Media Representation - Case Study Example

Media Representation Introduction: Media representation may be said to refer to the representation within the media of how reality is presented. The process of representation includes not just the manner in which the images are presented, but how they are produced. The media has been viewed as an agent of domination, largely through the ideology propagated through media text and discourse that is presented from the perspective of the dominant Western or American model. On the other hand, the question that also arises in this context is whether ideology in fact exists at all, since it is supposed to be unconscious. Analysis: The classic view of ideology relates the ways of seeing the world of social relations and thinking about it to economic and social structure of that society, viewing social class as the determining feature, so that it is the dominant class which imposes its view of the world on to subordinate classes.(McCormick, 2000:93). This is relevant in the context of the mass media because they are owned and controlled by members of the dominant class, as a result of which media output reflects the dominant ideology. Gramsci originally developed the concept of hegemony, to explain how the prevailing beliefs and practices among the masses is conditioned by mass consent, “Spontaneous consent given by the great masses of the population to the general direction imposed on social life by the dominant fundamental group.” (Stuart, 2000:84). Through the tools of the media, the beliefs, values, behavioral patterns and norms of the economically dominant nations are imposed upon the weaker ones (Salwen 1991). Such cultural domination achieved through the tool of the media is viewed as a particularly dangerous process because it produces a homogenization of culture in line with dominant countries such as the United States – “the fundamental concepts of a society’s national image are remodeled in the American image” (White, 1983: 120). Hall (1996) argues that the media only reinforce existing power structures in society by providing greater opportunities to the dominant groups and races. “Ironically, the very rules which aim to preserve the impartiality of the media and which grew out of the desires for greater professional neutrality, also serve to powerfully orientate the media in the ‘definitions of social reality’ which their ‘accredited sources’, the institutional spokesmen provide…The media thus tend faithfully and impartially to reproduce symbolically the existing structure of power in society’s institutional order” (p 427). The role of media is not just dissemination of information but as a pervasive global force, especially in the developed countries. Hall describes the dominant media class - the ‘West’ as, “…a society that is developed, industrialised, urbanised, capitalist, secular and modern…any society, wherever it exists on a geographical map, which shares these characteristics can be said to belong to the West.” (Hall, 1992:277). The ideology of the West is capitalist and modern, all those countries, which do not belong to the ideological ‘West’ are the ‘Rest’ or the ‘Other’ to the western world. The representation of events in the media, in particular news events and incidents relating to the Muslim world, reflect this underlying ideology of the “West” and the “rest”, which may not be acceptable to people of those regions. media discourse may therefore be seen to be a reflection of the Western view of Islam as the “other” – an alien element that must be opposed. The media slant therefore presents this group in a predominantly negative light, as a threat to existing Western systems. The Islamic religion is so different from Western ideas due to the ideological and cultural differences between Islam and Christianity that the Western view of Islam tends to view it as a threat to Western democracy. Poole (2002) has pointed out how the cultural differences between the two religions and the conflicts between the two races influences the perception of Islam as a threat, in the British media.(p 260). Islamic religious customs, especially its treatment of women, may be viewed as regressive practices in an enlightened Western democracy, heightening the perception of Muslims as a backward, savage race which is only enhanced by the terrorist attacks and the predominance of Muslims among the terrorists. Presentation of news related to events in the Middle East may therefore reflect this kind of slant that reflects the dominant ideology of the West. Adorno and Horkheimer (1993) have argued that the context of media text is determined by two salient factors (a) the invested capital, thereby pressing for media content to appease the bankers and financiers of such content (b) mass tastes, which means that esoteric content that suits only a particular section of society is likely to be nixed in favor of media content that appeals to a wider mass audience. As a result, classification, organizing and labeling of different types of content will be regulated by customers. Media content is not relevant in any way to the meaning of such content, rather it is forced into ruthless uniformity by cash flows and economic justifications. Adorno and Horkheimer (1993) contend that there is a universal imposition of a stylized model peculiar to each medium, so that the intricacies and painstaking differences in truly innovative products represented during earlier centuries are rapidly disappearing into a monotonous sameness which characterizes most media products. The current style of the culture industry is in effect, a negation of style because every product appears to be pre-stamped with the seal of sameness. According to Adorno and Horkheimer (1993:6) art is ideology too, but it is only when art rises in confrontation with the tradition of which style is the record that art can become an agent of expression of suffering. However, such a framework of art must transcend the mundane and ordinary and it reveals itself in the elements of discrepancy present in it, since it is only inferior art that relies on its similarity with others and maintains a surrogate identity. Adorno and Horkheimer contend that the mass media is guilty of subordinating the richness of culture and through mediocrity, satisfying the concept of a unified, mass culture. The media thus serves as an agent of homogenizing culture. These authors believe that the “fusion of