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Practical Target

-       - Complete Pinterest Board.

-       - Who To Take Photos Off.

-       - Get Photos Done.

-       - Following Convention Of Artist On Pinterest.

-       - Portrait Photography Research.

How The Papers Contributed To Brexit

Earlier






















22nd June 2016

24th June 2016

26th June 2016





























Articles

DUE: 2 WEEKS

Did The British Press Influence The Brexit Result?

Refer to the arguments of Hesmondhalgh and Gerber in the answer.

The British print and online press may have played a big part in the UKs 2016 Brexit result. With many well respected British newspapers becoming less subtle about whether the owners of those papers where for or against. Back in 1992 The Sun came out with the Headline “It’s the Sun wot won it,” in regards to the unexpected Conservative general election victory which they claimed they were responsible for. Since this, the debate has roared on as to how much of an influence the press has over changing people’s votes. Throughout this answer, I will be referring to the theories of both Hesmondhalgh and Gerbner.

Hesmondhalgh argues that larger companies are more focused on the financial side of mainstream media. Hesmondhalgh also argues that major cultural organizations cater to a number of different industries for their own commercial gain. Gerbner argues that over time people are becoming more and more subject to having the media ‘Cultivate’ viewers perceptions. I think that the British press did influence the vote on Brexit because of all the highly respected newspaper headlines clearly swaying for people to vote leave. Some of these headlines include ‘BeLEAVE in Britain,’ and ‘If you believe in Britain vote leave,’ from The Sun and the Daily Mail respectively. Also, a lot of the newspaper covers at the time had a red, white, and blue colour palette, a clear link to the union jack and the representations of that.

Hesmondhalgh’s theory can be applied to the British press and their influence on Brexit in the way that many of the newspapers got caught up in trying to push a certain agenda and sometimes glossing over the truth in order to push for commercial success. This was the case when The Mail where forced to make amendments to one of their front cover pages as they claimed that a group of migrants were from Europe, when video showed members of the group say they from Iraq and Kuwait. Hesmondhalgh’s theory states that larger companies operate across a wide range of cultural industries. In the 1990s, The Sun newspaper had a circulation of around 4 million people. However right now The Sun sells less than half of that total. It’s fair to say the future is very much with programs like Facebook and Google surfacing news and headlines. Many newspapers around Britain have taken advantage of this and they now have got their own website and furthermore Facebook and Twitter accounts. This would have influenced a lot of readers because of the fact that many people wanted to keep in the know around June 2016 and were seeing many articles and headlines published by online companies swaying to leave the EU.

Gerbner theory in regards to the British press suggests that trustworthy people read untrustworthy press and then tell other people who then tell more people and that how I think The British press did have an influence on the Brexit result. Gerbner also argues that over time, exposure to the media subtly ‘cultivates’ readers perceptions of reality. This suggests that subconsciously audiences are taking in certain aspects of the press as appose to