Media Dependency Theory
Alfredo Alvarado
11/01/2017
Dr. Bala A. Musa
Azusa Pacific University
Media Dependency Theory
Abstract
In this essay I will be writing a theory analysis of the Media Dependency theory. I will be defining and explaining media dependency theory, and I will also provide conceptual and contextual analysis. Furthermore I will show media dependency theory through observation and application in pop culture. Do we shape the media, or does media shape us?
Body
Media dependency theory is defined as a systematic approach to the study of the effects of mass media on audiences and of the interactions between media, audiences, and social systems. To put it in simpler terms it is the focus of media dependency and the
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You can go on CNN or MSNBC and hear how horrible our president is, or how great he is on FOX NEWS. CNN says that there is so much racisms in America that you wouldn’t know we had the civil rights movement of the 60’s, MSNBC talks about isolated mass shootings like we are all going to die that way, and FOX NEWS and terrorisms, what can I say there is terrorist around every corner waiting to kill us all. If I didn’t know better I would say that our country is falling apart, while it is really unfortunately for the victims of all these news worthy cases, it is also unfortunately that they use these events to push their company’s agenda. While it can seem like it’s all just an innocent rouse to get people to watch their product, they are doing much more than that. Their message makes people have certain attitudes towards others, alters ones beliefs and values. It creates a state of constant fear and anxiety because it makes people feel like anywhere they go they are in danger from being shot or being a victim of some sort of …show more content…
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In The Influencing Machine, Gladstone argues that the media focuses on putting out news that remotely threatens viewers. In the text she states, “emphasizing bad news is good business…world [seems] more dangerous…actually is.” It is good business considering that it keeps the audience on their toes and makes them think about what is going on. When you visit news sites or look at news stations
Fear is not only interconnected to all emotions, but it can also be directly linked to nearly all faucets of everyday life. Society is so driven by fear that it has been the prime causation factor of wars and the driving force behind entire economies. Major news networks capitalize on fear based commentary. They seemingly promote fear by placing strong emphasis on only those stories that highlight things such as corrupt politics, homicide, the bankrupt economy, school shootings, and the so called, “War on Terror.” The News Stations keep people in constant search for the ever-elusive piece of mind. Networks such as MSNBC, CNN, ABC and FOX bring in billions of dollars by conditioning the human psyche with an abundance’s of commercials targeting consumers based on race, ethnicity, status and creed. Big business and Governments intention is to frighten its citizens an...
Bryant, Jennings, and Mary Beth Oliver, eds. Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research. Third ed. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.
Both CNN and Fox News influence these immense populations with how each utilize pathos, ethos and logos in the topics discussed during the broadcasted show. For example, Fox News 's audience seems to be primarily conservative, while CNN’s audience seem to be more liberal (Engel). So each network’s stories “focus on the issues that” conservatives or liberals “want to watch and talk about” (James). These topics are used to develop a more conservative or liberal fan base in the respective news networks. As the dominant news network on cable television, Fox News impacts the greatest quantity of citizens, bringing in an audience of over two million for primetime (James). Therefore, Fox News influences the largest percentage of Americans listening to news networks by effectively using these manipulative literary techniques. However, CNN has a younger audience than Fox News (Carter), which contributes to CNN’s audience growing from 350,000 a night, in 2013 (Agee), to 629,000 viewers a night (James). CNN and Fox News compete with each other to influence the greatest amount of people and the public’s opinion of current events. Each network appeals to pathos, logos and ethos differently and similarly to coax the greatest amount of listeners each night.
The following illustrated essay will explain how the media affects ones beliefs and values towards relationships. It will explore the different media devices and how they individually affect on the perception of an individual.
