Contents
Abstract
Introduction
An Historical overview of the British Press
Class Structures and Stereotyping Amongst the British
Case Study: Press coverage of the Rhys Jones murder
Conclusion
References
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to assess the role of the British Press and its ability to maintain class stereotypes through the contrived and manipulative use of emotive language, bias, predjudice and accusation cross-culturally.
The framework of the text will refect on the past actions of the press and how it has been integral to both the existence and dissemination of the class system in Britain. As a means to contextualise this argument the case of the murder in the city of Liverpool of the 11 year old schoolboy Rhys Jones will be used to demonstrate a number of examples of evidence to illustrate the points being made, predominantly with reference to newspaper articles and supporting manuscripts and volumes on the subject of the Media.
The first section will be concerned with introducing the subject area and identifying some of the key players within the British press and how they have become legitimised. The latter part of this research will provide examples and extracts to support the argument, in addition to suggesting a rationalisation of why and how these stereotypes exist and what their role and function is within the wider context of the country itself.
Introduction
This paper will explore the history of the British press and its origins of power struggle and motivation throughout the last centuries. It will also attempt to define aspects of what defines class and the notion of stereotyping.
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For the purposes of this essay the definition of what is meant by the British Press includes illustrations and observations taken from national and local newspapers.
In order to understand how the press operates today it is important to study it in its historical context, where its origins lie and how it has evolved and become the great influential media stronghold that exists in the 21century. A satirical British television series of the 1980’s portraying the lives of ministers in national government summaries the British press with great accuracy “Don’t tell me about the press. I know exactly who reads the papers: The Daily Mirror is read by people who think they run the country, The Guardian is read by people who think they ought to run the country, The Times is read by people who actually do run the country, The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country, The Financial Times is read by people who own the country, The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country and the Daily Telegraph is read by people who think it is.”
And…”Sun readers don’t care who runs the country, as long as she’s got big tits.”
— ‘Yes, Minister’
From the 12 or so London based newspapers to the 100 plus regional publications in the nineteenth century some survived like the Times and the Daily Telegraph in the format which remains the same today or declined during the newspaper tax that lasted several decades. The paper for the working classes, produced by the working classes was the Northern Star and boasted the highest circulation between 1837 and 1852 in the UK
The traditional tabloids that we recognise today became significantly popular during the 1930’s. Papers like the Mail, Herald and Express had combined sales that contributed to 70% of the total national press.
Between March and May 2004 the readership for the Sun newspaper with a reputation for attracting a lower-class market and one that is predominantly more male succeeded in gaining a circulation of 3,345, 828, The Daily Mail with a readership consisting of mostly upper-middle and middle class audiences achieved a circulation of 2,407,392 while the Daily Telegraph whose readers are largely over the age of 45 and consider themselves upper middle class reached a circulation totalling 923, 449. If this is a true indication of the nature of newspaper readers in Britain in the 21 century, then we are led to believe that the nation views itself principally as overall working class.
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The chapter focusing on Class aims to clarify what we mean in these terms by social grading and how this impacts on the British public historically, culturally and psychologically.
In order to explain by example how the British press in recent years has perpetuated and re-enforced their traditional class stereotypes in print, the case of the murder of 11 year old schoolboy Rhys Jones and his 17 year old killer will be explored in greater detail.
Almost immediately following the death of Rhys Jones the press were speculating, blaming and laying guilt heavily on the doorstep of the British public. The Telegraph ran the story headlined ‘Gang war invades middle class heaven’ and later passing derogatory comment against the ‘rotting feral’ council estates where Rhys grew up. The Times sardonically painted the picture of these same estates with their ‘ornamental water features and ‘polished Audis and Mazda’s’. In each of these cases the right-wing press are parodying the working classes and appealing to their middle class readers to act on their fear and react positively against their dysfunctional society. Whilst simultaneously securing their class safety net in allowing their readers to consider that they are superior in some way to this lower socio-economic grouping, reassuring and reaffirming their superiority. The Sun newspaper made constant references indicating to the fact that the father of Rhys Jones was a manager of the Tesco supermarket chain and his mother a supermarket worker. Tesco being one of the lesser ranking and most common of supermarkets in the UK. The rationale behind doing this may intentionally be one that encourages Sun readers to identify with this type of occupation. It could happen to them, or subtly be ridiculing lower-middle class distinction. These types of reassurances will not only continue to enable the newspapers to sell more copies, but also enables them to skew their own political promotion.
