1. Harry Goldsmith
Media Studies

2. What is it?

 People are shown throughout the media to have
stereotypes attributed to them.
 These stereotypes can then be broken up into
different sectors.
 One of these is class, for example the class system:




Lower Class
Working Class
Middle Class
Upper Class

3. Key Point

 Throughout the media, they are rarely seen to focus
on the class structure to cause problems within
society, as some people believe.
 Some people think that most problems in society are
caused by the conflict inflicted by the class system
 Some people think that the class system underpins
society.
This is rarely shown through the mass media.

4. Monarchy (Nairn 1988)

 Nairn noted in 1988 that throughout the media, the
monarchy (the highest class within the system) are always
shown positively. They are always given good media
coverage in a positive light.
 They cover most aspects of their life, and they ensure that
they are adding a sense of glamour, in order to provide
the positive impression. They are also making people
more interested in them by not giving all information.
 This can also be seen as giving a sense of national
identity, someone for the country to look up to as their
leader.
 Because of this the coverage of events including royalty,
become national events.

5. Representations of the
Upper Class and Wealth

 People sometimes argue that these people are shown
as at the top of the hierarchy within the media.
 They are shown to be deserving of their wealth and
status, for example they are celebrities or connected
to royalty.
 They are rarely seen in a critical light, and they are
not seen to draw any reasoning for the inequalities
between them and the public.

6. Newman (2006)

 Newman believed that the media focuses positively
on wealthy people and the upper class.
 He thinks that they focus too much on the consumer
goods they have and things that are not realistically
in reach for the general public. They are things that
they cannot afford.
 He also thinks that they are over covered by the
media, especially these areas.

7. Representations of the
middle classses

 You can make four broad observations of the middle
class:
 They are over-represented on the media
 Some forms of media are targeted solely at middle class, e.g.
daily mail
 The media assumes that middle class people are worried
about the lack of moral standards within society, and they
are proud of being British. This is why newspapers such as
the Daily Mail focus on these issues and news stories.
 Most of the creative workers in this media are middle class,
they possess the authority.

8. Representations of the
working class

 Newman says that when the news is focusing on the
working class, they are trying to identify them as the
problem, for example welfare cheats, drug addicts or
criminals.
 Groups such as mods or skinheads normally cause
moral panics and other issues such as
unemployment are the cause of individuals rather
than the government policies.
 The media portrays unreasonable workers instead of
employers.

9. Curran and Seaton (2003)

 Newspapers that are aimed at the working class
assume that the people who read them are not
interested in the more intellectual news, they are
more interested in gossip, rather than the news about
the economy, markets, etc.
 When discussing political debates they simplify it,
assuming people of this class cannot understand it in
the same way.
 They provide information to this class such as
gossip, celebrities and sport.