November 25th 2021

QUESTION 1: 

Analyse the media language used in Sources A and B with relation to political contexts.

Apply Barthes’ ideas semiology in your answer.

Barthes theorises that denotations and connotations are used to construct myths that naturalise ideology. In these sources, connotations construct myths that naturalise the political ideology of the two papers.

The Daily Mail is a right-wing newspaper, well known for its nationalism, ethnocentrism and partisan politics.  The inlaid ‘Tragedy in the Channel’ introduces the story, the red background carrying connotations of emergency and demonstrating sympathy for the migrants. This is further emphasised by the sub headline, which refers to the ‘horrific’ death toll. However, the rest of the reporting has different connotations. The banner headline ‘YOU’RE LETTING GANGS GET AWAY WITH MURDER’ quotes Boris Johnson, constructing the idea that he is brave in his stance against the French authorities. This naturalises the political position of the heroic Conservative prime minister standing in opposition to the French. The image is selected to downplay sympathy for the migrants as it shows a group of almost exclusively able-bodied men.  This constructs the myth that they are less deserving of sympathy, naturalising the exclusionary/ethnocentric politics of the right-wing audience. Furthermore, the French authorities are referenced used the anchoring caption ‘Laissez-faire;’  the connotations are that they are too lazy to act; the choice of language constructs the myth that this attitude is so endemic in French culture that only a French phrase can describe it.  

The Guardian takes a different approach to the same story, constructing and naturalising the myth of victimhood. The banner headline explicitly refers to ‘refugees’ and the side bar highlights that five women and one girl were among the 31 deaths. The image also constructs the myth of mother and child as victims of the situation by placing them front and centre and using an image that shows the suffering in her facial expression. The anchoring text calls her a “mother,” which reinforces the left-wing political stance of the paper, by playing to the myth of female victimhood and the familiar British value of placing women and children in a position of priority for rescue. The prominent pull quote beneath the article is backed in red, which connotes the idea of emergency and seriousness. The content of the quote emphasises the inclusionary politics of the Guardian, claiming that the UK must ‘end the cruel tactic of seek to punish or push away those who seek safety here.’ The left wing messaging both vilifies the Conservative government by implying that they use ‘cruel’ tactics, and encourages sympathy by constructing the myth that the refugees are simply seeking ‘safety’ in the UK.

400 words

QUESTION 2:

Source A and B cover the same news event from two different newspaper front covers.

How far do they construct versions of reality?

In your answer you must:

- explain how newspapers, through representations, construct versions of reality

- analyse the representations in the sources

- make judgements and reach conclusions about how far the sources construct versions of reality

Both sources construct representations of the same news story. However, the ideological perspective that underpins their approach to the event leads to different versions of reality.

Both acknowledge that the loss of life is a ‘tragedy’ explicitly using the word as a heading (Source A) or as part of the banner headline (Source B). This positions the audience to accept the hegemonic reading of the story, which frames the loss of life as horrific. This type of eye catching and powerful language choice is a generic convention of newspaper front pages, hooking readers to engage with the story. Thereafter, the two sources diverge in their preferred reading. Source A constructs a version of reality that blames the ‘tragedy’ on ineffectual French authorities, downpl  ays sympathy for the migrants and encodes a representation of    the Conservative prime minister as a beleaguered but strong figure. Source B constructs a ‘reality’ in which the ‘refugees’ are victims in need of support and the British authorities are shameful in the negative tactics that refuse them help.

A generic feature of most newspaper covers is to use an emotive image that connects to the splash and intensifies the version of reality being presented. The Guardian constructs a reality in which women and children are the principal victims. The image is a representation of a woman carrying one child and dragging a second, suffering etched on her face. The anchoring text identifies her as a mother and describes her as being rescued. It is somewhat unconventional to see info bars on the front of newspapers; the red dot makes it feel almost as if we are seeing breaking news and is more in keeping with the live update sections of online newspaper. This may be intended to construct the idea of immediacy in order to highlight the importance of this information. The content further constructs the ‘reality’ of female victimisation by stating that “five women and one girl” are among the victims. The representation of the pictured woman and children allows us to image what the victims may have looked like. Hall indicates that stereotypes are constructed through what is present and what is absent. The 25 male victims are omitted to construct the stereotype of female victimhood, which better fits the version of reality that will appeal to the Guardian’s left-wing feminist readers. The same information can be found in the copy of the Daily Mail cover, but it is far less prominent. This discourages a feminist reading of the text allowing the Daily Mail reader to distance themselves from the female victims.

Source A has a very different representation of reality, intended to appeal to its exclusionary right-wing readers. The banner headline of the Mail is more incendiary than the Guardian, which is in keeping with it being a mid-market tabloid. The word ‘gangs’ and ‘murder’ constructs a representation of criminality being allowed by the French authorities and encodes a version of events in which French institutions are seen as complicit with ‘people traffickers.’ There is no off-lead on the newspaper, which constructs the idea that this is a very significant story, as serious as an election, the death of a monarch etc. The Daily Mail describes the victims as migrants, never conceding that they are refugees and the image, only features one representation of a woman carrying a child, the rest all representations of able-bodied men constructing the idea that most of the migrants are not in need of refuge in the UK. The one woman appears to be challenging the French authorities who remain faceless in their dark, expensive and large vehicle.  The caption points out the vehicle and uses the phrase ‘Laissez-faire’ in an accusatory tone, in order to shift the blame for the event away from the Conservative Leader and onto the French leader (Macron). 

Evidently, both stories have an oppositional approach to the same event, probably because they are being presented to ideologically oppositional audiences. 

650 WORDS