In a large amount of cases what we think we may know about the world is often from an edited version of the truth. By framing their stories and using specific words to influence the readers, journalists and the media impose their opinions onto their audience and shape their understanding and perception about different events. Journalists often write their stories using one bias angle, giving the reader a clear and simple path to follow and read the article by without questioning it. In some cases this can make the opposing side to a story untold and the other view or argument involved are denied a voice from the media. The quote by Thomas Kempis “out of sight, out of mind” perfectly reflects how us as the fifth estate are blinded by many realities sometimes not out of choice but by following others opinions. We are all easily influenced and sometimes also naïve to what is going on around us.
In 1987, Margret Thatcher said: “children who need to be taught to respect traditional moral values… are being taught that they have an inalienable right to be gay”. These words quickly led to the damaging legislation of section 28. This law stated that the council should intentionally prohibit the promotion of homosexuality and the teaching of it. In the height of HIV/ the aids epidemic this prevented the spread of life saving information and the media throughout this time could not/ refused to report what was going on. Agenda setting within the media meant that many news stories wasn’t covered. This was due to how the media was mostly supporting the Conservatives and newspapers including The Sun and the Daily Mail acted as a propaganda for them. Distribution of information about the crisis is filtered by gatekeepers who set boundaries as well as objectives to make sure that their readers can follow their set frame. In this situation information is hidden and disregarded.
The idea that news is telling stories rather than presenting information is very appropriate when looking at section 28 due to how the media hid information from the public and painted their own picture for them to see. The stories that were being told were not based around the LGBT+ community in a good light and included headlines like ‘loony lezzies attack tv sue’, making these people appear insane to the public eye. The media failed to present any beneficial information which meant people were kept sheltered from these issues and were not allowed to have their own opinions heard if they were to disagree with what was being said. This ongoing battle between the Conservatives and the Labour party (who completely disagreed with Margret Thatcher) mirrored another battle between the tabloids, who were fighting their own bitter wars. The result in this was the media creating ‘fake news’ and an increase of extremism in their stories as they struggled to sustain their readers. This unreliable fake news was being created by tabloids who lied and created scandals to form an even uglier image of the community. The stories were ‘conjured out of thin air or have contained more artificial additives than true ingredients’ (Goldsmiths,1987). The LGBT+ community and those that supported it were being repressed and this fake news was being continuously spread by the same newspapers as a propaganda to the Tories. Popularity between the newspapers was what really motivated these journalists as they wanted to have the best news stories. Competing tabloids were forced to do all they could to maintain the attention of the readers if they wanted to become the best.
During this time, the public were completely reliant on the tabloids and therefore no one had control over what they knew about the world. Many stories around 1987 were left unreported as they weren’t considered appropriate including the lesbian activists that invaded BBC TV news broadcast, another group that chained themselves to Buckingham palace dressed as suffragettes and those that went into the House of Lords. Booan Temple- one of the lesbian activists that invaded the BBC said years after that their only choice was to ‘be the news by being on the news’. This led to chaos and lack of civilisation within the country. Under the surfaces of what the media were portraying were ignored protesters desperate to be heard yet not given a voice by the media.
This is in complete contrast to now where we have the internet and social media to tell us what we know as a pose to being dependant on a newspaper with unreliable or bias sources. This generation are known as the fifth estate within our use of social media and everything we share is specific to our personal opinions. Before, the government were put on a pedestal and others mostly followed what they were told to believe or rarely challenge it. Yet now we have much bigger online platforms which we can write whatever we want on and our words can be read and shared by so many. This gives us much more control over what to think and believe with more issues being raised and brought to the attention of others. The LGBT+ community have never been more respected than today and it is now celebrated throughout the world. This came from Labour repealing the law of section 28 in 2003 with Jeremy Corbyn saying it was a “grim moment in our country’s history”. It has been 30 years since section 28 yet the effects will last a lifetime of how cruel and unfair the media, the conservative government and those in power can be. As a community we have fortunately come together above the media and portrayal of the community to grow stronger and this has allowed our opinions to be heard and respected.
Although we can find out anything we want, some issues don’t have as much coverage in the media than others. The use of agenda setting nowadays still makes us become uninformed to current affairs and some stories by the media aren’t told in as much depth as others that they want people to engage with more. Since 1987 the evolution of agenda setting has grown massively within the media (Yunjuan et al. 2019) including television, radio, social media as well as tabloids and so it is a technique which is always being used. Unless we delve underneath what we are being told we often only hear about the same news stories on repeat. This means that the issues that have little media coverage are rarely talked about and we tend to forget the problems surrounding them. No matter how much power we have ourselves online, the media still influence our opinions, even without us being aware of it. As the fifth estate although we have potential to have just as much power as the fourth estate we take it for granted and don’t use our platforms to their fullest potential. We can change the world by sharing our opinions and thoughts using what we have available to us.
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