Does the British media frame public opinion - Essay Example

College Journalists prefer to deliver news from a certain angle in which the public is going to accept. They target public expectation on a particular issue that is rising in that society. Journalists know that when people receive information that favors their culture and the society, they consider that information true. These societies love to hear news that revolves around them positively. Any information that describe their way of living is considered false and will never be accepted by anyone in that society even if it is a true story. However, journalists try their best to deliver reports at an angle they know will favor their audience. Journalists from the other wing tend to report the same information but in a very different angle that they know that the audience they are, targeting will accept the information. This process is called framing in media. Framing is the act of selecting features of a perceived reality and making them salient in the text of communication with the aim of promoting problem definition and evaluation1. Generally, framing involves selection and salience8. Many reporters use this idea in most of their information that they deliver to the public. Media frames much of the public opinions to ensure they give the right information that the public is expecting from the media news. What the media does here is that, it draws public attention to particular topics and later the journalists select the topics that they know what the public is thinking. Media organizes the events and issues they want to present and the audience are the one to interpret the information in those events. British media has used this criterion in much of their news. This media has been framing public opinion to ensure that they give acceptable information in the news they broadcast to their audiences. Mass media are the technologies used to reach audience through mass communication. There are very many types of mass media although it is divided into two i.e. the old media and the new media. Television, radio, and newspapers represent the old media. On the other hand, new media came to existence due to the improved technologies in the mass communication sector. They include Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, You Tube, and Google. The public uses each of these media differently. Each individual chooses the media to use depending on the information they are searching. All these categories of mass media are useful in Britain. They are used to deliver information to the public through many ways. Political advertisements in Britain have been banned in all television channels and radio stations5. This was put in place when Communication Act 2003 was written. None of the radio stations and TV channels was allowed to make any advertisement that was political. Political advertisements are those advertisements that are more for campaigning rather than other information. Their main aim is to influence people concerning a particular party matters. ASA is responsible for regulating all advertisements that are made in radio stations and TV channels. Although they can regulate these advertisements, they have a limit at which they cannot go further. ASA has written a notice to all political parties informing them that they should follow the rules that have been put in place. Political advertisers are supposed to be guided by rules that are in CAP Code. These principles states that all advertisements made must have a responsibility to both the consumers and the society. Newton and Brynnin noted that, “Television has major effects on the decision that people in the public make”. This is evidenced during election s when the candidates are having debates live in the television channels. Many people who watch those debates are swayed by what they hear from these political candidates. Many people are not desired on whom they are going to vote but when they watch the debates, most of them desired on their favorite candidate to vote for. This was evidenced when Gordon brown, David Cameron, and Nick Clegg were having a debate in one of the TV channels in UK. Many people had attention Mr. Brown and Mr. Cameron because they were running for Prime Minister Post. Most the people were not decided on who was their favorite. It was noted that women were influenced by the Political advertising has always been banned from television and radio battles more as compared to men. This effect was going to influence the women in their voting. All leaders knew that everyone’s effort during the debate was going to benefit each one during the election. They were supposed to give their best to ensure that they sway as many voters as possible. However, TV acted as way to change to minds of many people in the country more especially those who had not decided on their candidate5. “Although TV advertisements can be controlled by ASAP, newspapers has are out their reach,” said Vreese . Many political parties in UK use newspapers to influencing public opinions. Newspapers have great effect on public opinions than any other media. This is because it is written to target deliverance of a particular idea to the public and see how they respond to it. The newspaper that covers the British mid-market gave out many controversies that were concerned to the Eastern enlargement. The made the issue of immigration the central topic. This made many people to fear arrival of cheap labor mainly from the neighboring9. The readership of British mid-market newspaper is known to be higher than any other newspaper in Britain. This made this newspaper to have a greater effect on the public opinion than the other newspapers. This explains why British people have high opposition levels. Entman says, “Many frames are made through newspapers and have a great influence on the public opinion.” British media comprises many presses. These divided into regional and national press. These presses have geographical differences mainly due to the size of the area that each one of them