essay on mass media

Essay On Mass Media

500 words essay on mass media.

All kinds of different tools which come in use to help in distributing and circulating information and entertainment to the public come under the term of mass media. In other words, everything including radio, newspapers , cable, television and theatre are parts of mass media. These tools include exchanging opinions and public involvement. Through essay on mass media, we will go through it in detail.

Introduction to Mass Media

In today’s world, mass media embraces internet , cell phones, electronic mail, computers, pagers and satellites. All these new additions function as transmitting information from a single source to multiple receivers.

In other words, they are interactive and work on the person to person formula. Thus, it revolves around the masses i.e. the people. It is true that radio, television, press and cinema are in the spotlight when we talk about mass media.

Nonetheless, the role of pamphlets, books, magazines, posters, billboards, and more also have equal importance if not less. Moreover, the reach of these tools extends to a huge amount of masses living all over the country.

Television, cinema, radio and press are comparatively expensive forms of media which private financial institutions or the Government runs. These tools centre on the idea of mass production and mass distribution.

Therefore, newspapers, television and radio cater to the needs of the mass audience and accommodates their taste. As a result, it will not always be refined or sophisticated. In other words, it displays popular culture.

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The Function of Mass Media

The main function of mass media is to reach out to the masses and provide them with information. In addition to that, it also operates to analyze and observe our surroundings and provide information in the form of news accordingly.

As a result, the masses get constantly updated about not just their own surroundings but also around the world. This way mass media spreads and interprets information. For instance, weather forecasts equip people and farmers to plan ahead.

Similarly, fishermen get updates about the tidal activities from the news. In addition to this, mass media also strives to keep the fabric of our social heritage intact which showcasing our customs, myths and civilization.

Another major product of mass media is advertising. This way people learn about the goods and services in the market. It also spreads social awareness. For instance, anti-smoking campaign, women empowerment, green earth clean earth and more.

Most importantly, with the numerous mediums available in multiple languages, the masses get entertainment in their own language easily. Millions of people get to access a cheap source of relaxation and pass their time. In fact, it also helps to transport momentarily from our ordinary lives to a dream world. Thus, it remains the undisputed leader in reaching out to the masses.

Conclusion of Essay on Mass Media

All in all, while it is an effective tool, we must also keep a check on its consumption. In other words, it has the power to create and destroy. Nonetheless, it is a medium which can bring about a change in the masses. Thus, everyone must utilize and consume it properly.

FAQ on Essay on Mass Media

Question 1: Why is mass media important?

Answer 1: Mass media is essential as it informs, educates and entertains the public. Moreover, it also influences the way we look at the world. In other words, it helps in organizing public opinion.

Question 2: How does mass media affect our lives?

Answer 2: Mass media affects many aspects of human life, which range from the way we vote to our individual views and beliefs. Most importantly, it also helps in debunking false information.

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Essay On Mass Media

Mass Media Essay

500+ words mass media essay.

The current age is termed the era of information. So, mass media is used to spread and share information. Mass media has become more potent after the advancement of digital technology. It is the most influential source of various ideas, news, and opinions. It also provides information about the happenings around the world.

Mass media means tools used in distributing and circulating information and entertainment to the masses. It includes television, the internet, radio, newspaper, and theatre. These modes of communication provide a platform to exchange opinions and public involvement.

In this essay on mass media, we will discuss the function of mass media and its importance to the world.

Introduction to Mass Media

In our society, mass media plays a crucial role. Mass media is a medium that brings news, entertainment, and cultural and educational programs to millions of homes. Mass media is classified into two categories: Print media and electronic media. Print media includes journals, newspapers, magazines, etc., and electronic media consists of the internet, TV, movies, etc. Some primary resources through which we get information are reading newspapers and magazines, listening to the radio and watching TV.

Radio, television, cinema and press are expensive forms of media run by private or government-run institutions. The main focus of these institutions is the idea of mass production and mass distribution. Among all the mass media tools, TV is the most popular. We have many channels to watch various shows, films, sports, plays, and educational and cultural programs.

Compared to other mass media tools, the information published in the newspapers is different. It publishes information about the latest happenings nationally and internationally. Some magazines and newspapers cover news, events, and reports on sports, cultural life, education, fashion, and entertainment for youth.

By watching TV or listening to the radio, you can upgrade your history, literature, and cultural knowledge and even learn foreign languages. Mass media includes cell phones, the internet, computers, pagers, emails, and satellites in today’s world. Information can be sent from a single source to multiple receivers through these mediums.

Other mass media tools such as books, magazines, pamphlets, books, billboards, etc., also have equal significance as the reach of these mediums extends to a massive number of masses.

The Function of Mass Media

Information.

One of the primary functions of mass media is the dissemination of information. Mass media circulates information and opinions about various events and situations to mass audiences. The information we get through multiple mediums of mass media is subjective, objective, secondary and primary. As an audience, we get informative news about the happenings worldwide via mass media. Media broadcast information on TV, radio, newspapers or magazines. Moreover, advertisements are also mainly for information purposes.

Entertainment

The most apparent function of mass media is entertainment. It is a performance that pleases people by making leisure time more enjoyable. Magazines and newspapers, television, radio, and other online mediums offer serials, stories, films, and comics to entertain audiences. Other instances include news, sports, columns, art and fashion. Infotainment means the fusion of entertainment and information, and edutainment is education and fun programs.

Socialisation

Socialisation means the transmission of culture and media works as reflectors of society. Socialisation is a process by which people behave in acceptable ways in their culture or society. Through this process, we learn how to become members of our community or human society in a greater sense. People who read a newspaper or watch television know how people react to matters and what norms and values they perceive on particular events, issues, or situations.

The link between the government and the people

The government utilises the power of mass media to explain, inform, and support its policies and programs.

Conclusion of Essay on Mass Media

All in all, while it is an effective tool, we must also check its consumption. In other words, it has the power to create and destroy. Nonetheless, it is a medium that can bring about a change in the masses. Thus, everyone must utilise and consume it properly.

From our BYJU’S website, students can also access CBSE Essays related to different topics. It will help students to get good marks in their exams.

Frequently asked Questions on Mass media Essay

Why is mass media important.

Mass media provides information, education and also entertainment. Thus it is considered important and a quick media to share any type of content.

What are two main categories of mass media?

Print media and electronic media are the two main mass media categories. All the other types of media mostly come under these two broad sections.

What types of information can one obtain from such mass media?

History, literature, kowledge on cultural and foreign language, etc are some of the examples that can be obtained from mass media.

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Essay on Mass Media

Students are often asked to write an essay on Mass Media in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Mass Media

Introduction.

Mass media refers to various platforms that communicate and distribute information to a large number of people. These include television, radio, newspapers, and the internet.

Role of Mass Media

Mass media plays a crucial role in society. It educates, entertains, and informs people. It also influences public opinion and trends.

Types of Mass Media

There are traditional forms like print media (newspapers, magazines) and broadcast media (TV, radio). The internet is a modern form, including social media, blogs, and news websites.

In conclusion, mass media is a powerful tool that can shape society. It is vital to use it responsibly for the benefit of all.

Also check:

Advantages and Disadvantages of Mass Media
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250 Words Essay on Mass Media

Introduction to mass media.

Mass media refers to the diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. It encompasses various forms of communication tools such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and digital platforms. The power of mass media lies in its ability to disseminate information, influence public opinion, and shape societal norms.

The Evolution of Mass Media

The journey of mass media began with print media, with the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. The advent of electronic media, such as radio and television, in the 20th century, revolutionized the way information was shared. In the digital age, the internet has further transformed mass media, allowing for instantaneous global communication and interactivity.

Impact of Mass Media on Society

Mass media plays a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and culture. It has the power to influence political discourse, societal norms, and individual behavior. However, it can also propagate misinformation, leading to public confusion and mistrust. Hence, the ethical use of mass media is crucial.

The Future of Mass Media

The future of mass media lies in its convergence with digital technology. With the emergence of artificial intelligence and machine learning, mass media is likely to become even more personalized and interactive. However, this also raises concerns about privacy and the potential manipulation of information.

In conclusion, mass media, as a powerful tool of communication, has a profound impact on society. Its evolution and future developments pose both opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed responsibly.

500 Words Essay on Mass Media

Mass media, an essential component of modern society, plays a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and disseminating information. It includes various platforms such as newspapers, radio, television, and the internet, which collectively serve as a mirror reflecting societal norms, values, and transformations.

The Role of Mass Media

Mass media is not merely an information-dissemination tool; it is a potent force in shaping public opinion and culture. It serves as a platform for debate, influencing political discourse and social issues. It has the power to set the agenda for public discourse, highlighting certain issues while downplaying others, thereby influencing what the public perceives as significant.

Democratization of Information

The advent of the internet and digital platforms has democratized information access, transforming mass media’s role. Previously, media was a one-way communication channel, with the public as passive consumers. However, the internet has made the public active participants, enabling them to generate, share, and react to content. This shift has democratized media, giving voice to previously unheard sections of society.

Mass Media and Social Change

Mass media has the potential to drive social change by bringing social issues to the forefront. It can expose injustices, spark debates, and drive collective action. For instance, the #MeToo movement gained momentum through social media, leading to significant shifts in societal attitudes towards sexual harassment.

The Dark Side of Mass Media

However, the power of mass media can also be misused, leading to negative societal impacts. The proliferation of fake news and misinformation, especially on social media platforms, is a significant concern. Moreover, media platforms can be used to spread hate speech, incite violence, or manipulate public opinion, as seen in various instances globally.

The Need for Media Literacy

Given mass media’s influence, media literacy is crucial. It involves the ability to critically analyze media content, discerning between credible information and misinformation. Media literacy education can empower individuals, enabling them to make informed decisions and participate effectively in the digital age.

In conclusion, mass media is a double-edged sword with the power to shape society positively or negatively. As we navigate this digital age, it is crucial to harness its potential for societal good, while mitigating its negative impacts. This balancing act requires critical media literacy, stringent regulations, and active participation from all stakeholders. The future of mass media is not just about technological advancements, but also about the ethical and responsible use of these powerful platforms.

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Short Essay: Mass Media

In today’s interconnected world, mass media plays a pivotal role in shaping our perception of the world, disseminating information, and influencing public opinion. From traditional platforms like television, radio, and newspapers to the ever-expanding digital landscape encompassing social media, online news portals, and streaming services, mass media has become an integral part of our daily lives. Understanding the impact and intricacies of mass media is crucial, making it a compelling subject for exploration within the realm of academic writing.

To effectively write an essay on mass media, it is essential to employ a structured and systematic approach. This includes conducting extensive research to gather relevant information, critically evaluating sources, and organizing your thoughts to present a coherent and well-argued analysis. Additionally, understanding the key theories, concepts, and debates within the field of mass media will provide a solid foundation for constructing a compelling essay.

Table of Contents

Mass Media Essay Tips

Understand the Prompt: Carefully read and understand the essay prompt or question. Identify the specific focus or aspect of mass media that you need to address in your essay. Analyze any instructions or guidelines provided to ensure that you meet the requirements.

Conduct Thorough Research: Gather information from reliable and credible sources such as books, academic journals, reputable websites, and scholarly articles. Use a combination of primary and secondary sources to support your arguments and provide evidence for your claims. Take note of key statistics, theories, and case studies relevant to the topic.

Develop a Clear Thesis Statement: Craft a concise and focused thesis statement that clearly states your main argument or position on the topic. Your thesis should reflect the specific aspect of mass media that you will be discussing in the essay and provide a roadmap for your analysis.

Create an Outline: Organize your thoughts and ideas by creating an outline for your essay. Identify the main points you want to cover and arrange them in a logical order. This will help you maintain a clear structure and flow throughout your essay.

Introduction: Write an engaging introduction that provides an overview of the topic and captures the reader’s attention. Introduce the significance of mass media, its impact on society, and provide a brief preview of the main points you will be discussing in your essay. End your introduction with a strong thesis statement.

Body Paragraphs: Each body paragraph should focus on a specific subtopic or argument related to mass media. Start each paragraph with a clear topic sentence that relates back to your thesis statement. Provide supporting evidence, examples, and analysis to strengthen your arguments. Ensure smooth transitions between paragraphs to maintain coherence.

Use Critical Analysis: Engage in critical thinking by evaluating different perspectives, theories, and debates within the field of mass media. Analyze the potential biases, ethical considerations, and the social, cultural, and political implications of mass media. Support your analysis with evidence and logical reasoning.

Incorporate Examples: Use relevant and current examples from real-world situations to illustrate your points. These can include case studies, media campaigns, or specific events that highlight the impact of mass media on society.

Conclusion: Summarize the main points discussed in your essay and restate your thesis in a succinct manner. Offer some final thoughts or reflections on the significance of mass media and its potential future developments. Avoid introducing new information in the conclusion.

Revise and Edit: Review your essay for clarity, coherence, and grammar. Ensure that your ideas flow smoothly and that your arguments are well-supported. Check for any spelling or punctuation errors. Consider seeking feedback from peers or instructors to gain different perspectives and improve the overall quality of your essay.

Mass Media Essay Example 1

Title: The Influence of Mass Media: Shaping Perspectives and Societal Dynamics

Introduction Mass media has emerged as a powerful and influential force in our contemporary world. With its ability to reach diverse audiences and shape public opinion, mass media plays a significant role in shaping perspectives, disseminating information, and driving societal dynamics. This essay delves into the influence of mass media, exploring its impact on individuals, communities, and broader society. By analyzing its reach, effects, and challenges, we can better understand the complex relationship between mass media and the world we inhabit.

I. The Reach and Forms of Mass Media: A. Traditional Media: 1. Television: Discuss the impact of television as a dominant medium, its ability to shape cultural narratives, and the influence of television programs on viewers’ beliefs and behaviors. 2. Radio: Examine the role of radio in disseminating information, fostering community engagement, and its historical significance in reaching diverse populations.

B. Print Media: 1. Newspapers and Magazines: Explore the historical importance of print media, its role in providing in-depth analysis and investigative journalism, and the challenges it faces in the digital age. 2. Books and Literature: Discuss the enduring impact of books and literature in shaping public discourse, fostering critical thinking, and influencing societal values.

C. Digital Media: 1. Internet and Online News: Analyze the transformative impact of the internet on mass media, the rise of online news platforms, and the democratization of information. 2. Social Media: Examine the influence of social media platforms on communication, community engagement, and the spread of information, as well as the challenges of misinformation and echo chambers.