culture and entertainment that is taking place today leads not only to a depravation of culture, but inevitably to an intellectualization of amusement.” (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1993:12).Therefore, on this basis, they contend that the culture industry fails to live up to its promises to deliver true art and the les it can promise, the less it serves the function of art to offer a meaningful explanation of life and as a result, the emptier is the ideology that is disseminated through the media. According to McCormack, the concept of ideology is becoming less relevant in the context of media studies. One of the reasons for such reduced relevance is that there are now other collective identities such as gender, race and nationality which are also equally important in relation to ideology, therefore restricting such associations to the dominant social class poses a problem. (McCormack, 2000:93). Secondly, where ideological analysis is concerned, ideology has been related to discourse or the underlying concepts on the basis of which we make our judgments. But this can only apply to certain kinds of analyses and raises questions about the specific nature of the relation between the ideology and discourse, especially since ideology is supposed to be an unconscious process, where people are not aware that they do indeed have an ideological position. Therefore, the question that must be considered is whether the media produces any ideological effects at all? McCormack (2000:96) argues that media texts may not necessarily function as straightforward channels to disperse a uniform, dominant ideology and therefore the widespread hegemonic effects that are claimed by those who argue in favor of ideology through the media may in fact be questionable. Appadurai (1990) proposes the cultural flows/networks model whereby there is no distinct source from which information flows, therefore there can be no imposition by one dominant ideology; rather there is a network of interconnectivity through the media, ideas, finances, etc which produces a cultural diffusion that is unstructured and may sometimes result in contradicting flows in two directions (Couldry, 2000: 96). For example, while it may appear that the impact of the Western media, which imposes its own dominant ideology upon other countries is so strong that it overrides and supersedes the local culture, the net result may not be a mass move towards Westernization but rather, may produce heterogeneity and homogeneity at the same time. Applying this in the context of cultural identity for example, this may be conditioned by both place and ethnicity so that a British Muslim is not circumscribed by the boundaries of his home country, yet retains his ethnic culture in a global framework (Eade 1977). Therefore, where the media is concerned, it may be argued that with the diversity of output and the various players involved in the production and reception of such content, a dominant ideology cannot be transferred; rather media ideology would be dependent upon a mixture of several factors which would include economic decisions on marketability of media content, and such determinations would change from time to time. Conclusions: On the basis of the above, media representation as an agent of the dominant Western ideology is a view that has been supported by several authors. On this basis, ideology is mainly structured around social and economic principles and it is generally the views of the dominant class or the class of financiers who provide the investments in the media who actually determine the kind of content and the manner in which it will be presented. However, there is an equally valid view offered by McCormick about the relevance of ideology itself in the context of the media. Ideology is supposed to be largely an unconscious process; therefore to argue that it is transmitted through the media by a conscious assimilation through the senses may in itself be flawed. Furthermore, an assertion that the ideology of the dominant class is transmitted through the media may also be questionable, since there are several collective identities that may play a role in media representation. Authors such as Gramsci have propounded the theory of the hegemony of the media and the representation of the dominant Western image and ideology that is imposed upon the rest of the world and such views appear to be supported by the representation of the “west” and the “rest” in the media. Moreover, media representation is increasingly being conditioned by economic constraints, so that it is the financial backers of the media entities that determine content. With the increasing number of mergers in the media organizations and the development of mega-corporations to deal with a global market, there appears to be some room to justify the argument that media representation is largely conditioned by profit making and financial bottom lines. But it also appears possible that there are valid grounds to support the position that ideology in media representation is slowly becoming less relevant within a developing global framework where there are many players and groups that are shaping media content as well as its reception among members of the public. Bibliography * Adorno, Theodor and Horkheimer, Max, 1993. “The Culture Industry: enlightenment as mass deception” IN “Dialectic of Enlightenment”, New York: Continuum. * Appadurai, A, 1990. “Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy”, Public Culture, 2: 1-24. * Couldry, N, 2000. “The Place of Media Power: Pilgrims and witnesses of the media age”, London: Routledge * Eade, John, 1997 (Ed). “Living the Global City: Globalisation as Local Process”, London, Routledge * Hall, S, 1992. “The West and the Rest in Formations of Modernity”, (eds Hall, Stuart and Gieben) Open University: Polity. * McCormick, Mike, 2000. “The reassessment of ideology” IN “Formations: 21st century media studies” (edited by Dan Fleming), Manchester University Press * Poole, E, 2002. “Reporting Islam: Media Representations of British Muslims”, London: IB Tauris and Co * Salwen, M. B, 1991. “Cultural imperialism: a media effects approach”, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8: 29-38. * Allan, S, 2000. “News Culture”. Buckinghamshire: Open University Press * White, R, 1983. “A backwater awash: The Australian experience of Americanization”. Theory, Culture and Society, 1: 108-122. Read More