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Despite the murder taking place almost a year ago the newspapers continue to document any new development or association with the geographical area where it took place. It will create a retrospective for all future cases that can be associated in any way with the death of Rhys. The British public are contstantly bombarded by images and stories following up the Jones miserable family Christmas, the futilility of Rhys’s birthday celebrations and seemingly endless reports about awareness raising concerts and tributes from Liverpudlian football legends, dedicated to a little boy who wanted to be a football hero himself one day.
The misery of the whole sordid event is replayed over and over in the tabloids, even now that the perpetrayer is behind bars. Hunted down and exposed publically as he was, rightly or wrongly by Sun newspaper journalists.
Images of the mother, father and elder brother of Rhys Jones are never more than a couple of turns of the page away, always looking haunted and distraught. Indeed the medium of photography and how it was exploited throughout the whole case proved to play a significant role in the continued stereotyping of disadvantaged working classes and their even worse off under-classed young degenerate trouble makers.
The following chapter will outline the history of the press and set the framework for the argument in support of the British Press and their ability to label, grade and frequently misrepresent in their quest for political gain and containment of the masses.
An historical overview of the British Press
This chapter will outline the historical context of the British Press, the rationale and motivations behind its ability to perpetuate class stereotypes.
Newspapers in Britain in the twenty first century are owned by a selective and powerful group of organisations. The largest of these is Rupert Murdoch’s ‘News International’ group comprising the Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and the News of The World. The second largest may be considered to be The Guardian Newspaper Ltd, which produces both The Guardian and Observer newspapers. This company is owned by the Scott Trust.
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Whilst the News International Group exists to make profits, the Scott Trust safeguards the integrity of its newspapers and maintains its independence in relation to editorial content.
British newspapers are traditionally grouped into three categories; mass-market tabloids, including The Sun, middle-market tabloids, like the Daily Mail and quality broadsheets such as the Times. They have a long and complex relationship with class, with the mass-market end papers selling upto four times as many copies nationally than their sophisticated broadsheet competitors.
The right-wing or Conservative press can traditionally be classified as The Sun, Daily Mail, Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and Mail on Sunday. In recent years the Sun newspaper has abandoned its thirty years commitment to Conservative politics in favour of a Labour outlook, which may well revert back again with a change of government.
Very early newspapers during the first half of the early seventeenth century in Britain were in the main political pamphlets detailing proceedings in Parliament, only to be subjugated by a series of licensing acts. Many local newspapers emerged at this time including the Edinburgh Gazette, London Gazette and Norwich Post. Interestingly this period in time also documents the first women’s magazine, The Ladies Mercury. By the middle of the 17c around 80% of the male population and 30% outside of the city were classed as illiterate . The press movement at this time was a combination of new innovative ideas based around the printing press and development of more interesting papers that were appealing to the wider classes. Journalists took risks for the first time to try out new content ideas. More and more daily and regional papers, together with advertising brochures hit the streets during the next century. By the 1830’s the British Press was becoming significantly more orientated towards the working class audiences, with blatant references that attacked the concept of capitalism. This type of radical press helped promote the Working Class movements and organisations that were so prevalent during this time.
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One newspaper ‘Reynolds News’ changed radically under new economic pressures that were facing newspapers on a daily basis in the middle of the nineteenth century.
In fact radical papers at this time were on the decline nationally. As a consequence some publications needed to respond quickly to this change, whilst being able to survive financially in a competitive fast moving market. One way in which ‘Reynolds News’ reacted was to attract new advertising to its pages to assist with subsidising the costs of production. It achieved this sponsorship by writing regular features around friendly and family focused issues and in addition to attracting its advertisers it also attracted a more affluent type of reader, moving away from its more radical and political roots.
This is a typical example of how early newspapers needed to change and subsequently adapt to an ever shifting market. By submitting articles that on the one hand condoned emigration as a solution to current levels of high unemployment in the country, it also exposed the vices and corruption so prevalent in the aristocracy. This ensured that ‘Reynolds News’ captured the readership of both lower-middle class and working class citizens.
A number of newspapers during the mid nineteenth century highlighted and amplified the class struggle with contentious headlines such as ‘to talk of reconciliation between the middle and working classes in Leicester, will henceforth, be a farce’
Moving into the early twentieth century there developed a new trend for newspaper owners to carry out market research on their readers and consequently build up a body of statistics that would help inform their overall content.
It became apparent during this time that the social groupings were much broader and that circulation needed to start to appeal to the significantly expanding needs of the working-class consumers.