Many people today may not realize how much the media, Internet, and Social Media impacts their lives because of how reliant we’ve become on them. In “Of Losers and Moles: You Think Reality TV Just Writes Itself” by Derrick Speight, “Mind Over Mass Media” by Steven Pinker, or “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., each story may talk or argue about some issue that society faces in relation to media. In the first article I read by Derrick Speight, the main goal was to explain to the audience that reality TV is real, but in the scheme of the production, the writers and producers must transform the reality of it into a story line. In the next reading by Steven Pinker, the purpose of
Media also influences the thinking of people and society in general through entertainment as well as advertising and marketing campaigns. It is the creative ideas and boost to the imagination that people get once they watch a television show, movie, commercial or listen to a certain song. The impact any of these forms of media can have on an individual’s thinking can change in that most of them view the various stars in the movies, TV or the music industry as role models and as a result, they start imitating them. This type of influence oftentimes will influence the way someone views a political
Everyday we encounter the media in some form. It could be waking up to the sound of the radio, or passing billboards in the streets or simply just watching television. They are a lot of different forms of media, for example, verbal or written media, visual media and aural media. Examples of media would include newspapers, magazines, film, radio, television, billboard advertisements as well as the internet. Media studies came about because of the developments in mass communication and it provokes the generation of exigent questions about what we think we know as well how we came about knowing it. There are always changes in the media and the term “media” refers to the many ways of physically forming meanings as well and carrying them. The term “media studies” on the other hand, means different courses priorities different media; different theories and different learning outcomes (Bazalgette, 2000).
There is an association between the development of mass media and social change, although the degree and direction of this association is still debated upon even after years of study into media influence. Many of the consequences, either detrimental or beneficial, which have been attributed to the mass media, are almost undoubtedly due to other tendencies within society. Few sociologists would refute the importance of the mass media, and mass communications as a whole, as being a major factor in the construction and circulation of social understanding and social imagery in modern societies. Therefore it is argued that the mass media is used as “an instrument”, both more powerful and more flexible than anything in previous existence, for influencing people into certain modes of belief and understanding within society.
Today's society is very selective; each receiver reacts differently through his or her own experience and orientation according to mass media. Therefore, mass media exists in many different forms such as magazines, television, newspapers, internet, motion pictures, and even plays. Some examples of these forms of mass media are cosmopolitan magazine for young modern women and TSN television network for sports fans. With such extreme varieties of mass media existing in today's societies there are three major constraints that seem to have an impressionable impact. These constraints can keep mass media very restricted.
Unquestionably the media being newspapers, internet, radio and television, influence society. They can affect, have affected and will continue to affect the progression of life in this nation and around the world, as electronic technology continues to be the chosen mode of communication for a whole generation, offering direct, often anonymous influential information.
Media system dependency is a theory that predicts people in society will use media for interpersonal needs and goals. It is researched as a system that allows people to meet these goals through sources of information found in different media forms (Loges & Ball-Rokeach, 1993). While media does help us understand who we are, and possibly what we may be becoming, it can also give us insight to the outside world. Media gives the consumer what is desired, and often that is the intense, hostile, and sometimes hopeless views of the world around us. For example, we watch the news and believe that a particular place isn’t safe because that is what media portrays. With all of these notions media gives us, and our dependency on media, it may be one big cycle of information that gets filtered and changed as the society and culture changes as well. Media dependency is also a concept and will continue to evolve as technology advances and new avenues of media consumption are explored.
The definition of mass media is “a means of communication that reaches large numbers of people in a short time, this can consist of the use of television, newspapers, magazine, and radio”, and within the last decade the internet as well. (HarperCollins) The media can actually be a minor or major effect on individuals depending on how or what their view is on the particular subject or matter. The effects it plays on individuals and societies will depend on the exposure to the subject matter at the time, but it effects all ages from young to old.
Hence, the power of media has touched its apex in today’s age. Its societal, political and economic functions reflect its unparallel capacity to affect the human life in all spheres.
Media technologies are becoming an important aspect of today’s society. Each and every day, people interact with media of many different forms. Media is commonly defined as being a channel of communication. Radio, newspapers, and television are all examples of media. It is impossible to assume that media is made up of completely unbiased information and that the media companies do not impose their own control upon the information being supplied to media users. Since many people use media very frequently, it is obvious to assume that it has affects on people. According to the text book Media Now, "media effects are changes in knowledge, attitude, or behavior that result from exposure to the mass media," (386). This leaves us with many unanswered questions about media and its influences. This paper will look at how the effects of media are determined and explore the main affects on today’s society - violence, prejudice, and sexual behavior.