American, Delta, Southwest, and United Airlines are the four major companies that own 70% of the airline industry (Young, “United Airlines: The Face of Monopoly Capitalism”). This monopolization of the airline industry reduces competition and allows the companies to treat their passengers however they see fit, due to the limited choice set and because the companies have been left largely unregulated. This sort of behavior is clearly conveyed in the United Airlines incident when Dr. David Dao was forcibly removed from his flight after a random selection to make room for crew members ("United Airlines: Eyewitness on how passenger was dragged off plane"). When Dr. Dao refused to give up his seat and get off of the plane he was forcibly removed …show more content…
When the media began reporting the United Airlines incident to the world they used sensationalism to create public interest. This sort of tactic is commonly used by the media provide public interest and awareness through the use of exciting or shocking language in stories but can risk the accuracy of the information (London, "How the Media Frames Political Issues"). Sensationalism can be seen in the titles of the articles and videos that describe the events that take place, words like “horrified,” “horrific,” “forcibly,” and “infamous” are all used ("United Airlines changes policy after 'horrific' passenger ordeal"). By using those types of words in the titles the media is able to catch the public’s attention whether they are watching or reading about the event. Similarly, this tactic was also used when BBC interviewed Dao’s daughter, Crystal explained how she was “sickened: by the event and that “it should not have happened to any human” ("United Airlines passenger's family 'horrified’”). This sort of language and the images of Crystal crying as she tell the press about what happened to her father creates emotionally charged responses from viewers and prompts them to continue viewing or looking for more information. In addition to gaining consumers attention, the use of sensational language by the media also helps stories go viral. Through the creation of emotional response …show more content…
Through the process in which the media chooses which stories they decide to cover sets the agenda for what is considered newsworthy and important (Boundless, "The Mass Media"). The ultimate shaping of public opinion is through the decision of what stories are covered the media, because the media can legitimize or marginalize either the entire story or parts of it (Smith, "Agenda-Setting, Priming & Framing"). The public believes in the media, so when the media decides to cover one story over another they are deciding what the public should be thinking about. As Briggs and Burke explain through Innis’s theory that “each medium of communication tends to create a monopoly on knowledge” which in turn for those ruling the monopoly produces a profit and set the public agenda (Briggs and Burke, 6). Similarly to the intellectual monopoly of medieval monks based on parchment, there is a monopoly on traditional media today; six people own 90% of the media that is viewed (McCarty). Ultimately, these six people have been deciding what is considered newsworthy which in effect determines what the public thinks about (Boundless, "The Mass Media"). Through the decisions of what is considered newsworthy, viewers also decide their opinion based off of social desirability or what they perceive the popular opinion to be which is all derived from the media and what they consider important (Boundless,
Superheroes and villains are not commonly associated with airlines, but in the article “A Tale of Two Airlines” by Christopher Elliot, it is put into a different perspective. The two airlines in question are Spirit and Southwest. Although both have some similarities, they both have considerably different views on how to treat customers. Southwest practices treating customers with respect, while fares may be a little higher. Spirit’s beliefs are to treat customers “like cargo” with lower fares. With their friendly attendants and better overall customer interaction, this appoints Southwest as the hero, making Spirit our villain. Elliot makes his point by exclaiming the “heroes” should be rewarded with a higher multitude of passengers and the “villains” should not be granted this satisfaction.
The media is the main source of information for America today. Tocqueville would call the media the "intellectual authority"(Tocqueville 13) in America. "Everybody there adopts great numbers of theories, on philosophy, morals, and politics, without inquiry"(Tocqueville 11) These forms of media, newspapers, television and radio to name a few are filled with opinions and ideas that people just accept. Many of the leading media corporations are run by a handful of people. This means that the ideas and opinions that the masses are accepting are those ideas and opinions of a certain few people, a minority.
As the mind matures and grows, new opinions are formed with the help of the revolutionizing consciousness of humanity. The human conscious allows humanity to develop individually and gain unique cognitive patterns and thinking processes. However, these opinions can be manipulated by environmental sources, like the media. The media’s puppet strings can be used to influence the minds of the masses and control their overall thinking process. It takes away an individual’s freedom to think for themselves and form their own opinions. Manipulation is a key ingredient in attaining support for a side of an argument. News networks have this ability to twist the minds of their listeners and unconsciously force them to believe in their words. Two of the
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.
In the Travel Pulse article "Airlines Leaving Us Little Choice – Like A Monopoly," posted by Rich Thomaselli, the practice of monopolization is observed in the airline industry. The author criticizes large airlines on their growth that has led to at “93 of the top 100 [airports], one or two airlines controlling a majority of the seats” (Thomaselli). The scornful article was written after recent events that have caused the Department of Justice and five States to sue two of the biggest U.S.