Perhaps one of the best examples of this is with reference to The Daily Mirror, a hardened supporter of left-wing ideals which remains the same today. This newspaper made the bold decision to cut the amount of news coverage it ran on political, social and economic issues by half in the period between 1927 and 1937 . By 1936 the Daily Mirror’s current affairs editorial was less than half of its sports news coverage. As a consequence this newspaper gained an incredible circulation of 1.5million by 1939.
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By understanding the historical relationship between class and the British press we can begin to establish the intensity with which the class system is integral to the readership of certain types of newspaper. The content of newspapers has always reflected the market to which it is trying to appeal and newspapers have spent decades portraying themselves in this way in order to maintain those audiences. It is also essential to appreciate the age old British assumption that class distinction is most frequently linked to political persuasion.
The Daily Mirror’s sister newspaper the Picture Post grew in popularity after the Second World War and its ability to manipulate class based decisions was incredibly powerful. An anecdote is quoted in an essay from Millions Like Us? British Culture In The Second World War based on a conversation that was had between a former editor of the Picture Post Tom Hopkinson and a Conservative politician. The politician declared the Picture Post to have been the reason behind the Labour government securing victory in 1945. Hopkinson’s retort was not one of denial, in that ‘…the idea that a left-wing press, in particular a combination of Picture Post and the Mirror, played a crucial role in establishing the agenda for post-war reconstruction has proved remarkably resilient.’
The Picture Post printed daily accounts of the Beveridge Report which detailed the outline for the new British Welfare State, which would have acted only to encourage readers to interpret the Labour party as the government for change. The Daily Mail itself at this time was busy writing stories about celebrity gossip and people’s every day bad luck stories. The newspaper was targeted at factory workers, housewives and servicemen who it was assumed would mostly be interested in ‘their own appetites and misfortunes of their neighbours’
To reiterate the ongoing relationship between class and the British Press another significant example is the commission of a survey in 1934. An Analysis of Press Circulations. This survey concentrated on certain towns across the country in different regions and took place in 22,500 households. The objective was to learn as much as possible in relation to people’s tastes and class attitudes. Questions included how many rooms there would be in relation to the size of family. If there were eight or more rooms and a servant; with an income totalling more than £600 a year, the household would be deemed ‘sufficient cultural standard’ and labelled Class A. Class B was classified the more middle bracket of clerks and small shop owners, earning between £5-12 per week. Finally Class C were categorised as ‘essentially working-class character’, living in five or less rooms.
Unsurprisingly the majority of Class A and B households were majoritivly Daily Mail readers.
In Britain today there still exists a ‘free press’. There is no censorship when it comes to news. Any person can legally start their own newspaper as long as it is legal.
Throughout history the British people have been manipulated, mis-represented and shamelessly targeted by class orientated press. Newspapers have strong allegiances to political parties and are often opinionated and biased in the way they portray news stories in accordance with however they want to interpret information politically and keep their regular readers satisfied by maintaining the bias they in turn expect. Whether that affords the ‘Liberal guardian reader’ or ‘Daily Mail mentality’.
Class Structures and Stereo-typing amongst the British
George Orwell referred to Britain as ‘the most class-ridden society under the sun’. And almost a decade ago John Major, the then Prime Minister proclaimed that within his time as elected leader of the country he would produce a ‘classless society’.
Britain has always been renowned for its association and fascination with Class. The rest of the world it has to be said also adheres to some very typical perceptions of the British people themselves. The British are often associated at worst with binge drinking, misbehaving abroad and football hooliganism; at best as cold, emotionless, aloof and grounded in heritage and tradition. Misconceptions that can partly be attributed to the nature of its tabloid newspapers and the way British society is portrayed. The Sun newspaper, the paper with the highest circulation rate in the country can be considered one of the worst criticised perpetrators of stereotyping the British people; whether related to class, sex, gender or religion. It has no boundaries. It ran an article very recently that headlined ‘Beer, reality TV…Brits love it.’ And continues to convey the message that ‘ENGLAND is a land of “overweight, binge-drinking reality TV addicts”.
We are also described as quarrelsome and “obsessed with toffs, celebrities and tea”.’
A classic example of racist stereotyping is illustrated in an article dated earlier in May entitled ‘We’re slow to start boozing’. The Sun newspaper makes crude references to its European neighbours. ‘We start our boozing on average at 6.14pm – but by then the typical Dane has already been knocking them back for two hours.
