Media Hegemony: A Failure of Perspective

Abstract

Numerous studies of TV news have been published since Gans's (1972) call for more research on the mass media. A central issue underlying much of this research is control and dominance of the news process. This essay analyzes the logical and empirical adequacy of media hegemony as an explanation of ideological dominance. Analysis of recent research shows that some researchers have uncritically adapted the ideology thesis of media hegemony to studies of TV news and have overlooked findings which challenge their claims about (1) the socialization and ideology of journalists, (2) whether news reports perpetuate the status quo, and (3) the nature and extent of international news coverage. Despite the shortcomings of the concept of media hegemony, efforts should continue to develop an empirically sound theoretical perspective for locating the news process in a broader societal context. David L. Altheide is Professor in the Center for the Study of Justice, Arizona State University, and Field Research Director, Center for Urban Studies. The author gratefully acknowledges the comments of John M. Johnson, Kurt Lang, and anonymous reviewers. Another version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, San Francisco, September 1982. Public Opinion Quarterly Vol. 48:476-490 ?) 1984 by the Trustees of Columbia University Published by Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc 0033-362X/84/0048-476/$2.50 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.117 on Sun, 23 Oct 2016 04:28:52 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms MEDIA HEGEMONY: A FAILURE OF PERSPECTIVE 477 systematically supported. Data will be presented to indicate that (1) journalists are not uniformly socialized into the dominant ideology, nor are most elite journalists supportive of conservative values and ideology; (2) journalistic reports do not routinely perpetuate the status quo, but have been agents of change in a number of instances; and (3) foreign affairs reporting on television is more extensive than has been assumed, and many of these reports are sympathetic with Third World movements as well as critical of the role the United States has played in these countries. Hegemony and Critical Theory As recently articulated by Antonio Gramsci (1971), media hegemony refers to the dominance of a certain way of life and thought and to the way in which that dominant concept of reality is diffused throughout public as 'well as private dimensions of social life. The contemporary definition of hegemony is conceptually rooted in the Marxist view of the economic foundations of a society as the most important shapers of culture, values, and ideology; the ruling classes who control the economic structures and institutions of society also control its political and primary ideological institutions (Marx and