Media and Ideology
Media and Ideology
What do we mean by ideology in
common parlance?
Media and Ideology


When media scholars refer to uncovering
ideology they are interested in the underlying
images of society portrayed in the media
Media professionals typically reject the idea
that they play a role in creating ideology
Media and Ideology

Media scholars see ideology as:
A system of meaning that helps to
define and explain the world and
makes value judgments about that
world.
Media and Ideology

In examining the ideology of the media,
scholars focus not so much on individual
media texts such as television programs or
films but on their collective implications for
defining and thinking about social, cultural
and political issues.
Media and Ideology

Analysis of media ideology seeks to answer
the question:
What do media messages tell
us about ourselves and our
society?
Media and Ideology

Debate on nature of media ideology between
proponents of the Dominant Ideology thesis
and those who hold the Cultural
Contradictions position
Media and Ideology

Media texts are the site or place where
cultural contests over meaning take place,
over what is acceptable and legitimate and
what is deviant in society.

Media give us pictures of social interaction
and social institutions that by sheer repetition
play an important role in shaping our social
perceptions. Ideological work lies in
identifying patterns across texts
Media and Ideology


Hall says that the media are engaged in the
“politics of signification,” in which they
produce particular narratives that give events
certain meanings.
That is to say, they do not simply “reflect” the
world they “re-present,” it by engaging
practices that define reality.
Media and Ideology

Ideology as represented in media texts is key
to “normalization” of specific social relations.
In other words media normalize certain
behaviors and ideas while excluding others.
Media and Ideology


Key theoretical idea underlying the study of
ideology is the idea of “hegemony.”
Drawn from the work of Italian thinker
Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) who noted that
power can be wielded at the level of culture
or ideology or the realm of everyday life.
Media and Ideology

Hegemony is not simply about ideological
domination or forcible imposition of views on
people. It involves winning their consent
through a type of cultural leadership.
Media and Ideology



Hegemony operates at the level of
commonsense in the assumptions that we
make of social life. For instance, what is
natural and what is taken for granted what
everybody knows.
Such as ?
Is hegemony unchangeable ?