Political and Social Agenda of Newspapers and Journalists - Essay Example

Political and Social Agenda of Newspapers and Journalists: News Value and Semiotics in the U.S. Bombing of Isis Militants in Irbil from The Guardian and The Sun Name Instructor Class August 12, 2014 Political and Social Agenda of Newspapers and Journalists: News Value and Semiotics in the U.S. Bombing of Isis Militants in Irbil from The Guardian and The Sun That the same event can be reported differently by two different newspapers proves that the media are not completely objective sources of news but a sum of their individual and organisational agenda and prejudice. On August 9, 2014, the United States bombed Islamic State (Isis) militants in Irbil, Kurdistan to stop them from conquering the latter city. The paper focuses on two online articles from two dissimilar newspapers, The Sun and The Guardian. In “US Forces Bomb Isis Militant Positions in Northern Iraq,” Chulov et al. (2014) of The Guardian describe the bombings and U.S. goals in Iraq. Morgan (2014) of The Sun, in “U.S. Missile Strike Pounds Isis Killers,” offers a more concise report. The paper explains and uses the theory of Galtung and Ruge (1965), the Gatekeeper Model, and the Social Constructionist view, to explain and compare the codes and conventions used in these articles. These articles use codes and conventions that meet the Gatekeeper Model’s news value, but they differ in their signified aspects because of divergence in the social and political agenda of their organisations. Before the analysis, the features of the theories should be explained to connect its relevance to the analysis. The Gatekeeper Model shows that the news has several factors that determine news value, and those that are applicable to this paper are impact, audience identification, timeliness, and continuity (Branston and Stafford, 2010: 344-346). The paper studies how these articles represented these elements. Apart from the Gatekeeper Model, the paper uses the Social Constructionist view, particularly semiotics. Semiotics refers to “the study of signs in society” (Bignell, 2002: 5). Saussure argues that people perceive reality through human language and signs (Bignell, 2002: 5). He states that “[l]anguage is a system of signs” and signs have two components, the “signifier” and the “signified” (Hall, 1997: 31). The “signifier” stands for words and images, or the form, while the “signified” refers to concepts that are associated with the signifier (Hall, 1997: 31). Semiotics will be used in examining the connotations of the words and images used in both articles. The first feature for analysis is the impact of these articles where both expressed the impact of the news through the number of affected people, though there are differences in the statistics used. These two articles give information on the victims of Isis in the past and their potential victims if they reach Irbil. Chulov et al. (2014) provide the numbers of those who are already and will be affected by the fighting. They report that 40,000 civilians are already trapped in Mount Sinjar, while the city of Irbil is home to 1.5 million residents (Chulov et al., 2014). Morgan’s (2014) article did not mention any victims in other areas. He reports that, according to President Obama, the bombing saved around “100,000 Christians who are fleeing the Isis killers” (Morgan, 2014). Like Chulov et al. (2014), Morgan (2014) points out who the U.S. are saving in terms of numbers and identities. These news articles show news value through underscoring how the Isis rebels are affecting thousands of Iraqis. Aside from impact, these news articles note the ambiguity of these happenings for the U.S. and the U.K. They cannot say how long the U.S. will be involved in Iraq. Chulov et al. (2014) note, however, that the U.S. does not plan to send troops on the ground after President Obama pulled out American troops from Iraq in 2011. Chulov et al. (2014), however, do not know how the U.S. sees its future role in Iraq: “It was unclear...how America might extricate itself from an ever evolving and deepening conflict.” This article also says something about the U.K. and how it plans to send humanitarian, but not military, support. As for Morgan (2014), he does not provide any hint on how long the U.S. plans to pressure Isis and to what extent. These news articles maximise ambiguity through exploring the bombing’s implications for involved nations. The second feature for analysis is audience identification through the use of emotive language. Both news articles personalise the news through humanising the story. Personalisation is more generalised, however, because of emphasis on numbers. Chulov et al. (2014) mention 40,000 civilians who are already trapped in Mount Sinjar, while Morgan (2014) asserts that the bombing saved around “100,000 Christians” (Morgan, 2014). These news articles personalise the news through showing war’s effects on people. In addition, human interest is engaged through emotive language. Morgan’s story is brief, but it uses imagery. An example is: “The target is trained in the plane’s sight before the bomb hits, engulfing it in a ball of flames” (Morgan, 2014). “A ball of flames” engages interest through violence. Chulov et al. (2014) do not use emotionalism and appear to be more objective. Nonetheless, they employ descriptive words to emphasise the fighting’s effects, by mentioning thousands