...The Control of the Mass Media Some nations can influence and control their media greatly. In addition, powerful corporations also have enormous influence on mainstream media. In some places major multinational corporations own media stations and outlets. Often, many media institutions survive on advertising fees, which can lead to the media outlet being influenced by various corporate interests. Other times, the ownership interests may affect what is and is not covered. Stories can end up being biased or omitted so as not to offend advertisers or owners. The ability for citizens to make informed decisions is crucial for a free and functioning democracy but now becomes threatened by such concentration in ownership. The idea of corporate media itself may not be a bad thing, for it can foster healthy competition and provide a check against governments. However, the concern is when there is a concentration of ownership due to the risk of increased economic and political influence that can itself be unaccountable. Global conglomerates can at times have a progressive impact on culture, especially when they enter nations that had been tightly controlled by corrupt crony media systems (as in much of Latin America) or nations that had significant state censorship over media (as in parts of Asia) (McChesney 2000, 22). The global commercial-media system is radical in that it will respect no tradition or custom, on balance, if it stands in the way of profits. But ultimately it is politically...
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...Evaluate the pluralist view of the ownership and control of the mass media The mass media is the means by which messages and images are communicated to a mass audience, it does this through its various Mass Communication Technologies (MCTs), and for instance the Internet is a very powerful and influential MCT communicating worldwide. MCTs educate, persuade and inform as well as entertain their audience. Media is geographically dispersed and has no limits due to its global domination. It is also culturally diverse and socially mixed. Pluralists believe that the mass media is reflective of social reality, and acts as a 'mirror'. They state that it has a functional role in meeting the demands of its mass audience, and thus owes a duty to the people. Marxists on the other hand would argue that the media constructs desires and creates social reality. In other words it is a sculptor of a worldview and distorts social reality which is based on exploitation of a powerless majority, thus it is an ideological tool of the powerful bourgeoisie and reflects their interests. Over eighty percent of the media is owned by Trans National Corporations. But does ownership have any effect on the media coordinators? According to pluralists the answer is simply no. They back this by highlighting the fact that power is dispersed within society and that different pressure and interest groups all influence the media, which reacts accordingly. For instance Green Peace;...
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...being an unbiased medium for the communication of information, the U.S. media plays an intricate role in shaping and controlling political opinions. Media is extremely powerful in the sense that without an adequately functioning media, it is virtually impossible for a sophisticated social structure like the U.S. Government to exist. All known sophisticated social structures have always been dependent upon the media’s ability to socialize. The U.S. government generally will exploit the media, often times manipulating the enormous power of the printed word. This exploitation ultimately empowers the U.S. government by strengthening it with the ability to determine and control the popular perception of reality. One way in which government achieves this objective is by misusing the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, the media is in fact an enormous power in society. Separate independent news organizations do not exist for the most part. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of their own, smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media has the characteristics of a hierarchical rule. In order for the U.S. government to control and determine the public’s popular perception of reality, the government must shape and oversee the information that the media reports to the people. This particular process of democracy is known and...
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...hypodermic syringe model of the relationship between the mass media and the audience. (18 marks) There are a variety of sociological theories and evidence that suggests that the hypodermic syringe model has a relationship between the mass media and the audience however there also some flaws to these ideas. The hypodermic syringe model assumes ideas/ideologies transmitted in mass media products are automatically ‘injected’ into the minds of the audience for example a newspaper telling its readers who to vote for. The audience is seen as passive recipients. The hypodermic syringe model shows that we are a passive homogenous audience. The hypodermic Syringe Model (HSM) is an early theory model, which believes that there is a direct correlation between the violence and anti-social behavior portrayed in different media types (e.g. Television, computer games and films). Sociologists found that the most venerable audience to the HSM is children and teenagers. This is because they are still in the early stages of socialization so are therefore very impressionable. A prime example to support this theory is the case of Jamie Bugler. Jamie was a 2 year old boy that was abducted and murdered by two 10 year old boys. The boys had apparently watched 'Childs Play 3' before they murdered the toddler, and as the murder was very similar to the death in the film newspapers such as 'The Sun' created a debate to whether such violence in the media should be accepted. However, when the case was carried...
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...theories. Authoritarian: The state, as the highest expression of institutionalized structure, supersedes the individual and makes it possible for the individual to acquire and develop a stable and harmonious life Mass communication, then, supports the state and the government in power so that total society may advance and the state may be viable and attain its objectives. The State (the elite that runs the state) directs the citizenry, which is not considered competent and interested enough to make critical political decisions. One man or an elite group is placed in a leadership role. As the group or person controls society generally it (or he or she) also controls the mass media since they are recognized as vital instruments of social control. The mass media, under authoritarianism, are educators and propagandists by which the power elite exercise social control. Generally the media are privately owned, although the leader or his elite group may own units in the total communication system. A basic: assumption a person engaged in journalism is so engaged as a special privilege granted by the national leadership. He, therefore, owes an obligation to the leadership. This press concept has formed and now forms, the basis for many media systems of the world. The mass media, under authoritarianism, have only as much freedom as the national leadership at...
