Narratives of Social Disruption: Education news in the British tabloid press

Abstract

This analysis of education coverage in the national media examines the kind of events that attract media attention, and shows how subsequent education stories get worked up by the tabloid press into a generalized comment on social issues. Such 'meta-stories' are ways of commenting not only on the events themselves, and interrelated themes of school standards, but also on wider issues of morality, discipline, and social order. The study examines how blame gets apportioned by the press, both overtly, as in headline statements, and implicitly, in the recruitment of outside opinions, and in the choice of speci c words to describe events. A discourse analysis of news stories shows how descriptions construct events as meaningful, as news sensation, and as a general re ection of social disruption and moral decline.

El proceso de valoración de los centros educativos por parte de las familias de clase media. El papel del orden expresivo en la búsqueda de la «distinción»

“…Este aspecto es valorado por los padres entrevistados, pues garantiza que no todas las familias tengan cabida en un determinado centro: imagen negativa existente sobre este tipo de centros, la experiencia será bien evaluada por los padres. En este proceso, la realidad experimentada en forma directa es confrontada con las representaciones sociales, generalmente negativas, que existen sobre la educación pública, muchas de las cuales son construidas por los medios de comunicación (Mac Millan, 2002). P: Ese instituto está bien, ese instituto tiene gente seria.…”

Scientific Experts and the Controversy About Teaching Creation/Evolution in the UK Press

“…Studies on media representations of education have found that education stories in the news media are often linked to political controversy or used as vehicles for apportioning blame for issues of morality, discipline and social order (Baker 1994(Baker , 2000MacMillan 2002), which explains media coverage of this creationism debate. One would hope for more varied media coverage of science education, as it is compulsory in many nation states and concerns all future citizens.…”

‘School violence’ as a social problem: charting the rise of the problem and the emerging specialist field

“…Mounting interest in violence in schools has been paralleled by an intensified interest in, and some would argue a more contemptuous and cynical portrayal of, 'youth' at the latter part of the twentieth century. This has been identified by studies undertaken in the USA (Cousins 2001;Hemmings 2002), the UK (James and James 2001;MacMillan 2002;Philips 2003;Holland 2004) and in other countries in Europe, including Sweden (e.g. Estrada 2001) and France (Osler and Starkey 2005).…”