II. The Effects of Mass Media on Individuals: A. Formation of Beliefs and Attitudes: 1. Agenda Setting: Discuss how mass media influences the issues and topics that capture public attention and shape individual opinions. 2. Framing and Priming: Explore how media framing and priming techniques shape the way individuals interpret and understand information.

B. Socialization and Identity: 1. Media Representations: Analyze the impact of media representations on the formation of social identities, including gender, race, and ethnicity. 2. Media Influence on Body Image: Discuss the role of mass media in shaping beauty standards and its impact on body image and self-esteem.

III. Mass Media and Societal Dynamics: A. Political Influence: 1. Media and Democracy: Examine the role of mass media in facilitating political participation, fostering informed citizenship, and holding those in power accountable. 2. Media Bias and Propaganda: Discuss the challenges of media bias, propaganda, and the implications for public trust in media institutions.

B. Cultural Transmission and Globalization: 1. Cultural Homogenization and Hybridization: Analyze the impact of mass media on cultural diversity, including the spread of globalized media content and the emergence of hybrid cultural forms. 2. Media and Cultural Hegemony: Discuss the potential for cultural dominance and the influence of media conglomerates on shaping cultural values and practices.

IV. Challenges and Responsibilities of Mass Media: A. Ethics and Responsibility: 1. Media Ethics: Explore the ethical considerations in media production, including accuracy, objectivity, and respect for privacy. 2. Responsible Journalism: Discuss the importance of responsible journalism in an era of sensationalism, clickbait, and misinformation.

B. Media Literacy and Critical Thinking: 1. Promoting Media Literacy: Highlight the significance of media literacy education in empowering individuals to critically analyze media messages and navigate the digital landscape. 2. Combating Misinformation: Examine the role of media literacy in combating misinformation and fake news, and the responsibility of media organizations in fact-checking and verification.

Conclusion Mass media holds immense power in shaping perspectives, influencing behaviors, and driving societal dynamics. Its reach, whether through traditional channels or digital platforms, has transformed the way we communicate, consume information, and construct our identities. By understanding the effects and challenges associated with mass media, we can navigate its influence more consciously, promote responsible media practices, and cultivate a media-literate society capable of engaging critically with the messages it delivers.

Mass Media Essay Example 2

Title: The Role of Mass Media in the Digital Age: Opportunities and Challenges

Introduction In the digital age, mass media has undergone a profound transformation, revolutionizing the way information is created, shared, and consumed. The rise of digital platforms and social media has expanded the reach of mass media, providing new opportunities for communication and engagement. However, this shift has also brought forth a range of challenges, including the spread of misinformation, privacy concerns, and the erosion of traditional media models. This essay explores the role of mass media in the digital age, examining its opportunities, challenges, and the implications for individuals and society.

I. The Digital Revolution and the Changing Landscape of Mass Media: A. Rise of Digital Platforms: 1. The emergence of social media and its impact on mass communication. 2. The democratization of content creation and the blurring of traditional media boundaries.

B. Fragmentation of Audiences: 1. The diversification of media consumption habits and the decline of traditional media channels. 2. The challenges and opportunities presented by niche audiences and personalized content.

II. Opportunities and Benefits of Mass Media in the Digital Age: A. Accessibility and Global Reach: 1. The democratization of information and increased access to news and knowledge. 2. The ability of mass media to bridge geographical and cultural divides.

B. Citizen Journalism and Participatory Culture: 1. The empowerment of individuals to contribute to the media landscape through user-generated content. 2. The role of social media in amplifying diverse voices and promoting civic engagement.

III. Challenges and Concerns in the Digital Media Landscape: A. Spread of Misinformation and Fake News: 1. The impact of misinformation on public discourse and decision-making processes. 2. The role of mass media in fact-checking, verification, and combating the spread of fake news.

B. Privacy and Data Security: 1. The ethical implications of data collection and surveillance in the digital media ecosystem. 2. The need for robust privacy regulations and individual empowerment in the digital age.

IV. Media Literacy and Critical Thinking in the Digital Era: A. Promoting Media Literacy: 1. The importance of media literacy education in navigating the digital media landscape. 2. Equipping individuals with critical thinking skills to evaluate media content and sources.

B. Responsible Media Practices: 1. The role of media organizations in upholding ethical standards and responsible reporting. 2. Encouraging transparency, accuracy, and accountability in the digital media environment.

V. The Future of Mass Media: A. Innovation and Adaptation: 1. The need for media organizations to embrace technological advancements and new storytelling formats. 2. Exploring emerging trends such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence.

B. Preserving Democratic Values: 1. Safeguarding the role of mass media in fostering informed citizenship and democratic processes. 2. Balancing commercial interests with the public interest in the digital media landscape.

Conclusion The digital age has presented both opportunities and challenges for mass media. While it has expanded access to information and facilitated citizen participation, it has also given rise to concerns regarding misinformation, privacy, and ethical practices. Navigating the evolving media landscape requires media literacy, critical thinking, and responsible media practices. By addressing these challenges and harnessing the potential of digital media, we can ensure that mass media continues to play a vital role in informing, engaging, and empowering individuals and society in the years to come.

Mass Media Essay Example 3

Title: Mass Media and Social Change: Catalysts for Progress and Challenges to Consider

Introduction Mass media has the power to shape public opinion, influence societal norms, and drive social change. Throughout history, mass media has played a significant role in raising awareness, mobilizing communities, and promoting progressive movements. This essay explores the dynamic relationship between mass media and social change, examining its role as a catalyst for progress, the challenges it faces, and the ethical considerations involved.

I. The Influence of Mass Media on Social Movements: A. Amplifying Voices: 1. The role of mass media in providing a platform for marginalized communities and underrepresented voices. 2. Examples of social movements that gained momentum through media coverage and public attention.

B. Mobilizing Communities: 1. The power of mass media in mobilizing individuals and communities for collective action. 2. The role of media campaigns, documentaries, and online platforms in fostering social activism.

II. Mass Media as an Agent of Awareness and Education: A. Raising Awareness of Social Issues: 1. The ability of mass media to shed light on social injustices, human rights violations, and global crises. 2. The impact of media coverage on public perception and engagement with social issues.

B. Educating and Empowering Individuals: 1. The role of mass media in disseminating information, promoting critical thinking, and fostering empathy. 2. The use of documentaries, news programs, and online resources to educate the public on social issues.

III. Challenges and Criticisms Associated with Mass Media and Social Change: A. Media Bias and Selective Reporting: 1. The influence of media bias on the portrayal and framing of social issues. 2. The need for balanced and objective reporting to ensure accuracy and credibility.

B. Commercialization and Sensationalism: 1. The impact of commercial interests on media content and the prioritization of profit over social impact. 2. The role of sensationalism in shaping public perception and undermining the integrity of social change movements.

IV. Ethical Considerations in Mass Media and Social Change: A. Representation and Authenticity: 1. The importance of diverse and authentic representation in media narratives. 2. Addressing stereotypes, misrepresentations, and cultural appropriation in media portrayals.

B. Accountability and Responsibility: 1. The ethical responsibilities of media organizations in reporting accurately and upholding journalistic integrity. 2. Balancing the pursuit of social change with the need for balanced reporting and informed public discourse.

V. The Future of Mass Media and Social Change: A. Technological Advancements and Opportunities: 1. The role of digital media in facilitating grassroots movements and online activism. 2. Exploring emerging technologies and their potential impact on social change efforts.

B. Collaboration and Collective Action: 1. The importance of collaboration between media organizations, activists, and communities to drive social change. 2. Harnessing the power of mass media to create a collective impact and sustainable social transformation.

Conclusion Mass media serves as a powerful catalyst for social change, raising awareness, mobilizing communities, and promoting progressive values. However, it also faces challenges such as bias, sensationalism, and ethical considerations. By addressing these challenges and embracing responsible media practices, mass media can continue to play a vital role in advancing social change, fostering dialogue, and creating a more just and inclusive society.

About Mr. Greg

Mr. Greg is an English teacher from Edinburgh, Scotland, currently based in Hong Kong. He has over 5 years teaching experience and recently completed his PGCE at the University of Essex Online. In 2013, he graduated from Edinburgh Napier University with a BEng(Hons) in Computing, with a focus on social media.

Mr. Greg’s English Cloud was created in 2020 during the pandemic, aiming to provide students and parents with resources to help facilitate their learning at home.

Whatsapp: +85259609792

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The Impact of Media on Society Cause and Effect Essay

Introduction, role of media in the society, impact of media on society, works cited.

Media is one of the world’s power and force that can not be undermined. Media has a remarkable control in almost every aspect of our lives; in politics, social and cultural or economic welfares. Perhaps the best analysis of the impact that media has played in the society is through first acknowledging its role in information flow and circulation.

It is would be unjust to overlook the importance of information to the society. Information is the significant to the society in the sense that, all that happens in the society must be channeled and communicated among the society’s habitats. Without media, the habitats or else the population will be left clueless on what is happening or what is ought to happen.

From another perspective, the society benefits from the media in a number of ways and as well it derives a lot of misfortunes from the society. However, regardless of the impact that is made by media on the society, the media remains to be one of the strongest forces that influence the pillars of the society. This essay paper highlights the impacts that media has continued to assert on the society either in a positive or in a negative manner.

The most common role that media has played in the society has been; to inform people, to educate people and sometimes to offer leisure or entertainment. The role of media in the society is stretched back in the ancient traditions when, there were approaches on which media role in the society was perceived. Some of these approaches included a positive approach, critical approach, production approach, technological approach, information approach and finally a post colonial approach.

A positivist approach assumed that media’s role in the society was to achieve predetermined objectives of the society, usually from a beneficial perspective. The critical approach assumes that media is pertinent can be used in struggle for power and other issues in the society that were preceded by a spark of a new or old ideology.

The production approach is that media plays a greater role in society by providing a new experience of reality to the masses by providing an avenue of new perceptions and visions. The information approach assumes that the key role of media in the society is to provide information channels for the benefit of the society (Fourie178).

With the above roles being achieved in one of the most remarkable means over centuries, media has some solid impacts that have been imprinted on the society. Some of these impacts and effects are to remain for ever as long as media existence will remain while others require control and monitoring due to their negative effects on the society. The best approach to look at this is by first describing the positive impacts that media has had on the society (Fourie 25).

The development of media and advancement of mass media is such positive impact that media has accomplished in recent times. It has been proven that mass communication has influenced social foundation and governments to means that only can be termed pro-social (Preiss 485). An example of such can be use of mass media in campaigns to eradicate HIV and AIDS in the society.

Mass communication through media avenues such as the internet, television and radio has seen great co-operation of government, government agencies, non-government organizations, private corporations and the public in what is seen as key society players in mutual efforts towards constructing better society. In this context, media has contributed to awareness, education of the society and better governance of the society.

Were it not for media, the worlds most historical moments would probably be forgotten today especially in the manner they reshape our contemporary society in matters regarding politics, economics and culture (Fourie 58).

However, media has had its shortcomings that have negative influence on the society. These negatives if not counterchecked or controlled will continue to ruin the values and morals of a society that once treasured morality and value of information.

These negative impacts include: media has contributed to immense exposure of violence and antisocial acts from media program that are aimed at entertaining the public. Media roles in the society have been reversed by merely assuming a role of society visibility thus controlling the society rather than being controlled by society.

Media has continued to use biased tactics to attract society attention and thus having a negative impact on the society’s culture due to stereotyping of other cultures. Media has continued to target vulnerable groups in the society such as children and youths be exposing them to pornographic materials that has sexual immorality consequence on the society’s young generations.

It is through such shortcomings that the cognitive behavior’s which shape the moral fiber of the society gets threatened by media (Berger 106). However, regardless of the impacts of the media on the society, the future of the media will evolve with time and its role in the society will unlikely fade.

Berger, Arthur. Media and society: a critical perspective . Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. 2007.

Fourie, Pieter. Media studies: media history, media and society . Cape Town: Juta and company ltd. 2008.

Preiss, Raymond. Mass media effects research: advances through meta-analysis . New York: Routledge. 2007.

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Mass Media Essay For Students in English

Table of Contents

Mass Media Essay: Mass media encompasses a diverse array of communication channels, including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and digital platforms. Its significance lies in its role as a powerful tool for informing, entertaining, and influencing society on a global scale. Mass media shapes public opinion, disseminates information, and reflects and shapes cultural norms and values. Students might find writing an essay on mass media highlighting its significance and impact a bit difficult. Here we are with this article to help you with essay writing on this topic. In this article, we have provided sample essays of different lengths, ranging from 100 to 500 words on the realm of mass media and its multifaceted influence.

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Long and Short Mass Media Essays

Short essay on mass media of 100 words.

Mass media plays a significant role in today’s society. It refers to a wide range of communication platforms, such as television, radio, newspapers, and the internet, that reach a large audience. The primary purpose of mass media is to inform, entertain, and persuade. It keeps us updated with current events, broadcasts various forms of entertainment, and presents different perspectives on important issues.

While mass media can be a powerful tool for democracy and education, it is crucial to consume media critically and discerningly to avoid misinformation and manipulation. In a world driven by technology and constant connectivity, it is essential for high school students to be media literate and aware of the influence of mass media.

Mass Media Essay of 250 Words

Mass media encompasses a wide range of communication channels that have become an integral part of our daily lives. Television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the internet collectively form the backbone of mass media. Its primary purpose is to reach a large audience and convey information, news, entertainment, and advertisements.

One of the most significant roles of mass media is to inform the public. News outlets, both traditional and digital, deliver news from around the world, keeping people updated on current events, politics, science, and culture. In this way, mass media acts as a bridge between people and the world.

Additionally, mass media influences public opinion. It shapes our perceptions and beliefs, often by highlighting certain issues and downplaying others. Media has the power to set agendas, influence social norms, and even impact political decisions.

media also serves as a source of entertainment. Television programs, movies, music, and online content provide an escape from daily routines and offer a variety of choices to suit diverse tastes.

In the digital age, social media platforms have gained immense popularity, allowing individuals to become content creators and share their perspectives with a global audience. This democratization of media has transformed the way information is disseminated and has given rise to citizen journalism.

In conclusion, mass media is a powerful force that shapes our worldviews, informs us, entertains us, and influences our choices. Its impact is widespread and profound, making it a central aspect of modern society.

Short Essay on Mass Media of 300 Words

Mass media is an integral part of modern society, encompassing various communication channels that reach large audiences simultaneously. These channels include television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the internet, and they serve multiple functions, from informing and educating to entertaining and influencing.