The French, Spanish and Poles are also quicker than us to get to the bar. But the Germans, Russians and Italians are behind us and the Dutch don’t turn up until 7.19pm.’
The Sutton Trust Charity is a charity dedicated to providing grants to support educational opportunities young people from non-privileged backgrounds. From toddlers to further and higher education provision. It conducted two significant surveys examining the National Child Development Study of 1958 and the British Cohort Study of 1970. Both these projects traced the development of newborn babies into adulthood. The results of the survey monitored how children had succeeded in comparison to their parents. Whether they developed or whether they lived similar lives to that of their mothers and fathers. The results were interesting and yet not entirely surprising. Children that were born to families of high income generators during the late 1950’s would earn precisely seventeen and a half percent more than those same children whose parents earned half the amount.
In order to rationalise the argument to suggest that Britain’s Press disseminates stereotyping based on class assumptions, it is necessary to perhaps explore a little more about what is actually concerned with class stereotyping.
What is it that defines class? From the national surveys that were conducted during the 1930’s to identify Daily Mail readers, you would be forgiven for thinking that class was closely linked to income. If that is the reasoning then how does that explain the number of British aristocracy so often recorded as living beyond their means and having to sell large sections of their property to Heritage organisations as they cannot afford the maintenance? Similarly if it transpires that education is the key to defining class what do grant maintained, disadvantaged and sponsored low income students become. Do they suddenly adopt middle class status having managed to scrape their way through a private school or University? Class has to be the result of many contributing factors, if it even exists at all. The reality is that Britain perpetuates the old myths associated with class, in order to keep it alive and this is demonstrated throughout the media and most significantly in the Press.
The Oxford English Dictionary definition of a stereotype translates as ‘a preconceived and over-simplified idea of the characteristics which typify a person or thing’
Stereotyping of class can best be determined through the most basic terminology.
Traditionally Upper Class people are viewed as snooty, cold, lacking in emotion, condescending and speak with elocution. These assumptions are generally made by middle and working class people. Working-Class people may be considered lazy and unmotivated by their higher income, often better educated middle and upper class fellow citizens. Whereas the image of Middle Class people in Britain in recent years has been that of the power hungry, obsessional and often neurotic workaholics.
Then at the very base of the class structure there are the lower or under-classes who are violent, incapable of ‘normal’ social interaction and not to be associated with by the Upper, Middle and Working classes. In his book ‘Stereotypes and Prejudice: Essential Readings, Charles Stangor puts the case forward for class being central to the everyday need of people to feel comfortable and at ease with what and who they are.
To reaffirm this theory Michael Fleming in his paper The Use of Stereotypes in the British Media During the Period of European Union Expansion in 2004, suggests that ‘stereotypes are simple prejudgements acceded to by individuals to enable them to function in society’ . He argues that we pick up our stereotypes and conform to them as simply as we would put on a clean shirt in the morning. That without them we could not function.
One of the earliest and most deliberate examples of stereotyping in the press is reflected in the women’s press during the mid nineteenth century, which tended to focus on the image of the white middle-class Victorian woman that fitted into the concept of national identity and classification at the time; performing the roles of ‘housewife’, ‘gardener’ or ‘society figure’. In Julie F. Codell’s book Imperial Co-histories she quotes from a publication by Margaret Beetham, communicating a study of women’s press during this period ‘ the ‘domestic woman’ of the magazine was both as central and as potentially unstable a figure as her counterpart, ‘the self made man’. The way in which women were depicted during the 1840’s up until emancipation can be seen today as what it truly was – an attempt to subjugate the female in response to their unwanted attempts for the right to vote.
In a recent Poll conducted by MORI across the UK to determine social value 68% of those interviewed declared that, ‘at the end of the day, I’m working class and proud of it’. That indicates that a staggering two thirds of adults in Britain consider themselves working class. This may well be substantiated by the overall statistics for newspaper readership in Britain. According to the National Readership Survey from between 2003 and 2004 the sun readership was classified as lower social classes, aged 15-45. The Sun newspaper is one that lists sport, celebrity gossip and topless page three models as its fundamental editorial content. The Sun newspaper has the highest daily circulation across the UK. It is blatant in manipulating its market into thinking in a political way through the medium of derogatory stereotypes, suggestive quips and provoking anger amongst its readers in order to persuade them that they need to change something within their society. A once staunch right-wing political advocate, it has in recent years switched allegiances to the left and is considered to change again once there is another change in government.
