David BootePWR 2-- 02Dr. WrightRBA12/03/14

Media Bias: A study on English Journalism

Introduction

This subject of racism is, and has been, a highly debated subject worldwide.

Racism is, unfortunately, a part of European football and whether enough is being

done to curtail this racism is certainly a topic of interest right nowi. There are many

examples of how racism is being at football matches where men shout abuse at

referees, players or opposing fans for example for being Black, Indian or Jewish.

Racism has been defined as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human

traits and capacities and that racial difference produces an inherent superiority of a

particular race1.

Since I am writing this research paper primarily for an American audience, I

want to stress that there are some key differences in the way that racism is used and

treated between the United States and Europe. The main reason for this difference

on this issue between the United States and Europe is that there has never been any

sort of Black Civil Rights Movement in Europe, partly due to the low number Black

Europeans. What is taboo in the US simply isn’t in Europe2.

1 "Racism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.2 “Beautiful Game Turned Ugly : Racism in Europe’s Soccer Arenas.” Youtube. Youtube, 26 Mar. 2008. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.

So, why conduct my research on English journalism iirather than just solely

on this problem racism in European football, which I have indicated as an issue?

Originally, I set out with the intention to see whether enough was being done to

combat this problem of racism in European football, however whilst researching

this topic I began to see some certain trends.

One of these trends that I found was that media bias was being used by some

English news reporters when reporting articles differently on cases of racism across

Eastern European football compared to cases of racism in English football.

In this academic research paper I have rhetorically analyzed whether my

inclinations were correct and certain English journalists have been reporting on

racist incidents in football in a prejudiced manner towards parts of Eastern Europe.

METHODS

I conducted my research over a two-month period in which I was able to find

some useful sources that provide backing to my argument. Firstly, I examined the

theory of “frame analysis.” This theory was first put forward by Erving Goffman in

his 1974 book, Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of experience, in which

Goffman defines frame analysis as a research method used to analyze how people

understand certain situations and activities that they find themselves in3. Another

scholar, by the name of Jim A. Kuypers, published work advancing Goffman’s frame

analysis in that Kuypers considers it a rhetorical process and one that should be

examined from a rhetorical perspective. According to Kuypers, "Framing is a

process whereby communicators, consciously or unconsciously, act to construct a 3 Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. Print.

point of view that encourages the facts of a given situation to be interpreted by

others in a particular manner. Frames operate in four key ways: they define

problems, diagnose causes, make moral judgments, and suggest remedies. Frames

are often found within a narrative account of an issue or event, and are generally the

central organizing idea" 4. This can be applied to my argument as I look into how

English journalists are using their articles to make the audience feel like racism is

much worse in certain European countries than in England. 

I will also be analyzing the use of and power that imaging can have with

framing throughout this paper. The rhetorical use of imaging was examined by

Charles Hill in his book, Defining Visual Rhetoric’s. Here, he asks the question of

how, exactly, do images persuade? In other words, how do representational images

work to influence the beliefs, attitudes, and opinions of those who view them? He

talks of how images can be used to trigger emotion through affect transfer. Affect

transfer is a term coined by psychologists after research with advertisements

whereby an emotional response from an unrelated object or event is transferred to

the product being sold, simply by showing an image of the product, followed by an

image of the emotional object or event, and repeating the procedure many times. It

is a term to describe how images can be used to develop connections from the

audience5. This, again, ties in with my research since, as I mentioned, I looked into

how images are used to influence the reader’s interpretation of the reports. The

power that images have to persuade an audience of a particular agenda, especially

4 Kuypers, Jim A. Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2009. Print.5 Hill, Charles A., and Marguerite H. Helmers. "Chapter 1." Defining Visual Rhetorics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004. N. pag. Print.

in the case of journalism that I will show, is a great example of applying Goffman’s

and Kuyper’s frame analysis to journalism.

