Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2015, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (4): 33-.

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A Structural Hermeneutics of Partisan Realism

Matthew Norton   

  • Online:2015-07-20 Published:2015-07-20
  • Contact: Matthew Norton，Department of Sociology，University of Oregon. E-mail：mnorton@uoregon.edu E-mail:mnorton@uoregon.edu
  • About author:Matthew Norton，Department of Sociology，University of Oregon.

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Abstract:  Propaganda，ideology，and partisanship，if they identify themselves as such， suffer from the selfrefuting implications of explicit bias inpursuit of a political agenda. It is no surprise，therefore，that one of the distinguishing features of these genres of communication is that they claim to represent reality accurately and fairly，denying the polluting implications of political bias. I call this genre “partisan realism”，politically motivated media presentations that symbolically present themselves as operating in the genre of realism. The question posed by this paper is how partisan media coverage creates the appearance of neutral and unbiased realism while pursuing its political agenda. This paper analyzes The O’Reilly Factor，a popular American television news program， as an example of partisan realism.Using the structural hermeneutic approach developed in cultural sociology，the paper argues that The O’Reilly Factor produces a partisan realist schema for interpreting the news through the constructed persona of the host，a complex underlying meaning structure formulated around binary oppositions，and a sophisticated suite of rhetorical techniques. The show presents itself as a simple window onto reality，but it takes arefined， partisan cultural system to ensure that what viewers see through that apparently neutral window supports the political interests of the show’s creators. To present the news in a way that suggests partisan conclusions that still seem realistic rather than biased，individual episodes and segments of the show frame issues in terms of a meaning structure that leads strongly to partisan conclusions， but affords an appearance of the reasonable consideration of diverse views.The paper suggests that this kind of deep analysis of meaning structures is important for making sense of partisan realism as a style of political communication.

Key words: partisanship, media news analysis, cultural systems, structural hermeneutics