It still is not clear what specifically defines class. The MORI poll cited here maintains class is determined by your to occupation. A categorisation the UK government employs to establish social grading; AB equates to Higher and intermediate managerial / administrative and professional citizens, C1 refers to those people in Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial / administrative and professional employment, C2 are skilled manual workers, with group D epitomising Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers and the lowest ranking of them all group E on state benefit, unemployed and lowest grade workers.
Karl Marx theory of class is linked to the economy and how much income a person generates. Some historians would associate class with the industrialisation of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries where separate social classes were created both with the rise of the workers unions and changes in job patterns and standards of living. The aristocracy would no doubt collectively agree that heritage is the fundamental determining factor related to class. However it is ascertained, class permeates British society and no more so than in the Press who exaggerate and exploit it in order to achieve their desired response from the reader.
Several key incidents in recent history illustrate just how relentless the media can be when reporting stories that are contentious and shocking within our own societies.
One case in particular that will be the focus for this dissertation is the story of Rhys Milford Jones, murdered on August 22, 2007 in the city of Liverpool. He was shot in daylight through the neck. Rhys Jones was on his way home from football practice, crossing a pub car park. The assailant was reported by witnesses as resembling a ‘hooded’ teenager on a bike, carrying a gun. The most shocking thing of all for the world community to come to terms with was that Rhys was just eleven years old. The following chapter will explore in detail the sensationalised, often controversial and critical press coverage at the time, including subsequent stories as the case has developed.
Case Study: Press coverage of the Rhys Jones murder
The murder of Rhys Jones in August 2007 was the trigger for a national observation and critique of British society and has consequently been used as a pawn between the media, politicians and journalists to arouse discontent and incite action against issues relating to social order. When an incident like that of the murder of Rhys Jones comes into play.it puts our values into question. The laws and rules that we are familiar with are threatened.
The area in which Rhys and his family lived in Liverpool on the Croxteth estate has a reputation for being a slum, disadvantaged location rife with crime and deprivation. However statistics show that the area is not occupied solely by the type of class you might expect if referring to the indicators illustrated in the last chapter. As opposed to group D’s and E’s, the figures are quite predominantly group C1 and reflect more of a national average.
Similarly the local school that Rhys attended, Broad Square Primary School had an above average attainment level for Key Stage 2 Level 4+ percentages in English, Maths and Science. As the schools website illustrates this is defined as a sum of the percentages achieving the expected level in each subject – the maximum being 300. In 2004 the school gained 249, the total for the whole of Liverpool is recorded as 226 that year.
This assumes that the school itself is more than adequate, in fact high achieving. What then made the press go on an attack that would hold the area in contempt and publically be made to feel responsible for a whole societies’ evils?
In particular the leader of the opposition party David Cameron sought to capitalise on the tragedy with powerful statements including ‘anarchy in the UK’ whilst publically labelling Britain a ‘broken society’. Statements of which were all picked up immediately and headlined in the Sun newspaper. Interestingly the almost immediate response to this damning indictment emerged in an article appearing in the Observer newspaper. The Observer took the more intelligent approach to the accusations of a country rapidly in decline, fostered by the working class, disadvantaged that Cameron was no doubt referring to and quoted statistics instead. The article revealed that in 1995, 63 under 15 year olds were murdered and by 2006 that figure had fallen to half that total by 31. It declares later in the commentary ‘no crude determinism ordains that the poor, especially those with the wrong postcode become the killers and the dead.’ It is a vilification of all the tabloid press responses to the incident and provides a refreshing new perspective on the argument.
The Daily mail which we have established previously as a traditionally rooted advocate of right-wing politics approached the story in a similar way to that of the Sun and Daily Mirror and one article in particular ‘Rhys Jones Murder: We all know who did it’. The title alone is provocative. In one way it is highlighting the story that many local people in Liverpool were aware of the assailant’s identity and in another is directly pointing the finger at the lower-class society in general for generating such a heinous crime.
The article continues to unravel a damning attack on the city of Liverpool itself, making claim to its significant drug crime problem, linking the use of heroin in the city historically back to its early years as a port known for smuggling. By citing historical references the journalist is attempting to legitimise that the very fabric of Liverpool is corrupt and associated with crime and debauchery.
‘Smuggling and the fencing of goods stolen from the docks have been a fact of life in Liverpool pubs and work places for hundreds of years with the tacit approval of a loyal, tight-knit and largely poor working-class community.’
