Mass Media
Ideology and Control
1. The Italian Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci, Antonio (1891-1937) who tired to unify social theory and political practice analyzed the hegemonic and ideological role mass media played in modern times. Gramsci introduced the concept of ideology and hegemony in capitalist societies posthumously in Quaderni di carcere/Prison Notebooks (1947). He argued that since ideology and politics were not wholly dependent on economic factors alone, the working class could liberate itself by conducting a sustained intellectual and political struggle. In his concept of hegemony in capitalist societies Gramsci explained that actual class control is ideological and cultural and not so much physical. When the working class, educated by radical intellectuals, realizes the bourgeois propaganda it seeks revenge by overthrowing the status quo. His gradualist Marxist approach to overthrow bourgeois ideology allowed European Marxists to forge their own determinism as distinct from the orthodox determinism of Soviet communism.
2. One of the offshoots of Gramsci's hegemonic concept in capitalist societies is the use of the media as a hegemonic tool to support dominant ideologies. The 'truth' of a dominant ideological discourse has to be first adapted to the unique cultural and historical situation of the social group before it can be spread. The lives of individuals living in modern societies are not only physically limiting but also intellectually and morally constraining. The media has tried to overcome both the limitation and constraint by becoming the basis for communication between groups of peoples
3. It is possible to impose common sense and supposedly natural traits on a large group of people living in a society and influence their opinion in a desired direction. It has been observed that individual views quickly spreads in society on the wings of the media and acquires the larger identity of public opinion. In recent years many cultural scholars in the West have taken the help of socially- accepted views to rationalize their own hegemonic ideas. The way these scholars and the media present marginalized groups such as ethnic minorities, gay and lesbians reveal hidden hegemonic persuasions.
4. The media supports certain dominant values as against suppressed values. We are given to believe that the function of the media is to present information objectively allowing consumers the freedom to make up their own minds about an issue or subject. The modern media is an entirely different ball game. Psychological pressure on people through advertisement campaigns and coercive tactics on disempowered groups to toe the line valorize hegemonic intentions of dominant groups. Racism is the plague of Western cultures largely bolstered and made problematic by an intentionally or unintentionally biased Western media.
5. The issue becomes more complicated as media invariably claims to be impartial but in essence is not. And yet both the politician and the public take recourse to the media either to disseminate their views or gain access to news quickly. The media not only informs us about what's happening in the world also creates the information that we receive. And if we employ the theory of hegemony we may conclude that the media not only informs us about day-to-day events but also creates an ideology by which it must be consumed.
6. The 13th century European theory of representative government stated that there were three estates that allowed the proper the functioning of society--the nobility, the clergy and the commons. The first defended society from foreign aggression, the second took care of its spiritual needs and the third produced the resources to support the first two. Observing the increasing power of the press in 18th century British society, Edmund Burke coined the term the fourth estate. He could never have anticipated the burgeoning of the media in modern societies and the control they exercise on people.
7. The media now possesses the power to move through social barriers at ease and can allow a group to win social consent or lose it. Recognizing the hegemony of the media, both dictators and democratic governments use organized media to further their own ends or are in turn controlled by it. The media has increasingly decided the success or failure of political parties, their political agenda or selected leadership by creating popular consensus.
8. Examples of the power of the television and the press has been visible in recent times in both India and Great Britain. In January 1987, the Indian state-run television, Doordarshan, began broadcasting a Hindu epic in serial form, the Ramayana, to nationwide audiences, violating decades-old taboo on religious partisanship. What resulted was the largest political campaign in post-independent times, around the symbol of Ram, led by Hindu nationalists. The complexion of Indian politics was irrevocably changed thereafter.
9. In this book Arvind Rajagopal analyses this extraordinary series of events. While audiences may have thought they were harking back to an epic golden age, Hindu nationalist leaders were embracing the prospects of neo-liberalism and globalization. Television was the device that brought these movements together, symbolizing the new possibilities of politics, at once more inclusive and authoritarian than previously practiced by the Congress Party.
10. The television serial on the life of Ram was woven into the larger historical context making it sound more objective and universal and acceptable to a larger section of the Indian population, not just staunch middle class Hindus. Obviously this changed the character of Hindu nationalism and the way it constructed the Indian nation. Obviously the minorities such as the Muslims and Christians saw this as a sinister move to either purge or silence them in post-independent India. The BJP construction of its political identity in Hindu religious terms led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, religious riots that killed thousands and persecution of the Christians that resulted in Church burning and killing of Australian missionaries. Arvind Rajagopal s excellent book, Hindu Nationalism and the Reshaping of the Public in India offers an excellent analysis about politics after the television campaign to reshape Hindu national identity and affect poltical reconstruction of the Bhartiya Janta Party (or Indian Peoples Party) popularly called BJP.
11. An example of the power of the press and media can be drawn in the battle for consent in respect of the Poll Tax which was introduced by a politically lagging Margaret Thatcher. The media instantly latched upon the idea and managed to create and fuel an atmosphere of both hatred and passion towards the new policy and in turn for the government. The pressure led to demonstration, rioting and general revolt against the idea. It could be argued that theory of hegemony was tested by this fact. However, media coverage of the whole story may have given rise to the eventual removal of the policy, therefore the theory could be said to have linked in with the coverage and ideological role of the media.
12. Many people have moved to a situation whereby they received their political information from sound bites and tiny snippets of media. It is here where the battle lines are drawn when it comes to the winning of consent. The turning of The Sun to support Labour in 1997 was considered by many to be the turning point. The headline “It was The Sun what won it”(The Sun, 2 May 1997, p. 1.) is an example of how the media saw the whole of the 1997 campaign. If the people who are at the center of creating the ideology to be consumed by the public see the importance of the winning of consent through media, then the theory could be argued to exist. However, the media are as powerful as the public permits it to be. A monster created by the people for the people; the media are responsible for the deliverance of messages is the area of discussion for political ideology. People who are dragged into the realm of believing and above all, trusting the media are the ones at risk of being dominated and instilled with the values of others. The current debates within the media on topics such as whether Britain should join the Euro and the growing of genetically modified food are examples of the way in which media can influence the debate. The phrase Frankenstein food is regularly used to describe the crops that no official report has conclusively proved as cast iron facts.
Questions:
1. Explain Antonio Gramsci’s concept of ideology?
2. Can we apply Gramsci’s ideas of hegemony to modern mass media?
3. How does the media construct reality, empowers certain groups and erases or marginalizes others? Give some examples from modern history.
4. How should we analyze the information given by the media impartially?
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