Does the news reflect of construct reality?
             The main concern of this essay is to look at the relationship between news media and reality. Whilst debating whether the mediation by the news is in the form of a 'faithful reflection' [McQuail, 1994, p.65] of reality or a 'filtered, screen', [McQuail, 1994.] that constructs a reality all of its own; I intend to discuss: -
             · The concept of reality. (Without getting too philosophical!)
             · The economic and political influences on news processes of production.
             · Questions around the content and form of ideology.
             Generally, reality is what most people 'assume exists independently of any concept or representation'. [Grossberg, 1998, p.184] It's 'reality' and that's it, no questions asked. Reality according to Fiske ' is a product of cultural codes'; [1987, p.4] that is, our social environment presents us with 'a collection of material facts, that we can accurately perceive'. [Grossberg, 1998, p.185] The notion that the material facts have to be collected is interesting. It implies that a mediation between the public and reality has taken place, someone, somewhere, had to decide what was to be collected, and what was to be left.
             Who gets to define the collection thus reality? According to A.J. Ayer, the definition is the 'object of general agreement', [1978, p.67] A consensus about the state of things as they appear to be. (Although it has to be noted, not everyone sees things in the same way; surely this would create different realities or perceptions of.) The representation of this empirical reality, is the objective of social institutions such as,
             · The Family/ via the process of Primary Socialisation,
             · The State/ via Legislation,
             · The Education system/ via forms of Secondary Socialization, e.g. The National Curriculum Etc.
             Although comparat...