Hesmondalgh, Gerbner and bell hooks

Theorist	Usefulness
Bell hooks – feminism is a political struggle to end patriarchal domination and other factors affect this domination including race and class	-       This theory is useful for newspapers when there is evidence within them of examples of representations enforcing the dominant ideologies of the ‘white supremacist capitalist patriarchy’. Online user generated comments also allow for examples of oppositional black female responses to news which conforms with her view that black women should develop and oppositional ‘gaze’ that refuses to identify with characters.  -       The injustice created through intersectionality can also be reflected in newspapers in the stories which the minorities are represented within – hard news compared to soft news for example.
Hesmondalgh – industry users tried and tested strategies to appeal to us – but we shouldn’t be concerned that only a few companies hold a lot of power	-       When newspapers place soft news in prevalence to hard news they are relying on predictable audience-pleasing low-risk news – such as royalty, celebrities, lifestyle and mainstream sport content – all evidence which supports his theory.  -       Patterns of ownership and control which are not vertically integrated in large corporations, for example the ‘Guardian’, is evidence which subverts his theory because it highlights that the online media allows a diverse range of new voices to be heard.
Gerbner – the more we see the same representations and messages, the more we believe they are they are true	-       Although Gerbner was designed for television when you read a news article online and develop an opinion through the user generated comments and citizen journalism you are more likely to retain your opinion because of the repeated media messages and values which means that heavy users of online news are more likely, for example, to develop ‘mean world syndrome’ – which leads to mainstreaming  -       Limitation – as Gerbner studied the effect of television his study is less directly applicable to print and online news, where competing viewpoints are common, except that long term media use may lead to cultivated effects