Mass media
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Mass media refers
collectively to all media technologies
that are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media (also known
as electronic media) transmit their information electronically and comprise television,
film and radio, movies, CDs,
DVDs and some other devices like cameras and video consoles. Alternatively,
print media use a physical object as a means of sending their information, such
as a newspaper,
magazines, brochures, newsletters, books, leaflets and pamphlets. The term also
refers to the organizations which control these technologies, such as
television stations or publishing companies.[1][2]
Internet
media is able to achieve mass media status in its own right, due to the many
mass media services it provides, such as email, websites, blogging, Internet
and television. For this reason, many mass media outlets have a presence on the
web, by such things as having TV ads which link to a website, or having games
in their sites to entice gamers to visit their website. In this way, they can
utilise the easy accessibility that the Internet has, and the outreach that
Internet affords, as information can easily be broadcast to many different
regions of the world simultaneously and cost-efficiently. Outdoor media is a
form of mass media which comprises billboards, signs, placards placed inside
and outside of commercial buildings and /objects like shops amd buses, flying
billboards (signs in tow of airplanes), blimps, and skywriting.[3]
Public speaking and event organising can also be considered as forms of mass
media.[4]
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Contents
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Definition and forms
In the late
20th Century, mass media could be classified[by whom?] into eight mass
media industries: books, newspapers, magazines, recordings, radio, movies,
television and the internet. With the explosion of digital communication
technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the question of what
forms of media should be classified as "mass media" has become more
prominent. For example, it is controversial whether to include cell phones,
video games and computer games (such as MMORPGs) in the definition. In the
2000s, a classification called the "seven
mass media" became popular. In order of introduction, they are:
- Print (books, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, etc.) from the late 15th century
- Recordings (gramophone records, magnetic tapes, cassettes, cartridges, CDs, DVDs) from the late 19th century
- Cinema from about 1900
- Radio from about 1910
- Television from about 1950
- Internet from about 1990
- Mobile phones from about 2000
Each mass media
has its own content types, its own creative artists and technicians, and its
own business models. For example, the Internet includes web sites, blogs, podcasts, and
various other technologies built on top of the general distribution network.
The sixth and seventh media, internet and mobile, are often called collectively
as digital
media; and the fourth and fifth, radio and TV, as broadcast
media. Some argue that video games have developed into a distinct mass form of
media.[citation needed]
While a
telephone is a two way communication device, mass media refers to medium which
can communicate a message to a large group, often simultaneously. However,
modern cell phones are no longer a single use device. Most cell phones are
equipped with internet access and capable of connecting to the web which itself
a mass medium. A question arises of whether this makes cell phones a mass medium
or simply a device used to access a mass medium (the internet).There is
currently a system where marketers and advertisers are able to tap into
satellites, and broadcast commercials and advertisements directly to cell
phones, unsolicited by the phone's user. This transmittion of mass advertising
to millions of people is a form of mass communication.
Video games may
also be evolving into a mass medium. Video games convey the same messages and
ideologies to all their users users. Users sometimes share the experience with
each other by playing online. Excluding the internet however, it is
questionable whether players of video games are sharing a common experience
when they play the game separately. It is possible to discuss in great detail
the events of a video game with a friend you have never played with because the
experience was identical to you both. The question is if this is then a form of
mass communication.
MMORPGS such as
Runescape provide a common gaming experience to millions of users throughout
the globe. It is arguable that the users are receiving the same message, i.e.,
the game is mass communicating the same messages to the various players.
Five characteristics
Five
characteristics of mass communication have been identified by Cambridge University's John Thompson:[5]
- "[C]omprises both technical and institutional methods of production and distribution" This is evident throughout the history of the media, from print to the Internet, each suitable for commercial utility.
- Involves the "commodification of symbolic forms", as the production of materials relies on its ability to manufacture and sell large quantities of the work. Just as radio stations rely on its time sold to advertisements, newspapers rely for the same reasons on its space.
- "[S]eparate contexts between the production and reception of information"
- Its "reach to those 'far removed' in time and space, in comparison to the producers".
- "[I]nformation distribution" - a "one to many" form of communication, whereby products are mass produced and disseminated to a great quantity of audiences.
Mass vs. mainstream
"Mass
media" is sometimes used as a synonym for "mainstream
media", which is distinguished from alternative
media by the content and point of view. Alternative media are also
"mass media" outlets in the sense of using technology capable of
reaching many people, even if the audience is often smaller than the
mainstream.