A month before this article was published the Guardian with its more liberalist view on society describes the scene of the location of the crime in which Rhys was murdered in Liverpool. ‘The 11 year old was returning the few hundred yards from football training to his home, passing a pleasantly refurbished pub. Every detail reflected the utter normality of secure middle England’. This is a hugely dissimilar picture of the local community in which Rhys was purported to have originated from in the light of the tabloid press reports. In particular the daily Mail’s references to the ‘impoverished estates’ and how they ‘strongly reminded’ the journalist ‘of my visits to Belfast at the height of the troubles: the same metal grilles, the same barbed wire and shutters to protect churches and shops and regular shootings and even nail bombings.’
It is almost as if the writers are describing two completely different locations. With the Mail adamant to perpetuate all of those age long associations with lower class standards of intoxication, poor housing conditions and neglected suburbs.
Somewhat unsurprisingly The Guardian Media Group owned radio station; Century Radio won recognition for its press coverage of the murder of Rhys Jones in April of this year by being awarded the annual Independent Radio News Award.
Being at the heart of the scene of the crime and in the constant spotlight of the media, the World was focused on the city of Liverpool in the summer of 2007. European city of culture, home of the Beatles renowned for its association with Irish migrants and party to historical rival football clubs; Everton and Liverpool. The local Liverpool Times updated the Rhys Jones story on an almost daily basis. It is interesting to observe the opinions of this newspaper in comparison to the national press as it addressed the narrative from right at centre of the crime itself. The Liverpool Times printed an article on Wednesday 19 September 2007 in its regular feature; Justice for Rhys Jones – A Chronological Timeline of the events relating to the murder of Rhys Jones. Which released a vehement attack directly aimed at the Sun newspaper, expressing ‘The only mention of a reward for information leading to the capture of the killer was from the Sun newspaper, which is an insult to the city and is therefore a useless reward no one can actually publicise. The Sun newspaper, still held in contempt for their role in the Hillsborough Football disaster cover up of 1989 – is a vulture like entity, looking to use the murder of Rhys as a way to get sales up and advertising revenues.’ This is an interesting statement, not only in its honest condemnation of the sun newspaper, but also because it reminds us of those early newspapers in the mid 19c who capitalised on celebrity and class gossip stereotyping the aristocracy and writing features that would attract advertising sponsors in an attempt to remain buoyant in economically uncertain times. A method which worked and continues to work for newspapers who send out often transparent methods to both provoke a reaction from its audience and appeal to its need for titillation and sensationalism. Another of Liverpool’s local newspapers, the Liverpool Echo has a website including a page specifically featuring regular commentary from the paper’s editor, Alastair Machray. In one of these blogs he launches the most powerful of criticisms of the British justice system and current political party rule. ‘I cannot stomach a society living in dread of hooded yobs and drug-dealing low lives. I am having lunch with David Cameron next week. Can he offer us an alternative? I liked his idea for voluntary work for 16-18 year olds. But perhaps it’s time to look seriously at re-introducing National Service.’ This is the British press at its most blatantly propagating unobjective worst and makes no pretence to disguise the fact that it welcomes stereotyping and even seeks the reader’s permission to engage in the same thinking.
One of the most deliberate assaults using stereotyping throughout the Rhys Jones saga was the way in which the press portrayed young people, their upbringing and levels of ignorance linked to traditional perceptions of lower class standing. The frequent use of the word ‘hoodies’ to describe young people supported by an endless stream of images across the tabloids and broadsheets on many occasions depicting groups of young people huddled menacingly together on street corners, mouthing or gesturing obscenities to the camera or wielding guns. Images that suggested anyone you encountered under the age of 21 living in a socially disadvantaged area was extremely likely to at worst shoot you, or at best intimidate and abuse you. The Liverpool Times went a step further, going out undercover to compile no less than six videos on local Liverpool gangs, then posting them on the popular blog sire YouTube in order that ‘maybe someone important enough might view them and kick some backside’. The fundamental issue with all of these young people and the way they behave according to the press is a direct result of their emergence from single parent families; who by their very situation are deemed lower class, in receipt of benefits and in need of being either rescued or made invisible to society with the help of the middle classes. Or that is what certain newspapers would have you believe.