One of the primary functions of mass media is to inform the public. News outlets, both traditional and digital, deliver news from around the world, providing information on current events, politics, science, and culture. Mass media acts as a vital link between individuals and the broader world, helping people stay informed and connected.

In addition to providing information, mass media shapes public opinion. It influences our perceptions and beliefs by highlighting certain issues, framing narratives, and emphasizing specific perspectives. The media’s ability to set agendas and sway public sentiment makes it a potent tool in shaping society.

Mass media is also a significant source of entertainment. Television programs, movies, music, online videos, and gaming provide a wide range of choices to cater to diverse tastes. These forms of entertainment offer relaxation and an escape from the demands of daily life.

The digital age has brought about a transformation in the media landscape, with the rise of social media platforms. Social media allows individuals to become content creators and share their viewpoints with a global audience. It has empowered citizen journalism and facilitated real-time communication and activism.

However, it’s important to recognize that mass media can also have drawbacks, such as sensationalism, bias, and the spread of misinformation. In this digital era, discernment and critical thinking are crucial when consuming media.

In conclusion, mass media is a multifaceted phenomenon that serves as a cornerstone of contemporary society. It informs, influences, entertains, and connects us, making it an essential aspect of our daily lives.

Long Essay on Mass Media of 500 Words

Mass media refers to various means of communication that reach a wide audience, such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and social media platforms. It plays a significant role in shaping our society and influencing our thoughts, opinions, and behaviors. In this essay, we will discuss the importance of mass media, its impact on society, and the responsibility it carries.

Firstly, mass media is essential for disseminating information to the public. It acts as a bridge between the people and the world, providing us with news and updates on important events happening locally and globally. Whether it is political affairs, economic developments, or social issues, mass media serves as a platform to educate and inform the public. It allows us to stay connected and aware of what is happening around us, which is crucial for active participation in society.

Secondly, mass media has a profound influence on society and culture. It has the power to shape public opinion, attitudes, and behaviors. Through its various mediums, it can highlight certain issues, set agendas, and create trends. For instance, television shows and movies significantly impact fashion, lifestyle choices, and societal norms. Advertisements also play a crucial role in influencing consumer behavior and promoting certain products and services. Therefore, media has the ability to both reflect and shape the values and ideals of a society.

However, with great power comes great responsibility. Mass media carries the responsibility of ensuring unbiased and accurate reporting. Unfortunately, media bias and misinformation are pressing concerns. Certain media outlets may have hidden agendas or political affiliations, which can lead to skewed reporting and the spread of misinformation. This can have severe consequences, such as the dissemination of false news, increased polarization, and the erosion of public trust. In order to uphold its credibility, the mass media needs to prioritize balanced reporting and fact-checking.

Furthermore, the mass media can be a double-edged sword when it comes to content consumption. On one hand, it provides a platform for diverse voices and perspectives, promoting inclusivity and democracy. It allows marginalized communities and underrepresented individuals to have their stories heard. On the other hand, mass media can also perpetuate stereotypes, reinforce existing biases, and contribute to the digital divide. It is crucial for users to critically analyze the content they consume and actively seek out diverse sources to ensure a well-rounded understanding of the world.

In conclusion, mass media plays a crucial role in society, acting as a source of information, a shaper of culture, and a platform for public discourse. However, it also carries immense responsibility in terms of accurate reporting, avoidance of biases, and the promotion of diverse voices. As consumers of media, it is vital for us to critically analyze the content we consume and actively participate in shaping the role that mass media plays in our lives. By doing so, we can ensure that the mass media continues to be a force for positive change and progress in our society.

FAQs on Mass Media Essay

What is mass media.

Mass media refers to various communication channels, including television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the internet, designed to reach a large audience simultaneously.

How does mass media influence society?

Mass media influences society by shaping public opinion, disseminating information, providing entertainment, setting agendas, and impacting cultural norms and behaviors.

What are the types of mass media?

The types of mass media include television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and digital platforms such as websites and social media.

How does mass media impact politics?

Mass media plays a significant role in politics by covering elections, political campaigns, and government policies. It can influence voter opinions and public perception of political figures.

What is the role of social media in mass media?

Social media is a subset of mass media that empowers individuals to create and share content. It has revolutionized communication, enabling real-time interactions and citizen journalism.

How does mass media affect our daily lives?

Mass media informs us about current events, entertains us with various content, and shapes our worldview, influencing our attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.

What is the impact of mass media on culture?

Mass media reflects and influences cultural trends, including fashion, music, art, and social norms. It can contribute to the globalization of culture.

Is mass media always reliable?

Mass media can vary in reliability. It's essential to critically evaluate sources and cross-check information to ensure accuracy and avoid misinformation.

What is the future of mass media in the digital age?

Mass media is evolving in the digital age, with increasing reliance on online platforms and user-generated content. The future includes more interactive and personalized media experiences.

What is a short note on mass media?

Mass media encompasses various communication channels that reach a broad audience, including television, radio, newspapers, and the internet, serving as a vital source of information, entertainment, and influence.

What is the main importance of mass media?

The main importance of mass media lies in its ability to shape public opinion, disseminate information, provide a platform for free expression, and facilitate communication on a global scale, making it a cornerstone of modern society.

Mind Over Mass Media

By Steven Pinker

June 10, 2010

Truro, Mass.

NEW forms of media have always caused moral panics: the printing press, newspapers, paperbacks and television were all once denounced as threats to their consumers’ brainpower and moral fiber.

So too with electronic technologies. PowerPoint, we’re told, is reducing discourse to bullet points. Search engines lower our intelligence, encouraging us to skim on the surface of knowledge rather than dive to its depths. Twitter is shrinking our attention spans .

But such panics often fail basic reality checks. When comic books were accused of turning juveniles into delinquents in the 1950s, crime was falling to record lows, just as the denunciations of video games in the 1990s coincided with the great American crime decline. The decades of television, transistor radios and rock videos were also decades in which I.Q. scores rose continuously.

For a reality check today, take the state of science, which demands high levels of brainwork and is measured by clear benchmarks of discovery. These days scientists are never far from their e-mail, rarely touch paper and cannot lecture without PowerPoint. If electronic media were hazardous to intelligence, the quality of science would be plummeting. Yet discoveries are multiplying like fruit flies, and progress is dizzying. Other activities in the life of the mind, like philosophy, history and cultural criticism, are likewise flourishing, as anyone who has lost a morning of work to the Web site Arts & Letters Daily can attest.

Critics of new media sometimes use science itself to press their case, citing research that shows how “experience can change the brain.” But cognitive neuroscientists roll their eyes at such talk. Yes, every time we learn a fact or skill the wiring of the brain changes; it’s not as if the information is stored in the pancreas. But the existence of neural plasticity does not mean the brain is a blob of clay pounded into shape by experience.

Experience does not revamp the basic information-processing capacities of the brain. Speed-reading programs have long claimed to do just that, but the verdict was rendered by Woody Allen after he read “War and Peace” in one sitting: “It was about Russia.” Genuine multitasking, too, has been exposed as a myth, not just by laboratory studies but by the familiar sight of an S.U.V. undulating between lanes as the driver cuts deals on his cellphone.

Moreover, as the psychologists Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons show in their new book “The Invisible Gorilla: And Other Ways Our Intuitions Deceive Us,” the effects of experience are highly specific to the experiences themselves. If you train people to do one thing (recognize shapes, solve math puzzles, find hidden words), they get better at doing that thing, but almost nothing else. Music doesn’t make you better at math, conjugating Latin doesn’t make you more logical, brain-training games don’t make you smarter. Accomplished people don’t bulk up their brains with intellectual calisthenics; they immerse themselves in their fields. Novelists read lots of novels, scientists read lots of science.

The effects of consuming electronic media are also likely to be far more limited than the panic implies. Media critics write as if the brain takes on the qualities of whatever it consumes, the informational equivalent of “you are what you eat.” As with primitive peoples who believe that eating fierce animals will make them fierce, they assume that watching quick cuts in rock videos turns your mental life into quick cuts or that reading bullet points and Twitter postings turns your thoughts into bullet points and Twitter postings.

Yes, the constant arrival of information packets can be distracting or addictive, especially to people with attention deficit disorder. But distraction is not a new phenomenon. The solution is not to bemoan technology but to develop strategies of self-control, as we do with every other temptation in life. Turn off e-mail or Twitter when you work, put away your Blackberry at dinner time, ask your spouse to call you to bed at a designated hour.

And to encourage intellectual depth, don’t rail at PowerPoint or Google. It’s not as if habits of deep reflection, thorough research and rigorous reasoning ever came naturally to people. They must be acquired in special institutions, which we call universities, and maintained with constant upkeep, which we call analysis, criticism and debate. They are not granted by propping a heavy encyclopedia on your lap, nor are they taken away by efficient access to information on the Internet.

The new media have caught on for a reason. Knowledge is increasing exponentially; human brainpower and waking hours are not. Fortunately, the Internet and information technologies are helping us manage, search and retrieve our collective intellectual output at different scales, from Twitter and previews to e-books and online encyclopedias. Far from making us stupid, these technologies are the only things that will keep us smart.

Steven Pinker, a professor of psychology at Harvard, is the author of “The Stuff of Thought.”

Mass Media - Essay Samples And Topic Ideas For Free

Mass media, a formidable force in shaping public opinion and cultural norms, encompasses a wide range of platforms including newspapers, television, radio, and digital outlets. Essays could delve into the historical evolution of mass media, exploring its role in political communication, social mobilization, and cultural exchange. The discourse might extend to the examination of the challenges and opportunities posed by the digital revolution, discussing issues like fake news, media literacy, and the consolidation of media ownership. Discussions could also focus on the societal and psychological impacts of mass media, exploring its influence on body image, consumer behavior, and political polarization. Moreover, a comprehensive exploration could include a discussion on the regulatory frameworks governing media, the ethical considerations in journalism, and the future of mass media in the face of emerging technologies and changing societal dynamics, offering a nuanced understanding of the multifaceted role of mass media in contemporary society. We have collected a large number of free essay examples about Mass Media you can find in Papersowl database. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Violence in the Mass Media

Violence has been shown through movies, TV shows, and video games since the early 1900s. The nation that we live in today has changed due to an increased demand for violence. The amount of violence shown needs to be reduced to help this generation and the ones to ones to come, while many argue the media has caused teens to show an increase in aggressive behavior everytime they watch or play something that involves violence. People tend to blame the […]

The Influence of Mass Media on the Standards of the Ideal Body Shape of Women

Many people in this world compare themselves to models and other individuals they encounter in their daily lives. They aspire to an idealized version of beauty, perpetuated largely by social media. This is particularly prevalent among teenagers who are grappling with health and mental issues. They constantly feel inadequate and fear judgement and ridicule. Today's society emphasizes physical attractiveness, pressuring both men and women to conform to perceived standards of beauty, which often involves altering their natural body shape. For […]

Fake News: a Major Problem in Today’s Society

Fake news is becoming a significant problem in today's society. People know what fake news is but fail to differentiate between fake and accurate news. Fake news is seen on almost all social media platforms. It is designed to attract the viewers' attention and misguide them. Tom Nichols, author of The Death of Expertise, believed that more than 80% of information on the Internet is fake, "worse, bad information can stay online for years," says Nichols. Unlike yesterday's newspaper, online […]

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Public Opinion: Mass Media and Social Media

Public policies are created to ensure the public’s safety and well-being. From amusement park regulations to laws on drinking and driving to more political issues, lawmakers put these policies in place for the best interests of the people. Sometimes the public does not find favor with these policies and have a different outlook of what the policy should be. This is called public opinion. These views and beliefs of an individual combined with a sizeable collective group, result in forming […]

An Issue of Fake News in World

Introduction Now-a-days, Technology is present everywhere. Its impact is seen in every part of the world. This growth of technology introduced lots of improvements in everyday life like online news, Virtual Friendships, Sharing photos and documents etc. While these can be the positive impacts, there are many negative impacts too. One of such negative impact is Fake News. Fake News occurs because of two terms. They are: Misinformation: This false information is because of honest mistakes shared by important organizations. […]

Influence of Social Media on Youth

Media is quickly evolving, especially social media that has captured the attention of many children. There are new forms of media that are coming up with the rapid rise in technology. It is clear that media has been influential factors on how it benefits children's interaction. Media is not only an essential part in influencing socialization among children, especially the peer group but now it has become part of the community marketing and motivation of people. However, it has been […]

Yellow Journalism Today

The word 'Yellow Journalism' was first heard in the 1890s to describe the methods and styles used by Joseph Pulitzer concerning the New York City newspaper. His competitor in the field of print media was William Randolph Hearst. Both authors were covering the exclamations of the war that created a lot of alarm among the people. They used powerful words on their headlines such as glory, slaughter, and death on the front page whenever possible to create curiosity and interest. […]

How Yellow Journalism Resulted to the Spanish-American War

How yellow journalism resulted to the Spanish-American war. The yellow journalism was started by Joseph Pulitzer in 1896 with a carton of yellow kid and sold many paper. It was characterized with emotional words, dramatic sympathy, false information and misleading headlines which had huge print to attract the attention of people. I had a lot of drawing, pictures and images. Now William Hearst the owner of New York stole the writers from Pulitzer to complete the yellow journalism (Wilkerson, 1932). […]

Internet Censorship should it be Allowed

One of the latest media inventions is internet. It has introduced a completely new way of communicating and expressing ideas and views on a great range of topics because it offers a lot of updated information, people prefer to deal with internet instead of any other media such as television or radio. Nowadays billions of people all over the world have access to the internet, simply, through a dial-up connection. In addition, everybody is able to create his/her homepage on […]

Facebook and Fake News

Introduction Since the 2016 election, the media issue of fake news has become a major topic of discussion. Fake news are invalid news articles and coverage that are meant to stir controversy and spread false information. The media has played an extremely huge role in the development and spread of fake news, particularly Facebook. However, Facebook has adopted an interesting stance regarding their response to tackle fake news and although its users and the public have other opinions, Facebook's obligations […]

Analysis of the Watchdog Role in Journalism

Chapter 10 of The Press explores the definition, key elements, and importance of Watchdog Journalism. Watchdog Journalism is a concept that has been and currently still is used in public journalism. It is an important foundation for bringing forth news to the public that may otherwise stay hidden. To begin, journalism has due-diligence to the public to report news that not only matters but affects them either emotionally or physically. Journalists implement the watchdog role in order to bring forth […]

