Considerations about the Polyssemy of Meanings in a Daily Newspaper: a essay about the press

Abstract

Are the mass media ideologically dominant, or is their unfettered polysemy a constructive force in modern society? From the perspective of Constructivist Social Psychology we argue that the daily newspaper is a mosaic in which promotes multiple dialogues about, and representations of, the news. A newspaper is dialogic in three senses: it is a sounding-board for  multiple voices, from various sources and with correspondingly various positions on the news; it is a social actor, with its own voice and position about what it reports; and it is a forum for dialogue with readers, who are active co-authors of the stories that they read. In other words, the newspaper is a channel for the expression of the hegemonic struggles of a given place and time.