the way we live. Functions of the media as a social institution include: providing a sense of belonging, providing access to other people, uniting diverse groups, establishing a sense of order, helping people to understand and react to changes in society, establishing and maintaining rules, providing education and information and defining values.
Economic determinants of media institutions are those concerned with the production and distribution of content for profit. Many media producers rely on what has been proven popular to ensure a profit from their content. Another way to ensure a profit might be through research-based marketing where various parts of the production process are dependent on audience responses from test iterations of the product. Another way to maximise your chances of gaining a profit is to control a larger share of the broadcast market. Through vertical integration, it is possible for one company to control many different stages of the production process and therefore become more powerful and influential as a media producer – eg. Murdoch and his News Corporation. By producing media products comprised of elements which have been produced by parties funded by the same source (synergy), the conglomerate will inevitably profit from it’s productions. When this kind of lucrative arrangement exists, media conglomerates are then able to promote their products without the help of outside parties. This kind of monopoly control prevents smaller, single companies from gaining control.
As well as having economical powers, large media organisations have the power to control ideological values in society via their large reach on the general public by promoting their own political interests in their publications for reasons of preference or lucrative arrangement.
Political determinants of media institutions are those concerned with commenting on the proceeds of the ruling class, the government. Public service broadcasters such as RTÉ and the BBC are owned by the state and so they have a responsibility to inform and educate the general public on political issues. Hegemonic theories suggest that this arrangement contributes to economic inequality in society due to an arguably unavoidable presence of bias. Such state-owned broadcasters can be seen to promote the views of the ruling class, preserving the structure of power in society. On the contrary, pluralists believe that the media produce a range of views, reflective of diversity in audience interests.
With commercial broadcasting becoming a more exciting and diverse source of news and entertainment, it has become a threat to public broadcasting in terms of popularity. There is also a concern that the increase in popularity of commercial entertainment might be causing dumbing-down effect on society and therefore it is suggested that this reaffirms the need for public service broadcasting in society. It is suggested that commercial television should therefore be used as a supplement to public television and not as a replacement.
According to classical Marxist viewpoint, a hegemonic view (belief that there are inequalities in power between social groups), the mass media tend to broadcast the ideas and values of the ruling class and defuse any alternatives. Marx argued that the ruling class are in control over the means of material production in society and, at the same time, mental production. By pushing ideas and beliefs on society in a way that they are represented as natural, Marx argues that alternative (or inconvenient) views are disguised or suppressed by the ruling class. By studying media as a means of production, we ask: what beliefs and ideas are being produced in us by the media we consume and whose ideological perspective is being privileged when we consume it?
I examined the above video for the presence of political bias in order to figure out what point of view was being given priority within the broadcast by RTE. This story was part of the Six One News on Thursday 7th May 2015, so I screencast it from the RTÉ player.
The broadcast informs the viewer of a “new group” which has emerged in favor of the “No” vote on the Marriage equality referendum which is coming up in two weeks time. Almost in the same breath, the broadcast draws attention to the presence of The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, at a meet-up with young gay men and women “who spoke of their hopes for equal treatment in Ireland”.
Immediately in the introduction I think that there is priority given to the Yes campaign. This is done in the way that the information is ordered. The 1st piece of information mentions the “new group” and their agenda but no more. By then following this information with a detailed explanation of the agenda of the “young gay men and women” who met the Taoiseach and the Health Minister, RTÉ are giving more priority to the Yes campaign and “equal treatment in Ireland”, almost undercutting the 1st piece of information.
By frequently referring to the “stand up for marriage” group as a “new group”, RTÉ are giving them very little credit. By not addressing them by their title, RTÉ manage to get away with providing minimum details about their agenda. When the founder of the group was speaking, the narrator didn’t refer to him by his name. Contrarily, in the latter phase of the piece, the narrator refers to the first speaker by her full name, explaining that her “emotions are running high”.
