Assessing changes to the welfare state: An investigation into the effects of regional media on local services and recipients of care in 1980s North East England

This essay examines how different forms of regional media were able to challenge 1980s welfare reform on a local level. A critical discourse analysis will assess how regionally produced ITV Tyne Tees content – broadcast exclusively within North East England – disseminates the purpose of the welfare state. This dissemination is then compared to the discourse utilized by Newcastle based production companies – Trade Films and Amber Films – who provided an alternative context through which community care issues could be discussed. To ascertain how the ethics of care relationships are explored by such media each analysis deduces whether Eva Feder Kittay’s ethics of inclusion theory can be applied to specific texts. Then this study investigates what the working practices of each production company were and if there was any resultant impact to health and social care services. Applying Feder Kittay’s philosophy to regional productions will provide the scholarly foundations required to determine how grassroots media outlets can intervene as a mode of care rather than just providing representations of care.