Internet Censorship in China

An original supporter of internet censorship was Deng Xiaoping, a Chinese politician. Deng Xiaoping had a famous saying that "If you open a window for fresh air for longer than 10 hours, you have to expect some flies to blow in". Deng Xiaoping, as well as many other Chinese politicians, were the main reason internet censorship exists today. Using this analogy, the Communist Party of China decided that it would be best for them to be proactive in "swatting flies". […]

The Yellow Kid and the Birth of Yellow Journalism

In 1895, the first comic strip was printed in an American newspaper. Called "Hogan's Alley, this popular cartoon made by Richard Outcault featured a buck-toothed, beady-eyed and big-eared boy wearing a yellow nightdress. Fittingly called The Yellow Kid, this loveable character began to gain popularity in an era full of consumerism, commercialization, urbanization and social reform. Newspapers in the late 1800s started to engage heavily in sensationalism and the reporting of exciting stories without full regard to objectivity and truth. […]

Criminogenic Media

For a long time, lots of experts argued that there is an appearance of criminogenic media, which refers to the hypothesis that media content is a direct cause of crime (Surette, 2015). However, consensus does not exist. Some experts pointed out that the relationship between crime and media are not in a direct effect but in a correlation. Nevertheless, there is a relationship between criminogenic media and copycat crime. A copycat crime is “a crime inspired by earlier, media-publicized or […]

News and Democracy in Different Media Systems

Many decades ago, Siebert, Peterson, and Schramm (1959) posed a question related to the concepts of the press and its role in society, “Why is the press as it is? Why does it apparently serve different purposes and appear in widely different forms in different countries?” The answers to these questions led the authors to present the Authoritarian, the Soviet communist, the Libertarian, and the Social Responsibility models, which explain what the press should be and do in different countries. […]

Impact of Social Media has had on the Consumer Buying Behavior Model

In the past few years, there has been substantial growth in technology, providing people with what is commonly referred to as a virtual environment. This enables individuals to come together, thus increasing their interaction levels and creating numerous tools that have greatly exploited web services' capabilities. According to Mangold, this virtual environment has led to the advent of social media, which is rapidly becoming an essential component in integrating communication in marketing. It allows organizations to build strong relationships with […]

How Journalism has Affected our National Narrative

In this age of journalism there are numerous factors that play into the production and reliability of the information we receive. Taking into account a time where our country was less technologically advanced, "current news was primarily accessible to those who had seen it first hand or lived within a proximal distance. The evolution of technology has allowed a secondary source on one side of the world to present news and information to a consumer on another side of the […]

Effects of Multi Media on Violence in School

School violence on students can cause psychological and physical pain. The physical pain they get can cause them to be hospitalized. Sometimes that school violence cause students to shoot up schools. People's aggressive behavior increased watching aggressive programs on TV. Students that watch aggressive TV show start to become tougher and less emotional. TV mainly effect students because in the show they watch they become aggressive with other people. Research has also shown that the viewers who watch violent shows […]

Adolescents in the United States

Adolescents in the United States have an unlimited amount of access to a multitude of the different types of mass media, including television, music, movies, and the Internet practically social media sites. The majority of these adolescents tend to utilize their time focusing on the media rather than the education they receive in the school or their parents. The majority of this content idealizes being sexually active, including different types of sex messages with dialogue and content. Few of these […]

Modern Day Censorship: Syria

How much do we value our freedom of speech as citizens of the United States of America? Would you risk your life to report news that might make an impact in the lives of many? Many countries around the world maintain very strict guidelines in what can be reported and broadcasted. In many countries this amount of strict censorship could even lead to you getting either tortured or killed. One modern day censored country would be the Middle Eastern country […]

The Future that Journalism Holds

Journalism continues to evolve at the same rate as the country's interpretations of the First Amendment. Because of the continual advances in technology around the world, society must question the state of journalism, and whether or not its older principles are still applicable to modern standards. As Stephen J.A. Ward highlights in his article Digital Media Ethics: "Most of the principles were developed over the past century, originating in the construction of professional, objective ethics for mass commercial newspapers in […]

Stereotypes in Media

Media is an important and popular entertainment. People also obtain information and form their impressions on characters who are represented in media. As a result, racism media will implement the stereotypes into people’s mind. Unfortunately, American media has a long history of producing media contents with bias and stereotypes. This enhanced the racism which has a long history in America. Racism and stereotypes have serious consequences such as stereotype threat and media are one of the forces that push them. […]

Defining Censorship

Censorship is the restriction of speech, communication or other information. Censorship affects our society in different ways. Censorship is usually determined by the government or a private foundation. It influences the music we tune in to, news articles, films, and the books we read. Censorship is a widely debated topic, and can be either harmful or protective to a society. It is possible to argue that censorship has no place in a nation that focuses on freedom of expression, because […]

Fake News Epidemic Within Society

'Fake News' as the false stories that fail to get flagged as inaccurate or just plain false in order to be considered validated, and thus are seen as more accurate. Many individuals then begin to share the misinformation taking it for facts because it has an appealing headline, or because it reinforces their viewpoint. Such an effect is particularly important given that it is extremely easier to produce misinformation than it is to debunk it. I am interested in this […]

Is Instagram Really that Bad

Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, and other types of social media have become a tremendous part of our lives. Social media takes a big role in society today as we know it whether it be good or bad. Instagram is a well known social media platform used by millions of people daily. Instagram is a photo and video sharing app along with live streaming, 24 hour stories, video and direct messaging. Instagram is not as bad as it is panned out to […]

LGBT in Modern Society

Since ancient times, the public has been more or less confused and biased towards LGBTQ people in both China and the West. It is the second ten years of the 21st century. Since 2010, more and more LGBTQ people get into the mainstream explosively. LGBTQ is not strange and new to modern society today anymore. There are 28 countries and cities which have acknowledged the legality of homoseuxal marriage, such as Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, etc; 20 countries have […]

Three Major Ways Social Media has Advanced Journalism

Since leaving Chapman University I have held three different positions in the field of Journalism. I have worked as a Production Assistant for Dateline News, I have worked as a writer for the local CBS News Station in Los Angeles, and currently I am working as a Broadcast Associate for 48 Hours. Though the job requirements for each of these positions and broadcast vary one the common thread they all share is the dominance of social media in order to […]

Objectivity the Core to Professional Journalism

No matter your political views, gender or age, America loves to bash the news media. Once the nations most trusted initiation the news media have fallen from favor.The media has been around since 1927 people have trusted the media for news,and factual information on daily events.After reading about the topic of media it is clear that the change in media's objectivity has changed since it's upcoming According to Gallup, evan as recently as 200 a majority of America trusted the […]

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Marketing Mix

Ossur as a company has stood the test of time by maintaining a strong marketing mix that is accurate for their specific target market. One of the reasons for their longstanding achievement is the successful marketing mix that they have been able to achieve as a company. Ossur is aware that their product is at the upper end of the pricing spectrum, but one of their strengths has been maintaining this price point by informing consumers of the quality of […]

The Benefits of Censorship on the Chinese Wanghong

The wanghong are internet celebrities in China, and they differ from traditional celebrities, who gain their fame through mainstream media, such as television and movies (Roxburgh). The word wanghong translates directly into "internet celebrity." There are mainly two types of internet celebrities: celebrities who produce original content, such as short comedy videos, and celebrities who are centered around content involving beauty and fashion (Li). The relationship between the wanghong and strict censorship is a complex one. There are looser censorship […]

2.1 Mass Media and Its Messages

Learning objectives.

Explain the different ways mass media affects culture.
Analyze cultural messages that the media send.
Explain the ways new media have affected culture.

When media consumers think of media messages, they may think of televised public service announcements or political advertisements. These obvious examples provide a venue for the transfer of a message through a medium, whether that message is a plea for fire safety or the statement of a political position. But what about more abstract political advertisements that simply show the logo of a candidate and a few simple words? Media messages can range from overt statements to vague expressions of cultural values.

Disagreements over the content of media messages certainly exist. Consider the common allegations of political bias against various news organizations. Accusations of hidden messages or agenda-driven content have always been an issue in the media, but as the presence of media grows, the debate concerning media messages increases. This dialogue is an important one; after all, mass media have long been used to persuade. Many modern persuasive techniques stem from the use of media as a propaganda tool. The role of propaganda and persuasion in the mass media is a good place to start when considering various types of media effects.

Propaganda and Persuasion

Encyclopedia Britannica defines propaganda simply as the “manipulation of information to influence public opinion (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia).” This definition works well for this discussion because the study and use of propaganda has had an enormous influence on the role of persuasion in modern mass media. In his book The Creation of the Media , Paul Starr argues that the United States, as a liberal democracy, has favored employing an independent press as a public guardian, thus putting the media in an inherently political position (Starr, 2004). The United States—in contrast to other nations where media are held in check—has encouraged an independent commercial press and thus given the powers of propaganda and persuasion to the public (Starr, 2004).

Benjamin Franklin used a powerful image of a severed snake to emphasize the importance of the colonies joining together during the American Revolution.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

Like any type of communication, propaganda is not inherently good or bad. Whether propaganda has a positive or negative effect on society and culture depends on the motivations of those who use it. People promoting movements as wide-ranging as Christianity, the American Revolution, and the communist revolutions of the 20th century have all used propaganda to disseminate their messages (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006). Newspapers and pamphlets that glorified the sacrifices at Lexington and Concord and trumpeted the victories of George Washington’s army greatly aided the American Revolution. For example, Benjamin Franklin’s famous illustration of a severed snake with the caption “Join or Die” serves as an early testament to the power and use of print propaganda (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006).

As you will learn in Chapter 4 “Newspapers” , the penny press made newspapers accessible to a mass audience and became a force for social cohesion during the 1830s (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006). Magazines adopted a similar format later in the 19th century, and print media’s political and social power rose. In an infamous example of the new power of print media, some newspapers encouraged the Spanish-American War of 1898 by fabricating stories of Spanish atrocities and sabotage (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006). For example, after the USS Maine sunk off the coast of Havana, Cuba, some newspapers blamed the Spanish—even though there was no evidence—fueling the public’s desire for war with Spain.

The present-day, pejorative connotation of propaganda stems from the full utilization of mass media by World War I–era governments to motivate the citizenry of many countries to go to war. Some media outlets characterized the war as a global fight between Anglo civilization and Prussian barbarianism. Although some of those fighting the war had little understanding of the political motivations behind it, wartime propaganda convinced them to enlist (Miller, 2005). As you will read in Chapter 12 “Advertising and Public Relations” , World War I legitimized the advertising profession in the minds of government and corporate leaders because its techniques were useful in patriotic propaganda campaigns. Corporations quickly adapted to this development and created an advertising boom in the 1920s by using World War I propaganda techniques to sell products (Miller, 2005).

In modern society, the persuasive power of the mass media is well known. Governments, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and political campaigns rely on both new and old media to create messages and to send them to the general public. The comparatively unregulated nature of U.S. media has made, for better or worse, a society in which the tools of public persuasion are available to everyone.

Media and Behavior

Although the mass media send messages created specifically for public consumption, they also convey messages that are not properly defined as propaganda or persuasion. Some argue that these messages influence behavior, especially the behavior of young people (Beatty, 2006). Violent, sexual, and compulsive behaviors have been linked to media consumption and thus raise important questions about the effects of media on culture.

Violence and the Media

On April 20, 1999, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold entered their Denver-area high school, Columbine High School, armed with semiautomatic weapons and explosives. Over the next few hours, the pair killed 12 classmates and one faculty member before committing suicide (Lamb, 2008). The tragedy and its aftermath captured national attention, and in the weeks following the Columbine High School shootings, politicians and pundits worked to assign blame. Their targets ranged from the makers of the first-person shooter video game Doom to the Hollywood studios responsible for The Matrix (Brook, 1999).

However, in the years since the massacre, research has revealed that the perpetrators were actually attempting a terrorist bombing rather than a first-person shooter style rampage (Toppo, 1999). But did violent video games so desensitize the two teenagers to violence that they could contemplate such a plan? Did movies that glorify violent solutions create a culture that would encourage people to consider such methods? Because modern culture is so immersed in media, the issue becomes a particularly complex one, and it can be difficult to understand the types of effects that violent media produce.

The 1999 Columbine High School shooting led to greater debate and criticism over violent video games.

Mentat Kilbernes – Columbine Massacre RPG – CC BY-NC 2.0.

A number of studies have verified certain connections between violent video games and violent behavior in young people. For example, studies have found that some young people who play violent video games reported angry thoughts and aggressive feelings immediately after playing. Other studies, such as one conducted by Dr. Chris A. Anderson and others, point to correlations between the amount of time spent playing violent video games and increased incidence of aggression (Anderson, 2003). However, these studies do not prove that video games cause violence. Video game defenders argue that violent people can be drawn to violent games, and they point to lower overall incidence of youth violence in recent years compared to past decades (Adams, 2010). Other researchers admit that individuals prone to violent acts are indeed drawn to violent media; however, they claim that by keeping these individuals in a movie theater or at home, violent media have actually contributed to a reduction in violent social acts (Goodman, 2008).

Whether violent media actually cause violence remains unknown, but unquestionably these forms of media send an emotional message to which individuals respond. Media messages are not limited to overt statements; they can also use emotions, such as fear, love, happiness, and depression. These emotional reactions partially account for the intense power of media in our culture.

Sex and the Media

In many types of media, sexual content—and its strong emotional message—can be prolific. A recent study by researchers at the University of North Carolina entitled “Sexy Media Matter: Exposure to Sexual Content in Music, Movies, Television, and Magazines Predicts Black and White Adolescents’ Sexual Behavior” found that young people with heavy exposure to sexually themed media ranging from music to movies are twice as likely to engage in early sexual behavior as young people with light exposure. Although the study does not prove a conclusive link between sexual behavior and sexually oriented media, researchers concluded that media acted as an influential source of information about sex for these youth groups (Dohney, 2006). Researcher Jane Brown thinks part of the reason children watch sexual content is related to puberty and their desire to learn about sex. While many parents are hesitant to discuss sex with their children, the media can act like a “super peer,” providing information in movies, television, music, and magazines (Dohney, 2006). You will learn more about the impact of sexual content in the media in Chapter 14 “Ethics of Mass Media” .

Cultural Messages and the Media

The media sends messages that reinforce cultural values. These values are perhaps most visible in celebrities and the roles that they adopt. Actors such as John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe came to represent aspects of masculinity and femininity that were adopted into mainstream culture during the mid-20th century. Throughout the 1990s, basketball player Michael Jordan appeared in television, film, magazines, and advertising campaigns as a model of athleticism and willpower. Singers such as Bob Dylan have represented a sense of freedom and rebellion against mainstream culture.