In common
usage, the term "mass" denotes not that a given number of individuals
receives the products, but rather that the products are available in principle
to a plurality of recipients.[5]
Mass vs. local
Mass media is
distinguished from local media by the notion that whilst the former aims to
reach a very large market such as the entire population of a country, the
latter broadcasts to a much smaller population and area, and generally focuses
on regional news rather than global events. A third type of media, speciality
media, provides for specific demographics, such as specialty
channels on TV (sports channels, porn channels, etc.). These definitions
are not set in stone, and it is possible for a media outlet to be promoted in
status from a local media outlet to a global media outlet. Some lcoal media,
which takes an interest in state or provincial news can rise to prominence due
to their investigative journalism, and to the local region's preference of
updates in national politics rather than regional news. The
Guardian, formerly known as the Manchester Guardian is an example of one
such media outlet. Once a regional daily newspaper, The Guardian is currently a
nationally respected paper.[6]
Criticism and Ethics
Lack of local
or specific topical focus is a common criticism of mass media. A mass news media
outlet is often forced to cover national and international news due to it
having to cater for and be relevant for a wide demographic. As such, it has to
skip over many interesting or important local stories because they simply do
not interest the large majority of their viewers. An example given by the
website WiseGeek is that "the residents of a community might view their
fight against development as critical, but the story would only attract the
attention of the mass media if the fight became controversial or if precedents
of some form were set".[6]
The term
"mass" suggests that the recipients of media products constitute a
vast sea of passive, undifferentiated individuals. This is an image associated
with some earlier critiques of "mass culture" and mass
society which generally assumed that the development of mass communication
has had a largely negative impact on modern social life, creating a kind of
bland and homogeneous culture which entertains individuals without challenging
them.[5]
However, interactive digital media have also been seen to challenge the
read-only paradigm of earlier broadcast media.[5]
Whilst some[who?] refer to the mass
media as "opiate of the masses", others[who?] argue that is a vital
aspect of human societies. By understanding mass media, one is then able to
analyse and find a deeper understanding of one's population and culture. This
valuable and powerful ability is one reason why the field of media
studies is popular. As WiseGeek says, "watching, reading, and
interacting with a nation's mass media can provide clues into how people think,
especially if a diverse assortment of mass media sources are perused".[6]
Since the 1950s,
in the countries that have reached a high level of industrialization, the mass media
of cinema, radio and TV have a key role in political power.[7]
Contemporary
research demonstrates an increasing level of concentration of media ownership,
with many media industries already highly concentrated and dominated by a very
small number of firms.[8]
History
The history of
mass media can be traced back to the days when dramas were performed in various
ancient cultures. This was the first time when a form of media was
"broadcast" to a wider audience. The first dated printed book known
is the "Diamond Sutra", printed in China in 868 AD,
although it is clear that books were printed earlier. Movable clay type was
invented in 1041 in China. However, due to the slow spread of literacy to the
masses in China, and the relatively high cost of paper there, the earliest
printed mass-medium was probably European popular
prints from about 1400. Although these were produced in huge numbers, very
few early examples survive, and even most known to be printed before about 1600
have not survived. The term "mass media" was coined with the creation
of print media, which is notable for being the first example of mass media, as
we use the term today. This form of media started in Europe in the Middle Ages.
Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press allowed the mass
production of books to sweep the nation. He printed the first book on a printing
press with movable type in 1453. The Gutenberg Bible, one of the
books he published, was translated into many different languages and printed
throughout the continent. The invention of the printing
press in the late 15th century gave rise to some of the first forms of mass
communication, by enabling the publication of books and newspapers on a scale
much larger than was previously possible.[9][10][11]
The invention also transformed the way the world received printed materials,
although books remained too expensive really to be called a mass-medium for at
least a century after that. Newspapers developed from about 1612, with the
first example in English in 1620;[12]
but they took until the 19th century to reach a mass-audience directly. The
first high-circulation newspapers arose in London in the early 1800s, such as The Times,
and were made possible by the invention of high-speed rotary steam printing
presses, and railroads which allowed large-scale distribution over wide
geographical areas. The increase in circulation, however, led to a decline in
feedback and interactivity from the readership, making newspapers a more
one-way medium.[13][14][15]
The phrase
"the media" began to be used in the 1920s.[16]
The notion of "mass media" was generally restricted to print media up
until the post-Second World War, when radio, television and video were
introduced. The audio-visual facilities became very popular, because they
provided both information and entertainment, because the colour and sound
engaged the viewers/listeners and because it was easier for the general public
to passively watch TV or listen to the radio than to actively read. In recent
times, the Internet become the latest and most popular mass medium. Information
has become readily available through websites, and easily accessible through
search engines. One can do many activities at the same time, such as playing
games, listening to music, and social networking, irrespective of location.
