Story The Glen Hoddle example essay topic

A LEVEL MEDIA EXTENDED ESSAY There are not many jobs in England that bring about as much media attention as the positions in Football and there is one job in particular that has the media spotlight constantly shining down upon it's owner and that is the England Managers job. It does not help either when you are also a former England player with a creative spark that brought attention to yourself on and off the field. This was the problem of Glen Hoddle who was the darling of English football during the 80's and his legacy continued and brought the job as England manager. Glen Hoddle started off being conveyed very well in the media with nearly all the tabloid and broadsheets portraying him as the future of English football.

He was a clean cut young man with the international footballing world at his feet. Unfortunately after a few unconvincing results, lots of controversy over a faith healer and a poor world cup the media soon started to turn on Glen Hoddle. When you are in the public eye you have to be very careful about what you do and what you say especially when you have the media's knives out to get you. Glen Hoddle, Unfortunately for him is a man that is not afraid to talk about his own beliefs and he is known to have strong views on God and religion.

The story breaks that Hoddle has said that disabled people are being punished for sins in past lives. Once the news of this got out there was no holding back. Every form of media broke the story with follow up reports on the reactions of disabled people, famous peoples view points and the odds on the next England manager. There were calls for Glen Hoddle's resignation and everyone had a view point. The paper that I am concentrating on is the mirror and the way that he was portrayed in the paper. The media language that Glen Hoddle conveys in the paper would be very important to the out come of the story and how public opinion would go.

The section of the story I am following goes over five papers from the break of the story to the aftermath of the sacking. We will also see the change in the way the story is reported and why the change came about. The way that Glen Hoddle is represented in the papers is very clear. Before Hoddle was sacked all the pictures that we see of Glen Hoddle shows him with a very worried look on his face. They are not all recent but they have been chosen to fit the situation. They could have been from years ago from when Hoddle was at Swindon and was worried about relegation and money problems.

However when the reader sees a picture of Hoddle with a worried expression they automatically think that it is a recent picture and shows how Hoddle is really feeling when really we see what the paper wants us to think about how Hoddle is feeling. There is once instance in the when the mirror get a interview with Hoddle the reporter the conducted the interview Harry Harris we get a photo from a while back taken at a training camp and there is Hoddle and Harry Harris together and they are both smiling. This picture has been included to show that there is a relationship between the two, allegedly. This is meant to show that Hoddle is speaking frankly to somebody that he knows and is going to be a interview from the heart and that is the way that the paper has been published.

The photos all make sure that the eyes of Hoddle are an important factor of the picture. Also in later shots the way his body language and his style of clothes are very similar to a type of television preacher that is going to ask you to donate money to a certain charity. There is a big change in the way that Glen Hoddle is portrayed in the Mirror. The mirror starts off with the opinion that Hoddle is "Arrogant" (Mirror 1st Feb.) and should go. The 'voice' of the mirror which makes the papers view point very clear shows how it believes Hoddle is wrong.

(Mirror 1st Feb.) However a few days after the bad publicity storeys the mirror got a break. Hoddle left the Rupert Murdock papers namely the Times where the story was taken from and made the mirror the paper to give his exclusive interviews and show the other side of the argument. The mirror then Changes it's attitude slightly and the Headlines have changed from, "Sack Hoddle now for slur on disabled" (Mirror 31st Jan.) to "What I really believe" (Mirror 2 Feb. ). The voice of the mirror now says of how Glen Hoddle is not an evil man he has been miss - understood. We have gone from "Arrogant" to "Honest Hod is worth one last chance" (Mirror 2nd Feb.) The mirror will use every chance it gets to attack the Murdock papers and this way shown yet again. We also now start to hear about all the good work that Hoddle is doing for the disabled.

When Hoddle is sacked we also then hear about how Hoddle's mother works with disabled people. There is also one good set of pictures and that is where after Hoddle has been sacked and we hear about the comments the Tony Blair is said to have made there is a picture of Blair all smiles and another picture of Hoddle with a very withdrawn expression on his face. The representation of Hoddle could of been less biased there was only one side portrayed for a while when the story first broke did anybody think of looking at it from another point of view? It does change but the reasons behind this don't come from renewed faith in Hoddle.