covers. National newspapers are known to cover a wider area as compared to regional press. Larger percentage of British population read national newspapers because they have information from the whole country. Regional newspaper provided news of certain regions of the country only. Each of these newspapers has different influence to the people in the society depending on the information that they deliver to their audience. National newspapers play important roles in the lives of the people of Britain. Examples of these presses include Daily Express, Sunday Express, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Sunday Times, The Guardian, the Sun and many others. They are further grouped into Sundays and dailies. These two categories are split into midmarket; quality products; and tabloids. Each of them has different effect from their frames3. Public opinion is a term that is widely used in the media yet many people confuse its meaning. Saris and Willem said, “Public opinion is the various ways in which the public hold some information that concerns them in the society or the whole country.” Most of the issues that arise in public opinion are the government issues. Many politicians use these opinions to help them govern people they represent. The most popular opinions are the one that determine public policies. Many people do things based on the pictures given. They do not apply the knowledge they have. Public opinion plays a major role in the society. It accommodates and medicates social changes and integration. It paves way to changes in social and political issues. it gives a clear understanding of what majority of the people in the public are thinking and what is going to done to resolve the issues that are coming up. Public opinion is important in conflict resolution. Public opinion has different ideas combined together and they can influence policy making in the country8. Public opinion can be measured through many methods. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages. Each of these methods is chosen according to the classification and how issues are arising in the society11. One of the ways of measuring public opinion is through elections. This method is widely used by the democratic counties where citizens are given a chance to vote for the candidate of their choice. Elections are done at regular interval in many countries. Some countries have irregular election maybe due to factors that any people did not like about the government. Elections determine those who are going to represent the government staff. The candidate who gets the highest votes becomes the winner. The winner always is the person who is population in the large population. Elections always tell what the public want. This method is not the best in measuring public opinion because not all people vote during elections. The citizens who have voting cards only do election. However, this method does not represent opinion from the whole population. Media can also be used to measure public opinion. Most of the government officials look at what is going in the media so that they can get what people in the public are thinking. Media have a great understanding of the public opinion and they use it to air their news. The main disadvantage of this method is that most of the editors give their own opinions on the matters concerning public issues. The opinion from the media editors does not represent what all people think in the public. Protests are also used to measure public opinions. Citizens in many countries use protest to show their dissatisfaction with policies from the government. The demonstrations that took place in London were clear indications that many people in the city were not satisfied by the government policies put in place. Not all people in the country use this method to air their views. The poor people use this method to air their problems to the government. Sample survey is one of the best methods for measuring public opinion. This method involves scientific survey research done by researchers on the large population. This method analyses public opinion in a scientific way. It provides high quality data that is collected from a large group of people. Shortcoming of this method is that it takes a long time to collect samples11. Vreese says, “British media has frame public opinion through many ways. Different types of press covered the issue concerning enlargement of the Eastern Britain in different angles.” This made the public have different opinions on the enlargement. The British government had decided to expand the Eastern so that it accommodates many immigrants from the neighboring countries. British government took the issue of immigration positively. It was going to boost the economy and provide labour. Some of the British press took this issue positively while others took is negatively. Media used their ideas to change minds of the people in the public about the enlargement. Each of the press covered the enlargement issue in three areas: economic consequences, political consequences, and social consequences of the enlargement5. Analysis on how British press covered the issues on consequences of the enlargement showed that economic consequences received the highest emphasis1. Political consequences were the second while social consequences received the least emphasis from the press. Each newspaper had different reaction and emphasis on the enlargement. The Guardian for example, economic consequences frames were highly emphasized. The political consequences followed and social consequences were the least to be emphasized with less than a fifth of the articles published only emphasized on the social consequences. The Times had different types of frames in their articles. Political consequences were framed frequently in the articles while economic consequences frames became the second in their frames. Social consequences also received the least emphasis in the articles’ frames. For The Daily Mail, economic consequences received predominant emphasis and much of the articles covered