DRAFT (Please Do Not Circulate)

Thematic Network: The Social Problem and Societal Problematisation of Men and Masculinities UK NATIONAL REPORT ON REVIEW OF TWO WEEKS’ NATIONAL PRESS OUTPUT EXAMINING EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT ANALYSES ON MEN AND MASCULINITIES AND THEIR PROBLEMATISATION: WORKPACKAGE 4, SEPTEMBER 2001 Alex Raynor, Keith Pringle and Jackie Millett

(i) Key points: a. In none of the papers analysed was there any significant discussion of men and/or masculinities in relation to policy. This contrasts with the very considerable attention paid to men in some areas of UK governmental and quasi-governmental policy discussions surveyed in the Workpackage 3 UK national report. Such a finding is especially surprising since (i) two of the three papers reviewed are widely recognised as among the most “heavy-weight”/serious in the UK regarding policy issues generally (Telegraph and Guardian); (ii) the period reviewed was part of the “run up” to the British General Election when one would expect policy issues to be more prominent than at any other time. b. “Stories” which focused explicitly on men and/or masculinities per se were rare in all the papers reviewed – and the most socially “liberal”/left-wing of the three papers (the Guardian) in some ways had less of these than the other two. c. The most populist and, in some ways, most right-wing of the three papers (The Sun) has considerably less square centimetres of news available to it than the other two and yet, in absolute terms, it devoted by far the most attention to men and masculinities as a whole and especially regarding the themes of violences and health. Whilst it might be possible to suggest some relatively straightforward hypotheses to explain the emphasis on violences, the attention paid by The Sun to the theme of health is perhaps more surprising and worthy of further investigation. Conversely, the overall poor relative coverage provided by the Guardian also warrants further consideration given that it is generally regarded as one of the most “socially concerned” of UK newspapers and often seen as closer to the ethos of the current Labour Administration than any other “serious” newspaper – an Administration which, as the two previous UK national reports have demonstrated, devotes considerable attention to issues of men and masculinities in some specific policy areas.

(ii) The National Media and Press Background and Context. At the risk of over-generalisation, the national UK press can be rather sharply divided into the “tabloid” and “broadsheet” press: the former, also sometimes termed “the red tops” tend to be relatively populist/sensationalist in tone as well as being considerably smaller in size than the “broadsheets” which are usually regarded as more “serious” and “heavy-weight”. Tabloid newspapers can be both politically Centre-Right leaning (eg The Sun) or Centre-Left leaning (eg The Daily Mirror). The same is true of the “broadsheets”, though historically (and currently) the majority of the British press leans politically to the Right: for instance, the only “broadsheets” which could be considered as not leaning to the Right or Centre-Right are “The Guardian”, “The Independent” (both dailies) and “The Observer” (a Sunday paper which is stable-mate to the “The Guardian”).

Work in Progress 72 06.04.18 UK We may also note that, as the last comment indicates, the national press in Britain is rather strictly divided between “Dailies” (ie which are published Monday to Saturday inclusive) and the “Sundays” (ie which only appear each Sunday). All three of the papers reviewed in this report are “Dailies”.

(iii) The selection of three newspapers

The following are the latest (August 2001) daily circulation statistics for national UK “daily” (ie not Sunday) newspapers:-

a. Largest “broadsheet” daily paper: Daily Telegraph: 1,020,803. b. Largest “tabloid” daily paper: The Sun: 3,601,410. c. One other chosen at discretion of national member: The Guardian: 390,041. The Guardian was chosen because it is the highest-circulation “broadsheet” newspaper which explicitly espouses a socially liberal and “Centre-Left” political stance (the Daily Telegraph is generally regarded as representing a politically Right or Centre-Right perspective).

(iv) Quantitative analysis of coverage

SEE ATACHED TABLES FOR DETAIL FOR COMMENTARY PLEASE SEE DETAIL IN SECTION 5 BELOW

(v) Qualitative analysis of coverage

a)The three newspapers: a brief general discussion of how each of the 3 newspapers portray men and men’s practices.

The Sun Sex, drugs and violence were the basis of many stories concerning men in The Sun. For example several pages were dedicated to (i) The return of Ronnie Biggs, an infamous criminal who (among some sections of the UK population) has been accorded “heroic” status and who has been in refuge in Brazil for many years. (ii) Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott being involved in a brawl in the “run up” to the General Election. (iii) The young men in S Club 7 (a British pop band) taking drugs. The Sun did however carry more stories on men and health than the other two papers (see below).

