PRINT MEDIA _ THE BIG ISSUE

Print media (The Big Issue)  - 

Representation:

•Who/What is seen?

•How are they represented?

• DRCAGES

        - Disability

        - Race

        - Class

        - Age

        - Gender

        - Ethnicity

          - sexuality

  - Themes/Messages

In this Advert we can see a woman with an incredible physique and in very good shape. She is wearing a skimpy bikini and showing a lot of her body and beside her is a cover line stating 'Are you beach body ready?' This can seem demeaning to woman as it is suggesting that your 'beach body' has to be a perfect petite size and suggests that all woman have to get in shape and have a perfect body to go to the beach. I think its targeted towards woman and probably an advert promoting healthy diet schemes or even an advert for the gym. However i also think its targeted towards men as they will find this woman attractive and then have high expectations and expect normal working women to look like this. By the women body being in black and white it shows her body looking more toned and tanned against the saturated background and this would also draw an attention of a reader. 

The Big Issue Foundation is a financially independent charity. They believe in a ‘hand up and not a hand out’ and recognise that earning an income is a key step in a person’s journey towards stability and a better life. The Big Issue offers the incentive of earning an income; it means that they engage with a number of individuals who are not seen by other services or projects. They work exclusively with Big Issue vendors, people who are excluded from mainstream society, financially impoverished and disadvantaged in multiple ways. The Big Issue seek to address the fundamental issues attached to social and financial exclusion through the provision of concrete support to change lives for good. Vendors buy The Big Issue magazine for £1.25 and sell it for £2.50, meaning each seller is a micro-entrepreneur who is working, not begging. Therefore it is vitally important that buyers take their copy of the magazine when they pay for it.

 RIGHT WING NEWSPAPER 

- Reflect the right wing political views, opposes socialism and social democracy 

- Believe there should be a powerful leader and are very proud of their country 

   LEFT WING NEWSPAPER 

- Reflect the left wing political views, supports social equality and egalitarianism

- Believe that all people are equal and deserve to have equal rights and opportunities. 

Task 3 - How is this migrant group represented by the right wing press?

Identify the negative representations from the text.

The migrant group of Romanians have been cast as a drain on our society based by the views from the right wing paper. They were represented as 'taking the Mickey' and accused of petty crime for creating havoc by begging on the streets. By titling the page 'the truth' it suggests that they are revealing the Romanians to be viewed in this negative light. 

Task 4 - Create a summary of how homeless migrants are represented, use Shildrick & MacDonald in support of your views

Identify examples of anti- social behavior.

How might these examples which demonise migrants link to right wing nationalism (e.g. Donald Trump, Mexicans)

Homeless migrants are represented as an annoyance and a havoc to our country, they are shown to be violent drug abusers who are making our country pay out for there welfare. In this article from the daily mail it portrays the homeless living in a shopping centre to have fights, drug addictions and 4 have died from health conditions.  

Task 5 - In what way is the representation of the homelessness differ in the Independent compared to the Telegraph and Mail-online.

What % of the homeless in London are ex service people.

The representation of homelessness differ because they are sympathised for by people who once served for our county and made us proud.The Royal British Legion charity suggests the proportion of homeless veterans among London’s homeless population is believed to be around six per cent – around 1,100. 

Deserving and Undeserving Poor 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/762456/British-military-veterans-armed-forces-covenant-army-navy-RAF-Homes-for-Heroes-campaign

Everyday more and more veterans become homeless due to health and money related issues. Homeless charities estimate that there are about 7000 ex servicemen and women who are desperate for a roof over there head.The government has housed thousands of empty properties to asylum seekers rather than are own wounded soldiers, around 6500. Many are demanding homes for heroes who have mental health 

SOCIAL CONTEXT -

- war veterans and homelessness 

- they chose to publish this as it was near to remembrance day 

- they chose to highlight the issue as soldiers have thought for our safety and now we need to do the same for them 

- the issue would be important for the audience as the big issue is a paper known to help the homeless make a living and earn money/ so stories within the paper are usually related to homelessness somehow. 

Most media studies on poverty point in the direction of a recurring observation that usually the poor are presented in one of two contrasting frames: the ‘deserving poor’ and the ‘undeserving poor’.

While the frame of deserving poor employs a sympathetic treatment of the poor, the frame of the undeserving poor is built upon the rhetoric of deficiency in individuals who are portrayed as a burden on the taxpayer due to their dependency on welfare policies

(see also, scroungerphobia, Golding & Middleton, 1982)

Reasons for how veterans become homeless - 

- “I became too scared to go to sleep and began drinking heavily. I was medically retired form the prison ­service. My world collapsed and I was homeless. I slept in my van for six months and felt unable to talk to anyone. But eventually I got help.”

- She said: “When I left the Army in 1997 I was a single mum. I had nowhere to live and a child to look after. I felt as though I had somehow failed. I was eventually given help and got my life back together. “But I received no help from the armed forces. It was from charities and friends.”

- Craig, from Corringham, Essex, added: “I thought I was fine, but I was drinking to self-medicate.

 Gerbner theory -

Theory: Cultivation theory states that high frequency viewers of television are more susceptible to media messages and the belief that they are real and valid. Heavy viewers are exposed to more violence and therefore are effected by the Mean World Syndrome, the belief that the world is a far worse and dangerous place then it actually is. According to the theory heavy viewing of television is creating a homogeneous and fearful populace, however so many studies have been done in this area that really no one knows how or even if violence on TV or in film negatively or positively affects its audience.

Now cultivation theory has taken on a more general definition in regards to mass media. It now extends to encompass the idea that television colours our perception of the world. For example; if someone stays inside and watch news about crime all day, they might be inclined to believe that the crime rate is far higher than it actually is and they might easily become the victim of a crime. Or in another sense heavy viewership of any media   can perpetuate stereotypes both positive and negative. It really comes down to the question of to what extent does reality shape TV and vice versa.