Introduction
This media analysis examines a 2008 article titled “Elderly Mer couple lost in system”. It was published in the Torres News newspaper. The news material itself is dedicated to an elderly married couple who face the problem of the bureaucratic system. Their main problem was that they could not find an opportunity to obtain housing that would meet their needs, ensuring their health and the safety of their lives.
In this essay, Noam Chomsky’s system of views and positions will be used to review this news publication. The specificity of the information channel of newspaper discourse lies in its technical nature. It is expressed in the variety of semiotic possibilities that newspapers have as technical means of transmitting messages. The newspaper employs natural language in written (printed) form, as well as iconic signs (such as photographs, drawings, and cartoons), various font selections, and distinct layout methods. Therefore, analyzing the media enables the identification of patterns inherent in a particular publication relative to a specific population group, in this case, older people.
How Group Is Portrayed
The newspaper article presents a group of older adults, a married couple facing a housing problem on Mer Island. It should be noted that the analyzed group is accurately portrayed. The article describes the situation faced by people requiring the intervention of local authorities to resolve it.
It is worth noting that in this case, older people were elected relatively positively. This is reflected in the material aimed at publicizing the situation. Consequently, the situation reflects a sympathetic attitude toward the actors. This can be traced in the following words: “Communication breakdown, inadequate record keeping, and poor health have left one elderly couple living in third-world conditions on Mer Island” (Torres News, 2008). Thus, it becomes evident to readers that the problem has a significant scale.
Moreover, the authors of this newspaper article aim to evoke a sense of compassion in readers to give this situation widespread attention. However, it is worth noting that this newspaper article will present the opinions of official representatives from various administrative authorities and institutions, which reflect a negative attitude towards older adults. This is expressed in the following words: “It wasn’t really built for that purpose. He knew from the beginning that it wasn’t for him. Council would just like to pull it down and build a new one to accommodate the IBIS people again” (Torres News, 2008). Thus, the official representatives expressed a negative attitude since the couple used a house that was not intended for them.
It is worth noting that this aspect remains positive for the media, as readers can become acquainted with different perspectives and draw the necessary conclusions. In addition, the article’s author does not represent the elderly population. In this case, the material is aimed solely at highlighting a specific issue related to bureaucratic difficulties that have led older adults to live in substandard conditions. Speaking of positive outcomes, it is worth noting that stories related to this event will be featured in the newspaper. Thus, it is relatively challenging to witness the effect of the accident on the fate of an elderly married couple.
However, it may be assumed that most of the benefits from this publication were received by older adults. This is manifested in the fact that their problem was covered in a relatively large local newspaper. On the other hand, it is worth noting that the following position is also presented in this article: “If you build a second house for this family, then another family will miss out” (Torres News, 2008). Thus, readers may get the impression that this family requires too much, which may negatively affect the capabilities of other people in need. This, in turn, leads to adverse outcomes for the actors in this story, as their problems may be silenced and receive insufficient public attention.
In this case, such an outcome is beneficial for the representatives of local authorities, who need to articulate their position and garner support from readers. This is also noted: “the previous council had built a home for Mr. Wailu at his request on his traditional land at Dauar” (Torres News, 2008). Thus, the obligations of the local authorities were fulfilled, which is repeatedly emphasized in this annual summary. All this leads to the fact that the situation with older people is not perceived so unambiguously, which contributes to resolving the conflict. Therefore, summarizing the results regarding the representation of the people in this newspaper article, it is worth noting that the authors sought to maintain a neutral position.
The Discourse
Mass media serve as a system for transmitting messages and symbols to the masses. Their function is to educate, entertain, inform, and instill in people values, beliefs, and behaviors of a particular ideology. In a world of concentrated wealth and severe conflicts of class interests, fulfilling this role requires systematic propaganda and manipulation.
In countries where the levers of power are in the hands of the state bureaucracy, monopolistic control over the media, often supplemented by official censorship, makes it clear that the media serve the goals of the ruling elite (Klaehn et al., 2018). It is much more challenging to discern the work of the propaganda system when the media are privately owned, and there is no formal censorship (Fuchs, 2017). This is especially true in cases where the media actively compete, periodically attack, and expose the crimes of corporate and government officials, while aggressively portraying themselves as representatives of freedom of speech and the interests of society.