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...Mass media messages and effects Heather Gilliland BSCOM/268 06-06-16 Mabelle Reynoso Mass media messages and effects Introduction The mass media is in the business of steering your thoughts about subjects and controlling how the public thinks. The press, the television, and the radio play an important role in society. The mass media informs, educates, and entertains the public. They also influence how society looks at the world and can often alter that view. Mass media shapes public opinion on many different matters. When you want to see the most current events, read about the news or listen to get the latest gossip on celebrities, or learn the latest fashion trends, members of society usually turn on the television, the radio, or access the internet through your computer or smartphone. Mass media has developed a technology to reach the vast majority of the population. The mass media is constantly changing and growing as new technological advances are being made. The public is exposed to vast amounts of content in the stories they read and the news they listen to, and even though we depend on mass media for almost everything we listen to, all the stories may not be very ethical. There are many undependable sources of mass media out there, but there are also true, dependable and reliable sources that we are exposed to as well. As the public depends on the media to such a great degree, it is important to know which sources to trust, and which to disregard as unreliable...
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...Question: What is the importance of media in literature and social (daily) life? Answers: Media and Literature Texts from the English literary canon are often seen as 'pure' literature, as opposed to media texts which are a (necessarily, or potentially) bad influence against which students should be defended. "The aim is to set standards...against which the offerings of the media will appear cut down to size" (Leavis and Thompson) This suggests a clear distinction between the literary tradition and that of popular culture and the media. However, as English teachers will know, books which are now promoted as part of the canon - by authors such as Dickens and Hardy - were originally published in serial form in magazines, complete with cliff-hanging endings to each episode, like those used in television drama and soap opera nowadays. It has been suggested that if Dickens was alive today he would be writing scripts for Brookside rather than novels! Media approaches provide a way of making these connections explicit, enabling students to relate literary texts to their own experience, and to the media with which they themselves are familiar. There are many different ways of using adaptations to aid pupils' understanding of literary texts. One of the most common is comparing the book and the film. However, the English and Media Centre publication Media 1: Years 7-9 warns against simple comparisons of texts and their adaptations, which can lead to detailed lists of differences...
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...Day-to-Day Mass Shooting cannot be prevented By Katherine Zelaya Mass shootings have caused many controversy in our American community. People should stay at home safe instead of going to shopping centers, movie theatres, and other public places risking the danger due to all the violence and massacres going on in America. Throughout the decade there has been many cases involving interactions with people in possession of guns. Since as long as I know, mass shootings have become a global issue that has increased within the years. In addition, mass shootings have doubled within the past 10 years, not to mention, these crimes have resulted in numerous deaths, due to the wrong people in possession of firearms. Occurrences like...
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...Study Guide, Fall 2015 Media/Society, Ch. 6: Social Inequality & Media Representation · Comparing Media Content and the “Real World”: four issues raised by this comparison (pp. 188-189) o First – literature in media and cultural studies reminds us that representation are not reality, even if media readers or audiences may sometimes be tempted to judge them as such. § Representations are the result of process of selection that invariably mean that certain aspects of reality are highlighted and others neglected. § All representations re-present the social world in ways that are both incomplete and narrow. o Second – the media usually do not try to reflect the “real” world. o Creators of media products use entertainment media to comment on the real social world. Readers and audiences develop at least some sense of the social world through their exposure to both entertainment media and news media. · Third – Concerns the troublesome term real. o The concept of a “real” world may seem like a quaint artifact from the past. o Social constructionist perspective. § No representation of reality can ever be totally “true” or “real” because it must inevitably frame an issue and choose to include and exclude certain components of a multifaceted reality. o Fourth- Seems to imply that the media should reflect society. o For many people, media are an escape from the realities of daily life. o Therefore, how “real” media products are is irrelevant...
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...later-the mass media has honed the power of this technology, and become more pervasive than anything humanity has ever encountered. Looking at antiwar movements over the last 60 years, the media has been used to influence the mentality of millions in two very dichotomous ways. Meaning, the media has helped shape public opinion to be either for or against these movements depending on the pressures and demands of the times. Traditionally, print media industry has treated antiwar protestors as if they were disobedient children. In movies such as Across the Universe, protestors are portrayed as young hippies who do not fully understand the rationale and benefits behind war. Often the media presents us with one-sided information that is meant to persuade us to accept a message that we are not familiar. In the case of antiwar protests back in the Vietnam Era, the media while covering the issue equally with government/military administration, often only covered the more colorful aspects of the antiwar movement. While articles have been published about the tendency of the media during this time to be in favor of the antiwar sentiment, many scholars believe that print media in particular impacted the success of the movement. Antiwar movements are often conceived by the media as a form of dissent, and are further admonished by the government, and labeled as unpatriotic. While the Antiwar movement of the 1960s was ultimately extremely Mass Media Messages 3 successful, the media scrupulously...
