Legitimacy in Media Organisations

The society we live in today is very different to the society of our ancestors. Capitalism is at large and mass media is a method of moulding our culture. ‘Public information, intercommunication and exchange’ of the ‘social knowledge’ in society now solely depends upon mass media (Hall, 1977). In my essay I will focus on the idea of hegemony and its role in society. I will question how it features in mass media and even in the very information passed on to the general public by the companies that produce the media.

Antonio Gramsci was the theorist who came up with the concept of hegemony. He was an Italian marxist thinker, who came up with the idea in his prison cell, whilst he was arrested for speaking out against fascism in 1926. He started his prison notebook in 1929 and he died in prison in 1937. When he came up with the concept of hegemony he was questioning why, during the regime of Mussolini, there was no rebellion from the working class against fascism in Northern Italy.

According to Gramsci, hegemony is based on ‘Cultural and ideological means’ through which the dominant or the ruling class retain their dominance on ‘subordinate classes’ by building spontaneous mass consent.(Strinati, 2004) The dominant social group have the power to influence and direct their opinions and ideologies over the mass audience. Military force is probably the most common known way to gain power, however it is only put into place by taking consent of the mass population. The dominant class creates its hegemony by having a consensus, both culturally and politically. It can be created through political parties, the media, and the church, where hegemony is practiced over social groups. The question still stands to why the public would simply let this dominant class have such control over them, however Gramsci answers this by stating that the subordinate group is not ‘ideologically indoctrinated’ but accepts the values and leadership of the dominant class since it also reflects their own interests (Strinati, 1995; Hall, 1982; Gitlin, 2003).

Certain institutions such as the media are highlighted by Gramsci as the cycle of hegemony. Production, reproduction and transformation are their three steps taken to influence the audience through media. It is a powerful method and using it ‘not only reflected and sustained the consensus’ but ‘helped produce consensus and manufactured consent’. It is often seen as a tool for the state as a way of mediating social conflicts.

A good example of an ideology that is controlled and derived by the state is from a theorist named James Curran. He shows the similarities and differences in the modern media and the olden day church on how the media has the potential for social control when used by the more dominant people. According to Curran (1982) much like the old churches media bonds different groups together by promoting values of both parties and social independence; years ago it was Christianity whilst now its consumerism and nationalism through international sporting contests and consumer features. He focuses specially on British media and a lot on how it can promote collective identity through the monarchy similarly to the Church. Cannadine (1983) gives a good example of the BBC in 1932 where they created an obsession for the royal family and helped project an image of Britain as a ‘whole’ by portraying an image of, the fatherly figure of George V. We can see the BBC supporting this regime of Britain, in other words the state to build a common consensus whilst still supporting hegemonic ideology. Curran (1982) also says that much like the medieval churches, media can give attention to the ‘outsiders’, previously it was witches and warlords however now its gangs, terrorists and militants. The role the media plays, says Curran (1982) ‘is interpreting and making sense of the world to the mass public’; and whilst doing that there is a tendency to recreate the hegemonic ideology.

Production of this hegemonic ideology is best described with regards to the professional communicators, such as journalists, whom are very important to ‘amplify systems of representation that legitimise the social system’. Journalists are termed as ‘intellectuals’, which according to Gramsci are solely responsible for the ‘production and dissemination of ideas and knowledge’ (Strinati, 1995). Journalists, even though mostly viewed to be autonomous are trapped by the hegemonic system, they unknowingly have the news so that it is in keeping with the ‘institutional arrangement of the society’ (Gitlin, 2003), or the hegemonic ideology and although they don’t do it intentionally, it can stem from the way that they make the news decisions, and the way that they have been trained and socialised from their childhood (Gitlin, 2003). They subconsciously have a tendency to promote their ideology of the political and economic elite by simply doing their job.

According to Ben Bagdikian, there are many stages of the selection for the news. Firstly the editor can decide that a certain site or an event needs to be looked at for the news; secondly a reporter has to decide what to look for at the place of the event and lastly the editor decides on how they will pitch the story to the general public (Gitlin, 2003). However, these are just the three separate processes; there are also multiple other aspects manipulating what news to cover and why. There is the ‘institutional structure of the media, managers who set the corporate policy’, and the budget. Furthermore, the very owners of the media corporations who fall into this elite class also want to respect the political and economic system so that they can grasp their own political and economic advantages (Gitlin, 2003). Since legitimacy in media organisations is what attracts the audience, the top media producers make sure that their news is carried out in a way that this is projected, ‘their forms of social control must be indirect, subtle, and not at all necessarily conscious’ (Gitlin, 2003).