Whilst other forms of mass media are restricted in the type of information they
can offer, the internet comprises a large percentage of the sum of human
knowledge through such things as Google Books. Modern day mass media consists
of the internet, mobile phones, blogs, podcasts and RSS feeds.[17]
During the 20th
century, the growth of mass media was driven by technology,
including that which allowed much duplication of material. Physical duplication
technologies such as printing, record pressing and film duplication allowed the
duplication of books, newspapers and movies at low prices to huge audiences. Radio and television
allowed the electronic duplication of information for the first time. Mass
media had the economics of linear replication: a single work could make money.
An example of Riel and Neil's theory. proportional to the number of copies
sold, and as volumes went up, unit costs went down, increasing profit margins
further. Vast fortunes were to be made in mass media. In a democratic society,
the media can serve the electorate about issues regarding government and
corporate entities (see Media influence). Some consider the concentration of media ownership
to be a threat to democracy.[18]
Professions involving mass media
Journalism
Journalism
is the discipline of collecting, analyzing, verifying and presenting information
regarding current events,
trends,
issues and people.
Those who practice journalism are known as journalists.
News-oriented
journalism is sometimes described as the "first rough draft of
history" (attributed to Phil Graham), because journalists often record
important events, producing news articles on short deadlines. While under
pressure to be first with their stories, news media
organizations usually edit and proofread their reports prior to publication, adhering
to each organization's standards of accuracy, quality and style. Many news
organizations claim proud traditions of holding government officials and
institutions accountable to the public, while media critics have raised
questions about holding the press itself accountable.
Public relations
Public
relations is the art and science of managing communication between an
organization and its key publics to build, manage and sustain its positive
image. Examples include:
- Corporations use marketing public relations to convey information about the products they manufacture or services they provide to potential customers to support their direct sales efforts. Typically, they support sales in the short and long term, establishing and burnishing the corporation's branding for a strong, ongoing market.
- Corporations also use public relations as a vehicle to reach legislators and other politicians, seeking favorable tax, regulatory, and other treatment, and they may use public relations to portray themselves as enlightened employers, in support of human-resources recruiting programs.
- Nonprofit organizations, including schools and universities, hospitals, and human and social service agencies, use public relations in support of awareness programs, fund-raising programs, staff recruiting, and to increase patronage of their services.
- Politicians use public relations to attract votes and raise money, and, when successful at the ballot box, to promote and defend their service in office, with an eye to the next election or, at career’s end, to their legacy.
Publishing
Publishing
is the industry concerned with the production of literature
or information
– the activity of making information available for public view. In some cases,
authors may be their own publishers.
Traditionally,
the term refers to the distribution of printed works such as books and newspapers.
With the advent of digital information systems and the Internet, the
scope of publishing has expanded to include websites, blogs, and the like.
As a business,
publishing includes the development, marketing, production,
and distribution of newspapers, magazines,
books, literary works, musical works, software, other
works dealing with information.
Publication is
also important as a legal
concept; (1) as the process of giving formal notice to the world of a
significant intention, for example, to marry or enter bankruptcy, and; (2) as
the essential precondition of being able to claim defamation;
that is, the alleged libel
must have been published.
Software publishing
A software publisher is a publishing company
in the software industry between the developer and the distributor. In some companies, two or all
three of these roles may be combined (and indeed, may reside in a single
person, especially in the case of shareware).
Software
publishers often license software from developers with specific limitations,
such as a time limit or geographical region. The terms of licensing vary
enormously, and are typically secret.
Developers may
use publishers to reach larger or foreign markets, or to avoid focussing on
marketing. Or publishers may use developers to create software to meet a market
need that the publisher has identified.
Broadcast
The sequencing
of content in a broadcast is called a schedule. With all technological
endeavours a number of technical terms and slang are developed please see the list of broadcasting terms for a
glossary of terms used.
Television
and radio programs
are distributed through radio broadcasting over frequency bands that are highly
regulated by the Federal Communications Commission.
