Mass Media Influence - Essay Example

? MASS MEDIA INFLUENCE Introduction 3 Mass Media 4 Importance of Mass Media 4 Influence of Mass Media on Social Values 5 Mediatization,Mediation and Politics 7 Hyper Reality 8 Gulf War and the Role of Media 9 Media’s Role in Stereotyping 9 Conclusion 11 References 12 Introduction With the advancement in technology the role and shape of media is also fast changing. Technological advancement has made information very much accessible to everyone via various means. With internet and telecommunication and other mass media sources information travels very swiftly and fluidly all over the globe. With the evolution of digital technology mass media, advertising and marketing communications has taken new directions. Mass media is any medium that is utilized to transmit mass communication. Until recently there were eight different sources which comprised the mass media industry, but the distinction has become blurred now. The explosion of digital communication technology has opened new vistas. One form or the other of mass media touches our lives daily. This wide reach of mass media towards the people not only makes it important, but also burdened it with immense responsibility. Never before in human history has the media had such an overwhelming influence on the lives, behavior, attitude and values of the people as it has now, due to the modern technology. This paper aims at studying the role and influence of mass media in shaping the lives, views and attitudes of the people in this globalized, highly competitive and technology driven world. Is the mass media playing its role responsibly for the betterment and welfare of the human beings and the society? Is mass media projecting the stereotype images of the people and have certain biases? Is media fair in its projections of prototypes? Do media play with the minds of the people especially the younger generation? This paper aims to study all these aspects with special reference to the role of mass media in Iraq and Afghanistan war and the projection of Muslims as terrorists. Mass Media Mass media is the medium that connects the masses. Mass media industry comprises eight different types of businesses namely Books, newspaper, magazines, recordings, radio, movies, television and internet. Books, magazines and newspapers have been the primary source of mass media for the last nearly 250 years. However the recordings, radio, movies and television only became popular in the last 50 years. Internet is the latest addition in the late twentieth century. Media is a key institution of a society. It has its impact on our culture, our buying habits and our politics. Mass media both reflect and effect politics, society and culture. It is in turn is also affected by changes in our beliefs, tastes, values and behaviors. The mass media are profit oriented businesses. Technological developments shape the way mass media are delivered and consumed (Biagi). Importance of Mass Media There is no denial that media play a significant role in forming opinions of the public. Ever since its inception media has been a powerful tool in shaping and molding people’s perception but with the current mushroom growth of mass media its importance has increased manifolds. The outburst of internet has fueled it further taking it to new heights. Every individual now has access to loads of information and that too is so easily available just .a click away. It has not only increased the role of media but also increased the importance of the opinion of the people. Now public opinion matters in almost all walks of life even in important policy decisions. Public opinion matters most in politics. This growth in mass media has made individuals very opinionated now we have opinions about almost everything and that too is an informed one (Vivan). Media and politics are strongly interrelated. To conduct a broad range analysis of the relationship between media and politics requires in depth survey of representation of politics in media, impact of media on politics, media regulation and the current and future or potential expected place of media in democratic societies. What we observe today is the emerging phenomena of mediatization of politics, growing role of E-Politics and governance. These days’ media is extensively used by governments, political parties and all other stake holders in forming opinion of the public. It includes traditional media as well as all the modern electronic forms such as twitters, websites, social networking channels etc. which we are currently observing in countries like Egypt, Jordan and Libya (Street). Influence of Mass Media on Social Values Mass media has immensely transformed our social and cultural values. Such immense transformation in social values due to globalization and spread of mass media has resulted in theories such as global citizenship. Appadurai has discussed various dimensions of implications of globalization and mass media including culture. It is argued that huge flow of people, images, technologies and capital as a result of globalization has its impact on the societies in many predictable and unpredictable ways. Mass media also helps a lot in promoting this image of global culture. With the spread of mass media the geographical boundaries are fast diminishing. Events that take place anywhere in the world, became known and discussed all over the globe. The culture, social values and behavior of one society depicted through various mediums of mass gradually and slowly seep into the cultural and societal values of other societies as well. He provides a new framework for the study of globalization from the cultural perspective. According to him modernity at large shows how imagination