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...today’s time and age, mass society and mass media is a massive cultural wave that more or less plays a large role in society. Like it or not, mass society and mass media is largely intertwined with one another. In this essay, it will be discussed whether mass media is influenced by the presence of mass society. Mass society is a social system that is determined by mindless standardisation, the weakening of religion, a sense of alienation and moral emptiness, strained family and community ties, political indifference and the replacement of refined and high culture such as art and literacy with low culture which gives way to bland and unsophisticated tastes. The society concerned in this context is born from the modern, industrialised era where factory-produced, mass consumer goods precede home-grown goods which are produced on a smaller scale. The Industrial Revolution that took place in the 19th century contributed to the ‘soulless’ uniformity of the society and paved a way for the decline of traditional and aristocratic ways of past societies. Mass society is largely related to mass culture in which consumerism tendencies play a dominant role. It can also be defined as the young society which has been transformed from having individualistic, communal and pluralist characteristics to one which are of the total opposite of these values. Mass society is often seen as a threat to the American social, cultural and political life because it has changed American mass culture from one that...
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...The portrayal of the mass media is seen to neutral and unbiased. Media is an agent of political socialization, which has created an impact on politics. Mass media has operated in a way that can affect politics in America. Today, significant factors contribute to the workers of mass media as their reports can face a high chance of influence to politician. Such influences include big corporations or the government, primarily to manipulate the mass audience for their own advantage. Mass media has a great influence on the public opinion as they can fluctuate what individuals should think, know and feel about politicians. The media supplies the general audience with information that voters can base their decisions on. From this, the media is able to manipulate the general public on extreme issues that interfere with the general publics’ rights, such as important issues regarding health or even political interferences. Although one may believe what they learn from the media may be a from an objective point of view, but in truth all information from the media has many external factors that can influence stories for a purpose. This paper will argue how the mass media has a direct influence on the general audience’s perspective and the opinions of the opinions of our political candidates. One area to notice is how certain issues in the media are given more attention in comparison where others are not. What is determined to be on the agenda of the media is a continuous competition from...
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...Crime is extremely prevalent and occurs often. Most people want to avoid talking about crime, out of fear. Whenever an act of violence happens, most people turn to the news to provide them with information regarding the incident. The information gets twisted, and a whole group of people get shamed for something out of their control. The negative ideas about mental health that come from the public are heavily influenced by the media’s negative portrayals when crime is committed by those with mental illnesses. When one “crazy” person does something wrong, every single person with OCD, for example, is also viewed as deranged and unpredictable. Although mental illnesses may ignite something in the brain to act, mental health can not fairly be the...
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...Media in America Marco B. Avecilla COMM/215 August 13, 2012 Ruth Palumbo Media in America Mass shooting in Movie Theater causes mass chaos for a nation (DenverChannel News Team, 2012), and the media should quit over publicizing news. As an America, good and evil does exist. The bad always out shine the good in the Media and news. The Mass shooting in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater (DenverChannel News Team, 2012) has not only shown the evil that exists in the world but also the negative and not so good Media coverage that also exists in the world. The Mass shooting is a close runner-up to evil acts. Media coverage is out of control. On the other hand, it can be manipulative and exhausting to replay coverage of a certain horrifying event, when in fact, in just another state where barely any news coverage over deaths in a car crash that killed the same number of people. I believe as I write this paper I am almost ashamed and horrified as the person who murdered so many and claim the glorification in some way that perhaps the murderer were seeking. Is our country focusing on certain situations as massacres to somehow put out fear in our country for may be mind control or government moves beyond our understanding? I am not sure exactly what is going on, but the one thing I do know is that America's media coverage on many aspects of life is disheartening and depressing. Thus, almost always too focused on the negative when we can try to find more positive to give Americans...
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...freedoms of citizens in the volume, which allows not only government parties and organizations to act legally, but the opposition too; the presence of representative bodies of power, which are formed on the basis of universal, free and fair elections; the “separation of powers” principle, which means that the parliament is the sole legislative body; political pluralism and publicity of power. The civil society will not be able to exist without ensuring equality of rights and freedoms for all people; freedom of citizens in establishing of political parties and civil movements; freedom of establishing the mass media and ensuring their activities. In the modern Russian society the media, as declared, should ensure dialogue between the authorities and citizens, inform the latter about the government’s decisions, the home and international events. Domestic media today have broad spectrum of opportunities for satisfying information needs of citizens qualitatively, for coordination and harmonization of common interests of citizens, the society and the government. In addition, they can and must exercise effective...
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