The Rhys Jones murder opened the flood gates of scorn against this group in society – their useless, unemployed, benefit scrounging parents or parent and even more useless violent, dysfunctional offspring. An article appeared in the Daily Telegraph; another well-known exponent of right-wing politics, on 29 August 2007. The article is confident in its characterisation of this class of society ‘Because there are no positive male role models in many of their lives, they look not to their teachers-for whom they have no respect, no bond and no inkling that they can actually help them – but to their peers in years 8 and 9 to give them a lead.’ It goes on to condemn young people of this class associated with poor single mothers as ‘listening to music glorifying gangsterism and degrading women. They play violent computer games, watch brutal reality DVD’s from America and compete with one another as to who’s the tougher on YouTube…’ This cultural representation is a powerful tool for persuasion and frequently used by the press to generate a holistic appreciation of a set of characteristics readers can all associate with and typify.
Attention should also be directed towards the way in which language is exploited in the Press in order to re-enforce stereotypes, how it engages with the reader depending on what the article is attempting to achieve. For example The Daily Mail article on 23 August 2007, ‘Broken Homes, broken promises and broken lives in gangland Britain’ employs language that is loaded with emotive dialogue ‘Rhys Jones a “lovely kid and funny”, who played football with his mates, proudly wore his Everton shirt and dreamed that one day he might become as dazzling as local hero Wayne Rooney…Poor Rhys seems to have been caught by a bullet meant for somebody else. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ These persuasive poignant words are clearly designed to hook the reader into a state of empathy for the victim and consequent hatred for the assailant and all he now represents.
Similarly, only using a different approach the Mirror takes an authoritative stand in its article on 10 January 2008 A war on the gangs. ‘Tougher sentences are on their way and the police are under orders to crack down, devoting resources to combat knife and gun offences…Rhys Jones and his grieving parents are why the murderous thugs must be beaten.’. Again the language is familiar, addressing the reader as if they are in agreement with this rationale to obtain justice, deal with societies ‘thugs’ and be vindicated by way of adopting the right attitude to solving the problem. The power of words and the impact they can have is something most people take for granted. Yet everyday we are essentially being brainwashed into thinking and feeling in ways that provoke very real interpretations and attitudes towards the society and communities we live in. Most of the time people are oblivious to language and desensitised against the influences of powerful and provocative images that we are unaware of the real impact these almost subliminal messages have on our psyche day after day.
Conclusion
This document has provided the framework for outlining the context of what is meant by class, the effects of stereotyping and the history of the British press with a view to answering the question of how class stereotypes are maintained.
Changes in the 19th Century British Press occurred as a result of shifting attitudes in society, technological advances and the law. Newspapers underwent several years of licensing laws and stamp tax, lacking authenticity with little sense of journalistic quality until the middle of the eighteenth century when newspapers began to excel, exploit themselves in a competitive market with the emergence of strong entrepreneurial editors followed by the owner-publishers that we recognize today like that of Rupert Murdoch and his ‘News International’ chain. What has become very apparent is their need to maintain high levels of circulation and readership often at the expense of integrity to remain in the competitive market.
An article by Julie Burchil, a controversial journalist herself for the British Press openly mocks the way in which journalists have become much more adept at ridiculing the lower classes. She exclaims ‘It amuses me that journalists who until quite recently were socially on a par with actors, Irish navies and dogs, have decided that somehow they are mother nature’s aristocrats and are currently leading the trend of abusing people simply for being ‘lower class’ in a way that would never be acceptable if they were mocking people for being gay or non-white.’
It would appear that the problems relating to stereotyping are increasing at an advanced rate. With the numbers cited previously still continuing to buy and read the tabloid press this may not be so surprising. Britain has become a much more self-absorbed and materialistically motivated country where its citizens are more apt to protect themselves than support others. The consistency with which bombarded messages legitimizing the appalling society British citizens live in, it is perhaps not that remarkable this mentality has been adopted.
The tabloid press in Britain exists as a communication tool between the ruling government and its citizens, yet manages to influence both by issuing many of the tactics that have been covered in this paper and plenty more besides.
Stereotyping creates fear, fear of people experiencing many of the issues the tabloid right-wing press advocate. On the one hand the readers of these newspapers who are often representative of the classes they are ridiculing can both identify with whilst feeling superior and smug in the knowledge that they would never lower themselves to that level. As Charles Strangor indicates in his book Stereotypes and Prejudice, British people feel a sense of commonality and ease with being classified. He also points out that just as we generally tend to socialise with the people we consider being like-minded and of the same class, we similarly replicate this by reading the type of literature and responding to the type of messages from the media that we can all identify with.
