Question:
Discuss about the Mass Media Powers.
Mass Media refers to the technologies used by one party to communicate to large audience at the same time. It is the best way through which a company can contact to many people at the same time. Reaching to mass with the use of technology is called mass media. Types of mass media are; radio, television, print media, social media, digital media etc. Nowadays mass media is the best and most efficient way to communicate to mass public and leave imprint on them (Cliffs Notes, 2017).
The essay will further study about the influence of persuasive and communicative powers on the audience. Along with which the role of media and effects of media content consumption is explained with certain theories defined. Also the essay suggests the role of media practitioners in supplying information and its ethical implications are discussed. Further the role and influences of Mass Media on Audience are discussed below:
The major role which mass media plays in today’s world is that it provides information to the people living at different geographical boundaries. Also the role of mass media is creating social awareness among people for any product/ Services or any law/ rule create by the government. Above all the three basic roles which the mass media hold are; information, entertainment and education. The media is the advocate of the public who questions the community and government on behalf of them. Also it is the responsibility of the media to supply accurate information along with make its audience aware regarding the issue (Bryant, Thompson, & Finklea 2012).
In connection with the role of mass media, the power which this industry receives is that it has the power to influence the society with its effective display of information. The greatest power which mass media hold is social persuasion. Persuasion refers to the power of media to make effect on the behavior, action and action of the public on a whole. People usually tend to agree on what media approaches to say and on the basis of that, they make their judgment and buy the product and services. Value judgment is a long gone process and forgotten and the audiences totally rely on what the media says. Also media is now the supreme source to gather the information which is accurate and reliable most of the times (Burton 2010).
In order to look after the societal control which media enjoys totally depends upon the degree of influence the media has on its audience. Media can receive the power to construct reality in the society only when the audience believes in what media conveys is true. Starting from the politics to the way one person carry on their life, all the activities and action of a person can molded and reality can be changed only on the basis of media’s information. Beliefs, behaviors, perceptions and opinions of audiences can be constructed again by the media; reality can be changed but for that the media needs to have influence on the actions of the audience (CommGAP 2017).
The influence of mass media content consumption evolved as a solid drug or a sharp weapon which creates a powerful impact on the helpless audience, this assumption was based on the hypodermic theory. Further it was noted that the effect of media creates a huge impact on a person’s thoughts, emotions, communication, and behavior in direct or indirect ways. Also the researcher says that it is impossible for them to create changes in such mediating effects. The effect of media content on any person depends upon the passive and active use of media by them (Couldry 2012). There is presence of negative as well as positive aspects in the media environment which totally depends upon the discretion of the audience to use the information provided to them. The gratification and uses theory explains that, to analyze the media effect, it shall be investigated that what uses the audience do make with the media information, along with that, with what motive or intention they perform activities on the media (Edge 2017).
Furthermore, effects created on the audience through media are judged by their attitudes. Referring to which the tri-component theory explains the change in behavior or attitude while responding the media information. The theory contains three components that are, cognitive under which the audience behaves on the basis of the observation which they make while obtaining the particular information; they do not share their views with anybody else. Another effect is affective component which comprises of what people think about the information while interacting with other people. This component relates to the emotional thinking of the audience. Under the third component conative, the audience usually imitates to the information which is spread to the audience (Duncan-Daston, Hunter-Sloan, & Fullmer 2013).
The attitude of the audience is created on the basis of such theories. Also the audience behaves to what they observe in the environment; this behavior is called the observational theory. According to this theory whatever information a person observes in the environment, whether negative or positive, they react on the basis of that observation also imitate the observation which they make. Another effect created on the attitude of audience is Disinhibitory effect which shows that the effect of media on the audience is that they become socially inactive and numb. As most of the time of people is spent gathering news and listening or watching entertainment series due to which they boycott themselves from all the social activities (Ejupi, Siljanovska, & Iseni 2014). Due to this, their attitudes also become same as the characters to whom they listen or see like, if somebody watches TV shows which involve aggressive characters then the personality of those characters will surely influence theirs due to which they will also adapt aggressive characters in their personality. One such syndrome found in people is Mean World Syndrome is that the audiences of media get so much affected by the negative news spread in the society that they start assuming that the whole world is a mean and cruel place to live in (Esolz Technologis 2017).
The attitude and behavioral changes depends upon the kind of information conveyed to the public and the audiences. The media practitioners play a major role in assessing the information and delivering it to the target audience. The role of the media practitioners is to find out the accurate information which not negatively influences the public. Along with which such information shall be communicated to the audience whom they targeted in order to show its effectiveness (Lee, & Ma 2012). Further the aspects considered by the media practitioners while issuing the information to the audiences are:
Priming: it shows that messages spread in the environment through media may connect to other older news of the society which might affect the audience and initiate them to make changes in their decisions. For instance, any information aired on television about US presidential election, might raise the older issues which were suppressed by the government. This effect can lead major changes on the government with the change in the mindset of people (Burton, 2010).
Agenda-Setting: the topic on which the audience thinks is not affected by the media activities, it is purely their decision. But what the audiences think about and on that topic is affected by the media activities. So under this gatekeeping the activity, this regulates the flow of information and controls it. This is not majorly controlled by the professional but is also barred with time limitation. Propaganda of the information refers to the activity of spreading the resourcefully information to the general public on a whole. There should be flow of ideas to a wider class of people in order to reach the mass (McCombs 2014).
