MASS MEDIA AND MEDIA EFFECTS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Determine the functions of media in society and dissemination of popular culture
 Explain the different ways mass media affect culture, including new media
 Analyze cultural messages that the media send

FUNCTIONS OF MASS MEDIA

Mass media refers to channels of communication that involve transmitting
information in some way, shape or form to large numbers of people. It serves various
functions in society. More importantly, the bulk of popular culture comes from mass
media. The functions of mass media include:
Information: Dissemination of information is the major function of mass media. Media
offer trustworthy and timely facts and opinions about various events and situations to
mass audience as informative items. Information provided by mass media can be
objective, opinionated, primary and secondary. Media disseminates information mostly
through news broadcast on TV and radio, as well as in newspaper columns. At
present, social media is also a venue for news networks to circulate news and
information.
Media outlets also interpret messages in more or less explicit and ethical ways.
Newspaper editorials have long been explicit interpretations of current events, and now
cable television and radio personalities offer social, cultural, and political commentary
that is full of subjective interpretations. Although some of them operate in ethical gray
areas because they use formats that make them seem like traditional news programs,
most are open about their motives.
Education: Media provide education and information side by side. They try to educate
people directly or indirectly using different forms of content. Dramas, documentaries,
interviews, feature stories, and many other programs are prepared to educate people
indirectly. Especially in a developing country, mass media is used as effective tools for
mass awareness. History Channel, National Geographic Channel, and the Discovery
Channel are examples of educational media.
Entertainment: The other important function of mass media is the entertainment. It is
also viewed as the most apparent function of media. When we say entertainment, it is
a kind of performance that provides pleasure to people. Mass media fulfill this function
by providing amusement and assist in reducing tension to a large degree. Newspapers
and magazines, radio, television and online platforms offer stories, films, serials, and
shows to entertain their audience. Sports, film reviews, columns on art and fashion are
other instances that provide recreational and leisure time to people. Currently, media
also fuse entertainment and information, called infotainment. The inclusion of
education in entertaining programs is regarded as edutainment.
Persuasion: Persuasion involves influencing others people's minds. Mass media
persuade the audience in varieties of ways. Media content builds opinions and sets
agendas in the public mind. It influences votes, changes attitudes, and moderates
behavior. Using editorials, articles, commentaries, among others, others, mass media
persuades audience. However, not everyone is aware that they are being persuaded.
Many of them become unknowingly influenced or motivated. Advertisement is one
example of media designed to persuade.
Public Opinion: Mass media not only report the results of public opinion surveys
conducted by outside organizations but also increasingly incorporate their own polls
into their news coverage. More importantly, newspaper and television help shape
public opinion as well. Research has shown that the positions people take on critical
issues are influenced by the media, especially when the media air divergent views and
provide in- depth analysis.
Governmental and Political Outlet. Mass media can serve as an avenue for political
agendas, a link between the government and the people, and a government watchdog.
 The term political agenda is broader in scope than the term public opinion, and it
refers to the issues people think are the most important and that government
needs to address. A person's perception of such matters as crime, civil rights, the
economy, or social welfare are affected by the manner and extent of media
coverage. Studies indicate that a correlation exists between the significance
people assign a problem and the frequency and amount of space or time
newspapers, magazines, and television give to it.
 Mass media also links the government and the people. It is the vehicle through
which the government informs, explains, and tries to win support for its programs
and policies.
 It also serves as the government watchdog. From exposé early in the century to
today's investigative reporting, an important function of the mass media is to
bring to people's attention evidence of corruption, abuse of power, and ineffective
policies and programs.
Socialization: Socialization is the transmission of culture. Media are the reflectors of
society. Socialization is a process by which, people are made to behave in ways that
are acceptable in their culture or society. Whenever a person reads the newspaper or
watches television, that individual picks up how other people react on matters and what
types of norms and values they perceive on a particular event, issue or situation.
Though the process of socialization media help to shape our behaviors, conducts,
attitudes and beliefs. It also brings people close and ties them into a single unity.

