DOCSLIB.ORG

UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA COORDINACIÓN GENERAL ACADÉMICA Coordinación De Bibliotecas Biblioteca Digital

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA COORDINACIÓN GENERAL ACADÉMICA Coordinación De Bibliotecas Biblioteca Digital UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA COORDINACIÓN GENERAL ACADÉMICA Coordinación de Bibliotecas Biblioteca Digital La presente tesis es publicada a texto completo en virtud de que el autor ha dado su autorización por escrito para la incorporación del documento a la Biblioteca Digital y al Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Guadalajara, esto sin sufrir menoscabo sobre sus derechos como autor de la obra y los usos que posteriormente quiera darle a la misma. Av. Hidalgo 935, Colonia Centro, C.P. 44100, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México [email protected] - Tel. 31 34 22 77 ext. 11959 UNIVERSIDAD DE GUADALAJARA CENTRO UNIVERSITARIO DE CIENCIAS SOCIALES Y HUMANIDADES DIVISIÓN DE ESTUDIOS HISTÓRICOS Y HUMANOS DEPARTAMENTO DE LENGUAS MODERNAS MAESTRIA EN LENGUAS Y CULTURAS INGLESAS ARGUMENTATIVE DISCOURSE OF FEAR AS A PERSUASIVE STRATEGY: THE CASE OF THE SUN BRITISH TABLOID SUPPORTING BREXIT Tesis para obtener el grado de Maestro en Estudios de Lenguas y Culturas Inglesas presenta: Nazareth Ambar Suhel Luna Salazar Director de tesis: Dr. Gerrard Mugford Lectores de tesis: Dr. Gerardo Gutiérrez Cham y Dra. Josefina del Carmen Santana Villegas Guadalajara, Jalisco. Julio 2019 THE ARGUMENTATIVE DISCOURSE OF FEAR AS A PERSUASIVE STRATEGY: THE CASE OF THE SUN BRITISH TABLOID SUPPORTING BREXIT Abstract The United Kingdom electorate chose to vote in favour of leaving the European Union in the so-called Brexit referendum held on 23rd June 2016. This referendum had an exhaustive campaign covered by the media, where most of the national press was divided between either Remain or Leave positions. Amongst the Leave campaign, its major supporters were the Tabloids, which are the newspapers with the major circulation in this country for several decades. This thesis analyses critically the multimodal discourse in 22 news and editorial articles of the British national tabloid The Sun, published online before the Brexit referendum took place. The finality is to find out to what extent the rhetorical discourse of the Sun depicting Brexit in both, news articles and editorial articles, have threatening elements ingrained, as a normalized representation of reality. The results suggest that, The Sun´s argumentative structures vary in the news and editorial articles of the corpus. However, both present similarities at the ideological level, reinforcing through rhetorical discourse threatening and polarised ideas of self-perception, the perception of the ‘other’; Euroscepticism; anti- immigration; nationalism; and sovereignty. Thus, as a rhetorical strategy to persuade readers to support Leave in the EU Referendum. Key words: Tabloids, Discourse analysis, argumentation, persuasion, fear. List of abbreviations CDA Critical Discourse Analysis CL Critical Linguistics DO Discursive Object DS Discourse Studies EU European Union MCDA Multimodal Critical discourse analysis NHS National Health Service PM Prime Minister UK United Kingdom UKIP United Kingdom Independence Party Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Thesis overview……………………………………………………………… 1 1.2 Research questions……………………………………………………….…. 6 1.3 Body of the thesis overview………………………………………………… 6 Chapter two: Brexit and British Press 2.1 Brexit contextualization…………………………………………………… 9 2.2 British Tabloids 2.2.1 Communication of news before the newspaper era……………… 12 2.2.2 British Press…………………………………………………………… 14 2.2.3 The Sun leadership among tabloids and its leader, Murdoch……. 19 2.2.4 The Sun and Brexit………………………………………………….. 24 Chapter three: Literature Review 3.1 Common notions: Text, Discourse, media discourse and ideology... 27 3.2 The analysis of discourse: An interdisciplinary field…………………. 29 3.2.1 Critical Linguistics (CL)……………………………………………… 31 3.2.2 Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)…………………………………. 31 3.2.3 Discourse Studies (DS)………………………………… …………… 32 3.2.4 Multimodality or Multimodal CDA (MCDA)………………………… 34 3.2.5 Semiotics…………………………………………………………….. 35 3.2.6 Rhetoric………………………………………………………………… 36 Chapter four: News discourse 4.1 Production of news discourse and its ideology………………………. 39 4.2 Construction of reality and normalisation through argumentative discourse……………………………………………………………………. 42 4.3 Rhetoric in news: Argumentation, persuasion and representation involved in fear discourses……………………………………………… 46 4.4 Legitimation and de-legitimation discourses through semiotic…… 49 Chapter five: Methodology 5.1 Framework of Analysis on Rhetorical Arguments……………………… 53 5.2 Corpus………………………………………………………………………….. 58 Chapter six: Analysis 6.1 EU Referendum articles……………………………………………………… 60 6.1.1 Analysis of news articles………………………………….…………….. 61 6.1.2 Analysis of editorial articles…………………………………………….. 74 6.2 Headlines and sub-headlines……………………………………………….. 79 6.2.1 Headlines and sub-headlines in news articles………………………. 