A similar situation is structurally examined in the article under review, where its authors illustrate the problems faced by local residents through a critical analysis of local authorities. This is undermined by the described situation, which demonstrates the incompetence of certain social services in providing the necessary opportunities for older people (Koskinen et al., 2014). All this is considered in the article through the prism of a confusing and complex bureaucratic system, where elderly spouses were forced to face various authorities that lacked sufficient authority to resolve their problems. This is evident in the following lines: “TSRIC Mayor Fred Gela recognized the Wailu’s unsatisfactory situation but said progress had been stalled by a dispute over ownership of the house” (Torres News, 2008). However, it is worth noting that the very nature of this news article does not openly criticize the authorities.
In this case, the problem is considered rather evasively and vaguely, as readers cannot determine what happened to the actors in the story. Considering this from the perspective of discourse, this article can serve two main functions. This criticism of the existing local government may be related to the upcoming elections, and the article may then be commissioned to discredit opponents. On the other hand, this may be a basic article aimed at bringing the problematic situation to public attention. What is not apparent (and remains unaddressed in the media) is the limited nature of such criticism and the vast inequality in resource management, as well as its impact on access to the private media system and its behavior and performance.
The media is heavily dependent on advertising revenue. Then, according to the propaganda model, the interests of advertisers are more important than the objectivity of the news (Wang et al., 2021). The propaganda model focuses on this inequality of wealth and power, as well as its multilevel impact on media interests and choices. It tracks how money and power can filter out news fit for print, marginalize dissent, and enable governments and dominant private interests to convey their messages to the public (Fuchs, 2017).
Additionally, it is worth noting that the media rarely and reluctantly publish articles that may affect the interests of their sponsors, on whom they depend (Xie, 2018). In this case, publishing a small local newspaper dedicated to the island’s events may be heavily financially dependent on the support of local authorities. This can lead to the problem being less transparent.
Conclusion
The newspaper article reviewed focused on the topic of older people. After analyzing various factors that indicate this population group’s positive and negative image, an argument can be made that Torres News sought to maintain a neutral position. This is evident in the material, which contains interviews with older adults and representatives of local authorities, between whom a certain misunderstanding existed.
It is worth noting that the issue was caused by a complex bureaucratic system that led to older adults finding themselves in a difficult situation. In this case, the desire to identify the position of various parties could lead to a negative result for the whole group. This is evident in the fact that, based on the authorities’ position, the publication notes that readers may have a negative perception of older people.
It is also worth noting that this situation was examined through the lens of media theory by Noam Chomsky, who sought to reveal the various principles and motives that contributed to the creation of different publications. As a central communication link, the message facilitates the implementation of the main functions of newspaper discourse: informing and influencing. The informative function is to provide the reader with up-to-date information. It is characterized as documentary and factual, which implies the accuracy of the information, the creation of a single coordinate system in its perception, concreteness, and objectivity in depicting events and presenting facts.
Newspaper discourse texts aim not only to transmit information but also to convey certain opinions and assessments and, as a result, to form public opinion. Accordingly, the influencing function of newspaper discourse aims to cause a specific change in the reader’s values, beliefs, and social attitudes by informing and provoking thought and behavior in a particular direction. In this case, the position of Torres News is instead aimed at expressing a critical assessment of the complexity of the bureaucratic system, as well as awakening readers’ sympathy for older people.
References
Fuchs, C. (2017). Propaganda 2.0: Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model in the age of the internet, big data and social media. In The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness (pp. 71–91).
Klaehn, J., Broudy, D., Fuchs, C., & Godler, Y. (2018). Media theory, public relevance and the propaganda model today. Media Theory, 2(2), 164–191.
Koskinen, S., Salminen, L., & Leino-Kilpi, H. (2014). Media portrayal of older people as illustrated in Finnish newspapers. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 9(1), 25304.
Torres News. (2008). Elderly Mer couple lost in system. Trove.
Wang, G., Wu, X., & Li, Q. (2021). A bibliometric study of news discourse analysis (1988‒2020). Discourse andCommunication, 16(1), 110–128.
Xie, Q. (2018). Critical discourse analysis of news discourse. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 8(4), 399–403.