In response to the Rhys Jones murder case it is apparent the broadsheet liberalist papers tended to publish more informative and thoughtful articles questioning the actions of the tabloid press, with an ability to dumb-down the explosive issues of class debate and over exposure of British social condemnation. Peter Wilby’s article for the Guardian newspaper, ‘Written with Prejudice’ comes down heavily on the irresponsible actions and part played by the tabloid press throughout the Rhys Jones chronicle, disapproving at the way ‘they fell on the story like starving vultures…An 11 year old’s killing thus allowed the press to do what it does best: to stereotype the British social classes and terrorise bourgeois readers with fears of invasion by what sociologists call ‘’the other’’.’
British society’s outrage and subsequent handling of the story by the press with regard to the Rhys Jones murder and the loss of such a young life is a much deeper projection of fear. One that the respectable, secure community we believe we are and constantly legitimized in this way by the media is in fact in jeopardy.
This is reflected in an interview that the radio 4 Today Programme conducted with the vicar of the local parish church adjacent to where Rhys Jones was shot down. The vicar described the murder to be partly responsible in the light of the ‘commoditisation’ of life. In other words what we have is seen as more important than what or who we are. This is an excellent observation and the link to all those factors under discussion here, with reference to perpetuating class stereotypes and the very real damage this can foster.
Britain has the fourth largest economy in the world. It was once seen as the greatest empirical power. The British are guilty of alluding to a false sense of superiority. At one time being able to boast the largest Navy in the World, leaders in maritime exploration and rulers of a huge chunk of the World. The psychology attached to that cultural heritage must have a lasting impact in terms of overall British attitude and expectation. Is it surprising to surmise that their may follow a sense of worthlessness of the British people, a lack of self-respect bourne out of a society so often alluding to the have and have nots. If you do not fit into the mainstream society that the media insists on cataloguing you into and branding people accordingly there must in turn be scope to rebel away from that. The false ideals that stereotypes create throughout life leave ‘real’ people with a sense of worthlessness and an inability to fit into a class at all. If this theory is true then is all that the British press is achieving is to encourage the very evils that British society is constatntly being held in contempt for? Are British citizens their own worst enemies in the argument against reaffirming stereotypes? The quality broadsheet press as we have determined through readership numbers, has a much lower level of circulation in Britain and the market for these publications is marginalised by the more affluent Upper-Middle to Upper Class range of readers. In newspapers such as the Guardian and Independent people are given the facts in a straight forward non emotive approach. Does this only serve to make the divide between the classes even greater and encourage that sense of low self-esteem between the educated and informed and the less informed more emotionally driven sector of British society?
The one way in which the power of the press is accelerating at an alarming rate is now apparent through internet ‘blogging’ or the process by which users of the internet can freely express themselves through shared online discussion and comment. This has two consequences for the way in which the press will increasingly begin to be analysed online. As an open critique that may balance some of the more hardline and controversial stories, but also as a tool for sustaining the very stereotypes that are continuously in existence in the media. Looking at the Liverpool Times online there are pages and pages of controversial statements pertaining to government inefficiency, press irregularity and extreme political viewpoints in relation to the Rhys Jones case. Contentious statements including ‘It is no exaggeration to say that today’s children have been betrayed by today’s adults. The killing of 11 year old Rhys Jones in Liverpool is a direct consequence of a mass abdication of responsibility by the generations that should have been protecting him – and his murderer too. It will be interesting to scrutinize this communication tool in the future as to whether it will become as legitimised as the national press has. This will create an opening potentially far more damaging than any daily newspaper report. To give further example the Guardian website blog specifically set up to discuss the issue of the Rhys Jones murder confirms some of the worst comments that are both disturbing and enlightening. Xevious2501 posted the following remark pn Friday 24 August 2007. ‘It’s asad you fools don’t realise how you lace your lives on a thread. Your going down a path that has no benefits. Yeah youl say F@(&! You. This may sound like punk talk. But the pain you create is exactly what youl eat later on in life or after life. Play videos games not other people lives’. More than a little disturbing this statement is interesting in two ways; firstly as a direct attack against authority and media, therefore sustaining all of the tabloid media perceptions of young people and secondly as a reference for how future anger will be communicated to the public. Will blogs such as these become regulated and used to track offenders by the law? Or will they simply act as a sounding board for individual rage and unrest. One thing that is certain is the way in which news will be disseminated in the future. It may be quite different from what we recognise today. Newspapers in their tangible form may even become obsolete, particularly with the current environmental considerations. As a consequence there may be a broader scope for imparting knowledge and encouraging the media attachment away from big business and government influence. With more of an opportunity to reflect the opinions of the ‘man on the street.’
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