81 6.2.2 Headlines and sub-headlines in editorial articles……………………. 84 6.3 Main topics in the corpus…………………………………………………… 86 6.3.1 Nationalism and Sovereignty………………………………………….. 87 6.3.1.1 Proximity and Identity…………………………………………. 89 6.3.2 Delegitimation of the other (Anti EU and Remainers)……………….. 90 6.3.3 Immigration hostility……………………………………………………… 93 6.3.4 Economics……………………………………………………………….. 95 Chapter seven: Discussion and Conclusions 7.1 Brexit coverage by the editorial and the rest of ‘writers’……………… 97 7.2 The Sun’s rhetorical discourse findings regarding Brexit……………. 99 References…………………………………………………………………………….. 105 Appendix I: Main British Newspapers circulation and quick facts………… 112 Appendix II: Leading UK Newspaper monthly reach by platform .………… 113 Appendix III: UK Daily Newspaper circulation from 1950-2015……………… 114 Appendix IV: Corpus articles’ web sites links…………………………………... 115 Appendix V: Pictures from ART12…………………………………………………. 117 1 Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 Thesis overview On June 23rd, 2016 Britain voted to leave the European Union triggering what the Guardian’s assistant editor Michael White described as the ‘greatest political crisis’ in the UK1 since the Second World War. At the time of writing, most economists are predicting a severe economic downturn that could be worse than that which followed the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 (Berry, 14: 2016). Brexit has been ‘the’ subject of political discussion in the UK since the date of its announcement as a Referendum until this date, just after Theresa May announced her resignation due mainly to unsuccessful Brexit negotiations, leaving the UK at the edge of uncertainty. The Brexit referendum coincided with a rise of popularity of political parties and politicians in Europe that promote discourses of immigration hostility, anti-Islamic rhetoric and Euroscepticism. British Euroscepticism seems closely tied to its perceived role as an independent actor on the world tied to the impression of not forming part of the Continent of Europe (Sorensen, 2004 in Baker & Schnapper, 2015: 87). The role of the use of language to promote and normalise ideologies related to Euroscepticism and anti- immigration are crucial. For instance, the Brexit Leave campaign has been recognised as discursively stronger that its counterpart – the Remain campaign, due to the fact that they were more capable to connect to certain voters, by using phrases that were simple but at the same time, open to multiple meanings. Overall, they were ‘catchy’2 and repeated constantly in different media. Some of the phrases used were: ‘Britain should be ruled by Britain’, ‘Take Back Control’3, ‘We are better off’, ‘See EU later’ and ‘We want our country back’. These phrases are not a product of causality; -they were created with a rhetoric purpose-, that refers to nationalism, nostalgia for an imperialistic identity, Euro-scepticism and anti-immigration 1 The United Kingdom (UK) The United Kingdom comprises the whole of the island of Great Britain—which contains England, Wales, and Scotland—as well as the northern portion of the island of Ireland. The name Britain is sometimes used to refer to the United Kingdom as a whole. Its capital is London (Britannica, 2018). 2 Refers a tune, phrase which is instantly appealing and memorable (Oxford dictionary, 2019). 3 This is phrase was established as the slogan of the Leave Brexit campaign. Most probably inspired in the Eurosceptic discourse of some of the British tabloids. 2 ideas. In fact, it is said that the Leave campaign borrowed a tabloid discourse to get mass support since their discourse is known for promoting populist ideologies to connect massively with their readers, especially those related to nationalism and anti- immigration. The number of newspapers in Britain is very wide-ranging, as it varies from ‘high minded approach’ newspapers to middle and low-quality tabloids. However, the British newspaper market has been dominated for years by entertainment-based news journalism in relation to the ‘serious’ press (Williams, 2005:29-30 in Langer, 2007:22). Currently, more than 75% of the UK newspaper circulation belongs to tabloids (including free items, see appendix I). The role of tabloids in the socio-political British context is crucial. This is not only because of their mass audience scope, but also due to the way they cover the national political news, regularly through an argumentative discourse which appeals to the emotions of fear and prejudice of the unknown – ‘the other’, rather than engaging in rational thinking. Therefore, the tabloids power in persuading public opinion about leaving the EU and under which terms was and still is fundamental. According to Banducci and Stevens, tabloids influenced
Load more

Recommended publications
  • First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign And
