Television, News, Ideology

What is ideology?

What is ideology?

Van Dijk calls ideology a form of social cognition…

What is ideology?

Van Dijk calls ideology a form of social cognition…

Ideologies are not just any kind of social beliefs, but the fundamental, axiomatic beliefs underlying the social representations shared by a group

What is ideology?

• Ideology are always partial and preferential ways of experiencing/describing the world.

What is ideology?

• Ideology are always partial and preferential ways of experiencing/describing the world.

• They typically benefit one group and the expense of others

What is ideology?

• Ideology are always partial and preferential ways of experiencing/describing the world.

• They typically benefit one group and the expense of others

• Often, ideologies are hidden by what seems to be common sense

What is ideology?

Some examples of ideological discourse in new media

What is ideology?

Some examples of ideological discourse in new media

* Race

What is ideology?

Some examples of ideological discourse in new media

• Race• Gender

What is ideology?

Some examples of ideological discourse in new media

• Race• Gender• Nationalism

What is ideology?

How does news discourse reproduce ideology?

What is ideology?

How does news discourse reproduce ideology?

• Choice of Stories• Choice of experts/sources• Choice of anchors and reporters• Choice of language and phrasing• Choice of image and other visual elements

The shifting terrain of TV news across several decades

• NBC 1952 (check John Wayne at minute 3)• CBS 1963 Walter Cronkite's first 30min news broadcast• ABC news promo from 1970• CNN News promo 1991• CNN 1991 Coverage of morning after day 1 of Gulf War bo

mbing (min 14)• Gen. Schwarzkoph shows video footage from guided missi

les (1991)

• Iraq "shock and awe" news footage CNN 2003 (minute 39-45 for example)

Comment on shifting sense of the news as Ideological Discourse

What is the CNN Effect?

What is the CNN Effect?

• The development of the 24-hour news cycle has produced dramatic changes to the relationship between governments, audiences, and events

What is the CNN Effect?

• The development of the 24-hour news cycle has produced dramatic changes to the relationship between governments, audiences, and events

• Requires speed, saturation, and visuality

What is the CNN Effect?

• The development of the 24-hour news cycle has produced dramatic changes to the relationship between governments, audiences, and events

• Requires speed, saturation, and visuality• Former Secretary of State James Baker on the

CNN Effect: “one thing it does, is to drive policy makers to have a policy position… (and) articulate it very quickly. You are in real-time mode. You don’t have time to reflect”

Who is Roger Ailes

Who is Roger Ailes

As chairman and CEO of Fox News, “Ailes both remade American politics and media. … he helped turn politics into mass entertainment, monetizing the politics while making entertainment a potent organizing force.” (Gabriel Sherman, Fresh Air interview)

Who is Roger Ailes

Developed the blueprint for FOX News in the 1970s when he designed TVN, a news service funded by right-leaning beer magnate, Joseph Coors, who wanted to produce conservative news stories to counter what he saw as liberal media bias.

Who is Roger Ailes

The TVN blueprint:1. Hold frame2. Repetition 3. Whipping posts4. Sex appeal5. Pretense balancing

Who is Roger Ailes

The TVN blueprint:1. Hold frame2. Repetition 3. Whipping posts4. Sex appeal5. Pretense balancingListen to min 13-18 for definitions:Sherman Interview about Roger Ailes- Loudest Voice in the Room

How Fox Changed News

How Fox Changed News

• “Millions of viewers no longer view the news as a way to become informed about the world. (Instead), it is a way to gather information that advances your side.”

How Fox Changed News

• “Millions of viewers no longer view the news as a way to become informed about the world. (Instead), it is a way to gather information that advances your side.”

• “We’ve lost the notion that journalism should be separate from politics”

TO DO

• Watch FOX, along with the other big 24/7 news networks and look for the Ailes blueprint. What evidence do you see for the claim that Ailes’ approach has remade the news?

TO DO

• Watch FOX, along with the other big 24/7 news networks and look for the Ailes blueprint. What evidence do you see for the claim that Ailes’ approach has remade the news?

• Comment: what are some of the consequences of the eroding line between journalism and politics?