Tarring everyone with the same shorthand? Journalists, stigmatization and social exclusion

Abstract

This article investigates the role of journalists in the media construction of a socially excluded and stigmatized local authority housing estate. We seek to identify the ways in which the production context of 'newsmaking' is reflected in such content. Having outlined the problematic ways in which the estate in question is portrayed, we argue that an increasingly competitive commercial environment -best evidenced in the marketization of news -is increasing pressures on journalists to prioritize circulation figures and audience ratings over journalistic balance. Our analysis of this issue is guided by two interconnected and over-arching theoretical approaches, namely social exclusion and political economy. Our analysis is situated squarely in the context of recent debates concerning the social and political implications of the increased marketization of news. In reasserting the importance of a critical sociology of journalism, our case raises fundamental questions about the practice of journalism and how complex issues such as social exclusion and poverty are represented in a media setting.

What does it mean when people call a place a shithole? Understanding a discourse of denigration in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland

“…This finding is in line with other studies, such as that of Devereux et al. (), which highlight the primacy of external stigmatising constructions of place often as part of a larger political economic campaign.…”

“…In line with Slater's categorisation of the literature according to four themes (), we also note two distinct focuses that divide the literature. The first includes work that focuses on the role of the powerful producers and users of stigma, including the state, policy and media whose dominant voices construct stigmatised locations (see Devereux, Haynes, & Power, , ; Gray & Mooney, ; Kallin & Slater, ; Kornberg, ; Schultz Larsen, ; Wacquant, , , , ). The second strand of literature has a primary focus on the lived experience of residence in a stigmatised location (see Gourlay, ; Holt & Wilkins, ; Keene & Padilla, ; Morris, ; Rhodes, ; Slater & Anderson, ).…”

“…While Wacquant and Slater primarily consider the role of politico‐economic actors as the activators of stigma, Devereux et al. (, ) introduce the media as another actor whose powerful voice creates a form of territorial stigma. Using a discourse analysis of newspaper coverage rather than an ethnographic approach, their study of the stigmatised Moyross housing estate in Limerick, Ireland, shows the prevalence of certain themes and descriptors in the coverage of Moyross (Devereux et al., ).…”

‘Why bother seeing the world for real?’: Google Street View and the representation of a stigmatised neighbourhood

“…Moyross is described as 'troubled'; 'notorious'; 'a blackspot'; a site of endemic problems; or a 'time-bomb'. Devereux et al (2011aDevereux et al ( , 2011b conclude that coverage was highly problematic and should be seen as contributing to the further stigmatisation and pathologising of the people and the place. Indeed, Barnes (2010) found that teenage boys in a middle-class school, elsewhere in Limerick, associated Moyross with crime, disorder and social unrest, reflecting the dominant themes in evidence within media coverage of the estate (see also Fitzgerald, 2007: 7).…”

Toxic Toxteth: Understanding press stigmatization of Toxteth during the 1981 uprising

“…They consider the role of local and national Irish media in constructing and reproducing a stigmatized identity of Moyross, a housing estate near Limerick, Ireland. They note that media, when discussing place, tend to employ a pathologizing gaze (Devereux et al, 2011b), meaning that reporters largely ignore potential structural explanations for an area's character and, instead, blame those within the area for its perceived problems. To do otherwise and to adopt a structural criticism would be to criticise the status quo in society and doing so would jeopardise the media's powerful position within this socio-political structure.…”