of refugees and saying that “children [were] among the stranded population [who] were beginning to die of thirst” (Chulov et al., 2014). Describing the suffering of the children increases human interest. These news articles help the audience identify with the victims and Iraq through evoking empathy for children and other victims. The third and fourth related features of these news articles are timeliness and continuity which both articles demonstrate because of the immediacy of their reporting and the likeliness of continued impact on the U.S. and Iraq. Both articles were published on August 9, 2014, the day that the bombings occurred. They have timeliness in their reports of these bombings, although, with a longer article, The Guardian provides more details on the implications of American actions to its commitment in Iraq. Aside from timeliness, these articles note the continuity of the news. The U.S. bombing pulls it back into Iraq after withdrawing its forces in 2011. Morgan (2014) states, “President Obama authorised the first US air strikes on Iraq since he pulled all troops out in 2011,” whereas Chulov et al. (2014) report, “US warplanes bombed Islamic militant..., pulling the US back into Iraq conflict for the first time since President Obama withdrew ground troops in 2011.” These journalists are aware of what the bombing means for the U.S. These articles show that the news is important because it is recent and it can continue. Apart from the news values of these articles, it is necessary to also analyse the semiotics of the images and some words from these articles. Chulov et al. (2014) do not use the words “terrorists” or “killers” in their title or content. Iraqi government officials were the ones who used these words, such as Kamil Amin who says: “We think that the terrorists by now consider them slaves and they have vicious plans for them” (Chulov et al., 2014). The journalists called Isis “militants” which show their objectivity. Morgan (2014), however, describes these militants differently. The title, “U.S. Missile Strike Pounds Isis Killers,” depicts Isis as killers. As a tabloid, it is not surprising that it would use such terms to increase human interest. It codes its representation of Isis militants as inhumane people. The signified shows the cultural associations with Isis (Sturken and Cartwright, 2009) through their demonisation. Images are portrayed in different ways depending on the publisher and journalist agenda and bias. The Sun is a tabloid that sells sensationalism. Its political agenda is more right-wing and it has social agenda for extreme nationalism. The blurred image can be inferred as the signified where Isis is a brutal terrorist group. Chulov et al. (2014), on the contrary, do not focus on Isis, but on the victims and the fighting’s geography. The Guardian is left-wing press that do not necessarily condemn all militant activities in black-and-white and it has a more educated target market unlike The Sun that caters to the working class. The Guardian article’s signifier of marginalised people refers to those who suffer the most during wars. The signified is that they are vulnerable because they cannot defend themselves. As for its maps, the signifier is the place of conflict, while the signified is the expansion of Isis control in Iraq and Syria. These images demonstrate the biases of the journalists in interpreting what is newsworthy in this piece of news. The conventions of news writing are present in these articles through the news value elements of impact, audience identification, timeliness, continuity, and the semiotics of signifier and signified that are products of the biases of the journalists and their newspapers. Both articles connect to the audience through the impact of the news on the British audience who would care for Middle Eastern conflicts in particular and human suffering in general. These news articles are timely and continuous because of its implications for U.S. and British involvement in the future. Furthermore, the images demonstrate the political and social agenda of their newspapers. Journalists choose images and language that reinforce their organisational political and social beliefs and target markets. Thus, these news articles diverge in their construction of meaning and use of different conventions because of their particular newspaper perspectives and their target readers. Word count: 1507 excluding reference list and title page Reference List Bignell, J. (2002) Media semiotics: an introduction. 2nd ed. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Branston. G. and Stafford, R. 2010. The media students book. 5th ed. London: Routledge. Chulov, M. et al. 2014. US forces bomb Isis militant positions in northern Iraq. The Guardian [Online]. 9 August. [Accessed 11 August 2014]. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/08/us-iraq-air-strikes-isis-irbil Hall, S. 1997. Chapter 1: the work of representation. In: Hall, S. ed. Representations: cultural representations and signifying practices. London: Sage, pp. 13-74. Morgan, S. 2014. U.S. missile strike pounds Isis killers. The Sun [Online]. 9 August. [Accessed 11 August 2014]. Available from: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/5815199/US-missile-strike-pounds-Isis-killers.html Sturken, M. and Cartwright, L. 2009. Practices of looking: an introduction to visual culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More