Tonto from The Lone Ranger reinforced cultural stereotypes about Native Americans. Do you think this type of characterization would be acceptable in modern television?

Although many consider celebrity culture superficial and a poor reflection of a country’s values, not all celebrities are simply entertainers. Civil rights leaders, social reformers, and other famous public figures have come to represent important cultural accomplishments and advancements through their representations in the media. When images of Abraham Lincoln or Susan B. Anthony appear in the media, they resonate with cultural and historical themes greatly separated from mere fame.

Celebrities can also reinforce cultural stereotypes that marginalize certain groups. Television and magazines from the mid-20th century often portrayed women in a submissive, domestic role, both reflecting and reinforcing the cultural limitations imposed on women at the time. Advertising icons developed during the early 20th century, such as Aunt Jemima and the Cream of Wheat chef, similarly reflected and reinforced a submissive, domestic servant role for African Americans. Other famous stereotypes—such as the Lone Ranger’s Native American sidekick, Tonto, or Mickey Rooney’s Mr. Yunioshi role in Breakfast at Tiffany’s —also reinforced American preconceptions about ethnic predispositions and capabilities.

Whether actual or fictional, celebrities and their assumed roles send a number of different messages about cultural values. They can promote courageous truth telling, hide and prolong social problems, or provide a concrete example of an abstract cultural value.

New Media and Society

New media—the Internet and other digital forms of communication—have had a large effect on society. This communication and information revolution has created a great deal of anguish about digital literacy and other issues that inevitably accompany such a social change. In his book on technology and communication, A Better Pencil , Dennis Baron discusses this issue:

For Plato, only speech, not writing, can produce the kind of back-and-forth—the dialogue—that’s needed to get at the truth…the text, orphaned by its author once it’s on the page, cannot defend itself against misreading…. These are strong arguments, but even in Plato’s day they had been rendered moot by the success of the written word. Although the literacy rate in classical Greece was well below 10 percent, writing had become an important feature of the culture. People had learned to trust and use certain kinds of writing—legal texts, public inscriptions, business documents, personal letters, and even literature—and as they did so, they realized that writing, on closer examination, turned out to be neither more nor less reliable or ambiguous than the spoken word, and it was just as real (Baron, 2009).

Baron makes the point that all communication revolutions have created upheavals and have changed the standards of literacy and communication. This historical perspective gives a positive interpretation to some otherwise ominous developments in communication and culture.

Information

The Internet has made an incredible amount of new information available to the general public. Both this wealth of information and the ways people process it are having an enormous effect on culture. New perceptions of information have emerged as access to it grows. Older-media consumption habits required in-depth processing of information through a particular form of media. For example, consumers read, watched, or viewed a news report in its entirety, typically within the context of a news publication or program. Fiction appeared in book or magazine form.

Today, information is easier to access, thus more likely to traverse several forms of media. An individual may read an article on a news website and then forward part of it to a friend. That person in turn describes it to a coworker without having seen the original context. The ready availability of information through search engines may explain how a clearly satirical Onion article on the Harry Potter phenomenon came to be taken as fact. Increasingly, media outlets cater to this habit of searching for specific bits of information devoid of context. Information that will attract the most attention is often featured at the expense of more important stories. At one point on March 11, 2010, for example, The Washington Post website’s most popular story was “Maintaining a Sex Life (Kakutani, 2010).”

Another important development in the media’s approach to information is its increasing subjectivity. Some analysts have used the term cyberbalkanization to describe the way media consumers filter information. Balkanization is an allusion to the political fragmentation of Eastern Europe’s Balkan states following World War I, when the Ottoman Empire disintegrated into a number of ethnic and political fragments. Customized news feeds allow individuals to receive only the kinds of news and information they want and thus block out sources that report unwanted stories or perspectives. Many cultural critics have pointed to this kind of information filtering as the source of increasing political division and resulting loss of civic discourse. When media consumers hear only the information they want to, the common ground of public discourse that stems from general agreement on certain principles inevitably grows smaller (Kakutani, 2010).

On one hand, the growth of the Internet as the primary information source exposes the public to increased levels of text, thereby increasing overall literacy. Indeed, written text is essential to the Internet: Web content is overwhelmingly text-based, and successful participation in Internet culture through the use of blogs, forums, or a personal website requires a degree of textual literacy that is not necessary for engagement in television, music, or movies.

Critics of Internet literacy, however, describe the majority of forum and blog posts as subliterate, and argue that the Internet has replaced the printed newspapers and books that actually raised the standards of literacy. One nuanced look at the Internet’s effect on the way a culture processes and perceives information states that literacy will not simply increase or decrease, but will change qualitatively (Choney, 2010). Perhaps the standards for literacy will shift to an emphasis on simplicity and directness, for example, rather than on elaborate uses of language.

President Barack Obama fired General Stanley McChrystal after a controversial Rolling Stone story in which McChrystal spoke poorly of the Obama administration was leaked on the Internet.

Certainly, the Internet has affected the way that cultures consume news. The public expects to receive information quickly, and news outlets respond rapidly to breaking stories. On Monday, June 21, 2010, for example, a spokesperson for Rolling Stone magazine first released quotes from a story featuring General Stanley McChrystal publicly criticizing members of the Obama administration on matters of foreign policy. By that evening, the story had become national news despite the fact Rolling Stone didn’t even post it to its website until Tuesday morning—some time after several news outlets had already posted the entire story on their own sites. Later that same day, McChrystal issued a public apology, and on Wednesday flew to Washington where President Barack Obama fired him. The printed Rolling Stone issue featuring the article hit newsstands Friday, 2 days after McChrystal had been replaced (Timpane, 2010).

Convergence Culture

The term convergence can hold several different meanings. In his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide , Henry Jenkins offers a useful definition of convergence as it applies to new media:

“By convergence, I mean the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want (Jenkins, 2006).”

A self-produced video on the YouTube website that gains enormous popularity and thus receives the attention of a news outlet is a good example of this migration of both content and audiences. Consider this flow: The video appears and gains notoriety, so a news outlet broadcasts a story about the video, which in turn increases its popularity on YouTube. This migration works in a number of ways. Humorous or poignant excerpts from television or radio broadcasts are often posted on social media sites and blogs, where they gain popularity and are seen by more people than had seen the original broadcast.

Thanks to new media, consumers now view all types of media as participatory. For example, the massively popular talent show American Idol combines an older-media format—television—with modern media consumption patterns by allowing the home audience to vote for a favorite contestant. However, American Idol segments regularly appear on YouTube and other websites, where people who may never have seen the show comment on and dissect them. Phone companies report a regular increase in phone traffic following the show, presumably caused by viewers calling in to cast their votes or simply to discuss the program with friends and family. As a result, more people are exposed to the themes, principles, and culture of American Idol than the number of people who actually watch the show (Jenkins, 2006).

New media have encouraged greater personal participation in media as a whole. Although the long-term cultural consequences of this shift cannot yet be assessed, the development is undeniably a novel one. As audiences become more adept at navigating media, this trend will undoubtedly increase.

Bert Is Evil

Jughead – evil bert – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

In 2001, high school student Dino Ignacio created a collage of Sesame Street character Bert with terrorist Osama bin Laden as part of a series for his website. Called “Bert Is Evil,” the series featured the puppet engaged in a variety of illicit activities. A Bangladesh-based publisher looking for images of bin Laden found the collage on the Internet and used it in an anti-American protest poster, presumably without knowledge of who Bert was. This ended up in a CNN report on anti-American protests, and public outrage over the use of Bert made Ignacio’s original site a much-imitated cult phenomenon.

The voyage of this collage from a high school student’s website to an anti-American protest poster in the Middle East to a cable television news network and finally back to the Internet provides a good illustration of the ways in which content migrates across media platforms in the modern era. As the collage crossed geographic and cultural boundaries, it grew on both corporate and grassroots media. While this is not the norm for media content, the fact that such a phenomenon is possible illustrates the new directions in which media is headed (Jenkins, 2006).

Key Takeaways

Propaganda and persuasion have long been a part of the interactions between media and culture.
Most studies on media and behavior do not establish direct links between the two but do reveal important correlations among media, violence, and sexual behavior.
Through the media, celebrities have come to signify important cultural values and tendencies, and they transmit specific cultural messages.
New digital forms of media have revolutionized the way people access and consume media content. Rather than simply replacing old media, however, new forms of media encourage participatory media consumption and content migration.
How is this celebrity portrayed in the magazine?
What kind of roles does the celebrity take in other forms of media, such as television or film?
How do these portrayals associate with specific cultural values?

Explain how the media has affected culture. Be sure to discuss the following topics and to provide examples of each.

Propaganda and persuasion
Cultural messages
How has new media affected literacy and information consumption? How is this different from older forms of media?

Adams, Jill U. “Effects of Violent Video Games,” Los Angeles Times , May 3, 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/03/health/la-he-closer-20100503 .

Anderson, Craig A. and others, “The Influence of Media Violence on Youth,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 4, no. 3 (2003): 81–110.

Baron, Dennis. A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 5.

Beatty, Alexandra. “Studying Media Effects on Children and Youth: Improving Methods and Measures, Workshop Summary,” March 2–3, 2006, The National Academies Press, http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11706 ; “Media Influence on Youth,” Crisis Connection, http://www.crisisconnectioninc.org/teens/media_influence_on_youth.htm .

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, s.v. “Propaganda.”

Brook, Tom. “Is Hollywood to Blame?” BBC News , April 23, 1999, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/03/99/tom_brook/326529.stm .

Choney, Suzanne. “Internet Making Our Brains Different, Not Dumb,” MSNBC , Feb. 19, 2010, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35464896/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/ .

Doheny, Kathleen “Mass Media May Prompt Kids to Try Sex: Study,” Health Scout , April 3, 2006, http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/531862/main.html .

Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), 60–61.

Goodman, Peter. “Violent Films May Cut Real Crime, Study Finds,” New York Times , January 7, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/technology/07iht-violence.4.9058958.html .

Jenkins, Henry Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006), 2.

Kakutani, Michiko. “Texts Without Context,” New York Times , March 17, 2010, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/books/21mash.html .

Lamb, Gina. “Columbine High School,” Times Topics, New York Times , April 17, 2008, http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/columbine_high_school/index.html .

Miller, Mark Crispin. introduction to Propaganda , by Edward Bernays (Brooklyn, NY: IG Publishing, 2005), 11.

Starr, Paul. Creation of the Media (New York: Basic Books, 2004), 394–395.

Timpane, Jim. “New Media Too Speedy to Outflank,” Philly.com , June 24, 2010, http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20100624_New_media_too_speedy_to_outflank.html .

Toppo, Greg. “10 Years Later, the Real Story Behind Columbine,” USA Today , April 13, 2009, http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-13-columbine-myths_N.htm .

Understanding Media and Culture Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Student Essays

Essay on Mass Media [ Importance, Advantages & Disadvantages ]

Mass Media is the great power of modern times. It has the great potential to revitalize the socio, economic upliftment in life. The following essay talks on Mass Media, its importance and further advantages and disadvantages of mass media in life.

Essay on Mass Media | Concept, Importance, Advantages of Mass Media in Life

Mass media is defined as a means of communication that reaches a large audience. This can include television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and the internet. Mass media has become an important part of our society, and it plays a significant role in our lives.

There are many different types of mass media, and each one has its own unique benefits and drawbacks. Television is a great way to stay informed about current events, but it can also be a time waster. Radio is a great way to stay entertained while you are driving, but it can also be a distraction. Newspapers are a great way to keep up with the news, but they can also be full of ads. Magazines are a great way to stay informed about current events, but they can be expensive. The internet is a great way to access information, but it can also be a source of misinformation.

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Importance of Mass Media in Life

Each type of mass media has its own unique benefits and drawbacks. However, overall, mass media is an important part of our lives. It helps us stay informed about current events, it entertains us, and it provides us with access to information. It’s important to be aware of the benefits and drawbacks of each type of mass media so that you can choose the ones that work best for you.

Students can take maximum benefits from mass media by using it wisely. They can watch informative shows on television, listen to news and talk shows on the radio, read newspapers and magazines, and use the internet to find reliable information. It’s important for students to be aware of the benefits and drawbacks of each type of mass media so that they can make informed decisions about how to use it.

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Therefore, mass media is an important aspect of our life. It has both benefits and drawbacks, which we should be aware of. We should use it wisely to get the most out of it.

Mass Media Essays (Examples)

1000+ documents containing “mass media” .

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Mass media affects of mass media on.

Mass Media Affects of Mass Media on Children Mass media can be defined as those channels of communication through which the messages are reached to a wider audience simultaneously (Kundanis, 2003, p. 5). The mass media plays a distinguishing and unique role in shaping the identity and culture of children and young people. Not only this, it also affects their relationship and liaison with family, friends, school, and community (Livingstone & Bovill, 2001). With their entrance in adolescence, many children start on to engage in health behaviors that are hazardous and unsafe. There are six grave types of adolescent health risk behaviors that are reported to lead the youth worldwide to death and disability. Those include alcohol use, smoking, violent behavior, physical immobility, poor eating habits and sexual behaviors. These behaviors not only put the present and future physical state of adolescents on an edge but also affect their education, weaken their employment….

Escobar-Chaves, S.L., & Anderson, C.A. (2008). Media and Risky Behaviors. The Future of Children, 18(1), 147+. Retrieved February 2, 2012, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5027444453

Gunter, B., & McAleer, J. (1997). Children and Television. London: Routledge. Retrieved February 2, 2012, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=108880528

Herrington, S.D., & Emmans, C.C. (2002, Summer). Character Education and Media Literacy-Finding Common Ground: Media Literacy and Character Education Are Two Hot Topics in Education That Have Become Closely Intertwined, Perhaps Unwittingly. Knowledge and Understanding of Media-Media Literacy-Can Be a Successful Strategy for Promoting Critical Thinking and Intelligent Decision Making about Risky Behaviors. Technos: Quarterly for Education and Technology, 11, 22+. Retrieved February 2, 2012, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5002486798

Kundanis, R.M. (2003). Children, Teens, Families, and Mass Media: The Millennial Generation. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Retrieved February 2, 2012, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=108662257

Mass Media and Female Body Image During

Mass Media and Female Body Image During te last two centuries, tere as been an unprecedented transformation of te role of females in modern society. Females are being increasingly perceived as empowered agents of teir own destiny instead of elpless, docile women. However, te legacy of females as passive objects of male desire casts a giant sadow on te female psyce and female self-confidence. Tesis: Cultural influences suc as mass media exert suc a armful influence on female body image because standardized ideals of female beauty arm te ability of individual females to find a suitable male mate and reproduce, tereby treatening te fundamental biological impulse for females to settle down and start a family. Cultural Factors in Saping te "Ideal Body" An Ancient Form of Mass Media: Greek Sculpture Te very first influences on society's understanding of te body came troug, as tey do now, media. Te form of media ten were sculptures….

http://www.livescience.com/23647-genetics-female-body-hatred.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1306012/Beauty-summed-To-tell-womans-really-attractive-figures.html l "ixzz2EtQSu196" ?