“The old argument that the networks and other ‘media elites’ have a liberal bias is so blatantly true that it’s hardly worth discussing anymore…No we don’t sit around in dark corners and plan strategies on how we’re going to slant the news. We don’t have to. It comes naturally to most reporters.” (Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News) This example is tremendously important in the author’s discussion because it proves that news stories do manipulate people through bias. Popular news networks are viewed by thousands of people every single day, thus making it have a huge impact on the public since they believe what they see. When news reporters present their news segments, it is natural for them to give their insights due to human nature being instinctively biased. “The news media is [sic] only objective if they report something you agree with… Then they’re objective. Otherwise they’re biased if you don’t agree, you know.” (CNN’s American Morning) In this quote, the readers are presented to current panelists agreeing that news consumers have a very hard time separating their own view of the news from the perspective of the news reporters because they are presenting their own opinions throughout their segments. This problem exists once again because of the bias that is contained in media
Sensationalism is described as “use of shocking material: the practice of emphasizing the most lurid, shocking, and emotive aspects of something under discussion or investigation, especially by the media” (“Sensationalism”, 2009). This has tactic has been used for ages. Whether it’s stories being told about a monster who will eat bad children, to the dangerous communist ways, sensationalism is everywhere. Sensationalism began during the era of Pulitzer and Hearst newspaper era. Their feud would introduce sensationalism to media, and impact the lives of many.
Have airlines gone too far? In the wake of the hostile passenger removal on United Airlines, the topic of airline passenger regulation has once again become a topic of conjecture. Multiple occurrences of passenger disruption over the past several months have taken the forefront of current events and have Americans questioning whether airlines have become too aggressive in the name of safety. A group of passengers were arrested and forcibly removed for an onboard incident, another woman was forced off a plane due to dog allergies, and the UAE is currently investigating an Emirates plane for flying too low across the city. Patrick Smith, a current pilot, wrote an editorial for The New York Times about the Golden Age of Travel with hopes of
On April 9, 2017, United Airlines faced an incident that quickly escalated into a public relations crisis. This was furthered intensified by a clumsy response to the incident that resulted in damage to credibility and reputation of the airline. Throughout the incident, there were several opportunities missed and mistakes made that contributed to the negative impact and reaction from the public. According to “Business Insider” (April 10, 2017), and “The New York Times” (April 10, 2017), United Express Flight 3411 had boarded all its passengers when gate agents were approached by a flight crew requiring transport. As the flight was fully booked, the gate agents attempted to solicit four volunteers to leave the plane in return for re-booking
Uscinski, J. E. (2009). When Does the Public's Issue Agenda Affect the Media's Issue Agenda (and Vice-Versa)? Developing a Framework for Media-Public Influence. Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell), 90(4), 796-815. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2009.00663.x
The American Association for Public Opinion Research. (1972). The Public Opinion Quarterly. In M. E. Shaw, The Agenda Setting Function of Mass Media (pp. 176-187). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
“Through the ongoing interaction of theorizing and empirical research consistent with the scientific method, agenda-setting theory has evolved from a tightly focused perspective to a broad theory. Initially, the focus was on the way media affect the public’s view of which issues are important. Later the theory broadened to encompass five distinct aspects of public life: basic and attribute agenda-setting effects, the psychology of these processes, and the consequences of these effects for opinions and behavior. The participation of scholars worldwide has been central to the continuing productivity of the theory” (Maxwell McCombs).
In our democratic society, mass media is the driving force of public opinion. Media sources such as Internet, newspaper, news-broadcasts, etc, play significant roles in shaping a person’s understanding and perception about the events occurred in our daily lives. As long as the newspapers, internet, network television, etc, continued to be easily accessible to the public, the media will continue to have an influence in shaping its opinions. Factors such as agenda-setting, framing and priming help shape the public opinions. Agenda-setting is when the media focuses their attention on selected issues on which the public will form opinion on, whereas framing allows the media to select certain aspects about the problem and then make them appear more salient. Similarly, priming works by repeatedly exposing certain issues to public. As the issues get more exposure, the individual will be more likely to recall or retain the information in their minds. This paper will discuss these three factors played out systemically by media and how our opinions are constantly being influence and shape by them.
Media is used by dominant powers to spread their ideological beliefs and to help maintain social control. 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. A lot of different types of media, such as film and TV; reflect different ideologies, though we are not always aware that they are doing so. An example of this would be action/adventure films, which shows that using force or violence to solve problems is acceptable and reflects upon certain ideologies. This helps us to understand the media because the ideology that is reflected in these films is capable of reaching big audiences through the use of TV and film, thus allowing for it to become a more common belief within
This answers my question on the Agenda-Setting theory on whether the people know how to use the media right. Not only can the media help influence choices and shape opinions, the consumer can decide what media content to take in and how they can let it gratify them. In this age where social media is the thing now, the audience now choose the media content and the kind of gratification they want to get from