Invention of The Hero In Modern Myth Making: In Times of Intolerance.

Costa Ribeiro, Jaqueline (2018) Invention of The Hero In Modern Myth Making: In Times of Intolerance. masters thesis, Griffith College Dublin.

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Abstract

Journalism is an industry, a media business. Myth and mythology are the world's oldest form of storytelling, the recounting of a story. This is also the fundamental purpose of the media, who, while carrying out their business, create modern “monomyth” narratives. This research examines the creation of heroes by the media and how these heroes are portrayed to the public. This work involved carrying out content analysis of the term ‘hero’ in broadsheets and tabloids from three countries: (i) USA: The New York Times, National Enquirer; (ii) BRAZIL: Folha de São Paulo, Meia Hora and (iii) IRELAND: The Irish Times, The Irish Daily Star. A four-month period of all print editions of the newspapers were studied, from 1st February 2018 to 31st May 2018. The research questions included: 1. Does the world currently need heroes? 2. How does the media industry describe heroes? 3. What does it take to be a hero? 4. What image of a hero does the media portray? 5. Can MSM (mainstream media) be trusted? 6. Do the results reflect the beliefs of the media and/ or current society? The research questions above were analysed using the results of the content analysis. It was found that the newspapers in Ireland had the most frequent occurrences of the term hero, followed by those of Brazil and USA, who each had a significantly lower frequency and were more discerning in who they classified as heroes to their audience. Based on this analysis, it was determined that the portrayal of heroes by the media is influenced by the current social, political, structural, economic, geographic and cultural climate of a country. It was surmised that political polarization in USA and Brazil is one factor that leads to less frequent use of heroes in news reports in those countries. Also, global issues are affecting and impacting on views as well. On this basis, it is recommended that, when portraying a hero, the media should assign value to the word. Content should be delivered that has accurate information, and not distract the audience by referring to a heroic sportsperson, politician, animal, fictional character or object. Further research could be undertaken to identify and analyse other, more subtle terms that the media use to characterise heroes, for example legend. Additionally, factors could be studied that would be helpful for the news industry to bear in mind when selecting the approach to this matter.

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