Such regulation includes determination of the width of the bands, range,
licencing, types of receivers and transmitters used, and acceptable content.
Cable
programs are often broadcast simultaneously with radio and television programs,
but have a more limited audience. By coding signals and having a cable converter box in homes, cable also
enables subscription-based
channels and pay-per-view services.
A broadcasting organisation
may broadcast several programs at the same time, through several channels (frequencies),
for example BBC
One and Two.
On the other hand, two or more organisations may share a channel and each use
it during a fixed part of the day. Digital
radio and digital television may also transmit multiplexed
programming, with several channels compressed
into one ensemble.
When
broadcasting is done via the Internet the term webcasting
is often used. In 2004 a new phenomenon occurred when a number of technologies
combined to produce podcasting. Podcasting is an asynchronous
broadcast/narrowcast medium, with one of the main proponents being Adam Curry
and his associates the Podshow.
Film
'Film'
encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in
general. The name comes from the photographic
film (also called filmstock), historically the primary medium
for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist — motion
pictures (or just pictures and "picture"), the silver
screen, photoplays, the cinema, picture shows, flicks
— and commonly movies.
Films are
produced by recording
people and objects with cameras, or by creating them using animation
techniques and/or special effects. They comprise a series of
individual frames, but when these images are shown rapidly in succession, the
illusion of motion is given to the viewer. Flickering between frames is not
seen due to an effect known as persistence of vision — whereby the eye
retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been
removed. Also of relevance is what causes the perception of motion; a
psychological effect identified as beta
movement.
Film is
considered by many to be an important art form; films entertain, educate, enlighten and inspire
audiences. Any film can become a worldwide attraction, especially with the
addition of dubbing or subtitles
that translate the film message. Films are also artifacts created by specific
cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them.
Video games
A video game is
a computer-controlled
game where a video display such as a monitor
or television
is the primary feedback device. The term "computer game" also
includes games which display only text (and which can therefore theoretically
be played on a teletypewriter) or which use other methods, such as
sound or vibration, as their primary feedback device, but there are very few
new games in these categories. There always must also be some sort of input
device, usually in the form of button/joystick combinations (on arcade games), a keyboard
& mouse/trackball
combination (computer games), or a controller
(console games), or a combination of any of the
above. Also, more esoteric devices have been used for input. Usually there are
rules and goals, but in more open-ended games the player may be free to do
whatever they like within the confines of the virtual universe.
In common
usage, a "computer game" or a "PC game" refers to a game that is
played on a personal computer. "Console
game" refers to one that is played on a device specifically designed
for the use of such, while interfacing with a standard television set.
"Arcade
game" refers to a game designed to be played in an establishment in
which patrons pay to play on a per-use basis. "Video game" (or
"videogame") has evolved into a catchall phrase that encompasses the
aforementioned along with any game made for any other device, including, but
not limited to, mobile phones, PDAs, advanced calculators,
etc.
Audio recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction
is the electrical
or mechanical re-creation and/or amplification of sound, often as music. This involves
the use of audio equipment such as microphones, recording
devices and loudspeakers. From early beginnings with the invention of the phonograph
using purely mechanical techniques, the field has advanced with the invention
of electrical recording, the mass production of the 78
record, the magnetic wire recorder followed by the tape
recorder, the vinyl LP record. The invention of the compact
cassette in the 1960s, followed by Sony's Walkman, gave a
major boost to the mass distribution of music recordings, and the invention of digital
recording and the compact disc in 1983 brought massive improvements in
ruggedness and quality. The most recent developments have been in digital audio players.
An album is a
collection of related audio recordings, released together to the public,
usually commercially.
The term record album
originated from the fact that 78 RPM Phonograph disc
records were kept together in a book resembling a photo album. The first
collection of records to be called an "album" was Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
Suite, release in April 1909 as a four-disc set by Odeon
records.[19][20]
It retailed for 16 shillings — about £15
in modern currency.
A music video
(also promo) is a short film or video that
accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. Modern music
videos were primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote
the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much
further, they came into their own in the 1980s, when Music
Television's format was based on them. In the 1980s, the term "rock
video" was often used to describe this form of entertainment, although the
term has fallen into disuse.
Music videos
can accommodate all styles of filmmaking, including animation, live action
films, documentaries, and non-narrative, abstract
film.