Analysis

The first journalist I investigated was Chris Rogers, who is part of the BBC’s

documentary series Panoramaiii. He, and so Panorama created a documentary

highlighting the issue of racism in Polish and Ukrainian football. The episode was

released just weeks prior to the Euro 2012 championships, which were being held

in the two countries and showed examples of racist violence and anti-Semitic abuse

across Polish and Ukrainian Football stadiums. This episode from Panorama came

across as a smear campaign to make racism seem much worse in these countries

than in England by showing the violent nature of these two host nations because the

reporter frames the situation for his viewers. Throughout the episode, nothing

positive is shown of Poland or Ukraine and at one point actually tells English fans

not to go to the Euro championships.

On a side note, after conducting my research, I felt that it should be noted

that England is not free of guilt when it comes to violence and hosting the European

championships because when they last hosted the Euros in 1996 the championship

was far from perfect. Firstly a terrorist attack took place in Manchester on one of the

match days for which the Provisional Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility.

A van bomb went off injuring 212 people and causing 700 million pounds worth of

damage6. In addition there were several cases of violent disorder from English fans,

6 "IRA's Message in Blood." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.

the worst case of which occurred after England’s loss to Germany in the semifinals.

A large riot took place in one of London’s most popular tourist areas, Trafalgar

Square and in the immediate surrounding area. Many other outbreaks occurred in

the streets of other towns across England. Both police and German-made cars were

targeted, along with various other properties 7. Additionally, a Russian student was

reportedly stabbed in Brighton for sounding German.8 It is therefore, I feel,

imperative for my readers to understand that England’s last hosting of this event

was far from perfect in terms of fan violence.

Now at the time of the Euro 2012s, both Poland and Ukraine were trying to

build their stature in Europe and do have many positive aspects about them. For just

a few to mention, Poland’s capital city Krakow is one of Europe’s top most popular

attractions9, and they have some great footballing stadiums. During the actual

tournament there was minimal violence compared to usual which lead to the fining

of four countries10. These countries were Germany, Spain, Croatia and Russia, none

of which being Poland or Ukraine!

When moving onto my rhetorical analysis of the actual contents of the

Panorama episode, the first case of framing that I saw was in the title, “Stadiums of

Hate.” Immediately this evokes feelings of distaste towards these host countries

from the audience due to the words use. The use of the word “hate” brings the

7 “England fans riot after defeat”. The Times (London), 27 June 19968 Lee, Adrian (28 June 1996). “Russian stabbed for sounding like a German”. The Times (London)9 "Top 10 Polish Tourist Attractions – Tourist Destinations in Poland." Top 10 Polish Tourist Attractions – Tourist Destinations in Poland. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.10 Reporter, Sportsmail. "Ukraine Football Chief Blasts Campbell for 'back in a Box' Claim." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 30 June 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

audience’s attention immediately to the hostile nature of the stadiums. This is an

example of how the reporter is setting up the episode as a report on the distasteful

nature of these stadiums in Poland and Ukraine.

The second issue I found with the use of framing from Panorama was with

the imaging used in throughout episode. Here we can see examples of Hill’s affect

transfer from the images used, which evoke feelings of distaste from the audience.

These two images below highlight this point. The first, shown below, shows a group

of fans that are clearly acting in an aggressive way and comes across as scary to the

audience.

The second image, shown below, is a map that Panorama used to depict Poland and

Ukraine. Again we can see the framing used and affect transfer it has since this map

makes the audience think that Poland and Ukraine are stuck in World War 2.

As part of my research I also investigated whether Panorama mentioned any

racist events in England. At one stage in the middle of the filming they give an

example of a single case of racism in England involving John Terryiv. This brief clip

mentioning John Terry’s trial and subsequent stripping of England captaincy lasts

10 seconds. This again is an example of Panorama framing the situation for the

audience since they only give 10 seconds out of a 29-minute documentary to

highlight this racism case in their own country. By doing this they are making

viewers think that racial problems in England seem much less significant then those

in these host nations.

This case was well known in England because to have the England captain at

the time using racial insults against another player was certainly not good for the

nation to see! Surely Panorama should have been concentrating, or at least

concentrated more on this issue of racism in England, which occurred in the few

months previous, and be reporting more on whether appropriate action was taken

against John Terry in terms of match bans or fines.

During the Panorama episode Sol Campbell (England ex-captain etc check) in

an interview mentions how glad he is that this racism no longer occurs in the UK.