Mass Media Intro to Sociology

(Desai, 2011) The conflict perspective is founded mostly on the works of Karl Marx. He believed that the distinctions between the classes and conflicts of interest created issues. This theory promulgates that society is ruled by a certain number of dominant groups and classes. It is argued that society is not truly unanimous in its value system, as debated by the functionalist mindset. The conflict view point states that this "consensus" is artificial and the "values" have been enforced upon society by the influential entities that operate in it. It questions the very foundation upon which society is built and wonders who truly is benefitting within society. The channels of communication are usually owned by the wealthy or those that can be classified as "dominant and influential parties. Media can be used to build disagreements between variant factions residing in the community. Under this theory, it may target certain age brackets….

Works Cited

Brown, R. (2011). New Holistic Business Model. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media .

Desai, V.M. (2011). Mass Media and Massive Failures: Determining Organizational Efforts to Defend Field Legitimacy Following Crises. Academy of Management Journal .

Laswell, H. (1948). The structure and function of communication and society: The communication of ideas. New York: Institute for Religious and Social Studie.

Macnamara, J. (2003). Mass Media Effects: A Review of 50 years of Media Research. Carma International.

Mass Media as it Has

This was also the case in the subsequent transition, between the Agrarian Age and the Industrial Age, when the first actual newspapers, representatives of the new style media appeared. With the development of the industrial revolutions, not only did people live closer together, in growing cities, but they were also becoming more concerned with the society they lived in and to become more interested in elements about their society. Mass media in industrial societies began to reflect things of interest for the workers, while in agrarian societies, like the Southern states of the U.S., the media and newspapers still covered basic information about growing crops, for example. In industrial societies, mass media developed as a growing need for the individuals in those societies to become informed and to respond to the issues going on in the world. In my opinion, at this point mass media turns from being a material of information….

Mass Media and Politics

Mass Media and Politics The Advantages and Disadvantages of the "New Medias" Such as the Internet and Talk adio for Democratic Governance in the U.S. Mass medium has always functioned as the much-need link between the people and government in a democracy. The print media had been providing this link traditionally in the United States, until about 70 years ago, when President oosevelt introduced the radio medium to connect directly and instantly with scores of Americans across the nation. In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy furthered this by effectively utilizing the power of television as a visual communications medium. Today, candidates and representatives of every political affiliation are tapping the power of the Internet to communicate and interact with citizens Steve Forbes was the first presidential candidate to proclaim his bid for office over the Internet in1999. George W. Bush was the first presidential candidate to publish a full list of his campaigners and….

Ben Bagdikian, The Media Monopoly, 6th ed. Beacon Press; 1983

Cass Sunstein Republic.com, Princeton University Press, New York, 2002

Doris Graber. Media Power in Politics, 4th ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press. 2000.

Timothy Cook. Governing With the News: the News Media as a Political Institution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1998.

Mass Media Society William Randolph Hearst The

Mass Media Society ILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST: THE PRESS KING It is always the contribution of a few good men which goes on to impact the whole of the society. The reason that these people are able to have such a profound impact is due to their endless struggle for a cause or for something in which they truly believe. One such person has been illiam Randolph Heart, the founder of the Hearst Corporation, or "The Press King," his rise in the world of Journalism is truly remarkable. Born in 1863, and graduating from Harvard, by the end of the year 1887, illiam Hearst had become the owner of the San Francisco Examiner (illiam Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), n.d.). His quick success and rise was partially favored by the family's wealth earned through the mining industry. However, Hearst decided to separate his path from his families and took this course. During his years in Harvard, he….

Great Projects Film Company, Inc. (1999). Yellow Journalism: William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951). Retrieved December 15th, 2011, from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/crucible/bio_hearst.html

DiMauro, F.J. (n.d.). Hearst Tower - New York City. Retrieved December 15th, 2011, from Green Design Etc: http://www.greendesignetc.net/buildings_07(pdf)/DiMauro_Frank_Hearst (paper).pdf

Giessel, J. (n.d.). Black, White and Yellow: Journalism and Correspondents of the Spanish-American War. Retrieved December 15th, 2011, from The Spanish American War: Centennial Website: http://www.spanamwar.com/press.htm

San Francisco Examiner. (n.d.). Retrieved December 15th, 2011, from MondoTimes: http://www.mondotimes.com/1/world/us/5/316/839

Mass Media the American Media

, 2007). Looking to the future of this evolution of publicly owned mass media, the exact details are only speculative at this point, but one thing is clear- more sources will be competing for the attention and dollar of the reader, viewer, and listener, especially as technology creates new ways to spread the news of the day, or more precisely, of the nano-second, given lightning fast communication methods of the present, and future. In conclusion, what can be seen is that the publicly owned media has changed the face of how Americans get their news, and undoubtedly will continue to do so for many years to come. orks Cited Campbell, R; Martin, C.R.; Fabos, B. (2007) Mass Media and Culture, 6th ed. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's Press. Powers, . (2005, January/February). The Massless Media: ith the Mass Media Losing Their Audience to Smaller, More Targeted Outlets, e May Be Headed for an….

Campbell, R; Martin, C.R.; Fabos, B. (2007) Mass Media and Culture, 6th ed. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's Press.

Powers, W. (2005, January/February). The Massless Media: With the Mass Media Losing Their Audience to Smaller, More Targeted Outlets, We May Be Headed for an Era of Noisy, Contentious Press Reminiscent of the 1800s. The Atlantic Monthly, 295, 122+.

Mass Media Promotes Democracy the Journalistic Side

Mass Media Promotes Democracy The journalistic side of the twentieth century can be defined as the struggle for democracy and an independent media against propaganda and subservience to the state. That struggle culminated during the first half of this century in the seizure of the means of communication by the demagogues of the 1930s and 1940s -- Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin -- and their Cold War reincarnation of the 1950s, Joseph McCarthy -- the ghost that still haunts U.S. journalism. (1) Modern journalism began around 1890 with the advent of a national system of communication and has had a pretty long run. Describing Philadelphia on the eve of the Revolutionary War, Sam ass Warner observed that gossip in the taverns provided Philadelphia's basic cells of community life.... Every ward of the city had its inns and taverns and the London Coffee House served as central communication node of the entire city....….

Bibliography

Albright, Madeleine Korbel. Poland: The Role of the Press in Political Change London: Praeger Publishers, 1983.

Alger, Dean. The Media and Politics, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1989, 6.

Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities, London: Verso Books, 1983.

Bayley, Edwin F. Joe McCarthy and the Press (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1981).

Mass Media and Ontological Security Despite the

Mass Media and Ontological Security "Despite the fact that crime rates in most U.S. cities have been in steady decline for a decade, local newscasts still operate under the mantra, 'If it bleeds, it leads'." Gross, et al., 2003, p. 411. Does the mass media threaten society's sense of ontological security more than it contributes to society's ontological security? This paper delves into and analyzes this question from the perspective of peer-reviewed, scholarly articles. From the literature available it is clear to an objective observer that indeed today's mass media presents constant and disturbing images, beyond what the community's actual social dynamics present as far as danger to individuals. And hence, the ontological security of millions of citizens is both threatened and disturbed. Introduction Ontological security: a stable, steady, consistent personal emotional state that results from a sense of comfort and continuity regarding the events on one's daily life. When people have confidence and….

Altheide, David L., 1997, 'The News Media, The Problem Frame, And The Production of Fear', The Sociological Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 4, 647-668.

Altheide, David L., 2007, 'The Mass Media and Terrorism', Discourse & Communication, Vol. 1, No. 3, 287-308.

Gross, Kimberly, and Aday, Sean, 2003, 'The Scary World in Your Living Room and Neighborhood: Using Local Broadcast News, Neighborhood Crime Rates, and Personal Experience to Test Agenda Setting and Cultivation', Journal of Communication, Vol. 53, No. 3, 411-426.

Kinnvall, Catarina, 2004, 'Globalization and Religious Nationalism: Self, Identity, and the Search for Ontological Security', Political Psychology, Vol. 25, No. 5, 741-767.

Mass Media Facilitates Acculturation of

The variables were in some instances, however, a bit too general and limited -- for example, in terms of social activity assessment both external and internal factors were measured, but this was too general to bring about any truly definitive results. The measurement of acculturation was also felt to be too general and did not include enough criteria and variables to be very effective. Nevertheless, the results of this survey in terms of the findings of the relationship between the media and acculturation were significant and noteworthy. It is also noteworthy that the measurement fro acculturation and the use of media was comprehensive and included a wide range of aspects, including exposure and media-related needs. One of the significant findings from this survey was that the level of social knowledge was relatively low. The means score out a possible 10 ten points was 4.99 (yu, 1977, p. 9). Females were….

Beasley R., Chuang Y. And Liao C. (2008) American Music Immersion: Influencing

Factors and Its Impact on Taiwanese EFL. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 17(1).

Clement R. et al. (2005) Media Effects on Ethnic Identity Among Linguistic Majorities

and Minorities. Human Communication Research, 31(3), pp. 399-422.

Mass Media Popular Culture

Other aspects of popular culture reflect this value as well, from the "roll-back" Wal-mart phenomenon to the speedy fabrication and marketing of most popular music, movies, and television shows. These trends also encouraged by the short attention spans of consumers. On the web, it has been shown that a particular site has less than seven seconds to load and attract the attention of the viewer before he or she moves on to the next Google result. (WebGuru) In the kitchen, this is evidenced by the prevalence of instant oatmeal, instant coffee, instant cookie dough, and other products promising instant gratification for minimal effort. This fast-food culture has also helped to foster a removal from reality for consumers. Children do not understand that nuggets come from birds or that urgers come from cows, and most adults chose to never think about the unpleasant aspects of factory-farms and slaughterhouses having anything to….

MAN. "For Parents: Marketing and Consumerism." Media Awareness Network. http://www.media-awareness.ca

Schlosser, Eric. "Fast-Food Nation: The True Cost of America's Diet." Rolling Stone Magazine. Issue 794. 3 September 1998. http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/rollingstone1.html

Sheehan, Helena. "Story, Myth, Dream and Drama." Irish Television Drama: A Society and Its Stories. 2001. http://www.comms.dcu.ie/sheehanh/myth.htm

WebGuru. "In Seven Seconds. http://www.123webguru.com/web_news/in-seven-seconds-11.shtml

Mass Media and Congressional Campaigns in US

Mass Media and Congressional Campaigns in U.. This is a study on the mass media principles and how they are used in congressional campaigns in the U.. It has 12 sources. In view of the strong economic-based relationship that exists between the congressional elections and the mass media, more rigid laws need to be established in addition to a screening process for each candidate through which they all have to pass in order to represent the American people. The media plays an important role in contemporary political activity, as it is a key communicator. This communication is supposed to serve the needs of the people as a whole and bring information to them that would serve their interests. However, such media may be the tool of politicians, as they may manipulate certain important information about themselves in order to gain popularity. Ideally, it is the media that is used to distort reality and….

Annenberg Public Policy Center, 2000. Media in the Home 2000.

Cohen S, Young J (eds) (1980). The Manufacture of News: Social Problems, Deviance and the Mass Media (revised). London: Constable.

Conflicting Theories of Congressional Elections. Accessed on 24-11-2003. http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:g4H8gEwwJjoJ:weber.ucsd.edu/~skernell/strategy/strategy2.pdf+theories+Congressional+campaigns+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Gregory Meeks on Principles & Values. 2001. http://www.issues2000.org/NY/Gregory_Meeks_Principles_+_Values.htm

Mass Media Affecting Acculturation Level

93 (Hispanicism), .89 (Americanism); test-retest (6weeks) .50 (H)/.79 (a). This Likert scale involves rating of 1-5, in which scale 1 represents not feeling comfortable and scale 5 indicates very comfortable at accepting the American music, TV programs and English printed media. Analysis This relational study incorporates statistical devices of Multiple egression Analysis to test the hypothesis. Correlations between variables will be performed as well. Each predictor derived from individual analysis represents time spent on each of these three specific media, with the criterion variable being acculturation level. Hours per viewing per day and per week with moderators such as English proficiency level, are included in each of the analysis presented. eferences Fox, S., ainie, L., Larsen, E., Horrigan, J., Lenhart, a., Spooner, T., & Carter, C. (2001). Wired Seniors. The Pew Internet and American Life Project. etrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Wired_Seniors_eport.pdf Furlong, M.S. (1989). An electronic community for older adults: The SeniorNet network. Journal of Communication, 39 (3), pp.….

Fox, S., Rainie, L., Larsen, E., Horrigan, J., Lenhart, a., Spooner, T., & Carter, C.

(2001). Wired Seniors. The Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Wired_Seniors_Report.pdf

Furlong, M.S. (1989). An electronic community for older adults: The SeniorNet network.

Journal of Communication, 39 (3), pp. 145-153.

Media and Terrorism Mass Media

However, this is not a reason to treat the entire religion as a terrorist organization itself. After 9/11, many Americans and media outlets have begun to treat all Muslims, and even the concept of Islam as a terrorist organization. No other controversies show this strong enough as the controversy concerning the building of the mosque near the site of 9/11. In this case, there is a lot of public outcry regarding a huge mosque that was being proposed to be built beginning in 2009. he film here highlights both media sources and individual survivors of 9/11 and how they are threatened with the presence of the mosque being so close to the site of the twin towers of the World rade Building. o many survivors it is a really emotional time still because the deaths of loved ones and friends are still very real in their minds. Yet, these….

There are a number of things the media can do when being threatened by terrorist threats in order to stop the wave of fear the terrorists are looking to spread within American society. First, removing terrorists' access to the media will help decrease the media's relationship with spreading terror. Media outlets should refuse to print or highlight the terrorists own explanations of attacks and threats, as many terrorists often accompany threats with tapes or other sorts of verbal statements. This decreased attention will not continue to increase public fear as much, therefore not serving the terrorists on a silver platter.