can bring changes and can work as a social force. He argues that in today’s world national identities are fast eroding or diminishing and giving rise to new identities which transcends boundaries. He sees imagination as providing resource, energy and an alternative to national identities. He argues that imagination created through migration and mass electronic media in this globalized world has led to popular consumption patterns and multiculturalism. He considers that how international media has circulated images of a particular life style, fashion, self representation and popular culture. It has hugely affected individual cultures and societal values of different nationalities. The images created by media have led to evolution of similar consumption and behavioral pattern depicted in various aspects and hence led to a great extent uniformity or globalization of culture. The examples of such changes are popularity of McDonalds, Levis Jeans etc all over the globe. This globalization of culture has at one end led to multiculturalism and at other led to ethnic violence in an attempt to conserve one’s unique identity (Appadurai). A study has been conducted to see the effects of mass media action on the Axelrod model with social influence. It revealed and confirmed the influence of media on societal values. The extent of influence depends on factors such as initial social diversity, size effects and the strength of mass media. The results of this study might be relevant in different socioeconomic context and the phenomenon of the emergence of collective behavior in complex societies. This study has highlighted two important factors. Firstly it is the emergence of monocultures in large societies in which mass media has a strong role to play, and the unexpectedly narrow window of noise level in which this diversity with local convergence is achieved (Moreno). Mediatization, Mediation and Politics The most important concepts related to media and politics are the concepts of mediation and mediatization. With this increasing trend of mediatization the important question is no more about assurance of independence of media from politics and society but the need is to ensure independence of politics and society from the influence of media. Mediatization is a two pronged process. At one hand media emerge as independent institution, with independent thinking based on its own logic with which all the other social institutions must adapt. On the other hand it has become an integral part of all the other institutions of society such as politics, work, religion etc. Increasingly all the activities of these institutions are performed with the interaction of the mass media. The impact of mediatization can be understood from the fact that a headline in the newspaper may change the voting behavior of the people in the elections. The term mediatization was applied to political communications and its impact on politics. However the term mediation is very wide and it refers to the form of medium used to communicate. The form or medium of communication used may change the content and structure of the message. For example if a politician chooses to use blog as his medium for communicating with his constituency, instead of blog, it may not only change the content but the communicative relationship between the politician and his electorate will also change (Stromback) Hyper Reality According to Baudrillard the impact of mass media is so strong that it can distort reality. He believes that through mediatization, mass media creates symbols and signs of media culture such as images, sound, advertisement etc. It creates a semblance of reality or a false reality but which seems much more real and true then the real physical and social reality. This semblance of reality created by media is so strong that it replaces the reality. It is like a world map which has become so detailed, comprehensive and vivid that it becomes and looks much more real than the world. Baudrillard describes this semblance of reality as “hyper reality”. According to him “What is mediatized is not what comes of the daily press, out of the tube, or on the radio: it is what is interpreted by the sign form, articulated into models, and administered by the code.” This simulation of reality led him to believe that the symbolic world created by media has replaced reality. He argues that media’s presentation of reality is so powerful that it has transformed our perceptions, construction of reality and our behavior. He further adds that even phenomena like war is not what it used to be before mediatization. The example is the heavily mediatized Gulf War. The perception of war has altered from conventional war by the images, symbols and perceptions the media created about war. His view about influence of media may seem somewhat exaggerated and it lacks the empirical evidence, but role of media in influencing perceptions cannot be denied. Mass media and mediatization may not have completely replaced reality with hyper reality but the distinction between them has certainly blurred. It is difficult to differentiate between fact and fiction (Hjarvoard). Gulf War and the Role of Media Gulf War served as a classic example of the media’s role in forming issues of war and peace, but also our opinion about them. It is hard to imagine what would happen if they held a war that nobody watched. Massachusetts University conducted a research to study the role of media in forming war time opinions. The research revealed that the heavy TV watchers mostly were not only likely to support the war but they were also less informed about the causes and consequences of war. That research not only confirms that the more the people watched TV