MASS MEDIA AND POPULAR CULTURE

Gatekeepers and Tastemakers
Mass media and pop culture have been entwined from their very beginnings. In
fact, mass media often determines what does and does not make up the pop culture
scene of gatekeepers and
The influence tastemakers in media have shifted over the decades due to the
democratization of mass media as well as the introduction of social media.
Gatekeepers decide which stories deserve to be in the spotlight, which ones should be
put off to the side, and which ones that will not be shown at all. These people include
magazine/newspaper editors, reporters, and even news companies on television in the
modern day. What is important to note is that these gatekeepers are influenced by the
outside world and what they consume media- wise just like every other person who
consumes media. Therefore, every gatekeeper has biases, whether these are
conscious or unconscious decisions.
Traditionally, pop culture hits were initiated or driven by the active support of
media tastemakers. When mass media is concentrated, people with access to
platforms for mass communication wield quite a bit of power in what becomes well
known, popular, or even infamous. The digital age, with its proliferation of accessible
media, has undermined the traditional role of the tastemaker. In contrast to the
traditional media, Internet-based mass media are not limited by time or space, and
they allow bloggers, critics, or aspiring stars to potentially reach millions without the
backing of the traditional media industry. However, this democratization has its
downsides. An abundance of mass communication without some form of filtration can
lead to information overload. Additionally, online reviews can be altered or biased.
GATEKEEPERS ARE THOSE WHO DETERMINE WHICH EVENTS. WHETHER THEY
BE LOCAL, NATIONAL, OR WORLDWIDE. MAKE IT TO THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA
AND WHICH EVENTS DO NOT.
TASTEMAKERS ARE PEOPLE OR INSTITUTIONS THAT SHAPE THE WAY
OTHERS THINK, EAT. LISTEN. DRINK, DRESS AND MORE.

MEDIA CONVERGENCE
It's important to keep in mind that the implementation of new technologies
doesn't mean that the old ones simply vanish into dusty museums. Today's media
consumers still watch television, listen to radio, read newspapers, and become
immersed in movies.
The difference is that it's now possible to do all those things through one device-
be it a personal computer or a smartphone-and through the Internet. Such actions are
enabled by media convergence, the process by which previously distinct technologies
come to share tasks and resources. A cell phone that also takes pictures and video is
an example of the convergence of digital photography, digital video, and cellular
telephone technologies. An extreme, and currently non-existent, example of
technological convergence would be the so-called black box, which would combine all
the functions of previously distinct technology and would be the device through which
we'd receive all our news, information, entertainment, and social interaction.
Kinds of Convergence
But convergence isn't just limited to technology. Media theorist Henry Jenkins argues
that convergence isn't an end result (as is the hypothetical black box), but instead a
process that changes how media is both consumed and produced. Jenkins breaks
convergence down into five categories:
1. Economic convergence occurs when a company controls several products or
services within the same industry. For example, in the entertainment industry a
single company may have interests across many kinds of media. For example,
Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation is involved in book publishing
(HarperCollins), newspapers (New York Post, The Wall Street Jouma), sports
(Colorado Rockies), broadcast television (Fox), cable television (FX, National
Geographic Channel), film (20th Century Fox), Internet (MySpace), and many
other media.
2. Organic convergence is what happens when someone is watching a television
show online while exchanging text messages with a friend and also listening to
music in the background-the "natural" outcome of a diverse media world.
3. Cultural convergence has several aspects. Stories flowing across several kinds
of media platforms is one component-for example, novels that become television
series (True Blood); radio dramas that become comic strips (The Shadow); even
amusement park rides that become film franchises (Pirates of the Caribbean).
The character Harry Potter exists in books, films, toys, and amusement park
rides. Another aspect of cultural convergence is participatory culture-that is, the
way media consumers are able to annotate, comment on, remix, and otherwise
influence culture in unprecedented ways.
The video-sharing website YouTube is a prime example of participatory culture.
YouTube gives anyone with a video camera
YouTube and an Internet connection the opportunity to communicate with people
around the world and create and shape cultural trends.
 4. Global convergence is the process of geographically distant cultures influencing
one another despite the distance that physically separates them. Nigeria's
cinema industry, nicknamed Nollywood, takes its cues from India's Bollywood,
which is in turn inspired by Hollywood in the United States. Successful American
horror movies The Ring and The Grudge are remakes of Japanese hits. The
advantage of global convergence is access to a wealth of cultural influence; its
downside, some critics posit, is the threat of cultural imperialism, defined by
Herbert Schiller as the way developing countries are "attracted, pressured,
forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or
even promote, the values and structures of the dominating center of the system
(White, 2001)." Cultural imperialism can be a formal policy or can happen more
subtly, as with the spread of outside influence through television, movies, and
other cultural projects.
5. Technological convergence is the merging of technologies such as the ability
to watch TV shows online on sites like Hulu or to play video games on mobile
phones like the Apple iPhone. When more and more different kinds of media are
transformed into digital content, as Jenkins notes, "we expand the potential
relationships between them and enable them to flow across platforms (Jenkins,
2001)."
The jury is still out on how these different types of convergence will affect people on
an individual and societal level. Some theorists believe that convergence and new-
media technologies make people smarter by requiring them to make decisions and
interact with the media they're consuming; others fear the digital age is giving us
access to more information but leaving us shallower.

