At face value, these articles all provide reports on three separate, but related, events during the aftermath of the war in Iraq, but it is necessary to take into account certain factors when absorbing media. Bird, (1997: 336), asserts that ‘news offers more than fact – it offers reassurance and familiarity in shared community experiences.’ I believe this is a very important factor when reading any media, as ‘stories’, or articles, will always be influenced and shaped by the intended audience. This is evident in these three articles. ‘The Mirror’, a tabloid press, appeals to wider society, and in general the less educated, or is read as a source of entertainment for the educated. This paper provides a relatively rebellious article, sensationalised in the text for the readers’ enjoyment, for example they include the blasphemous call of a heckler towards Tony Blair; ‘And a heckler shouted: “You bastard!” at Mr Blair as he left St Paul’s Cathedral.’ (Newton Dunn, 2003) However, the more conservative broadsheets, ‘The Guardian’ and ‘the Observer’, offer comparatively nationalistic, and what appear to be more factual reports, aimed at their
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well-educated reading audience. For example both these papers use numerous references to official reports and surveys in their articles. As Thompson explains (in a dated, but still relevant account of ‘how to read a newspaper), (1939: 117), ‘the supply of news print has become a matter of commerce; and the result is that the controllers in effect regard their reader as an automation which will buy a copy if it is made to work in the right way.’ This varied content within the news and media is viewed as healthy for the system, and the British public: ‘In news organisations, conflict, disputes, disagreements are expected and defined as appropriate.’ Different ‘news organisations’ will inevitably hold differing opinions on world events, and this variety within the media provides a range of viewpoints for readers to consider, emphasised through the divergence of these articles.
However, there are further determinants in the diversity of reports on post-war Iraq. Ettema, (1997: 44), states ‘journalists live and work within an encompassing social and cultural context that powerfully and implicitly informs their attempts to make sense of the world. Journalists have no alternative but to draw upon intellectual tools – theory and concept, myth and metaphor – of their place and time in the world.’ For example, if these events had been reported in an alternative country’s media, they would have been reported very differently. This can be seen in the critical references to the US as an agent in the war, as opposed to Britain, ‘critics who argue that the US government has mismanaged the situation.’ (Teather, 2003) Surely if we were to look at American media in the post-war months they would have had alternative scapegoats; we are getting a kind of ‘culturally-acceptable’ truth.
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Additionally, journalists find themselves responsible for determining which news is reportable, and which the British public need to hear. ‘Journalists ability to decide what is news has constituted the expertise that distinguishes them from non-reporters. Already by the 1920s, “media professionals had themselves adopted the notion that professionals are more qualified than their audience to determine the audiences own interests and needs” (Tuchman, 1978b, p. 108).’ (Zelizer, 1997: 402) This is evident in the content of the articles printed in the three separate papers. The tabloid’s main focus within the article is on sensationalising the events, promoting an anti-war attitude, whilst the broadsheets believe their readers to demand further ‘factual’ knowledge, which is given through statistics, details of reports, and quotes from government officials. The determining factor of ‘what is news’ for each paper is different, depending on the audience, so readers of different papers will hear partially different news.
What is significant in both broadsheet articles, and to some extent in the tabloid, is the blame being aimed at the US for the war. Reese, (1997: 424), asserts ‘the news media play an essential role in maintaining the authority of the political system.’ Media reaches the public all across Britain, even without a television or newspaper it travels by word of mouth through conversation. ‘Media reproduce a consistent ideology without being instructed directly by the state.’ (Reese, 1997: 425) Post-war, the British government faced opposition and anger for the war in Iraq, and the blame had to be directed. The media assisted this direction in repeatedly pointing towards the US; ‘US-led campaign in Iraq’, (Flint, 2003), and ‘the US government has mismanaged the situation.’ (Teather, 2003) Was it not an Anglo-American alliance, led towards Iraq by two leaders, Bush and
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Blair? Even in ‘the Mirror’s’ article, which is more critical of Britain’s own leader, the aim is to sensationalise the story and provoke thought and discussion. Reeves, (1997:425), states that ‘journalists may frequently conflict with representatives of government and business, but this is a reformist antagonism that does not threaten underlying hegemonic principles.’
Further consideration of media influences inescapably leads to their financial support. ‘The content of the news media inevitably reflects the interests of those who pay the bills. The argument, in other words, is that the financiers – or the paymasters, as we can call them – or the group they represent will not allow their media to publish material that frustrates their vital interests.’ (Altschull, 1997: 259) This possibility of bias must be taken into account when critically analysing any piece of media, but is difficult to establish as the investors are not obviously publicised.
In conclusion, I believe that although these articles provide different accounts of opinions post-war, they all have an underlying meaning, which is the intended unification of British public, in one form or another. The broadsheets intend to restore confidence in the government, by blaming the US for leading us to, and mistakes in, the war, and by insisting that the efforts provided by the British soldiers were indeed worthwhile. The tabloid, however, aims at creating a unified remembrance for the human element in the war, an element that will touch all groups within society, so appeals to the wider reader. The diversity within these articles is inevitable, as different peoples accounts will always vary, as opinions do, and this cannot be ruled out for journalists. Other forms of bias within the articles can be associated with the financial supporters, the editor of the paper
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and their individual views and the intended audience of the paper. All of these factors must be considered when analysing any media piece, in order to understand the intended meaning.
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Bibliography
Altschull, (1997) Boundaries of Journalistic Autonomy, in Social Meaning of News, Dan Berkowitz, Sage Publications Inc., U.S.A.
Bird, Dardenne, (1997) Myth, Chronicle and Story, in Social Meaning of News, Dan Berkowitz, Sage Publications Inc., U.S.A.
Ettema, Whitney, Wackman, (1997) Professional Mass Communicators, in Social Meaning of News, Dan Berkowitz, Sage Publications Inc., U.S.A.
Flint, (05-10-2003) Free after 50 years of tyranny, The Observer, http://observer.guardian.co.uk
Newton Dunn, (11-10-2003) Was it all worth it? The Mirror,
Teather, (20-10-2003) Pentagon was warned of Iraq chaos after war, The Guardian,
Thompson, (1939) Between the Lines, or how to read a newspaper, Frederick Muller Ltd., London
Zelizer, (1997) Journalists as Interpretive Communities, in Social Meaning of News, Dan Berkowitz, Sage Publications Inc., U.S.A.
