Representation and Bias

Representation and gatekeepers

The term ‘gatekeeper’ refers to people in the media who make important decisions about what reaches the audience.

The News Editor is the main gatekeeper in TV news any.d decides what stories will be covered that da

Is news biased?

TV news is supposed to be balanced and fair but has been accused of bias.

A gatekeeper can create certain representations in TV news through the decisions they make. For example, gatekeepers can create bias in TV news: 

• Bias through selection/omission
• Bias through placement
• Bias through images/video
• Bias through names or titles
• Bias by choice of words

News and narrative theory

News gatekeepers also try to create narrative to make TV news more accessible. Remember our narrative theories from Assignment 2:

Todorov: news is largely concerned with disequilibrium.

Propp: news creates heroes and villains to make stories easy to follow.

Barthes: news uses enigma codes to keep people watching until the end.

Citizen journalism and bias

Citizen journalism has been credited with adding balance to coverage as people can film events on their phones to ensure a fair report is shown.

There have been important examples recently in America such as the killing of Walter Scott in South Carolina. This Sky World News report has the story:

 


Citizen journalism removes the power of the gatekeepers in TV news because video can be put on YouTube and audiences can share it using social media.

Other examples include the Chelsea fans in Paris and Eric Garner who died while being arrested in New York (“I can’t breathe”). Once the video is on YouTube and goes viral, it is very difficult for TV news not to cover the story in some way.

Representation and bias blog task

Watch this Sky News report from the London riots in 2011 and answer the questions below:

• Whose perspective have Sky News used to present the story? (Clue: it’s in the opening line)

This story is reported from the Police's point of view and the civilians who lived in he homes that were burned down or near the burned down shops/cars/bus.

• How are the police represented in this coverage?

The police in this coverage are presented as the heroes who want to control the riot and make sure that the rest of the civilians are safe.

• How are young people represented in this coverage?

Young people in this coverage are presented as 'looters' and trouble makers, young people in this coverage are the rioters who are causing all of this damage.

• What images and videos are selected by Sky News to accompany the story?

For this coverage there are videos of the rioters burning buildings and throwing petrol bombs and rocks at the police. There is also footage of the rioters 'looting' from shops and taking clothes, shoes and electrical appliances.

• What choice of words is used to present this news event?

This story the police is given a good representation so all the language which gives this representation to the audience. However at one bit the presenter does make the story balanced by saying that the police 'claimed' the oung male were shooting at them, which is why they shot him. The word claimed means that it might not be particularly true and that the audience should know that it could all be a lie.

• What aspect of the story is chosen as the most important detail and included at the very beginning of the report?

That eight police officers are in hospital and later on in the report it is also mentioned that one police officer is hospitalised and the rest are injured.

• How is narrative used to engage the audience with this news story?

The narrative tells the audience why the is a 'riot' taking place, this helps the audience engage with the audience because they feel like they know why the rioters are protesting and the rights that they have. Some particular people that watch this report will agree with the rioters and will agree with what they are protesting for however others might not and they might think that what rioters are doing is completely uncalled for. This means that the audience is engaging with the story as they start to develop their own opinions towards the story.

• How can we apply Todorov’s equilibrium theory to this coverage?

There are no equilibriums in this story there is only a dis-equilibrium which is all of this rioting and violence.

• What examples of Propp’s character types can we find in this coverage? Are there heroes and villains?

Propp's theory in this coverage can be used as the police being the heroes who are trying to create peace for the people who are not rioting and feel at risk, the 'heroes' in this case the police are fighting against the 'villains' who in this case are the rioters who are causing all of this chaos.

• How might citizen journalism have been used to provide a different angle on this story?

Citizen journalism could of had been used by a rioter showing he public that not all the rioters where causing chaos and that some of them were really calm. This could also help the audience understand why they are protesting/rioting and help them understand why they are predestining/rioting.

Extension task: Find another news story on YouTube that offers a particular representation of young people. You could look for a story such as the three South London schoolgirls who ran away to Syria to join ISIS. Embed the video on your blog and write an analysis of the representation of different people and groups in the clip.

The three girls in this report are represented as three girls agreeing withwhat the ISIS believes in and this gives these three girls a bad representation and this is because that is how ISIS is represented. However there is no other way to report them seeing as putting them on TV would be achieving what they want which is recognition and everyone to know what they stand for, however we cannot understand what they are rioting for what they believe in and until we know people will carry on assuming that they are only causing harm.
Most people also assume that people in the ISIS are Muslim because of how they are dressed or how they look, this gives a negative representation towards the Islamic race which is not fair on the Islamic race because ISIS is made of all different people who have different religions and backgrounds however the only thing that really joins them together is what they believe in.