“The news is not neutral and natural phenomenon; it is rather the manufactured production of ideology” Glasgow Media Group. Evaluate this statement with reference to at least 2 different view points.

If we were talking about news before the 1800’s then this statement would be untrue. Before this time ideology was not a factor in the production of news. News was simply news, what was published was fact or truth that was previously unknown about the world. For example, if we look at an edition of England’s first daily newspaper, The Daily Courant (see appendix 1), we will see how bland news was in comparison to contemporary news. Of course in these times, any speculative news was not considered due to the risk of treason, so anything reported is factual. The press won freedom from the state due several key events. “The winning of press freedom is attributed partly to a heroic struggle against the state”. (Curran et al, 1997, p.7). He goes on to claim, “The key events in this struggle are generally said to be the abolition of the Court of Star Chamber in 1641, the ending of press licensing in 1694, Fox’s Libel Act, 1792, and the repeal of press taxation – the so-c...