    First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Rt Hon William Hague MP’s meetings with proprietors, editors and media executives This list sets out the Secretary of State’s meetings with senior media executives for the period May 2010-July 2011. This includes all meetings with proprietors, senior executives and editors of media organisations for both newspapers and broadcast media. It does not include those meetings with journalists that ended up in interviews that appeared in the public domain, either in newspapers and magazines. It may also exclude some larger social events at which senior media executives may have been present. This is the fullest possible list assembled from the Secretary of State’s Parliamentary diary, their departmental diary, personal diary and memory. Every effort has been taken to ensure that this is as accurate as possible but the nature of such an extensive exercise means something may have inadvertently got missed. First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Rt Hon William Hague MP Date of Meeting Name(s) & Media Organisation Purpose of meeting June 2010 News International Summer Party Social Oct 2010 – Spectator Reception Reception Conservative Party Conference Oct 2010 – James Harding (Editor, The Times) Lunch Conservative & others from The Times Party Conference Oct 2010 – John Witherow (Editor, The Sunday Breakfast Conservative Times) & others from The Sunday Party Times Conference Oct 2010 - Rebekah Brooks (Chief Executive,
    [Show full text]
  • The Brexit Diaries the View from the Voters
    The Brexit Diaries The view from the voters britainthinks.com BritainThinks | Private and Confidential The Brexit Diaries Weekly diary January → Article 50 General Election 18 April → 8 June 100 people In 10 locations BritainThinks | Private and Confidential 2 1. Leavers and Remainers split into four voter segments 2. Economic issues are central, but outweighed for many 3. Expectations for a ‘good deal’ are low, but for life after the EU are sky high 4. Leave voters are ‘on-message’ but Remainers lack a competing narrative 5. The General Election may have re-engaged remainers BritainThinks | Private and Confidential 3 1. Leavers and Remainers split into four voter segments 2. Economic issues are central, but outweighed for many 3. Expectations for a ‘good deal’ are low, but for life after the EU are sky high 4. Leave voters are ‘on-message’ but remainers lack a competing narrative 5. The General Election may have re-engaged remainers BritainThinks | Private and Confidential 4 Leavers and Remainers see the world very differently… Leave Remain BritainThinks | Private and Confidential 5 …but there are actually four different attitudes towards Brexit Accepting Die-hards pragmatists Devastated Cautious optimists pessimists BritainThinks | Private and Confidential 6 For “die-hards”, Brexit has been life-changing “For most of my adult life, certainly in the past 20 years, I’ve felt an impotent rage that nothing could change. But now it has.” “So much news makes me too angry to read, • Feel vindicated by Brexit such as the liBeral elite railing
    [Show full text]
  • Case Study on the United Kingdom and Brexit Juliane Itta & Nicole Katsioulis the Female Face of Right-Wing Populism and Ex
    Triumph of The women? The Female Face of Right-wing Populism and Extremism 02 Case study on the United Kingdom and Brexit Juliane Itta & Nicole Katsioulis 01 Triumph of the women? The study series All over the world, right-wing populist parties continue to grow stronger, as has been the case for a number of years – a development that is male-dominated in most countries, with right-wing populists principally elected by men. However, a new generation of women is also active in right-wing populist parties and movements – forming the female face of right-wing populism, so to speak. At the same time, these parties are rapidly closing the gap when it comes to support from female voters – a new phenomenon, for it was long believed that women tend to be rather immune to right-wing political propositions. Which gender and family policies underpin this and which societal trends play a part? Is it possible that women are coming out triumphant here? That is a question that we already raised, admittedly playing devil’s advocate, in the first volume of the publication, published in 2018 by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Triumph of the women? The Female Face of the Far Right in Europe. We are now continuing this first volume with a series of detailed studies published at irregular intervals. This is partly in response to the enormous interest that this collection of research has aroused to date in the general public and in professional circles. As a foundation with roots in social democracy, from the outset one of our crucial concerns has been to monitor anti-democratic tendencies and developments, while also providing information about these, with a view to strengthening an open and democratic society thanks to these insights.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Inevitability and Contingency: the Political Economy of Brexit1 Placing