the less informed they were but it also proved the role of media in forming opinions. This gulf war has highlighted the role of media as an important player in world events. It also raises many critical issues such as government’s use of public relation techniques in forming the opinion of the general public; who perceive themselves as being informed. It also highlights some harsh realities such as the role of media in admiring the lethal sophisticated technology while completely ignoring the humane values and its impact on human kind. The media mostly owned by West conveniently ignored the miseries and gory of the war probably because they were not at the receiving end. Another stark reality of the media coverage of that war was the stifling of the alternative views that is considered the most rule of any discussion. Lastly it also highlighted the phenomenon of the dehumanization and demonization of the stereotype enemy. Gulf War provides one of the best examples misleading selectivity in media coverage and the ability of the authorities in forming perceptions and opinions (Silver). Media’s Role in Stereotyping The strong influence of mass media can also be judged by the examples of stereotyping media does. There are prototypes created by media about Muslims, Arabs, Africans, feminists, teenagers and about a lot of other people and things as well. American media especially have played a significant role in stereotyping Muslims and Arabs. American media by and large is responsible for creating the image of Muslims as terrorists. Mainstream Muslims are nowhere near the image of this stereotype Muslim but they unfortunately do not have access to the powerful media and hence fail to refute this wrong stereotype image created by media and very narrow extremist Muslims. This has resulted in a negative and biased image of Muslims and Arabs. Politicians to gain popularity and satisfy their electorate also reflect this negative biasness in their foreign policy. It is true that for this negative image only mass media cannot be blamed, vast silent majority of Muslims are also responsible because they have allowed the insignificant extremist minority to become their spokesman. This has damaged the overall image of the Muslims and Arabs. The media only projects the news that is sensational. An example of it is the images of Pakistani angry men shouting slogans against America, a regular feature on any medium of mass media. Such selective reporting creates a false image. Even a cursory study about Pakistan will reveal that these demonstrations do not represent the majority of Pakistan where the population of bearded men is less than 10%. Mass media very irresponsibly portray such images to create a stereotype of Muslims. The media has also portrayed the struggle between Arab and Israel as war between Muslims and Jews whereas it refrains from branding Irish Civil War as conflict between Protestants and Catholics and hence a religious war. Such biasness is only shown against Muslims and Arabs (Khan). Such stereotyping especially effects the younger generations. They tend to generalize and these generalizations are based on what they hear from media. Media coverage of Islam is very biased and they seek help of so called scholars to create this image, they portray that know everything about Islam. However these so called experts use biased material to create stereotype image of Muslims that is misleading. Media completely ignores the alternative viewpoint (Hassan). Mass media has played this misleading and biased role in Afghan war a well and in all recent conflicts in Libya, Egypt and Yemen. It proves the power of media and its influence in shaping the perceptions, views and opinions. Conclusion Mass media has evolved greatly with the advancement in technology. Its role and importance has also enhanced greatly in shaping the views, opinions, values and beliefs. Influence of media is not restricted to any particular aspect of our lives but it has seeped in all aspects of our lives social, cultural, ethical and political etc. Power also requires responsibility. Mass media has become an independent institution that is altering the world with mediatization and mediation. The role of media has been positive as well as negative. It has played a positive role in improving awareness etc. whereas on the other it has also affected our views with biased approach, selective reporting and stereotyping. The role and influence of media cannot be denied but media should not be left unbridled and it must play its role with responsibility. References Appadurai, A. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. , 1996. Biagi, Shirley. Media/Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media. USA: Thompson Wadsworth, 2007. Hassan, Asma Gull. American Muslims: the new generation. New York: The Continuum International publishing group, 2002. Hjarvoard, Stig. "The Mediatization of society: A theory of media as agents of social and cultural change." Nordicom Review (29) issue 2 (2008): 105-134. Khan, Arshad. Islam, Muslims and America: Understanding the basics of their conflicts. USA: Algora Publishing, 2003. Moreno, Arezky H. Rodriguez and Y. "Effects of mass media action on the Axelrod model with social influence ." Physical Review E, vol 82, issue 1 (2010). Silver, Rosalind. Gulf War: The More We Watched, The Less We Knew. 26 May 2010 . Street, John. Mass Media, Politics and Democracy. USA: Palgrave MacMillan, 2010. Stromback, Jesper. "Four Phases of Mediatization: An Analysis of the Mediatization of Politics." The International Journal of Press/Politics ( July 2008 vol. 13 no. 3 ): 228-246. Vivan, John. The media of mass communication. USA: Pearson Education, 2006. . Read More