However, I question the validity of this claim since there have been many cases of

racist violence in England over the past few years and in investigating these cases is

what brings me onto my next case study of the differences in the way an English

newspaper, “The Telegraph,” reported on two cases of racism: one by English fans

and one by Russian fans.

The first article, from February 2013, reports on a case where West Ham

Unitedv fans used anti-Semitic chants against Tottenham Hotspur fansvi. The second

article, from October 2013, reports on how the Russian government is going to crack

down on the serious problem of racist violence in Russian football leagues. I will

firstly look into the newspaper’s use of imaging in their cover photos for both

articles.

The cover photo for the article on Russian fans is a picture of a group of fans,

seemingly charging towards the camera. One man is carrying a drum with “Ultras”

written on itvii, people are carrying flash fires and the air is filled with smoke. This is

a great example of Hill’s affect transfer since the image evokes feelings from the

audience of being scared because it gives us the feel of being in danger if we were in

fact taking this photo. The image used in the article regarding racist West Ham fans

is much more mellow. It is a photo of the West Ham Football Stadium, empty.

This clearly does not evoke the same response from the audience as the

Russian example does and so the newspaper is not giving the case of racism in

England the same seriousness level as the Russian case, another case of framing. If

this newspaper wanted to do something to prevent the anti-Semitism from

occurring again it should have got a picture of the crowd at the time and if this

wasn’t available then at least use a picture portraying some sort of Anti-Semitic

nature so that it accurately portrays the seriousness of the article.

Conclusion

According to the book, Ethical Issues in Journalism and the Media written by

Andrew Belsey and Ruth Chadwick, ethics is inseparable from journalism because

the practice of journalism is centered on a set of essentially ethical concepts:

freedom, democracy, truth, objectivity, honesty and privacy. If the proper role of

journalism is seen as providing information, then the ethical questions focus on one

issue: maintaining the quality of the information11. In this research paper, I have

shown that certain English journalists are not taking these ethics and morals

seriously enough when it comes reporting racism in football through bias and

prejudice against several Eastern European countries. By pointing the finger of

blame, with racism, at other countries, English journalists are failing to sufficiently

report the issues that need to be tackled in their own country.

England has an issue of hooliganism and racial violence but nothing major

can be done until journalism stops turning a blind eye to the reality of “The Beautiful

11 Belsey, Andrew, and Ruth F. Chadwick. Ethical Issues in Journalism and the Media. London: Routledge, 1992. Print

Game” in England. Sufficient questions need to be asked of the Footballing

Association (FA), which is the governing body of football in England, by journalists

as to whether enough is being done in terms of bans, fines and campaigns to prevent

racism from occurring.

Discussion

To promote some thoughts for further discussion on this issue of media bias

in journalism it should be noted that the issue of unethical journalism practices and

so media bias is not just an issue that occurs solely in England and not one that

occurs solely within sport. In the United States we can see forms of media bias

within journalism and politics. This is seen when certain news groups back certain

political campaigns, as shown below.

We also see media biases in today’s world when reporters report on global

sporting events. For example the coverage of Sochi’s Winter Olympics received a lot

of bad press regarding crime, corruption and poor construction. Could we also

currently be seeing media biases when covering global affairs? What about from US

journalists against Russia within these conflicts currently happening in Ukraine?

This could have serious implications into the future if it leads to increased tensions

between the US and Russia due to increased feeling of hatred from Americans

towards Russians.

In order to fully analyze these cases of media bias in journalism one has to

look at the reasons why this bias occurs. For the case of England, where journalists

are busy pointing the finger at other countries’ racism rather than seriously

reporting on incidents happening in their own country, my theory comes down to

national pride. My theory is of national pride as well as the covering up of a problem

of hooliganism that is well known to the outside world. With regards to the

Panorama’s episode on the Euro 2012 championships it is also national pride in that

England should of course be regarded as a better host for these championship for

years to come.

This national pride can be applied to all the examples given in fact. Outside of

England, the reasons are very similar. With US reports on Sochi and Ukraine it is

again national pride in the historic feelings of tension between Russia and the

United States of America.