    Inevitability and contingency: the political economy of Brexit1 Placing Britain’s vote on 23 June 2016 to leave the European Union in historical time raises an immediate analytical problem. What was clearly the result of a number of contingencies, starting with the 2015 general election where we can see how events could readily have turned out otherwise and was a shock to the British government that had not prepared for this outcome might also represent the inevitable end of Britain’s membership of the EU seen from the distant future. This paper seeks to take both temporal perspectives seriously. It aims to provide an explanation of the vote for Brexit that recognises the referendum result as politically contingent and also argue that the political economy of Britain generated by Britain’s position as non-euro member of the EU whilst possessing the offshore financial centre of the euro zone and Britain’s eschewal in 2004 of transition arrangements on freedom of movement for A8 accession states made Brexit an eventual inevitability, saving a prior collapse of the euro zone. Keywords: Brexit, European Union, Cameron, the euro, freedom of movement Britain’s vote on 23 June 2016 to leave the European Union (EU) presents a temporal paradox. Seen from the distant future, Brexit is likely to appear the inevitable outcome of the long history of Britain’s membership of the EU and its predecessors. Britain joined a partial economic union whose rules had been determined by others, when that union became a currency union it was unwilling to sacrifice monetary sovereignty and opted-out, and when that currency union produced an economic crisis that both required more political union and had spill-over effects for Britain, membership was rendered unsustainable.
    [Show full text]
  • Directory Liberal Democrats Autumn Conference Bournemouth 14–17 September 2019
    DIRECTORY LIBERAL DEMOCRATS AUTUMN CONFERENCE BOURNEMOUTH 14–17 SEPTEMBER 2019 Clear Print This clear print / large text version of the Conference Directory matches as closely as possible the text of the published Directory. Page number cross references are correct within this clear print document. Some information may appear in a different place from its location in the published Directory. Complex layouts and graphics have been omitted. It is black and white omn A4 pages for ease of printing. The Agenda and Directory and other conference publications, in PDF, plain text and clear print formats, are available online at www.libdems.org.uk/conference_papers Page 1 Directory Liberal Democrats Autumn Conference 2019 Clearprint Welcome to the Liberal Democrat 2019 conference Directory. If you have any questions whilst at conference please ask a conference steward or go to the Information Desk on the ground floor of the Bournemouth International Centre. Conference venue Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) Exeter Road, Bournemouth, BH2 5BH. Please note that the BIC is within the secure zone and that access is only possible with a valid conference pass. Conference hotel Bournemouth Highcliff Marriott St Michael’s Rd, West Cliff, Bournemouth, BH2 5DU. Further information, registration and conference publications (including plain text and clear print versions) are available at: www.libdems.org.uk/conference For information about the main auditorium sessions, see the separate conference Agenda. DEMAND BETTER THAN BREXIT Page 2 Directory Liberal Democrats Autumn Conference 2019 Clearprint Contents Feature . 4–5 Our time is now by Jo Swinson MP Conference information: . 6–13 Exhibition: . 14–26 List of exhibitors .
    [Show full text]
  • Fear and Hope 2019
    FEAR & HOPE 2019 HOW BREXIT IS CHANGING WHO WE ARE Rosie Carter and Nick Lowles FEAR AND HOPE 2019 This Fear & HOPE report has been made possible with the generous support of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation HOPE not hate Charitable Trust PO Box 61383, London, N19 9ER Telephone 020 7952 1184 Email: [email protected] http://charity.hopenothate.org.uk Registered office: Suite 1, 3rd Floor, 11-12 St. James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LB FEAR AND HOPE 2019 CONTENTS Introduction 4 Executive Summary 5 THE AUTHORS How Brexit changed Britain 8 Introducing The New Tribes 15 ROSIE CARTER Rosie is senior policy Identity 18 officer at HOPE not Hate. She co-led the National Conversation A realignment in British politics? 25 on Immigration, the largest ever public Fear, Hope & Loss 30 engagement on immigration, and Politics and Anti-Politics 34 conducts research on integration, public Brexit 42 attitudes, identity and political polarisation. She is a fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and holds an MSc in Environment 48 Migration Studies from Oxford University. [email protected] Immigration 50 Islamophobia and the Conservative Party 54 NICK LOWLES Nick is founder and Jeremy Corbyn supporter 56 CEO of HOPE not hate and has co-authored Integration & Multiculturalism 58 the previous Fear and HOPE reports. Anti-Muslim Hatred 64 He has written seven books on extremism, The Tommy Robinson supporter 68 youth subculture and antiracist struggles and has worked on The appeal of the Far Right – and its limits 70 several TV investigations, including as a consultant on the award-winning England’s Labour’s antisemitism crisis 73 Shame.
