The mass media have diverse functions in meeting the audiences ' needs of information. In the classical theory of functionalism, the media have several social functions. In 1948, Harold Lasswell revealed three main social functions of media: as a provider of information about events around the community; as explanation provider about the relationships amongst each part within the event; and as a transmission channel of the dominant culture including the common values that exist in the community. Wright, in 1960, added the fourth social function, namely as an entertainment provider. Lastly, the fifth function was written by McQuail which he called as mobilization, in which the media is participating on the campaign about various social objects …show more content…
Whereas the public as the audience is likely considered to be passive in terms of finding information. In classical theories, proponents of Liberal Pluralism as well as Marxism – despite their opposite opinion about the function of the media – are equally implying the media dominance over the public, in which public 's positions are described powerless. Walter Lippmann, as one of the liberal pluralists for example, states the importance of journalists ' position in the mass media industry in order to help the audience interprets events and political policies. The public is considered to be too busy taking care of their daily interests, so they need to be helped in absorbing the information (Lippmann, 1927, pp. 30-34; 44-45). Whereas from the opposite side, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, and also their supporters such as Antonio Gramsci and Noam Chomsky, argue that the mainstream mass media industry is just a part of the agenda setting and acts as an extension of the hegemony of the ruling class to spread the dominant ideology amongst the audience (Allan, 2010: pp. 17-19; Chomsky, 1997; Femia, 1981: p. …show more content…
Naturally, journalists working in mainstream mass media actually are never interested in making ordinary citizens ' voices as news sources, nor as audiences that influence editorial decisions. However, with this participatory practice, media and journalists have a responsibility to provide "a channel, forum or platform for extramedia voices" (Christians et.al., 2009 as quoted in Reich, 2011, p. 99) regardless its central role in observing and informing what happens in society. In order to maintain its existence, the media must facilitate the audiences to be active in the discussion of public issues (Leonard, 1999 as quoted in Reich, 2011: p. 99). This has given a new role to journalists and media managers, that is comment moderators, making decisions about which audience 's comment is published and the which one is not (Hermida, 2011: p. 183). This role is similar to what used to be known as gatekeeping, but the material is derived from free discussions in the audiences '
Traditional American values such as hard work, freedom, and team work, confidence and standing up for ones beliefs have been drastically shaped and changed by the mass media. The mass media is any type of media outlet and just listening to it and being exposed to it changes people attitudes and perspectives more then we realize. The traditional values that we have always clung to, as a nation may not be as intact as we would like to believe these days.
398).It is also stated that news divisions reduced their costs, and raised the entertainment factor of the broadcasts put on air. (p. 400). Secondly, the media determines its sources for stories by putting the best journalists on the case and assign them to areas where news worthy stories just emanates. (p.400). Third, the media decides how to present the news by taking the most controversial or relevant events and compressing them into 30 second sound-bites. (p.402). finally, the authors also explain how the media affects the general public. The authors’ state “The effect of one news story on public opinion may be trivial but the cumulative effect of dozens of news stories may be important. This shows a direct correlation between public opinions and what the media may find “relevant”. (Edwards, Wattenberg, Lineberry, 2015, p.
First, the role of the media is to represent the public and intervene between the public and the government. The media is a mirror, which re...
It is not uncommon to hear people complaining about what they hear on the news. Everyone knows it and the media themselves knows it as well. Some of the most renowned journalists have even covered the the media’s issues in detail. Biased news outlets have flooded everyday news. We find that journalism’s greatest problems lie in the media’s inability for unbiased reporting, the tendency to use the ignorance of their audience to create a story, and their struggles to maintain relevance.
The mass media operate other important societal functions as well. Harold Lasswell, political scientist and communication theorist, illustrates three features: surveil¬lance of the world to report ongoing events, interpretation of the meaning of events, and socialization of individuals into their cultural settings (Lasswell 1969). The other fourth function must be added: manipulation of politics. The way that these four functions operate, influences the political destiny of individuals, groups, and social institutions, as well as the course of internal and international politics.
Much is being discovered when the public, also known as the consumers and recipients of the news, share their views on journalistic practices. One might suggest that traditional journalism has, in due course, come to an end. Although, there are definitely problems that the public runs into with public journalism taking over. A few of those arguments include their content, the journalists, and the effects that it has on their public audience.