Internet
The Internet (also
known simply as "the Net" or less precisely as "the Web")
is a more interactive medium of mass media, and can be briefly described as
"a network of networks". Specifically, it is the worldwide, publicly
accessible network of interconnected computer
networks that transmit data by packet
switching using the standard Internet
Protocol (IP). It consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic,
business, and governmental networks, which together carry various information
and services, such as e-mail, online chat,
file
transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World
Wide Web.
Contrary to
some common usage, the Internet and the World Wide Web are not synonymous: the
Internet is the system of interconnected computer networks, linked by copper wires, fiber-optic
cables, wireless
connections etc.; the Web is the contents, or the interconnected documents,
linked by hyperlinks
and URLs. The World Wide Web is accessible
through the Internet, along with many other services including e-mail, file
sharing and others described below.
Toward the end
of the 20th century, the advent of the World Wide Web marked the first era in
which most individuals could have a means of exposure on a scale comparable to
that of mass media. Anyone with a web site has
the potential to address a global audience, although serving to high levels of web traffic
is still relatively expensive. It is possible that the rise of peer-to-peer
technologies may have begun the process of making the cost of bandwidth
manageable. Although a vast amount of information, imagery, and commentary
(i.e. "content") has been made available, it is often difficult to
determine the authenticity and reliability of information contained in web
pages (in many cases, self-published). The invention of the Internet has also
allowed breaking news stories to reach around the globe within minutes. This
rapid growth of instantaneous, decentralized communication is often deemed
likely to change mass media and its relationship to society.
"Cross-media"
means the idea of distributing the same message through different media
channels. A similar idea is expressed in the news industry as
"convergence". Many authors understand cross-media publishing to be
the ability to publish in both print and on the web without manual conversion effort. An
increasing number of wireless devices with mutually incompatible data and screen
formats make it even more difficult to achieve the objective “create once,
publish many”.
The Internet is
quickly becoming the center of mass media. Everything is becoming accessible
via the internet. Instead of picking up a newspaper, or watching the 10 o'clock
news, people can log onto the internet to get the news they want, when they
want it. For example, many workers listen to the radio through the Internet
while sitting at their desk.
Even the education
system relies on the Internet. Teachers can contact the entire class by
sending one e-mail. They may have web pages where students can get another copy
of the class outline or assignments. Some classes have class blogs in which students
are required to post weekly, with students graded on their contributions.
Blogs (web logs)
Blogging, too,
has become a pervasive form of media. A blog is a website,
usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary,
descriptions of events, or interactive media such as images or video. Entries
are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order, with most recent posts
shown on top. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject;
others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text,
images and other graphics, and links to other blogs, web pages, and related
media. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an
important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some
focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog),
music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) are part of a wider network of social
media. Microblogging is another type of blogging which
consists of blogs with very short posts.
RSS feeds
RSS is a format for
syndicating news and the content of news-like sites, including major news sites
like Wired,
news-oriented community sites like Slashdot, and
personal blogs. It is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently
updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts. An RSS document
(which is called a "feed" or "web feed" or
"channel") contains either a summary of content from an associated
web site or the full text. RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with web
sites in an automated manner that can be piped into special programs or
filtered displays.
Podcast
Main article: Podcast
A podcast is a
series of digital-media files which are distributed over the Internet using
syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and computers. The
term podcast, like broadcast, can refer either to the series of content itself
or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting.
The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.
Mobile
Mobile
phones were introduced in Japan in 1979 but became a mass media only in 1998 when the
first downloadable ringing tones were introduced in Finland. Soon most forms of
media content were introduced on mobile phones, and today the total value of
media consumed on mobile towers over that of internet content, and was worth
over 31 billion dollars in 2007 (source Informa). The mobile media content
includes over 8 billion dollars worth of mobile music (ringing tones, ringback
tones, truetones, MP3 files, karaoke, music videos, music streaming services
etc.); over 5 billion dollars worth of mobile gaming; and various news,
entertainment and advertising services. In Japan mobile phone books are so
popular that five of the ten best-selling printed books were originally
released as mobile phone books.
Similar to the
internet, mobile is also an interactive media, but has far wider reach, with
3.3 billion mobile phone users at the end of 2007 to 1.3 billion internet users
(source ITU). Like email on the internet, the top application on mobile is also
a personal messaging service, but SMS text messaging is used by over 2.4
billion people. Practically all internet services and applications exist or
have similar cousins on mobile, from search to multiplayer games to virtual
worlds to blogs. Mobile has several unique benefits which many mobile media
pundits claim make mobile a more powerful media than either TV or the internet,
starting with mobile being permanently carried and always connected. Mobile has
the best audience accuracy and is the only mass media with a built-in payment
channel available to every user without any credit cards or paypal accounts or
even an age limit. Mobile is often called the 7th
Mass Medium and either the fourth screen (if counting cinema, TV and PC
screens) or the third screen (counting only TV and PC).
Print media
Book
Main article: Book
Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon,
1902.
A book is a collection of
sheets of paper, parchment or
other material with a piece of text written on them, bound together along one
edge within covers. A book is also a literary work or a main division of such a
work. A book produced in electronic format is known as an e-book.
Magazine
A magazine is a
periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally
financed by advertising and/or purchase by readers.
Magazines are
typically published weekly,
biweekly, monthly, bimonthly or quarterly,
with a date on the cover that is in advance of the
date it is actually published. They are often printed in color on coated paper,
and are bound with a soft cover.
Magazines fall
into two broad categories: consumer magazines and business magazines. In
practice, magazines are a subset of periodicals, distinct from those periodicals
produced by scientific, artistic, academic or special interest publishers which
are subscription-only, more expensive, narrowly limited in circulation, and
often have little or no advertising.
Magazines can
be classified as:
- General interest magazines (e.g. Frontline, India Today, The Week, The Sunday Times etc.)
- Special interest magazines (women's, sports, business, scuba diving, etc.)
Newspaper
A newspaper is
a publication
containing news and information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost
paper called newsprint.
It may be general or special interest, most often published daily or weekly.
The first printed newspaper was published in 1605, and the form has thrived
even in the face of competition from technologies such as radio and television.
Recent developments on the Internet are posing major threats to its business
model, however. Paid circulation is declining in most countries, and
advertising revenue, which makes up the bulk of a newspaper's income, is
shifting from print to online; some commentators, nevertheless, point out that
historically new media such as radio and television did not entirely supplant
existing.
Outdoor media
Outdoor media
is a form of mass media which comprises billboards, signs, placards placed
inside and outside of commercial buildings/objects like shops/buses, flying
billboards (signs in tow of airplanes), blimps, and skywriting. Many commercial
advertisers use this form of mass media when advertising in sports stadiums. Tobacco
and alcohol manufacturers used billboards and other outdoor media extensively.
However, in 1998, the Master Settlement Agreement between the US and the
tobacco industries prohibited the billboard advertising of cigarettes. In a
1994 Chicago-based study, Diana Hackbarth and her colleagues revealed how
tobacco- and alcohol-based billboards were concentrated in poor neighbourhoods.
In other urban centers, alcohol and tobacco billboards were much more
concentrated in African-American neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods.[3]
Influence and effects
There are 3
theories to describe the influence of mass media. The website CliffNotes
explains in detail the theories with examine the role that mass media plays in
modern society. The limited-effects theory, which was originally tested
in the 1940s and 1950s, states that "because people usually choose what
media to interact with based on what they already believe, media exerts a
negligible influence". The class-dominant theory states that
"the media reflects and projects the view of a minority elite, which
controls it". It continues by explaining that the people who own and
control the corporations that produce media comprise this elite. The culturalist
theory, which was developed in the 1980s and 1990s, combines the other two
theories and claims that "people interact with media to create their own
meanings out of the images and messages they receive". This theory states
that audience members play an active, rather than passive role in relation to
mass media.[21]
In an article
entitled Mass Media Influence on Society, rayuso argues that the media
is dominated by five major companies (Time Warner, VIACOM, Vivendi Universal,
Walt Disney and News Corp) which own 95% of all mass media including theme
parks, movie studios, television and radio broadcast networks and programing,
video news, sports entertainment, telecommunications, wireless phones, video
games software, electronic media and music companies. Whilst historically,
there was more diversity in companies, they have recently merged to form an
elite which have the power to shape the opinion and beliefs of people. People
buy after seeing thousands of advertisements by various companies in TV,
newspapers or magazines, which are able to affect their purchasing decisions.
The definition of what is acceptable by society is dictated by the media. This
power can be used for good, for example encouraging children to play sport.