    [Show full text]
  • The Anti-Britain Campaign the Brexit Legal Challenge (2016)
    11th February 2018 The Anti-Britain Campaign Typical of the "Doublespeak" from the Left and its allies is the campaign set-up by Gina Miller "Best for Britain" which is clearly a pro-EU campaign which seeks to prevent Britain leaving the EU and keep us trapped within the protectionist bloc. Despite the fact that Miller has moved away from the "Best for Britain" campaign group that she established, she is still, nevertheless, acting along the same principles of that campaign - calling for a second Referendum which would offer alternatives such as accept or reject anything that the government agrees with Brussels or alternatively simply remain in the EU. In an Evening Standard interview in 4th November 2016 (Brexit legal challenge: Gina Miller argues 'defending democracy is the best way to spend my money') Miller stated that those who voted (in a record breaking voter turnout) on the 23rd June 2016 EU Referendum vote "... believed whatever way they voted they were doing the best for their families, but the politicians misled the public into believing whatever the outcome of the advisory referendum was would be made law, knowing well that would not be the case. That unleashes anger.” That statement, some 4 months after the EU Referendum vote, is particularly revealing for two reasons (1) it shows that she was knew that the government would not implement the Referendum vote result and (2) that she considered the Referendum to be only "advisory" - along with the rest of the British establishment - Politicians, Peers, Civil Servants and Judiciary. The second part of the statement is at odds with the idea that she now supports a second Referendum vote, unless that is also only advisory, and the first part - it simply supports the idea that her campaigning is really about assisting the establishment to thwart the original Referendum vote.
    [Show full text]
  • The Leave Alliance
    THE LEAVE ALLIANCE Flexcit The Market Solution to leaving the EU Dr Richard A E North with Robert Oulds of the Bruges Group and the assistance of readers of EUReferendum.com Dedicated to Peter Troy 9 February 2016 final v. 04 Our vision Our vision is for a United Kingdom as a self-governing, self-confident, free trading nation state, releasing the potential of its citizens through direct democratic control of both national and local government and providing maximum freedom and responsibility for its people. The history of Britain for a thousand years has been as a merchant and maritime power playing its full role in European and world affairs while living under its own laws. It is our view that the UK can flourish again as an independent state trading both with our friends in the EU and the rest of Europe, while developing other relationships throughout the world as trading patterns evolve. For an age, the United Kingdom has freely engaged as an independent country in alliances and treaties with other countries. It has a long history of entering into commercial agreements and conventions at an inter-governmental level. We wish to uphold that tradition. The ability of the people of the United Kingdom to determine their own independent future and use their wealth of executive, legislative and judicial experience to help, inspire and shape political developments through international bodies, and to improve world trade and the wellbeing of all peoples will only be possible when they are free of the undemocratic and moribund European Union. The prosperity of the people depends on being able to exercise the fundamental right and necessity of self-determination, thus taking control of their opportunities and destiny in an inter-governmental global future with the ability to swiftly correct and improve when errors occur.
    [Show full text]
  • A European Union Without the United Kingdom the Geopolitics of a British Exit from the Eu
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by LSE Research Online A EUROPEAN UNION WITHOUT THE UNITED KINGDOM THE GEOPOLITICS OF A BRITISH EXIT FROM THE EU TIM OLIVER STRATEGIC UPDATE 16.1 FEBRUARY 2016 THE AUTHOR Dr Tim Oliver is a Dahrendorf Fellow on Europe- North American relations at LSE IDEAS. He spent several years as a lecturer in defence and international affairs at the British Army’s Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He has also taught at LSE and UCL. He has worked at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, the Center for Transatlantic Relations in John Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and the RAND Corporation (both Washington D.C.). His political experience includes several years working in the European Parliament and the House of Lords. Oliver 1 A EUROPEAN UNION WITHOUT THE UNITED KINGDOM THE GEOPOLITICS OF A BRITISH EXIT FROM THE EU ABSTRACT A vote by the British people to withdrawal from the EU – also known as a ‘Brexit’ – will have significant implications for the EU, the ideas and structures of European integration, and European geopolitics. Opinion polls show that a vote to withdraw is a distinct possibility. The EU, the rest of Europe, allies around the world and the UK itself need to be prepared for the wider international implications of such a move. This short Strategic Update examines how likely a Brexit is and explores what it could mean for the EU, European integration, and Europe’s economics and security.