Framing: frames refer to the process of flowing information after the agenda is prepared that what to share and what not to, after this process frames decides that how to flow this information. And in what way and through what measures such information is directed to the public considering the response of audience. The identification theory works under this process and helps the companies in analyzing the target audience for the particular information which they want to convey to the right audience. The theory states that, particular information shall not be distributed among people on the basis of their age group; instead there are many factors which affect the decision of issuers while communicating the information. Like, gender, region, class, social status etc. are some of the factor which affects the framing process. The need of framing is that the media wants to make effect to the audience with the communication of news, because spreading the right information to the wrong people will not make a positive effect (Murshed 2014).
Cultivation: it is believed by many people that the real world is same as the reel world (basically digital world). For instance, as per the television character it is noted that most of people hold a position of CEO in their own company but this is not accurate as per the real life analysis. The cultivation gives a huge impact on the mindset of people as they start believing on what they see on these series and assume it to happen in their life as well (O’Leary 2017).
It is said that the persuasion and propaganda plays a lead role in the process of interaction between culture and media. The media helps in spreading the cultural values in the environment through effective means. Due to this people nowadays are aware about their legal rights and duties. Also with the implementation convergence culture (which means both old and new media working together to fulfill the objective), more people are getting connected with the media using it for the betterment of society (Open Library 2017).
As per my views, media plays a crucial role in communicating the information to its audiences with fulfilling various obligations and responsibilities. The basic role of media is to spread authentic information to its audience and make positive changes with the information. But many times, if the information is spread to adequate target audience, or at the right time then the problem may arise due to misconceptions. The response which the audience gives by observing the information is based on their individual discretion; as the greater degree of affection with media, the greater the response of that information. Thus, it shall be noted that the issuer of media news shall spread the information by covering all the possible aspect to target audience. The aim shall be to maintain integrity in the culture and society.
Media also has a negative impact on the society and environment like it sometimes intent to change the culture, behavioral values, stereotyping roles in the society. The best quality of media can also show to most negative effect on the society as mass communication is the best feature of mass media which can show negative effect as any such information which is not fit for the society on a whole and is displayed on social media or through any other means of media can impact the whole society together. This issue can lead to major changes in the thinking of society. Therefore the companies should deliver the information the audience after passing the censorships and critique review, after that also the information shall find a correct audience group itself to deliver then only the information shall be passed on to the general public on a whole (Stephen 2017).
It shall be taken into context that the mass media does not only causes negative influences on the society and the audience, in fact there are a numerous positive impacts of mass media on the audience and the community on a whole. The mass media is criticized on showing the negative impact on the society irrespective of the fact that through the mass media many people learn and get to know about new and changing aspects about their society and other factors as well. Also the social and mental ability of a person’s mind to think explores and they become capable of expanding their areas of expertise and become a diverse person (Street 2010). Also mass media is a tool for many companies to expand their business and let it reach to people out of their geographical boundaries. So it can be said that mass media is tool to increase the economical earning of the company because with the aid of mass media expansion and innovation is possible which initiates growth in country (Wimmer, & Dominick 2013).
The companies spreading media news shall fulfill the objective of spreading ethical media content. It shall be taken in mind that, as the mass media gives effect to major changes in the society both positively and negatively, therefore the ethical procedural code shall be followed while creating of displaying such information. The social media site are the vehicle nowadays which drive such information to the public therefore such information and companies displaying such information shall have copyright to make people understand that the information provided is credible (Romero 2011). No information of any person’s personal life shall be communicated without their initial permission. Along with which, no content which effects the society negatively or has age restriction shall be publically pronounced. As per the code of ethics, no false information shall be presented to public or such information presented shall be not be window-dressed. Also no information shall be created and spread in order to defame any person. Such actions shall hold penalties due to their wrongful actions. The producers shall use common good approach while trading the information to audience; that is serve the correct information to the community not just a group of members (Cliffs Notes 2017).
To conclude with, it can be said that the media holds distinctive powers in the society. It has the power to make changes and influence people mind and perceptions, thus such resource shall be used to create positive impact on the society and initiate awareness among them. The distributors of information shall take care of ethical conduct while creating and spreading the information whereas the audience shall not totally rely on such information and change their behaviors according to the news (Edge 2017). The effects of media content consumption shall grow the society in a positive way. Also yes it can said that media influence in the changing the attitude of the audience, along with which the practitioners needs to follow h ethical implications in order to create a positive effect of media on the society.
References
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Bryant, J., Thompson, S. & Finklea, B.W., (2012). Fundamentals of media effects. Waveland Press.
Burton, G., (2010). Media and society: Critical perspectives. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Cliffs Notes.( 2017). The Role and Influence of Mass Media. Viewed on July 24, 2017 from https://www.cliffsnotes.com/study-guides/sociology/contemporary-mass-media/the-role-and-influence-of-mass-media
CommGAP. (2017). Media Effects. Viewed on July 24, 2017 from https://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTGOVACC/Resources/MediaEffectsweb.pdf
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