How mass media is using both Ideology and Popular Culture to develop societal expectations and social identities. This essay will look at how Ideology, Hegemony, and Popular Cultural Theory shape common values and expectations of society and media’s influence and compare and contrast differing approaches to understanding the relationship between media and society. The discussion will be contextualized through the use of gender roles and expectations, and how these theories develop and affect the female social identity.
The first is the crisis of viability. The chance of success in the journalism in the mainstream is approaching a decline due to the transformations in technologies and new access to multiple sources of information. The second is a crisis in civic adequacy. The contributions of journalism to citizenship and democracy have begun to shift and this shift has caused a question of the relevancy of journalism to democratic processes. In a democratic society journalism plays the role of the government watchdog. The effectiveness of society’s watchdog is now being challenged and in turn alternating the structure of the current democratic society. Many critical theorists of the press during the beginning of the 20th century were concerned with finding appropriate forms of public regulation of the press and journalism to ensure that journalists are writing “news and information about public affairs which sustains and nurtures citizen information, understanding and engagement and thereby a democratic polity” (Cushion and Franklin, 2015: 75) (Dahlgren, Splichal 2016). Journalism is a political entity that influences and informs the public. It is meant to work as a source of public information that helps and does not hinder the general public specifically in political processes. The article
The Mass Media is a unique feature of modern society; its development has accompanied an increase in the magnitude and complexity of societal actions and engagements, rapid social change, technological innovation, rising personal income and standard of living and the decline of some traditional forms of control and authority.
Stereotypes is a big issue within the media industry. Representation within the media is to show someone or something, using a process of depicting, descripting and symbolization. Stereotypes, as described by Stuart Hall, is the “production of the meaning of the concepts in our minds through language which enables us to refer to either the ‘real’ world of objects, people or events, or indeed to imaginary worlds of fictional objects, people and events”. In his research Hall has suggested that there is two systems of representation, the first system regarding direct associations of events, people and objects that have certain mental representations and concepts that people have in their minds. Meaning is therefore
The current role of mass media in politics has definitely played a significant role in how view and react to certain events and issues of the nation. Newspapers, magazines, television and radio are some of the ways information is passed onto many of the citizens. The World Wide Web is also an information superhighway, but not all of the sources on the Internet are credible. Therefore, I will only focus on the main three types of media: written, viewed, and audible, and how they affect whether or not democracy is being upheld in the land of the free. The media includes several different outlets through which people can receive information on politics, such as radio, television, advertising and mailings. When campaigning, politicians spend large quantities of money on media to reach voters, concentrating on voters who are undecided. Politicians may use television commercials, advertisements or mailings to point out potentially negative qualities in their opponents while extolling their own virtues. The media can also influence politics by deciding what news the public needs to hear. Often, there are more potential news stories available to the media than time or space to devote to them, so the media chooses the stories that are the most important and the most sensational for the public to hear. This choice can often be shaped,
The Mass Media has had a greater in influence on modern culture than either education or history.
Althusser (1971) explains that, as an ideological state apparatus, media doesn’t use pressure as a way to bind society together under one dominant ideology, but instead uses the will of the people to make them accept the dominant ideology. However, media is also used as a way for people to challenge the dominant ideology. Newspapers, for example, will have articles that openly criticise and oppose the dominant ideology for what it is, whilst at the same time providing perspectives and opinions on different ideologies (such as feminism) that society can believe in. Although these alternate ideological perspectives exist, they are usually overlooked and only ever reach small audiences. Ideology can also help us understand the media because of the way in which it distributes ideology.
If one asked “What is media literacy?” a majority of people would be puzzled. Some would say that it is the ‘written’ part of media that is not usually seen or a written layout of how media should be produced. The bulk of people would say they have no idea what media literacy is. People in today’s society should be informed about media literacy. Society should be informed of what media literacy exactly is and how it applies to the field of communications.
Mass communication is to use a source or medium to reach a large audience to communicate your message. People are communicating with each other since the evaluation of human, and with the passage of time it become more and more advance. After the emergence of media and development of new technologies, it gave birth to different media theories and these theories showed a transformation over the last two decades. Mass media communication theories divides in four following eras: