Education Through TIME: Representations of U.S. Education on TIME Magazine Covers

Abstract

This study examined how TIME Magazine has visually represented and communicated ideas about education from TIME Magazine’s inception in 1923 through 2019. Drawing on theories of visual culture and social semiotic approaches to multimodality, the researchers conducted a qualitative multimodal content analysis of 115 covers that featured content related to education and schooling. The findings included (a) names and places are used to suggest authority, power, or relevance in education circles; (b) learning and schooling are presented as having not changed over time; (c) overgeneralized and metonymic representations can stand for broad categories of education stakeholders; (d) schools are presented as in need of fixing; and (e) schools are perceived as sites for larger, sociopolitical debates.

Portrayal of Schoolteachers Presented by Newspaper Izvestia in Late Soviet Union and Contemporary Russia

“…A group of researchers studied how Time magazine covers communicated ideas concerning education throughout almost a century, from 1923 till 2019 (Kachorsky et al, 2020). The researchers did not examine the published articles, their aim was to explore the visual representation of education in the United States.…”

“…Another finding showed that the distinction between education and schooling evident to scholars is very vague and uncertain for journalists and the audience. Summing up, the researchers identified five categories among which four are of interest to the present research: learning and schooling presented as having not changed over time; overgeneralized and metonymic representations can stand for broad categories of education stakeholders; schools are presented as in need of fixing; and schools are perceived as sites for larger, sociopolitical debates (Kachorsky et al, 2020).…”

“…According to Kachorsky et al (Kachorsky et al, 2020), the democratic news media fulfil the following functions. Firstly, they inform citizens about current public affairs to enable them to participate in the democratic society.…”

“…Thirdly, they ensure a platform for debate to form public opinion. Finally, media represent the community views and their shared aims (Kachorsky et al, 2020). So, news media should seek to provide coverage of actual and disputable issues.…”

Mediated representation of Middle Eastern and African migrants in UK and US press in the Wake of Brexit and Trumpism

“…perceptions’ (Weiss, 2020: 165) of issues and events. The Economist enjoys significant global presence and circulation figures (Holmes, 2020) whereas the liberal and left leaning Time magazine sets public discourses agenda (Weiss and Sternadori, 2020) and ‘is historically the most influential and most widely read publication’ in the US (Kachorsky et al, 2020: 2). On the other hand, Bloomberg Businessweek is a leading player in the North American business magazine market with a ‘strong international profile’ (Power et al, 2020: 6) evidenced in its circulation figures of 980, 000 weekly in 2017 (Bloomberg, 2017).…”