RTÉ point out that “the first press conference for “Stand up for Marriage” was sparsely attended.” I think that providing this kind of information is another way for RTÉ to discredit the “new group”. The tone of voice in the narrator is slightly humored as she says this, explaining that the poor attendance is partly, “according to it’s founder, because no voters are afraid to speak out.” This statement is not then backed up by anyone who is openly voting No and so the information appears to be solely that of the opinion of the founder of the group.
Though there are an equal amount of speakers in each phase of the piece, the presence of national representatives like Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Health Minister James Reilly provides the illusion that there is more of a governmental and therefore national backing behind the Yes vote. The representatives of the No vote who speak during the piece are less-known or elite on a national level – one of them being an ex Fine Fail member and the other, the unmentionable founder of the group.
There seems to be a contrast in emotional persuasion in the ways that each phase of the piece is filmed. In the second phase, the camera is almost sitting amongst the small group, up close and personal with those who are passionate about fighting for marriage equality. We are placed among these people as if we are joining them in support. We see the emotional turmoil of the first speaker as she is allowed to pour her heart out to the camera during a head-shot, addressing the audience with her personal agenda. She is then backed up by a comforting minister, who crouches by her side in support, dismissing the “muddying” views of those in opposition. This emotional display is endearing and very persuasive. There is also clearly a large presence of press and paparazzi at the meet-up – another display of support by the media. In contrast, the first phase of the piece is filmed in a less personal way. The first speaker is filmed from the side while the second is filmed from a distance. We see footage of the set-up of the conference but very little from the proceedings of the conference. I feel that this is another technique used by RTÉ to tell us about the group without giving us too much detail about their agenda.
By concluding the piece with the footage from the meet-up in support of the Yes vote, RTÉ are giving priority to this stance because it is what they want the viewer to take from the piece. Both the narrator and the Health minister are quoted at the end, dismissing the No campaign and pushing the marriage equality idea “despite on-going concerns” of No campaigners. The fact that this meet-up even happened, I would argue, was to counteract the report of the formation of another “No” group.
In order to make news more interesting, it is constructed in a way that we will follow and relate to it. We receive a packaged, story-boarded version of real life events which encompass techniques used in literature, poetry and film to create drama and excitement in order to engage passive audiences.
In order to sell the story in the way that the broadcaster intends, an anchor or journalist is often required to guide us through what we’re seeing on-screen or in the newspaper. By tying the various components of a broadcast together with a select use of language, this narrator is integral to the delivery of the overall intended meaning of the text. Other elements which tie a piece together so that it fits a particular narrative include quotes, photos, video clips and illustrations. Such elements are used to provide a back-up or proof of the story being told – providing the audience with a visual porthole into the narrative. It is important to note that such components of a news broadcast have been specially selected from a range of choices for a purpose – they fit the preferred narrative that is being sold. Such selections depend on who is constructing the piece and what they are trying to convey.
In printed news this construction of components appears quite linear, they are laid out in a way that the reader will see them in a preferred order. On the other hand, televised news media provides a seemingly more realistic version of events as it can provide moving images, audio and narration all at once. Such components can be edited together to provide an exciting experience for the audience and in doing so, helps them escape from their mundane living-room surroundings into apparent “realities” of the outside world.
The above video, a report by Sky News on the earthquake in Nepal in April 2015, makes use of mobile phone footage and an eye-witness interview in order to present to the audience a version of the story that seems as real as possible. Illustrations are used in the middle of the report to describe what the interviewee is saying and as he speaks his words are known as connectives, tying the story to the images we’re see. Other linking elements of this report include the ticker-reel at the bottom of the screen, and the various other graphics on the screen which provide an explanation as to what’s going on and who we are listening to, leading us to an understanding of the story.
Such creative components of a news broadcast may be seen as subtle or blatant, sometimes depending on the story and the type of broadcaster. However, it is important to note that such elements are strategically placed in every news story for the purpose of gaining viewers. No matter how “real” a news story seems, it is the way in which it is constructed and the choices that are made during that process that lead it to seem that way.
The above image represents an advertisement in the 1990 Victoria’s Secret Valentines issue which relies on the narrative of romance to get it’s meaning across.
Sian Gilsenan - Multimedia Projects 