The genre of the Mirror is tabloid. It is aimed at a social class from B - E it is a paper that is meant to give you scandal or create public opinion. The storeys might not all be true but they are there for interest. Stories on celebrities or events that would not make it into a 'Classy' broadsheet might get a four page spread in a tabloid. A tabloid paper will also have a much larger audience then the broadsheets. The main objective of a broadsheet is to inform a tabloid on the other hand is there to entertain.

There way that the tabloids build up people and then knock them down is also another factor of a paper like the mirror. At one point it would have hailed Hoddle then it is trying to get him sacked. There might even be cartoon characters which like we saw with Graham 'Turnip' Taylor always cause interest. With a tabloid you will also get front and back page coverage of the football items as it is of interest to a large section of the papers target audience however it might be limited to the back pages of a tabloid. The narrative is a part of all media and in the Glen Hoddle section it is no different. There are many narrative theories like Todo rov, prop p and Bathes and even thought not all of their codes can be into the newspaper stories there are elements that appear in the tabloid stories.

With the Hoddle story we had the equilibrium of before Hoddle's word's became public and we still had faith in Hoddle. We then get the disruption of the outcry for Hoddle's sacking and then when he is sacked we have a new equilibrium. Also we have our characters like heroes and villains but they change roles in this story. There are forms that will usually appear in a tabloid narrative.

Reporters are very good at constructing a story. In the big stories they will want to create suspense with a clear beginning and ending with the hero and villain. The headlines that will be used will add extra bite to a story and will take a character name from another form of media like film at the end of the story in the last of the mirrors we have a quote from Hoddle saying, "I will be back". Hoddle has always been portrayed in the paper as the clean cut family man as the photos went to be back up this image. Unfortunately this image was to change when his affair was publicized in the paper and he was seen as no longer the clean cut family man.

He now has the slightly different image of a man who has gone crazy and turned into a religious nut who is trying to convert the nation. There are a lot of references to another footballer who went heavily into religion David Icke and brings about comparisons in the mirror (1st Feb). Hoddle is not really taken seriously before the exclusive interview but then he is portrayed with a bit more creditability and he is seen as a man who has intelligence. He has now been stereotyped and the type of picture we get of Hoddle all go towards backing up his new image even cartoons of him as a Buddhist (Mirror 2nd Feb) The stereotyping has important in creating Hoddle's image and building up his character in the story.

As will all narratives they only work if you have a strong main character with an edge. A man who is possessed by strong religious beliefs mean you can give him links to other stories create puns linking to other media. Make jokes at him but more importantly the ideology of the character is continued each day and we get to know what we expect from the story and from Hoddle. The good thing about Hoddle is that he has been in the public eye for a long period of time as a footballer and a manger. There will be support from people who have there own opinions on Hoddle that are not just coming from this one story.

Hoddle has been in the media even by releasing a song in the charts so there is personality to his character in the media and stories from the past will come back with his successes and honours from his playing career will again also be put into the fold. The audience is an important part of the story. The main ideology of the story is the public outcry of the people is what is going to get Hoddle sacked so the people reading the story are the main factor, the paper will be trying to convince the people one way or another. The likes to get the public involved as had phone lines where you could say your opinion on the Hoddle story and polls where people voted if they were backing Hoddle or not. The mirror also publishes letters from the public and quotes with pictures from the public to add a personal touch to the story. There was lot's of quotes coming from the disabled on what they thought on the story.

We have to remember there would have been lot's of letters and the paper picks the one it thinks will best fit the story (Mirror 1st Feb). The comments from the audience are also used in the main narrative and are put as a key part of the story. This adds that extra spice to make it a story the has the public eye and make it more of a talking point. There is some closure on the narrative but there are a lot of lose ends. There is a sacking so the question of if Hoddle would go was answered but there was criticism of the people who sacked Hoddle there is bitterness at Tony Blair for the comment that he makes but there is an end. The story will now go from the front pages to the back pages and the story will now be on who is going to be replacing Hoddle.

The most powerful photos come from the day after the sacking Feb 3 we get the emotion from Hoddle about hearing how his wrote a letter to teletext backing her Dad. We then get the most striking Photo of Hoddle as he is given a police escort away from the FA. There is a full page on the photo and the expression on his face is worth a thousand words. The institution of the media story is very interesting and has a lot to do with the way that the Mirror changed its viewpoint. Hoddle gave an exclusive interview to the Times during the interview the slur on the disabled came out.