In finally concluding, I hope I have convinced my readers that this media bias

is occurring in England by journalists reporting on racism in football, but also that

the implications of media bias is now a global phenomenon.

Works Cited

"John Terry Racism Row with Anton Ferdinand: Timeline." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 27 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

Ganeev, Timur. "Tackling Racism and Hooliganism in Russian Football." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 09 Aug.

Rumsby, Ben. "West Ham Still Await Football Association Verdict into 'anti-Semitic' Chants by Fans against Tottenham." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 28 Oct.

"Stadiums Of Hate." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

“Beautiful Game Turned Ugly : Racism in Europe’s Soccer Arenas.” Youtube. Youtube, 26 Mar. 2008. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.

Lentin, Alana. Racism and Anti-racism in Europe. London: Pluto, 2004. 6. Print.

WEGNER, GREGORY PAUL, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. 2008,

JEFFREY T. ZALAR, Dan Michman, The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed.. 2013,

Elizabeth Knowles, The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009, World

Encyclopedia. 2005, T., and Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007.

"Holocaust." Encyclopedia.com. HighBeam Research, 01 Jan. 2003. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.

“Hooliganism.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014

"Seven Decades after Holocaust, Neo-Nazis Use Soccer to Preach Hitler's Hate." NBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.

Hill, Charles A., and Marguerite H. Helmers. "Chapter 1." Defining Visual Rhetorics. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004. N. pag. Print.

"Panorama Returns to Peak Time on BBC ONE." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.

IRA's Message in Blood." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.

“English fans riot after defeat”. The Times (London), 27 June 1996

Lee, Adrian (28 June 1996). “Russian stabbed for stabbed for sounding like a German”. The Times (London)

"Top 10 Polish Tourist Attractions – Tourist Destinations in Poland." Top 10 Polish Tourist Attractions – Tourist Destinations in Poland. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

Kuypers, Jim A. Rhetorical Criticism: Perspectives in Action. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2009. Print.

Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. Print.

Belsey, Andrew, and Ruth F. Chadwick. Ethical Issues in Journalism and the Media. London: Routledge, 1992. Print

Reporter, Sportsmail. "Ukraine Football Chief Blasts Campbell for 'back in a Box' Claim." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 30 June 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

"Racism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.

i So why is there this racism in Europe? Most of Europe is known for being multicultural, with large peaks of immigration coming during the first few decades after the World wars . London is known for its multicultural districts with the main religions being Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism. This multicultural nature of cities can be good for more understanding and social interactions of different religions however it has historically led to issues of racism. The most well known and internationally documented act of racism in Europe was the persecution of Jews. The most horrific example of this persecution was the Holocaust during the Second World War when Adolf Hitler ordered the Genocide of approximately 5 million Jews . What about racism in European Football?The main source of racism in European football is hooliganism; a term used to describe groups of fans, which behave rowdily, destructively or violently. Football fans across Europe are known to use racial chants against players from minority races. Hooliganism has been a term used to describe violence from fans in British football since the 1970s however the problem of violence in sport from hooliganism now occurs across most European Nations. Many far-right movements such as Neo-Nazi and Neo-Facist use football stadiums as a recruitment ground. Across many of these European football stadiums, there have been examples of abusive acts towards players and fans because of their skin colour, nationality or ethnicity.

ii British journalism first started in the 17th Century, when during voting periods pamphlets were distributed due to the politically contentious nature of the time. There is obviously a large history behind journalism in Britain, and this journalism has been used to report on a number of different topics. One of these topics, for over a hundred years, has been football.

iii Panorama is the world’s longest-running public affairs program, having aired since 1953. I analyzed Episode 20 of Series 60, which is titled “Stadiums of Hate.” This episode was published just prior to the European 2012 Football Championships, which were being held in Poland and Ukraine.

iv John Terry was Chelsea and England captain at the time.v West Ham United is a Premier League team in Englandvi Tottenham Hotspur is a Premier League team, which is known to have a predominantly Jewish fan base.

vii Ultras are a loyal core of extremist fans that tend to give a great deal of racist violence to the opposing fans.