Further Textual Analysis - Perkins

Looking at the representations of the police from within the press media but with consideration to the theory from Perkins that 'stereotypes are not always negative'. If a closer look is made into the events of something such as the Miners Strikes of 1984-85 the police when looked at from a neutral point of view did just do their job and were seemingly responsible with the attitudes and actions made. What allows the police to be viewed more positively is the fact that when analysed, police service people are given a duty to fulfil on behalf of the government and the laws they have have set in place. Therefore when a situation ever comes around that forms criticism towards the police, really they could actually not take the blame or at least not most because they are not in control of what they do, they are a government department and therefore have to serve the government. How this works is if the government wanted to cover something up because it would face harsh criticism and possibly loose it's power to others it would utilise the police to help establish a form of cover or diversion to allow for the criticism to die down or disappear altogether.

This is still a difficult argument and debate because the police could still be seen as individual people who can use their own morality and decisiveness to make the right decisions and good decisions and not fall down to essentially be bribed to make these bad decisions. 

Linking Theorist Quotes to 'Police'

Stanley Cohen - 'The media reacts to an aspect of behaviour.'

Link to the police - Police are in their occupation to maintain public law and order (the specifications of their job). whne extraordinary events do occur, the way the police react to that situation comes under heav scrutiny and criticism e.g. 1984-5 Miners Strikes, the odd instance did happen when the police were acting in an overly aggressive way towards innocent, non-aggressive protestors and the media would circle on the issue and the officers would face harsh critisism and the perception of the police with these events alters fairly drastically. With these Miners Strikes events the police were, as a result, seen more as a 'political army' of the government.

A quote to form opposition to the idea:

Karl Marx - 'Dominant ideology serves the interest of the ruling classes.'

An arguement in opposition to the above idea that Can arise from the Marx quote here. If the media was to seem so important in the re-casting of a groups image such as the police then how come the government wouldn't have been able to turn the presented idea away. If the ruling classes are in control of the ideologies that the people face then why would they allow for the negative alteration of a groups influence, support and image over a relatively simple issue such as the Miners Strikes. If the police serves as an important, needed part of the system of society and governance than why would the 'ruling classes', those as high up as ministers and the prime minister allow for the police to be portrayed negatively if the ruling class are in charge of what people read and hear about from the media.

Media Theorists and Quotes

• Stanley Cohen - 'People who supposedly threaten the social order, Folk Devils.' 
• S Cohen - 'The media reacts to an aspect of behaviour.'
• Defleur - 'The media has selective influences on people.'
• Defleur - 'The more one depends on media, the more media will be important to someone.'
• Gatling and Ruge - 'Exclusivity, proximity and recency.' - News and newspapers
• Gauntlett - 'Identity is complicated.'
• Judith Butler - 'Gender is what you do, not what you are.'
• Judith Butler - 'Identity is performed through your expressions.'
• Stuart Hall - 'Media seems to reflect reality, but in fact they construct it.'
• S Hall - 'Audiences read text differently, some accept, some negotiate and some reject reading.'
• S Hall - 'Identity is ambiguous'
• S Hall - 'The media defines for the majority of the population.'
• S Hall - 'Invisible nature of ideology', 'Other' - Binary opposition
• Althusser - 'The social practise of miss recognising yourself based on a full consciousness.'
• Althusser - 'The power of the mass media resides in their ability to place a subject.'
• Neale - 'Genre are instances of repetition and differences.' - Genre theory
• Mulvey - 'Media texts are created as if through the eyes of a heterosexual male.'
• Perkins- 'Stereotypes would not work if they were so simple.'

Stanley Cohen - Moral Panic

A moral panic occurs when a group of people emerges to become defined as a threat to society and its values.  People who supposedly threaten social order are described as "folk devils".

Cohen states that moral panics are in essence controversies that involve arguments and social tension, disagreement is difficult because the matter at the center is seen as taboo.The media simply reporting on a certain story is enough to create worry and panic within members of society.

Characteristics of a 'Moral Panic':  

• Concern – There must be awareness that the behaviour of the group is a threat to people in society.
• Hostility – Hostility towards the group in question increases, and they become "folk devils". Divisions form, 'them' and 'us'.
• Consensus – There must be widespread acceptance that the group in question poses a very real threat to society. It is important that the "moral entrepreneurs"(people building up the issue) are vocal and the "folk devils" appear weak and disorganised.
• Disproportionality – The action taken is disproportionate to the threat posed by the group.
• Volatility – Moral panics are highly volatile and tend to disappear quickly due to a lack of public interest or news reports changing to follow new topics.

Stuart Hall- Hall's theory of encoding and decoding

'Media appears to reflect reality, but in fact they construct it.'

Halls analysis greatly helps textual analysis by increasing the scope for audiences to negotiate and oppose the statistics they see and hear. Hall believes that statistics are manipulated and exaggerated to sway the intended audiences into a particular view or way of seeing a certain subject even if the evidence appears factual. In relation to the police, this would allow for the government and press to easily create 'moral panics' to persuade and gain the audiences support for the increase in policing over the matter the moral panic has been created over.

The use of communication and the language within the text is created through what Hall believes are 'codes' presented throughout different stages of say, a TV programme or news.

Hall says that there are three main codes, these are:
First being the Hegemonic code (the code the encoder expects the decoder to recognise, the clear message is being taken.)
Second (sort of 1-and-a-half) is the Professional code (works in tandem with the Hegemonic code, put simply, to add effect e.g. Professional displayed, visual quality, they help emphasise the meaning of the news story or event.)
Third is the Negotiated code (recognises legitimacy of Hegemonic codes but in a way creates its own rules to enforce a situation, it creates 'exceptions' to the rules.)
Last is the Oppositional code (it is possible for the viewer to understand the literal and connotative view of the article but it decode it in a globally 'contrary' way, decode it to an understandable level for many people)

How Hall relates to the opening quote with his argument is that the meaning of something is never fixed or determined by the encoder. The message of something being sent is never transparent and will always have some form of opinion and means to persuade. The audience is not a passive recipient of articles, if a programme is meant to go out to make people feel sympathetic to others on the show and won't necessarily do that, people may have other views and not feel sympathetic.

Hall believes that Through the repeated telling of a narrative e.g. 9/11 a culturally specific interpretation becomes not only universal, but it becomes common-sense.