The Daily Telegraph

The Telegraph has several supplements including a sports supplement everyday and as a result there were lots of stories about famous sportsmen as well as other famous men. From 7th – 11th may the paper also ran a series of articles on Children and Crime which addressed several issues in relation to young men and boys: for example committing crime, being a victim of crime, gangs and drugs. These issues were mostly addressed implicitly and used examples of individuals rather than addressing Work in Progress 73 06.04.18 UK them as a problem for young men/boys. Often gender-neutral language was used. Two articles did make explicit links (See section c below).

The Guardian.

Although the largest paper in terms of physical size, the Guardian gave more space up to advertising, leaving less column space than in the other two papers. This possibly explains the perhaps surprising fact that the Guardian gave less space to and carried fewer articles on men than the other two papers: surprising because the Guardian has a reputation for being the most “progressive” of all the major “Dailies” in the UK and for being one of the most attentive as far as social policy issues are concerned. For reasons beyond our control, only 8 days of the Guardian were available to us. Nevertheless, the lack of emphasis on issues relating to men in the Guardian cannot be attributed to this: proportionately, the share of space devoted to such topics was less in the Guardian than in the Telegraph and considerably less than in the Sun. Additional reasons for the lack of emphasis in the Guardian may be worth considering as possibilities: (i) The Guardian is generally regarded as being far less sensational than, for instance, the Sun. That may help explain the much higher proportion of space devoted to violences in the Sun than the Guardian but it not so easy to see how it could directly explain the much greater emphasis on stories about men and health in the Sun than the Guardian. (ii) This period was a “run up” to the General Election which of course the Labour Party subsequently won. One could argue that this unual context drew the Guardian away from some of its more routine issues. On the other hand, it is curious that so few policy issues pertaining to men were addressed by the Guardian at this time, especially since the Guardian is generally regarded as a reasonably strong supporter of Tony Blair who in turn has placed much emphasis on some men’s issues (eg fatherhood) during his time in power. Perhaps social issues pertaining directly to men’s practices/masculinities were not given a high profile by either of the main parties during the election campaign?

Stories in the available issues of the Guardian mainly focussed on Home and Work and Violence themes with little on health and even less on Social exclusion.

b)The four themes (Home and Work, Social Exclusion, Violences, Health): the broad coverage of men in the newspapers in terms of each of the 4 themes.

Home and Work The Sun. The majority of men and work stories referred to either famous or high earning men. Little space was given to “conventional” family issues instead focusing, for example, on prenuptial agreements of the famous or unusual divorces. Fathers were either famous fathers, such as Mick Jagger (eg “Mick’s a Super Daddy” 8th May) and footballer Gareth Southgate, or were fathers in extreme circumstances such as a father giving his kidney to his son or a father helping his daughter kill herself to escape her mental health problems. Work in Progress 74 06.04.18 UK The Daily Telegraph. The Daily Telegraph gave less coverage to this theme than the other two newspapers in terms of both number of articles and column space. With the daily sport supplement containing interviews with many sportsmen about their life and career, this accounted for many of the home and work stories. The Telegraph also had work- related stories concerning prominent businessmen in the business pages. Famous fathers included Mick Jagger (8th May) whose son is to be sent to a British school to be nearer his father so that he can get to know him. Rupert Murdoch’s (11th May) third wife expecting his fifth child was reported within a context of the baby’s position as an heir. Other fathers who were the subject of stories included the father who helped his daughter to die (15th and 16th May). The initial report contained the father’s desperation and his desire not to fail his daughter like everyone else while the commentary the next day concentrated on the responsibility a father has to protect his children. There was also the story of a father causing traffic chaos by tying himself to a bridge over the M6 motorway to protest about Social Services removing his children. Details of the removal were not given. The Guardian. The majority of articles were career profiles on men in the public eye such as health minister Alan Milburn (May 7th) and several on sports personalities such as Ronnie O’Sullivan (a leading world snooker player) and Peter Ridsdale (Chairman of one of the UK’s most successful football clubs, Leeds United). The articles that differed from the other two newspapers were a report of Alan Farthing’s account read out in court of how he and Jill Dando met and fell in love [note: Jill Dando was a celebrated TV presenter shot dead outside her home several years ago and Alan Farthing was her fiancée) and an article that was part of a series by a new first time father and his experiences called “Holding the Baby”.

