Critical Anaylsis on the history of journalism 2

Analysising the media and popular culture lecture earlier on this week. We started to look in the public sphere and the history of journalism itself.

Since the 19th century, the roles of the press have changed in such a dramtic way. The powers who owned all the larger companies were actually in control of what was being printed. Although the printing press was such an expensive item, there were more and more copies of the print that was being distributed.

We started the lecture off by mentioning some approaches to the political economy, we found out there are four main approaches, such as; Marixt, Realist/Pragmatic, Liberal and Constructivist. Marxist approaches look at the political economy by emphasising a class based struggle. Also, economic base is the key to the ideological superstructure and for most of us our fundament resource is labour, but we are alienated from the products of this by capitalism leading to class struggle. Alienated from power.

Their role in advertising moved the media to an vast economic determinism. The mass advertising got noticed after the instituion of advertising duty, which was in 1853. Therefore this meant that the more 'eye-catching' advertisements could get away with paying no tax and was so much more effective as it was bringing more businesses their way.

As the public sphere increased, stages of trade to concentrate on commerce. Journalists such concentrated on the spectator and moved into taste and fashion which helped move the public sphere along. This meant that middle classes became more interested and involved in politics.

Also the politicians were noticing that the mass of the population, the media were now reaching a new high. They wanted to gain more income support such as, getting their voices heard through the media seemed like an ideal situation. Politicans did change the public sphere, this therefore helped the increase in their coverage. Now, there is an increase where new puplications are being formed throughout a handful of different mediums such as; internet as well as the newspapers.

Within the changing of the public sphere, engaged in education, you had to be apart of a class and some races were excluded from them.

Mass politics of the late 19th/20th century changed the nature of the sphere. Politicans and authorities became less and less concerned with rpressing than managing debate. With the rise of the press barons, industrialisation and commrcialisation saw the rise of a new type of entrepreneur, of which Northcliffe and Beaverbrook were archtypes. Effects would've included concentration of ownership, greater proprietorial control and political intervention. After all, their influence can be greatly over exaggerated, but the most important change was to establish press as business.