Dinosaurs and Donkeys: British Tabloid Newspapers
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DINOSAURS AND DONKEYS: BRITISH TABLOID NEWSPAPERS AND TRADE UNIONS, 2002-2010 By RYAN JAMES THOMAS A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication MAY 2012 © Copyright by RYAN JAMES THOMAS, 2012 All rights reserved © Copyright by RYAN JAMES THOMAS, 2012 All Rights Reserved To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of RYAN JAMES THOMAS find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. __________________________________________ Elizabeth Blanks Hindman, Ph.D., Chair __________________________________________ Douglas Blanks Hindman, Ph.D. __________________________________________ Michael Salvador, Ph.D. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation, not to mention my doctoral degree, would not be possible with the support and guidance of my chair, Dr. Elizabeth Blanks Hindman. Her thoughtful and thorough feedback has been invaluable. Furthermore, as both my MA and doctoral advisor, she has been a model of what a mentor and educator should be and I am indebted to her for my development as a scholar. I am also grateful for the support of my committee, Dr. Douglas Blanks Hindman and Dr. Michael Salvador, who have provided challenging and insightful feedback both for this dissertation and throughout my doctoral program. I have also had the privilege of working with several outstanding faculty members (past and present) at The Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, and would like to acknowledge Dr. Jeff Peterson, Dr. Mary Meares, Professor Roberta Kelly, Dr. Susan Dente Ross, Dr. Paul Mark Wadleigh, Dr. Prabu David, and Dr. Jolanta Drzewiecka, all of whom have had a substantial influence on my development as a researcher, educator, and academic citizen. I have spent six years as a graduate student in the Murrow College and have seen many other graduate students come and go. I am privileged to have become friends with many of them. I would like to acknowledge Matt Kushin, Dana DeSoto, Mary Grace Antony, Yevgeniya Solodovnikova, Brion White, Francis Dalisay, Masahiro Yamamoto, Erin Gallagher, Diane Carter, Ming Lei, Zheng Zhu, Priyanka Aich, Josh Hoops, and Shafer Brown and thank them for their friendship and support. Getting through graduate school would not have been possible without you. Thank you for the good times! My parents have been a source of constant support to me in my educational endeavors since I was a child and have always pushed me to succeed so that I may create a happy and iii prosperous life for myself. They have always had faith in me and believed in my abilities. I owe my academic success entirely to them. Last, but by no means least, Lexi Ford, my fiancée – and soon to be my wife – has supported me throughout my graduate studies in so many ways. She has encouraged me when I felt I had reached a dead end with my dissertation, believed in me when I doubted myself as a teacher, and cheered me up when I was feeling like packing it all in. She is my soulmate and has made me a better person than what I was. More than anybody else, this dissertation is complete because of her. iv DINOSAURS AND DONKEYS: BRITISH TABLOID NEWSPAPERS AND TRADE UNIONS, 2002-2010 Abstract by Ryan James Thomas, Ph.D. Washington State University May 2012 Chair: Elizabeth Blanks Hindman This study presents a critical discourse analysis of how three major British tabloid newspapers – The Sun , the Daily Mail , and the Daily Mirror – represented four major strikes – the Fire Brigades Union strike of 2002, the Communication Workers Union strikes of 2007 and 2009-2010, and the Lindsey Oil Refinery strike of 2009. It finds four themes in tabloid newspaper discourse: First, trade unions were represented as impediments to “modernization,” a term that was rarely defined but often demanded, which helped cast trade unions and their members as backward reactionaries and anachronisms in an age of neoliberalism. Second, trade unions were represented as bringers of chaos and destruction who posed a threat to the economy, public safety, and the wellbeing of society. Third, tabloid newspapers focused on the relationship between trade unions and the Labour Party (and Labour leaders in particular). Fourth, and finally, tabloid newspapers highlighted immigration as an issue that intersected with traditional industrial relations in complex ways. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xi DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................1 Introduction to Present Study ...................................................................................................3 Where does the discourse take place? ..................................................................................4 When does the discourse take place? ...................................................................................6 What kind of discourse is being examined? ........................................................................7 Rationale for Study .................................................................................................................11 Research Questions ................................................................................................................16 Outline of Study .....................................................................................................................17 CHAPTER TWO: JOURNALISM IN A CAPITALIST DEMOCRACY ....................................20 What is Journalism For? .........................................................................................................21 Journalism and the Public .......................................................................................................25 Dewey, the public, and its problems ..................................................................................25 Habermas and the public sphere ........................................................................................27 The Press in Britain ................................................................................................................31 The tabloids ........................................................................................................................33 Origin of [a] species: The emergence of the tabloid press.................................................35 The Charge of Paternalism .....................................................................................................37 The Litmus Test for Journalism .............................................................................................41 vi Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................42 CHAPTER THREE: DISCOURSE, IDEOLOGY, AND HEGEMONY ......................................43 Being “Critical” ......................................................................................................................43 Defining “Discourse” .............................................................................................................45 The ontology of critical discourse analysis ........................................................................47 Assumptions regarding discourse ......................................................................................51 Ideology ..................................................................................................................................52 Gramsci and Hegemony .........................................................................................................53 Journalism and the Social Construction of Reality ................................................................56 Journalism and the Social Construction of Organized Labor .................................................59 Tabloid Discourse ...................................................................................................................64 “The man on the street” .....................................................................................................64 Issue coverage ....................................................................................................................66 Political outlook .................................................................................................................67 Criticisms of Ideology ............................................................................................................67 Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................72 CHAPTER FOUR: TRADE UNIONS IN HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT .........73 From “Lib-Labism” to the “Post-war Consensus” .................................................................74 The Winter of Discontent .......................................................................................................76