this attribute. This was followed by the political consequences; social consequences frames covered the least emphasis. The Express covered the economic consequences with the highest emphasis. Social consequences became the least to be emphasized6. British Eastern enlargement received both positive and negative reaction from the media. Some British Press considered the issue an economic boost while others considered it as both economic and social problem. These presses used the media to change the minds of the public. The daily Mail and The Express reported the enlargement as a negative move that the government did. Six months before enlargement of the Eastern, these newspapers reported the movements as an economic problem that the government must look into and stop it before it occur. These newspapers reported that the enlargement was going to increase both legal and illegal immigration into the country. The Daily Mail always criticized the issue of enlargement that it was going to bring in free movement and many it warned many readers that this movement was going to bring negative effects on their welfare and increased population that would lead to unemployment among the natives. The Daily Mail criticized the Eastern enlargement stating that it would affect the peace and stability of the country. It described immigrant as poor and illiterate and the enlargement was going to affect the wages of the citizens. Its further described the migrants’ movement as mayhem and would bring in HIV to the country. It reported that Britain had very population with poor infrastructure and housing and it needed no more labour since many people were still unemployed. There was no need for the government to add more people yet it was not able to help those who were already there. The Express coverage on the enlargement was also negative. In this newspaper, a sarcastic story about a 21-year-old man was highlighted. It reported that this man was to pack his bags and to move to Britain to start a new life that was funded by the British government using taxpayers’ money. This man said that even if he would not be employed in Britain, someone was going to pay his bills. Other countries like Germany, France, and Italy did not allow any immigration to take place. They feared that immigrants were going to claim benefits and cause economic crisis. This was not an issue to the British government. It welcomed the immigrants warmly. These immigrants were going to have access to healthcare, income support and free housing council. Other newspapers like The Guardian framed the issue on enlargement positively. It published that UK would welcome new skills to the country. It considered Britain as a land of hope and opportunities. The enlargement was going to bring in skilled labour to the country. It encouraged people to focus on the benefits of the enlargement rather than the negative effects. The immigrants were described as highly skilled and with high profession in entrepreneurship. The Times also covered the Eastern enlargement in a neutral and positive tone. It described the immigrants as the saviors and lifesavers. New media is growing rapidly due the technological improvements that are put in place. Some of the new media that are used globally are Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Google. These types of new media uses internet in transferring and exchanging information. In Britain, very large population uses new media. This media frames public opinions in many ways. Media like Facebook has many users all over the country. Many people reach anything that goes around in this media. New media can frame public opinion at a very high rate. The number of those who use Facebook has increased to three million. About 70,000 fundraising activities take place in the internet. A lot of money has been raised through this fundraising. Millions of people online can watch videos in You Tube. However, British media frames public opinions depending on the type of media that is used. Old media are newspapers, radio and television. Each one of these has different ways in which it frames public opinions. Public opinion framing in political issues is done through newspapers. The new media include Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, and You Tube. They also have major effects on public opinion. Therefore, British media frame public opinion. Reference 1. Baum1, M.A., Potter, P.B.K., 2008. The Relationships Between Mass Media, Public Opinion, and Foreign Policy: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis. Annual Review of Political Science 2. De Vreese, C. H. (2003). Framing Europe: Television News and European Integration. Amsterdam: Aksant Academic Publishers. 3. Entman, R. (1993). “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm,” Journal of Communication, vol. 43, i. 4, p. 51-58. 4. McCombs, M. E. (2000). “The Agenda-Setting Role of the Mass Media in the Shaping of Public Opinion”, paper. 5. Newton, K. and Brynin, M. (2001) “The National Press and Party Voting in the UK”, Political Studies, 49 (2), pp. 265-285. 6. Norris P., Sanders D., 2001. Knows Little, Learns Less?, An experimental study of the impact of the media on learning, during the 2001 British general election. Cambridge: John F. Kennedy School of Government. 7. Rohrschneider, R. (2000). “The Democracy Deficit and Mass Support for an EU-wide Government,” American Journal of Political Science, vol. 46, p. 463-75. 8. Saris, Willem E. (1997). “The Public Opinion about the EU Can Easily Be Swayed in Different Directions,” Acta Politica: International Journal of Political Science, vol. 32, 406-35. 9. Seymour-Ure, C. (1997) “New Labour and the Media”, in A. King (ed.), Britain at the Polls 2001. Chatham NJ: Chatham House, pp. 117-142. 10. Weaver, D. (1991). “Issue Salience and Public Opinion: Are There Consequences of Agenda-Setting?,” International Journal of Public Opinion Research, vol. 3, p. 53-68. 11. Asher, H. B. (2007). Polling and the public: What every citizen should know. Washington, DC: CQ Press. Read More