Yes, there have been some radical Muslims that have taken extreme terrorist acts against the United States. However, this is not a reason to treat the entire religion as a terrorist organization itself. After 9/11, many Americans and media outlets have begun to treat all Muslims, and even the concept of Islam as a terrorist organization. No other controversies show this strong enough as the controversy concerning the building of the mosque near the site of 9/11. In this case, there is a lot of public outcry regarding a huge mosque that was being proposed to be built beginning in 2009. The film here highlights both media sources and individual survivors of 9/11 and how they are threatened with the presence of the mosque being so close to the site of the twin towers of the World Trade Building. To many survivors it is a really emotional time still because the deaths of loved ones and friends are still very real in their minds. Yet, these individuals are making the mistake of assuming all Muslims are anti-American, and even terrorists.

Many people are directly correlating Islam with the terrorists that were responsible for 9/11. Yet, this is simply not true. The terrorists who were responsible were a small fraction of fundamentalist radicals, not representatives of larger Islam itself. Those who were responsible for the extreme violence and pain that was 9/11 were not representative of the Islamic world as a whole. They were an extremist group that harbored political differences with the United States that had been building for generations. Thus, the act of terrorism was not necessarily religiously based. In this sense, blaming the religion for the act of terror would be a huge mistake. Muslims living in this country are still Americans. Therefore, they need to be able to experience the same rights to freedom of religion as other members of religious faiths do.

Mass Media and Racism

Racism in Media Television news casting has a long history of perpetuating negative stereotypes of the Black community through what the news broadcasts and how it creates images that are transformed into symbols that become associated with the African-American community. Through these images, certain signs and symbols are created that later become associated with the Black community. hile attempts to make media more inclusive have marginally succeeded, failure lies in its inability to create any sort of social change but instead continues to perpetuate stereotypes. In "Racism and the Media," Yasmin Jiwanai describes the role the media has on people's everyday lives. Jiwani writes that the media provides "us with definitions about who we are as a nation; they reinforce our values and norms; they give us concrete examples of what happens to those who transgress these norms; and most importantly, they perpetuate certain ways of seeing the world and peoples within….

Balkaran, Stephen. "Mass Media and Racism." The Yale Political Quarterly Vol. 21 No. 1

(October 1999). Web. 3 December 2012.

Brown, Michael K. Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society. Los Angeles:

University of California Press, 2003. GoogleBooks. 3 December 2012.

I need a spark of inspiration! Can you share some captivating essay topics related to public opinion and socialization?

1. The impact of social media on shaping public opinion 2. How political polarization affects public perception and socialization 3. The role of propaganda in influencing public opinion 4. The influence of culture and cultural norms on socialization 5. The connection between public opinion and social movements 6. The role of education in shaping public opinion and socialization 7. The impact of mass media on public opinion and socialization 8. The role of peer groups in socialization and shaping public opinion 9. The influence of family dynamics on public opinion formation 10. The relationship between public opinion and government policies. 11. The effects of socialization on individual behavior and decision-making 12.....

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The Hyper-Polarization Challenge to the Conflict Resolution Field: A Joint BI/CRQ Discussion BI and the Conflict Resolution Quarterly invite you to participate in an online exploration of what those with conflict and peacebuilding expertise can do to help defend liberal democracies and encourage them live up to their ideals.

Follow BI and the Hyper-Polarization Discussion on BI's New Substack Newsletter .

Hyper-Polarization, COVID, Racism, and the Constructive Conflict Initiative Read about (and contribute to) the Constructive Conflict Initiative and its associated Blog —our effort to assemble what we collectively know about how to move beyond our hyperpolarized politics and start solving society's problems.

By Jennifer Akin and Heidi Burgess

Original Publication (of Jennifer Akin's essay): March 2005.

Current Implications and new material was added by Heidi Burgess in June 2020.

Current Implications

Jennifer Akin wrote this article fifteen years ago, and while most of what it said then is still very much true, it is astonishing, to me at least, how much these trends have been accelerated with the new forms of media (particularly social media) that didn't exist when this essay was first written. Since we no longer are in contact with the author (who was a graduate student working with us in 2005), I (Heidi Burgess) have taken the liberty of updating this essay by adding additional material about what has happened in the period 2005-2020. More...

"Mass media" is a deceptively simple term encompassing a countless array of institutions and individuals who differ in purpose, scope, method, and cultural context. Mass media include all forms of information communicated to large groups of people, from a handmade sign to an international news network. There is no standard for how large the audience needs to be before communication becomes "mass" communication. There are also no constraints on the type of information being presented. A car advertisement, a fake social media post coming from Russia, and a U.N. resolution are all examples of mass media.

Because "media" is such a broad term, it will be helpful in this discussion to focus on a limited definition. In general usage, the term has been taken to refer to only "the group of corporate entities, publishers, journalists, and others who constitute the communications industry and profession." This definition includes both the entertainment and news industries. Another common term, especially in talking about conflict, is "news media." News media include only the news industry. It is often used interchangeably with "the press" or the group of people who write and report the news.

I n 2020, this definition of mass media is clearly too narrow. Social media--including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr and the like -- allows anyone in the world to post pretty much anything they want--true or false--with very little oversight or censorship. This has resulted in the widespread use of "bots"--computers--that generate millions of fake, almost always inflammatory, stories which they widely post on these social media apps, masquarading as real people, even as known friends of real people. This is thought to significantly sway public opinion toward the extremes--in the U.S., for example, making conservatives think that liberals are far worse than they really are, and making liberals think the opposite. The result is increasing polarization of both the electorate and our decision makers, making our political processes largely dysfunctional.

At the same time, in the U.S., the Trump administration has demonized the legitimate news media, calling any story that criticizes him, and others, "fake news," and declaring journalists to be "enemies of the people." This has led his followers to rely on media that is friendly to Trump--Fox News and social media, and to distrust anything they get from traditional news outlets. It has also led to numerous physical attacks on journalists. Most recently, this happened on several occassions during the May-June 2020 protests about police brutality following the death of George Floyd.

Attacking journalists is not limited to the United States of course. Perhaps the most high-profile recent example was the Saudi Arabian murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post reporter and Saudi dissident, who was assassinated in the Saudi consulate in Instanbul in 2018. But journalists have been at risk world wide for a long time. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 1373 Journalists have been killed between 1992 and 2020, all over the world.

So being a journalist is a dangerous business, and it seems to be getting more dangerous all the time.

Going back to what Jennifer Akin wrote in 2005, the distinction between news and entertainment can at times be fuzzy, but news is technically facts and interpretation of facts, including editorial opinions, expressed by journalism professionals. Which facts are included, how they are reported, how much interpretation is given, and how much space or time is devoted to a news event is determined by journalists and management and will depend on a variety of factors ranging from the editorial judgment of the reporters and editors, to other news events competing for the same time or space, to corporate policies that reflect management's biases.

The distinction between news, entertainment, and opinion has gotten much fuzzier since 2005. The U.S.-based Daily Show, aired on the cable news channel Comedy Central, hosted by Jon Stewart from 1999-2015, was one of the earliest (and best known) examples of a TV show that blended news and entertainment. (It still does so, although the host is now Trevor Noah.) Although Stewart defended his clear leftist bias at the time by asserting the show was "only entertainment," many people--particularly young people, relied on the Daily Show as their primary or only sounce of news. [12]

"Legitimate" news organizations, too, seem now to be blurring the distinction between "news" and "opinion." In response to the New York Times' firing of its Editorial Page director, James Bennet, over the publication of an op-ed by Republican U.S. Senator Tom Cotton in June 2020, Roger Cohen penned an editorial arguing that "both sides" journalism is under attack by those who advocate journalism that operates from a "place of moral clarity." [13]. This notion is echoed and taken further by another Times opinion writer, Ross Douthat, who wrote (also in response to the Bennet firing)

[There is a] growing newsroom assumption that greater diversity should actually lead to a more singular perspective on the news, a journalism of “truth” rather than “objectivity,” in which issues that involve black — or gay or female or transgender or immigrant — interests are covered less as complex debates and more as stories of good versus evil. ... The results of this shift have been particularly apparent lately at this newspaper, especially in the transformed relationship between our news and opinion pages. The Times of my youth and adolescence aspired to be nonpartisan in its news gathering, while the editorial page was frankly liberal and the Op-Ed page mostly (William Safire excepted) left-of-center. But as our news pages have become more ideological, oriented toward the perceived truths of the successor ideology — a shift documented last year by Zach Goldberg, a Ph.D student at Georgia State, in a series of striking charts showing how the shifting vocabulary of activists has taken off in Times stories — the Op-Ed page has gone from being to the left of the news pages to being, strangely, somewhat to their right. [14]

Mass communicated media saturated the industrialized world in 2005; this is true for the non-industrialized world, too, in 2020.) The television in the living room, the newspaper on the doorstep (not so much anymore!), the radio in the car, the computer and tablet, the fliers in the mailbox, and now most importantly, perhaps in 2020, the cell phone are just a few of the media channels daily delivering advertisements, news, opinion, music, and other forms of mass communication.

Because the media are so prevalent, they have an extremely powerful impact on how we view the world. Nearly everything we know about current events and politics comes from the media--it is only the most local and personal events that are experienced first-hand. Events in the larger community, the state, the country, and the rest of the world are experienced almost entirely through the media, be it a professional journalist or a "citizen journalist" posting on social media.

Not only do the media report the news, they create the news by deciding what to report. The "top story" of the day has to be picked from the millions of things that happened that particular day. After something is deemed newsworthy, there are decisions on how much time or space to give it, whom to interview, what pictures to use, and how to frame it. Often considered by editors, but seldom discussed, is how the biases and interests of management will impact these determinations. All of these decisions add up to the audience's view of the world, and those who influence the decisions influence the audience.

The media, therefore, have enormous importance to conflict resolution because they are the primary -- and frequently only -- source of information regarding conflicts. If a situation doesn't make the news (now including social media), it simply does not exist for most people. When peaceful options such as negotiation and other collaborative problem-solving techniques are not covered, or their successes are not reported, they become invisible and are not likely to be considered or even understood as possible options in the management of a conflict.

The news media thrive on conflict. The lead story for most news programs is typically the most recent and extreme crime or disaster. Conflict attracts viewers, listeners, and readers to the media; the greater the conflict the greater the audience, and large audiences are imperative to the financial success of media outlets. Therefore, it is often in the media's interest to not only report conflict, but to play it up, making it seem more intense than it really is. Long-term, on-going conflict-resolution processes such as mediation are not dramatic and are often difficult to understand and report, especially since the proceedings are almost always closed to the media. Thus conflict resolution stories are easily pushed aside in favor of the most recent, the most colorful, and the most shocking aspects of a conflict. Groups that understand this dynamic can cater to it in order to gain media attention. Common criteria for terrorist attacks include timing them to coincide with significant dates, targeting elites, choosing sites with easy media access, and aiming for large numbers of casualties.[1] Protesters will hoist their placards and start chanting when the television cameras come into view. It is not unusual for camera crews or reporters to encourage demonstrators into these actions so they can return to their studios with exciting footage. The resulting media coverage can bestow status and even legitimacy on marginal opposition groups, so television coverage naturally becomes one of their planned strategies and top priorities. The "30-second sound bite" has become a familiar phrase in television and radio news and alert public figures strategize to use it to their advantage.

In most parts of the industrialized world, the news has to "sell," because the handful of giant media conglomerates that control most of the press (media outlets) place a high priority on profitable operations. Their CEOs are under relentless pressure to generate high returns on their shareholders' investments. Media companies face tight budgets and fierce competition, which often translate into fewer foreign correspondents, heavy reliance on sensationalism, space and time constraints, and a constant need for new stories. Reporters with pressing deadlines may not have time to find and verify new sources. Instead they tend to rely on government reports, press releases, and a stable of vetted sources, which are usually drawn from "reliable" companies and organizations. Most overseas bureaus have been replaced by "parachute journalism," where a small news crew spends a few days or less in the latest hotspot. These same media outlets are also dependent upon advertisement revenue, and that dependence can compromise their impartiality. Many newspapers and television stations think twice before reporting a story that might be damaging to their advertisers, and will choose to avoid the story, if possible. According to a survey taken in 2000, "...about one in five (20 percent) of local and (17 percent) (of) national reporters say they have faced criticism or pressure from their bosses after producing or writing a piece that was seen as damaging to their company's financial interests."[2] The drive to increase advertising revenue has led many local news shows to measure out world news in seconds to accommodate longer weather and sports reports.

In 2005, (Aiken wrote) the news that was reported in the West came from an increasingly concentrated group of corporate- and individually-owned conglomerates. The majority of all media outlets in the United States and a large share of those internationally were owned by a handful of corporations: Vivendi/Universal, AOL/Time Warner (CNN), The Walt Disney Co. (ABC), News Corporation (FOX), Viacom (CBS), General Electric (NBC), and Bertelsmann.[3] These companies' holdings included international news outlets, magazines, television, books, music, and movies as well as large commercial subsidiaries that were not part of the media. Many of these companies are the result of mergers and acquisitions that began in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan's de-regulatory policies began to facilitate such consolidation, and further mergers have occurred ever since.

Recently (now speaking of the period 2015-2020), this trend has continued and even accelerated. It has been particularly evident in "local news." Edmund Andrews, from Stanford wrote in 2019 that

Local TV news shows collectively attract 25 million nightly viewers, far more than national cable programs such as Fox News and MSNBC. And that’s been attractive to major media conglomerates, which have been snapping up local TV stations in recent years. As of 2016, five big companies controlled 37% of these stations. [15]

Andrews sites a study co-authored by Gregory Martin of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Joshua McCrain of Emory University who studied the behavior an impact of such conglomerate, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which, at the time, owned 191 stations that reached almost 40% of the U.S. population. It has attracted attention, Andrews points out, for its conservative political views.

During the 2016 election campaign, for example, Sinclair stations aired 15 “exclusive” interviews with Donald Trump. In 2017, it hired a former Trump White House official as its chief political analyst and made his commentaries must-run on all stations. Last year, all of its anchors were ordered to read an identical script that echoed Trump’s rhetoric about “fake news” . [16] ... The first thing they found was that the newly acquired Sinclair stations increased the time allocated to national politics by about 25%. That increase came largely at the expense of local political news. Existing Sinclair stations also allocated about 25% more time than their rivals to national politics. [17]

The result of this trend is negative for two reasons. One, the increase in national coverage comes with a decrease in local converage. This results in a decrease in citizens' knowledge about and engagement with the politicians and issues in their own communities. So one potentially important way in which "ordinary citizens" can become empowered and engaged in issues that affect their lives--through their local political processes--is increasingly turned off to them.