    [Show full text]
  • Sport-Scan Daily Brief
    SPORT-SCAN DAILY BRIEF NHL 4/3/2020 Anaheim Ducks Edmonton Oilers 1182049 Ducks owners agree to pay arena workers’ salaries 1182078 COVID-19 isolation means dog days for Edmonton Oilers' through June Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 1182050 Ducks owners to continue to pay part-time employees 1182079 Lowetide: Making the call on RFA and UFA players on the through June 30 Oilers’ 50-man roster 1182051 Ducks owners extending financial support of arena, other business employees Montreal Canadiens 1182080 In his goal crease, Canadiens prospect Michael McNiven Arizona Coyotes found a sanctuary from pain 1182052 Season pause affording Arizona Coyotes center Derek Stepan more time with family New Jersey Devils 1182053 AZ alone: Conor Garland’s personal loss, concern for 1182081 Scouting Devils’ 2019 draft class: Arseny Gritsyuk ‘has girlfriend, on-ice regrets elements’ in his game to establish space and bury chan Boston Bruins New York Islanders 1182054 Milan Lucic joined Instagram, and Bruins' fans will love his 1182082 Islanders’ Jordan Eberle sees unique hurdle for an NHL first post coronavirus return 1182055 Brian Burke reveals what Ducks would've given Bruins for 1182083 Islanders players pool funds to donate N95 masks to Joe Thornton in 2005 Northwell Health 1182056 Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara lead NHL 1182084 Islanders president Lou Lamoriello 'extremely optimistic' in plus-minus this decade NHL season will resume 1182057 Bruins prospect Jeremy Swayman named Hobey Baker 1182085 Islanders' Jordan Eberle knows time is running out to
    [Show full text]
  • Democracy Playing Catch up Q
    Democracy Playing Catch Up Q. How do non-party organisations and political parties make use of online political advertising related to Brexit, on Facebook’s advertising platform? An analysis of The Facebook Ad Library for United Kingdom Online Political Advertising. Somya Mehta A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree BA (Hons) Communication and Media School of Media and Communication, University of Leeds May 2019 Word Count: 11,967 Abstract While print and broadcast advertising used to be the norm of political campaigns a few decades ago, online political advertising is the new favourite. With the interactive Web 2.0 and the advent of social media, political campaigns are invariably getting more and more ‘datafied’. High-profile market research and canvassing techniques that once used to be associated to extremely high costs and sophistication, are now available with the click of one button (or maybe a few). The lawless space of online political communication has caused global controversies in the recent years. Be it the US Presidential Elections or UK’s EU Referendum results, data-driven political advertising has been plagued with the narrative of its ill effects on the democratic health of a society. As a result, this dissertation was interested in examining the nature of these digital political ads related to ‘Brexit’, that circulate Facebook in an apparently, ‘lawless’ manner. This research draws on concepts of ‘homophily’ and clustering of like-minded individuals on social platforms and its manifestation in the targeting of online political advertisements. Ultimately, this research concludes that while there are prominent indications of personalisation in the content of online political ads, Facebook also makes use of context-driven algorithmic targeting that may not be apparent in the ad content.
    [Show full text]
  • Anticipated Acquisition by 21St Century Fox, Inc of Sky Plc
    Anticipated acquisition by 21st Century Fox, Inc of Sky Plc Provisional findings report Notified: 23 January 2018 © Crown copyright 2018 You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government- licence/ or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected]. The Competition and Markets Authority has excluded from this published version of the provisional findings report information which the inquiry group considers should be excluded having regard to the three considerations set out in section 244 of the Enterprise Act 2002 (specified information: considerations relevant to disclosure). The omissions are indicated by []. [Some numbers have been replaced by a range. These are shown in square brackets.] Contents Page Summary .................................................................................................................... 7 Reference ................................................................................................................... 7 Background ................................................................................................................ 8 The Parties ........................................................................................................... 8 Fox .................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]