MEDIA EFFECTS
Media effects are the intended or unintended consequences of what mass media
does. There are various ways to explain the effects of media on people:
 Third-Person Effect: People think they are more immune to media influence
than others. It predicts that people have a tendency to perceive that mass media
messages have higher effect on others than themselves, based on personal
biases. The third-person effect reveals itself through a person's overestimation
of the effect of a mass media message on others, or an underestimation of the
effect of a mass media message on themselves.
 Reciprocal Effect: When a person or event gets media attention, it influences
the way the person acts or the way the event functions. Media coverage often
increases self- consciousness, which affects our actions. It's similar to the way
that we change behavior when we know other certain people are around and
may be watching us.
 Boomerang Effect: This refers to media-induced change that is counter to the
desired change. In the world of twenty-four-hour news and constant streams of
user-generated material, the effects of errors, blunders, or plain old poor
decisions are much more difficult to control or contain. Before a group or person
can clarify or provide context for what was said, a story could go viral and a
media narrative constructed that is impossible to backtrack and very difficult to
even control.
 Cultivation Theory: It states that media exposure, specifically to television,
shapes our social reality by giving us a distorted view on the amount of violence
and risk in the world. High frequency viewers of television are more susceptible
to media messages and the belief that they are real and valid. Heavy viewers
are exposed to more violence and therefore are affected by the Mean World
Syndrome, the belief that the world is a far worse and dangerous place then it
actually is.
 Agenda Setting Theory: The influence of media affects the presentation of the
reports and issues made in the news that affects the public mind. The news
reports make it in a way that when a particular news report is given importance
and attention than other news the audience will automatically perceive it as the
most important news and information are given to them. The priorities of which
news comes first and then the next are set by the media according to how people
think and how much influence will it have among the audience. Agenda setting
occurs through a cognitive process known as "accessibility". Media provides
information which is the most relevant food for thought, portraits the major issues
of the society and reflects people minds.
 Propaganda Model: The Propaganda Model of Media Control tries to
understand how the population is manipulated, and how the social, economic,
political attitudes are fashioned in the minds of people through propaganda.
According to the theory, media operates as a business which sells its products
(readers and subscribers) to other business entities that do their advertisements
in media, rather than performing the function of disseminating news for the
public. Here the news is being misshaped and reformed from its original form.
o Propaganda are "ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated
and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a
government, etc." They are information, especially of a biased or
misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.
o Stereotypes are at the heart of all propaganda efforts. Their purpose is to
create the perception that our actions are always ethical and honorable,
while those of our opponents are always unethical and dishonorable.
o We have to be aware of propaganda because it manipulates and diverts
people from logical analysis of issues. and hides the truth. By
understanding propaganda, you will be able to protect yourself from
deceitful tactics.
o How to spot propaganda:
 Attacks a person instead of a principle or issue
 Suppresses evidence that does not support its cause Relies on
emotion instead of logical evidence
 Introduces irrelevant or unproved evidence
 Distorts and oversimplify evidence
 Shows internal inconsistency after examining facts
o Propaganda materials are now in digital form - posted, shared, liked,
commented, and debated on social media particularly on Facebook.