OUGD401 - Research - News Corporations

Having identified the direction for my practical I then started to research contemporary news corporations to back up my concept. I started by researching two of the most notable news networks the  BBC and FOX news, I thought it would be interesting to see if there is any difference between the international corporations. I found it difficult to research by the nature of the corporations as any searches often came back with that news corporation reporting on other issues for example 'bbc racism' returned searches on the BBC news reporting on acts of racism. I think this makes it more difficult for people to accept the fact these corporations could use propagandist techniques as the information is masked and nit easily accessible. I feel this makes my practical project more viable and essential as it is providing the people with the information that is not easily accessible. 

BBC

I managed to find some independent websites that documented the subjective nature of BBC reporting. I found these websites interesting however found them to be very words making them unappealing to me and a range of students I also asked to look at the sites. I feel the problem is although the content is there in is too unappealing through its time consumption. This could be a good problem that I could resolve through my outcome making the information more accessible and easier to understand. 

http://bpc-world.co.uk

http://biasedbbc.org

FOX NEWS

I found that there was a lot more information on FOX news propagandist techniques, I feel this is because typically British society is fairly reserved whereas Americans louder and more opinionated. I feel this is why FOX news use bolder and more controversial statements in their media coverage due to the nature of their society. I found a range of articles that articulate how fox news use propagandist techniques to deceive the people. 

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/1964:fourteen-propaganda-techniques-fox-news-uses-to-brainwash-americans#

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/distort-attack-repeat-20110524

I also found an extremely interesting article published by the Council of American-Islamic Relations demonstrating FOX news as an Islamophobic organisation. The Public Religion Research Institute included points in a report such as “There is a strong correlation between trusting Fox News and negative views of Islam and Muslims. This pattern is evident even among conservative political and religious groups.” this fact gave me inspiration that I could specify my focus from propaganda in general to racial propaganda as this would give me a clear link to my essay. It was concluded that the american propaganda poster used racist propaganda to unite the people against the enemy. I think it would add great relevance to my practical project if I could create links between the the propaganda analysed in my essay and examples of contemporary news that still feature similar techniques in order to create a direct comparison. 

http://www.islamophobia.org/islamophobic-orgs/fox-news-channel.html

This research has allowed me to intimately decide to focus on FOX news as their style of reporting is far more opinionated and in times controversial which will make the links I am trying to establish clearer. I also plan to specify this further to FOX news racist propaganda and alleged Islamophobia as this will draw direct connections to my essay making my resolution more informed.