Social Exclusion The Sun. Social Exclusion as a theme received the least coverage overall with the least column space being given by The Sun. One story in particular (May 14th) about a wrongfully hanged man was portrayed as ground-breaking in terms of being the first compensation case of its kind but not in terms of being a social exclusion issue - which is how it was treated in the other two newspapers. Issues involving “race” were not mentioned by The Sun. Perhaps significantly, two of the seven stories about Social Exclusion in the Sun referred to white people being victimised. The Daily Telegraph. Only a handful of stories over the two weeks referred to issues related to social exclusion. One story under the headline of two white brothers being attacked by an Asian gang also contained details of two Asian youths attacked by white Middlesborough Football Club fans and a white man being stabbed in Oldham. A brief reference was made to recent “race-related” violent disturbances in Oldham but no broader context or social focus was discussed.(7th May only 83.25 cm2 ). The story of £1.4 million being paid in compensation to the family of a man who was wrongly judicially hanged concentrated on the defendant’s poor grasp of English leading to his failure to understand the seriousness of his situation.(May 14th). There was also a brief report of a racial discrimination proceeding by a soldier who believed he was not promoted because of his ethnicity. The plight of army spies undercover in the IRA who feel abandoned after the cease-fire and want to return to normal army life was also featured. ( May 17th). The Guardian. Work in Progress 75 06.04.18 UK Although the Guardian carried few stories regarding Social Exclusion it did give them attention when they arose. On 7th May The Guardian featured two articles on Bobby Sands and the story of his hunger strike in 1981 to try to get the British government to treat those serving prison sentences for terrorist activities related to the IRA as political prisoners. The first article focused on Sands as an individual and a second discussed how the controversy continues within those connected to the IRA. The Guardian’s coverage of the compensation payout to the family of a wrongfully hanged man goes further than the other two papers in pointing out aspects of Social Exclusion. The first payout of its kind is the reason for the story. However, the Guardian points out the details of the case which illustrated the man in question had been the victim of “racist police and an intolerant community” and that this led to his conviction being quashed.

Health The Sun. Health issues were more prominent in The Sun than in the other two papers. The Sun carried the story of a father whose cancer was missed 24 times (8th May) and the cancer diary of man suffering lymphoma (11th May). The Sun also carried several stories on drugs and alcohol as well as accidental death but there was very little explicit discussion of men’s health issues. Apart from these sorts of exceptions, many of the articles relating to health in the Sun were short: ie on the whole, the relatively high level of attention in the Sun to health represented frequent mentions of the issue rather than in-depth analysis. The Daily Telegraph. Health stories tended to focus on accidents/ accidental death(7th) , the ill health of famous men (9th) and National Health Service patients going abroad for treatment (10th) Several stories also featured alcohol (eg Naval officer took recruits on binge and Drink error killed Professor , both 18th). The paper also carried the stories of the father donating a kidney to his son (15th) and the case of a father dying of cancer which eleven doctors failed to discover (8th). The only feature was about autism and that too was dealt with through an individual example (15th). Suicide was mentioned in a report on a teenager jailed for rape after “failing to take heed of a girl’s last moment objections”. He was said to be so distraught that he was on suicide watch in his institution (8th). The Guardian. Again accidents and alcohol were features of health stories. The Guardian also reported that an outbreak of TB was being traced to Pentonville Prison, an all male prison. Three quarters of the victims were men. The article on the man whose cancer was misdiagnosed 24 times only covered 22 cm2 in the Guardian. The Guardian also ran a feature on autism again focusing on a mother and her sons. This time the prevalence rate was mentioned (boys being four times more likely to develop the condition than girls) and the article also looked at the wider societal context (16th May).

Violence The Sun. The largest category for the stories involving men was violence (78 out of 200 stories, 47% of the column centimetres) with men as perpetrator or victim or both. The coverage of the Sun’s involvement in returning Ronnie Biggs to the UK (to serve his jail sentence for The great Train Robbery after 30 years on the run in Rio) ran to several pages for 3 days. It also saw Biggs portrayed as a “lovable rogue” with a high sexual interest in women. However this story was placed overall under the Work in Progress 76 06.04.18 UK banner of bringing him back to justice. While lots of violence was reported so were the consequences, both in the context of football and more widely. The Daily Telegraph. Violence received more coverage than the other themes but seemed to be treated in a less glamorous way than in The Sun. This contrast can be seen in the coverage given to the return of Ronnie Biggs. Obviously The Sun had financed the return of Biggs but their portrayal of him as a “lovable rogue” contrasted with the Telegraph’s portrayal of him as “shambling”. Consequences of violence and crime were also very evident across the board, for example: a young boy having to apologise for his vandalism(10th); a 13 year old boy being placed on the Sex Offenders Register for his involvement in pornography (15th); the trial of the murderer of television presenter Jill Dando; and the trial of the assistant (“dresser”) to the Duchess of York, Jane Andrews, for murdering her (male) partner. Violent suicides were also reported in the stories of a father who shot his family and himself (8th) and a prisoner forced by his cellmate to hang himself (9th). The Guardian. Once again violence was a major theme. The Guardian ran many stories also covered by the other papers, including: the Leeds United footballer Lee Bowyer being banned by UEFA for his “assault” on a Valencia player; Police talking down a man from cliffs after his bride was found dead; and the inquest into the activities of the multiple murderer, Dr Shipman, looking at a further possible 610 deaths. Like the other papers The Guardian carried coverage of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott being involved in a fight after allegedly being “man-handled and attacked” by a by-stander in a crowd. Coverage of the trial of Jane Andrews included the telephone call that Mr Cressman, the victim, had made to the Police telling them that he and Ms Andrews were fighting and that somebody was going to get hurt. The Guardian also carried the story, as did the other papers, of a judge being attacked in court and responding to his assailant: “You don’t scare me, sonny”. c)Content of coverage that addresses men in terms of social problems and problematisation of men that relate to each of the 4 themes: primarily an individual focus, primarily group/cultural focus; primarily societal focus; other focus; unclear focus.