In addition, the Stanford/Emory study suggested that media conglomerates could sway national elections.

“There is a lot of evidence from other research that the political content of news affects election outcomes,” Martin says. “So the evidence that we present, which shows that the tastes of media owners affect local news content, means the owners of media outlets have a lot of political power. That’s something that regulators of media should take into account.” [18]

The same thing is happening with local newspapers--they have been increasingly bought out by large conglomerates such as GateHouse Media (which recently bought Gannet, also a large conglomerate owner of local papers), and Alden Global Capital. According to Leonhardt of the New York Times (and many other observers as well,) these conglomerates don't care at all about the quality of local media. Rather, they usually gut the papers of reporters, replacing the local coverage with one-size-fits all national news, slanted the way the conglomerate wants. Or they just run the newspapers into the ground and close them down. According to Julie Bosman, also of the New York Times,

School board and city council meetings are going uncovered. Overstretched reporters receive promising tips about stories but have no time to follow up. Newspapers publish fewer pages or less frequently or, in hundreds of cases across the country, are shuttered completely. All of this has added up to a crisis in local news coverage in the United States that has frayed communities and left many Americans woefully uninformed, according to a report by PEN America released on Wednesday. [19]

Quoting the report by PEN America, she says

“A vibrant, responsive democracy requires enlightened citizens, and without forceful local reporting they are kept in the dark,” the report said. “At a time when political polarization is increasing and fraudulent news is spreading, a shared fact-based discourse on the issues that most directly affect us is more essential and more elusive than ever.” [20]

The report, itself, goes onto say:

Without reliable information on how tax dollars are spent, how federal policy affects local communities, and whether local elected officials are meeting constituent needs, how can citizens make informed choices about who should govern? [21]

Going back to Aiken's words in 2005, in addition to the control exercised by owners, there are also government controls and self-censorship. The United States, governed by a constitution where the First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press, has arguably one of the most free presses in the world, and is one of the few countries where the right to free speech is expressly written into the constitution. Yet even the U.S. government exerts control over the media, particularly during times of war or crisis. In many other countries around the world, especially emerging nations and dictatorships, governments impose tight restrictions on journalists, including penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment and execution. In these environments, rigorous self-censorship is necessary for survival. In a major survey of 287 U.S. journalists, "about a quarter of those polled have personally avoided pursuing newsworthy stories."[5]

This problem, too, has gotten much worse since Donald Trump was elected U.S. President in 2016. As we said above, he routinely labels any story he doesn't like "fake," and uses Twitter as his mass media outlet to let everyone know what is "real" in his view. According to David Markowitz, writing in Forbes in May 2020,

As of early April, Trump has told 23.3 lies per day in 2020, a 0.5-lie increase since 2019. What’s more, Trump has averaged 23.8 lies per day since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the US — another 0.5-lie increase. Even during a pandemic, when the public needs to trust and rely on him the most, deception remains a core part of the president’s playbook. What’s unusual about Trump is not just how often he lies, but what he lies about and where he communicates his lies most often. [22]

Trump's favorite topics, according to Markowitz are guns, the economy, education, and elections, although the Coronavirus is particularly popular right now (May - June 1020). "President Trump seems impervious to the threat of detection or harsh public opinion . He continues to deceive at record-setting rates using forums that amplify his lies, rather than hide them." [23]

While this is not exactly censorship, Trump is trying to make as many people as possible believe that the mainstream press is lying, and only he is telling "the truth."

(Aiken's commentary from 2005) Without the media, most people would know little of events beyond their immediate neighborhood. The further one goes outside of one's circle of friends and family, the more time-consuming and expensive it becomes to get information--without media. Very few, if any, individuals have the resources to stay independently informed of world events. With the news and social media, however, all one has to do is turn on a television or turn to the Internet. Even when it is biased or limited, it is a picture of things that are happening around the world.

The more sources one compares a diversity of sources, the more accurate the picture that can be put together. In addition to the media conglomerates, there are also a range of independent news outlets, though they have a much smaller audience. Some of these provide an alternative view of events and often strive to publish stories that cannot be found in the mainstream media. So, too, in 2020, does social media, although it is increasingly hard to tell what social media posts are "legitimate" and which are, indeed, fakes--brought to you by Russian "bots," for instance. However, the Internet now makes it possible to read papers and watch broadcasts from around the globe. While language skills can be a barrier, it is possible to live in the United States and watch Arab-language broadcasts from the Middle East, or to get on the Internet and read scores of Chinese newspapers. Having access to these alternative voices limits the power of monopolies over information.

Another important benefit of a functioning mass media is that information can be relayed quickly in times of crisis. Tornado and hurricane announcements can give large populations advance warning and allow them to take precautions and move out of harm's way. In a country suffering war, a radio broadcast outlining where the latest fighting is can alert people to areas to avoid. In quieter times, the media can publish other useful announcements, from traffic reports to how to avoid getting HIV. It is a stabilizing and civilizing force.

This, too, of course, is under attack in 2020, as Donald Trump is using Twitter and other mass media (such as ally Fox News) to spread massive amounts of false information about the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the while the mass media still has the potential to be a "stablizing and civilizing force," As Akin wrote in 2005, it no longer so clearly is.

Along the same lines, the news media allow elected and other officials to communicate with their constituents. Frequently, the delegates at a negotiation will find they understand each other much better over the course of their discussions, but that understanding will not reach the larger populations they represent without a concerted communications effort. If constituents are not aware of these new understandings (and subsequent compromises) during the course of negotiations, they will almost certainly feel cheated when a final agreement falls far short of their expectations. To achieve ratification, delegates must justify the agreement by discussing it with and explaining it to their constituents throughout the entire process[6] and the media is often used for this purpose.

"CNN Effect"

A recent media (in 2005) phenomenon dubbed the "CNN effect" occurs when powerful news media (i.e. CNN) seem to be creating the news by reporting it. It has been argued that CNN, with its vast international reach, sets the agenda by deciding which items are newsworthy and require the attention of government leaders. Traditionally, agenda-setting has been seen as the prerogative of government. It is also argued that emotionally-charged footage of people suffering, such as mass starvation, bombed-out markets, and burning houses, arouse the public to demand immediate action. This gives leaders little time to think through an appropriate response and can force them to take valuable resources from more urgent, less photogenic issues.

This use of sensational imagery is cited as being responsible for the United States' ill-fated involvement in Somalia : "In the words of one U.S. congressman, 'Pictures of starving children, not policy objectives, got us into Somalia in 1992. Pictures of U.S. casualties, not the completion of our objectives, led us to exit Somalia.' "[7] On the other hand, failure of the media to fully report on the genocide that claimed an estimated 800,000 lives in Rwanda during a 100-day period in 1994, made it easy for Western governments to ignore the crisis that they preferred not to acknowledge until long after it ended.

The CNN effect also brings up issues of accuracy. The New York Times, with its vast resources, has long been known as "the newspaper of record; once something is reported by this leading news outlet it is accepted as fact (unverified) and carried by other outlets, even when errors creep into the Times' account. (In 2020, the Times is now considered the newspaper of record by liberals only; it is seen as a top purveyor of fake news by President Trump and many of his allies and followers.

Some observers argue that the CNN effect is overrated, if not complete myth. Warren Strobel and Susan Carruthers, for example, argue that the U.S. government has not been forced into doing anything; rather, it used reaction over media stories to introduce policies that it already desired. Strobel also argues that any action a politician undertakes as a result of this pressure will be merely a "minimalist response" -- a limited action that suggests a greater response than has taken place.[8]

Theories of Journalism

Any discussion of media and conflict eventually leads to the purpose and responsibilities of journalists. A Western audience expects objectivity of its news reporters. While most citizens take this for granted, objective reporting has not been the historical norm. The concept of objectivity itself has often been the focus of debate. As Susan Carruthers states, "... news can never be 'value-free,' from 'nobody's point of view.' "[9] It is a sentiment voiced by numerous journalism professionals and teachers.

Deciding what the news is requires a value judgment . In the Western news media there is a consensus that news is something unusual which departs from everyday life and is quantifiable. For example, the outbreak of war is news, but any fighting thereafter might not be. As the war continues, its newsworthiness depends on whether the news agency's home troops are involved, whether the troops of close allies are involved, how many casualties are reported, how photogenic the victims are, whether reporters have access to the fighting and information about it, and what other stories occur at the same time. Western news consists of events, not processes. This bias can result in news reports where events seem to have no context.

In response to the drawbacks of 'objective' journalism, some journalists have begun advocating for alternative models, such as "peace journalism" and "public journalism." Peace journalism advocates the belief that journalists should use the power of the media to help resolve conflict rather than report it from a distance. Its detractors argue that "[o]nce a journalist has set himself the goal of stopping or influencing wars, it is a short step to accepting that any means to achieve that end are justified. ... There can be no greater betrayal of journalistic standards."[10]

The June 2020 dispute over the New York Times ' publication of Tom Cotton's op-ed is another example of this same conflict. Both Roger Cohen and Ross Douthat wrote that the Times (the 2005 "Newspaper of Record") now is leaning toward a far-left interpretation of one view as "news," and relegates all other views to the opinion pages or out of the paper all together. Although Cohen and Douthat agree that Tom Cotton's op-ed was odius, it still should have been published (as it was), and the Editorial Page Director who was fired for publishing it should not have been let go. According to Cohen,

I still believe in both-sides journalism. “A place of moral clarity” can easily mean there is only one truth, and if you deviate from it, you are done for. The liberal idea that freedom is served by open debate, even with people holding repugnant views, is worth defending. If conformity wins, democracy dies. [24]

Another "new" trend (in 2005) was "public journalism" which seeks to explore issues affecting a community and stay with those issues long enough to give the community enough information to understand the conflict and get involved. This, however, often requires a long-term commitment by the journalist and news media to follow a story over the course of the conflict. If the story is of continuing high importance to the readers -- such as a war that involves local troops, such coverage is common. If the story is not deemed continuously "newsworthy," however, it takes a committed journalist to continue to write about it and a news outlet the permits such committed reporting. [11]

The biggest change, of course, is the development of social media which didn't exist when this essay was first written. Social media has, in a sense "democratized journalism," since everyone can be a journalist, reporting on what they see from their vantage point to the entire world. They can also give their opinion on world events and share them widely--something that was impossible to do when this essay was first written.

Ironically, however, this "democratization of journalism" might actually destroy democracy, as it has allowed for the massive proliferation of fake stories--not the "fake news" that Donald Trump decries (which is most often factually correct), but rather the millions of fake stories, tweets, Facebook posts and the like that are being created by robots ("bots") working both in the U.S. and abroad, particularly, it seems, in Russia and Iran. These tweets and posts have been designed to disrupt local, national, and global political debates, and influence elections in the U.S. and abroad. Indeed, the Meuller report confirms that Russian interference, mostly through mass media efforts, did significantly effect the 2016 Presidential election in the United States.

Although Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets have said that they have made some efforts to prevent such manipulation, many observers feel they have not done nearly enough. Also, Trump (along with Congressional Republicans) have blocked a number of governmental efforts to protect our election processes. So continued, even more massive, media manipulation is likely to influence the U.S. presidental election this November as well.

Back to Essay Top

[1] Schaffert, Richard W. "The Media's Influence on the Public's Perception of Terrorism and the Question of Media Responsibility." Media Coverage and Political Terrorists . New York: Praeger Publishers. 1992: 61-79

[2] Kohut, Andrew. "Self-Censorship: Counting the Ways." Columbia Journalism Review . May/June 2002. http://www.cjr.org/year/00/2/censorship.asp

[3] http://www.mediachannel.org/ownership/chart.shtml

[4] Sanders, Edmund. "Results of FCC's Media Studies Are Released." Los Angeles Times . Oct. 2, 2002. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/202977141.html?did=202977141&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT&desc=California%3b+Results+of+FCC%27s+Media+Studies+Are+Released

[5] Kohut, Andrew. "Self-Censorship: Counting the Ways." Columbia Journalism Review . May/June 2002.

[6] Laws, David. "Representation of Stakeholding Interests." The Consensus Building Handbook . Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. 1999.

[7] Carruthers, Susan L. The Media at War . New York: St. Martin's Press. 2000. p 206

[8] Strobel, Warren. 1996. Managing Global Chaos: Sources and Responses to International Conflict , eds. Chester A. Crocker and Fen Osler Hampson with Pamela Aall. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press. p. 366.

[9] Carruthers, Susan L. The Media at War . New York: St. Martin 's Press. 2000. p. 17.

[10] Weaver, Tim. "The End of War." Track Two . Vol. 7, No. 4. http://ccrweb.ccr.uct.ac.za/archive/two/7-4/p21-endofwar.html

[11] Special thanks to Richard Salem, President of Conflict Management Initiatives, for his assistance in drafting this essay.

[12] The New York Times published a lengthy interview with Stewart in June 2020 in which he reflected on his role in blending news and entertainment, and contributing, perhaps, to the confusion of the two. (Search for the phrase "We jused to have news and we had entertainment" to see Stewart's thoughts on this topic.)

[13] Roger Cohen, "The Outcry Over ‘Both Sides’ Journalism" New York Times. June 12, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/journalism-debate.html

[14] Ross Douthat: "The Tom Cotton Op-Ed and the Cultural Revolution." New York Times, June 12, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/nyt-tom-cotton-oped-liberalism.html

[15, 16, 17, and 18] Edmund L. Andrews "Media Consolidation Means Less Local News, MOre Right Wing Slant," Insights by Stanford Business https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/media-consolidation-means-less-local-news-more-right-wing-slant

[19 and 20] Julie Bosman "How the Collapse of Local News is Causing a 'National Crisis'" New York Times. November 20, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/us/local-news-disappear-pen-america.html

[21] Pen America "Losing the News" https://pen.org/local-news/

[22 and 23] David Markowitz "Trump is Lying More than Ever: Just Look at the Data" Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmarkowitz/2020/05/05/trump-is-lying-more-than-ever-just-look-at-the-data/#10ca8c31e176

[24] Roger Cohen, "The Outcry Over ‘Both Sides’ Journalism" New York Times. June 12, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/journalism-debate.html

Use the following to cite this article: Akin, Jennifer. "Mass Media." Beyond Intractability . Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: March 2005 < http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/mass-communication >.

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