However, it can also be used for bad, for example children being influenced by
cigars smoked by film stars, their exposure to sex images, their exposure to
images of violence and their exposure to junk food ads. The documentary Supersize
Me describes how companies like McDonalds have been sued in the past, the
plaintiffs claiming that it was the fault of their liminal and subliminal
advertising that "forced" them to perchance the product. The Barbie
and Ken dolls of the 1950s are sometimes cited as the main cause for the obsession
in modern day society for women to be skinny and men to be buff. After the
attacks of 9/11, the media gave extensive coveage of the event and exposed
Osama's guilt for the attack, information they were told by the authorities.
This shaped the public opinion to support the war on terrorism, and later, the
war on Iraq. A main concern is that due to this immense power of the mass media
(being able to drive the public opinion), media receiving inaccurate
information could cause the public opinion to support the wrong cause.
In his book The
Commercialization of American Culture, Matthew P. McAllister says that "a
well-developed media system, informing and teaching its citizens, helps
democracy move toward its ideal state."[22]
In 1997, J. R.
Finnegan Jr. and K. Viswanath identified 3 main effects or functions of mass
media. The Knowledge Gap: The mass media influences knowledge gaps due
to factors including "the extent to which the content is appealing, the
degree to which information channels are accessible and desirable, and the
amount of social conflict and diversity there is in a community". Agenda
Setting: People are influence in how they think about issues due to the
selective nature of what media choose for public consumption. After publicly
disclosing that he had prostate cancer prior to the 2000 New York senatorial
election, Rudolph Giuliani, the mayor of New York City (aided by the media)
sparked a huge priority elevation of the cancer in people's consciousness. This
was because news media began to report on the risks of prostate cancer, which
in turn prompted a greater public awareness about the disease and the need for
screening. This ability for the media to be able to change how the public
thinks and behaves has occurred on other occasions. In mid-1970s when Betty
Ford and Happy Rockefeller, wives of the then-President and then-Vice President
respectively, were both diagnosed with breast cancer. J. J. Davis states that
"when risks are highlighted in the media, particularly in great detail,
the extent of agenda setting is likely to be based on the degree to which a
public sense of outrage and threat is provoked". When wanting to set an
agenda, framing can be invaluably useful to a mass media organisation. Framing
involves "taking a leadership role in the organisation of public discourse
about an issue". The media is influenced by the desire for balance in
coverage, and the resulting pressures can come from groups with particular
political action and advocacy positions. Finnegan and Viswanath say,
"groups, institutions, and advocates compete to identify problems, to move
them onto the public agenda, and to define the issues symbolically" (1997,
p. 324). Cultivation of Perceptions: The extent to which media
exposure shapes audience perceptions over time is known as cultivation.
Television is a common experience, especially in places like the United States,
to the point where it can be described as a "homogenising agent" (S.
W. Littlejohn). However, instead of being merely a result of the TV, the effect
is often based on socio-economic factors. Having a prolonged exposure to TV or
movie violence might affect a viewer to the extent where they actively think
community violence is a problem, or alternatively find it justifiable. The
resulting belief is likely to be different depending of where people live
however.[22]
Since the '50s,
when cinema, radio and TV began to be the primary or the only source of
information for a larger and larger percentage of the population, these media
began to be considered as central instruments of mass control.[23][24]
Up to the point that it emerged the idea that when a country has reached a high level of industrialization, the country
itself "belongs to the person who controls communications."[7]
Mass media play
a significant role in shaping public perceptions on a variety of important
issues, both through the information that is dispensed through them, and
through the interpretations they place upon this information.[23]
They also play a large role in shaping modern culture, by selecting and
portraying a particular set of beliefs, values, and traditions (an entire way
of life), as reality. That is, by portraying a certain interpretation of
reality, they shape reality to be more in line with that interpretation.[24]
Mass media and racism
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Mass media has
played a large role in the way white Americans perceive African-Americans. The
media focus on African-American in the contexts of crime, drug use, gang
violence, and other forms of anti-social behaviour has resulted in a distorted
and harmful public perception of African-Americans. African-Americans have been
subjected to oppression and discrimination for the past few hundred years.
According to Stephen Balkaran in his article Mass Media and Racism, "The
media has played a key role in perpetuating the effects of this historical
oppression and in contributing to African-Americans' continuing status as
second-class citizens". This has resulted in an uncertainty among white
Americans as to what the genuine nature of African-Americans really is. Despite
the resulting racial divide, the fact that these people are undeniably American
has "raised doubts about the white man's value system". This means
that there is a somewhat "troubling suspicion" among some Americans
that their white America is tainted by the black influence.[25]