The Sun. The majority of stories had an individual focus. Even when they were implicitly addressing a problem unique, or at least more common, to men this still tended to be done through an individuals story. Explicit men’s issues did bring in a group focus but these were few. Paul Stewart briefly addressed men’s need to talk more about illness, go to the Doctor more and to not ignore symptoms in a sub-article within one man’s cancer diary (May 11th). Another brief article revealed research suggesting that men feared impotence more than cancer, AIDS or even death; only heart disease worried them more (May 18th). The Daily Telegraph. Articles focusing on men or a man tended to have an individual focus and if they addressed men’s issues it was only implicitly. Exceptions to this, however, could be found in the series on Children and Crime which ran throughout the week starting 7th May. An article on May 8th addressed the alleged fact that a boy with a mobile phone is said to be more at risk than a pensioner outside. This article took a more societal focus as well as explicitly recognising a problem for boys. Other articles in the series Work in Progress 77 06.04.18 UK focused on the group and cultural aspects of gangs forming on the streets. For example an article on May 7th discussed how some boys carried out muggings because they needed the money whilst others did so either to enhance their reputation or because it was easy since there was no one and nothing to deter them - thereby bringing a societal focus to bear on the issue. A social focus was also used to look at the circumstances surrounding five men being held in custody as a result of the pregnancy of a 12 year old girl. The article discussed the social problems of the area in terms of South Yorkshire’s steel and coal closures as a context. The article on autism, however, although giving background information focused on an individual boy and his circumstances, did not mention the high prevalence rates among boys. The Guardian. Only prostate cancer (14th May) was addressed as an explicit issue for men. This was given a group focus but, as with the other two papers, the majority of the stories were about individuals or used individual accounts to illustrate a problem: such as the coverage of autism (16th May). This article did broaden out to a societal context and also mentioned the higher prevalence rates among boys bringing in a group focus even if only implicitly. d) Development of special national issues over the month, e.g. scandals, national survey, crimes etc:

7th May on Ronnie Biggs 7th May on Trial of Jill Dando’s killer. 9th May on General Election 11th May 5 arrested over girl 12 pregnant 15 th May Father helps daughter to kill herself 17th May Trial of Andrews (Fergie’s Aid) e)Pictorial depictions of men.

The Sun. May 7th ,8th Ronnie Biggs May 11th Simons Cancer Diary May 17th Two Jabs Prescott May 18th Two Jabs Vs Two Bibs (Prescott holding baby) The Daily Telegraph. May7th-11th Children and Crime series May 8th Lee Bowyer stamping on Valencia player. May 17th Prescott. May 18th Prescott The Guardian. May 8th Biggs leaving police station (frail) May 17th Prescott. Pictures largely of politicians

Work in Progress 78 06.04.18 UK f) Explicit and implicit discussion of men’s practices/masculinities

As noted above, across all the papers reviewed, few articles explicitly addressed men’s practices or masculinities per se. The vast majority of articles “about men” did not place the gender of the protagonists “centre stage”. Some examples of articles which were more explicit are as follows (some of these have been discussed in more detail in sections (a), (b) and (c) above):-

The Sun 11th May (266 cm2). Part of Simon’s Cancer diary- sub article talking to Jackie Stewart’s son Paul about men needing to talk more about illness, go to the Doctor’s more and not to ignore symptoms. 18th may (32cm2). Sex Flop fear for Fellas. “Men fear impotence more than cancer, AIDS, or even death research shows.” Only heart disease worries them more. The Daily Telegraph. 10th May (94.5 cm2)Show off males more keen than women on shopping. Status symbols act like peacocks tail to attract women. 18th May (1050 cm2) Have men become the new women. Men increasingly pamper themselves with beauty products. 8th May (1904 cm2) A boy with a phone is at more risk than a pensioner- of being mugged in the street. The Guardian. 14th May (212.5 cm2) Progress of male cancer slowed by hormone pill. New home for sufferers of prostate cancer.

Work in Progress 79 06.04.18 UK