The Times is owned by Rupert Murdock. Hoddle blamed the Times for taking his words out of contrast. So after the story came out Hoddle moved away from the Murdock papers and gave his story to the Mirror. The mirror had been very similar to the Murdock papers of the Sun and the Times but when they had Hoddle on exclusive that was a change in the way that he was portrayed in the paper. He was given a chance to speak and the comments from the paper were also starting to back him up. After the sacking there was even sympathy for Hoddle and they started to attack the people who sacked him.

However the criticism that the FA got was not limited to the mirror most of the media then gave Hoddle a small piece of sympathy and the media turned towards the FA. It seems that once you have knocked one person down the next step is go look for somebody else to attack and that is where the power of the media is shown. Maybe the most important factor in the story is the ideology. This is what the whole story is about. Hoddle's ideology on reincarnation. The media has knocked down a person for using free speech and expressing there own point of view.

The media then portrayed Hoddle as a crazy man. The question is why should Glen Hoddle not be allowed his own opinions and still be England manager. Who has the power to judge him and why should they be allowed. These are the questions that should have been put into the media to give Glen Hoddle a fair chance in the media battle. The media acted as the voice of the people thinking the all the people were against Hoddle so the papers took that view point to fit in with the publics beliefs. This can been seen in the text as it is presenting the story in a way that means that you should agree with what is being printed and you don't want to disagree.

The media gave itself its own ideology on the argument and put over its beliefs and values and it is the media's ideology that got glen Hoddle sacked. There were views made on Eileen Drewery and her role with Glen Hoddle also there was history brought up on glen Hoddle about views he had made in the past. All these factors played a major part in the downfall of glen Hoddle. We see the after the sacking people like Eileen Drewery were able to speak put and put there views across and condemn the people who sacked Hoddle and portrayed Eileen Drewery as a freak. There was an article from the BBC website, "Hoddle Hounded out" Feb. the 3rd that added condemnation of the FA and the Government as people started to speak out about the bad way that Hoddle was handled. There was criticisms of the way the government and the media in the way that they both played parts in the story.

The text started off playing Hoddle as an evil man the media language that was used all went towards backing up this view. We had public view points which were all chosen to back up the view that the public hated Glen Hoddle however there were probably viewpoints giving sympathy to glen Hoddle but they were not published. The text was condemning Hoddle with headlines like, "Sack Hoddle Now". However once Hoddle joined the mirror it became a powerful media battle where Hoddle tried to save his image via the Mirror and fight against the other forms of media that were going against him. The major part of a paper where view points are put across are the comments or in the mirror "Voice of the Mirror" this was where the biggest change came from the voice had originally demand that unfortunately it was a battle that they could not win and Hoddle was sacked. Then however the other forms of media started to follow the mirrors view and gave a bit of sympathy and questioned the people who sacked him.

The ironic part is those forms of media that questioned the sacking of Hoddle all at some point played a part in his downfall. The Hoddle saga is one of the best examples that we will ever get to see how powerful the media can be. The media has the power to create an image to it's reader and when the reader is the general public then this a tool which has a lot of influence. We have seen through history what power the media has, an example would be the propaganda that Hitler used leading up and during the second world war. The media has so many links and there are a lot of institutions in the media. The Hoddle story only became news because the media wanted it to be.

If the papers had not picked up on the story the Glen Hoddle would be England manager at this moment right now. Unfortunately because of the ideology that Glen Hoddle believed in his own view points were twisted and created an image that was easy for the public to dislike. I don't believe that Glen Hoddle meant all the connotations that came from his words. I think that Glen Hoddle is a man who just has certain beliefs which he feels strongly about and because of these he was forced out by the power of the media. The whole saga turn into one big media battle with both sides coming up with great campaigns that's paned across the media. The mirror tried to save his image and gain sympathy but the damage had been done.

The question we should be asking now is how long can we let this go on. Should there be legislation to hold the media back. The media has the power to influence great numbers of people which is something always going to cause problems. When a person has the power to control Television and the press then we have to ask ourselves as Glen Hoddle found out to his dismay that the media is a powerful weapon..