LESSON 6
THE MASS
MEDIA AND
SOCIETY
The Role and influence of Mass Media.
Mass media is communication- whether
written, broadcast, or spoken-that
reaches a large audience. This includes
televisions, radio advertising, movies,
the internet, news papers, magazines,
and so forth. Mass Media is a significant
force in modern culture, particularly in
America.
VIOLENCE,
CONSUMERISM
AND MASS MEDIA
The media process does not merely
interact with the rest of society; it has
a major impact on how the rest of
society understands and imagines
itself (couldry 2000, 54). McGuire
(1986) noted several of the most
commonly mentioned intended
media effects.
Edward McGuire
(1986)
Most people think that the mass
media especially television has a
pervasive effect on society,
especially on children. Today, it is
not an exaggeration to say that
younger generations are shaped
more by the mass media more than
their genes.
VIOLENCE
Violence in mass media analyzes the degree of
correlation between themes of violence in
media sources (particularly violence in video
games , television and films) with real-world
aggression and violence over time. Many
social scientists support the correlation.
However, some scholars argue that media
research has methodological problems and
that findings are exaggerated.
CONSUMERISM
Consumerism is a social and economic order that
encourages the acquisition of goods and services in
ever-increasing amounts. With the industrial
revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass
production led to overproduction-the supply of
goods would grow beyond consumer demand, and
so manufacturers turned to planned obsolescence
and advertising to manipulate consumer spending.
MASS MEDIA
AND
YOUTH CULTURE
Lanuza (2003) observed that “mass
media exhibits ambivalent character
in relation to the formation of youth
culture.” Hence studies on youth and
values promoted by television would
show the propagation of traditional
Filipino values such as respect for
elder, family solidarity, and reverence
for authorities
Mass media also impact on the
way young people spend their
leisure. Internet Access and Use by
Filipino Schoolchildren, conducted
by the Asian Institute of Journalism
and Communication (AIJC),
commissioned by UNICEF in 2009
MASS MEDIA
AND
GENDER STEREOTYPES
Another pervasive influence of mass
media is the acquisition of stereotypes.
Stereotypes are images that can be
adopted about specific types of
individuals, groups or certain ways of
doing things. These thoughts or beliefs
may or may not accurately reflect
reality.
Stereotypes can also be a
product of prejudices.
Prejudices are pre-judgements,
or opinions that people have
before knowing the full
circumstances about a person
or an event.
MEDIA AS A TOOL
FOR
PROPAGANDA
Aside from reinforcing existing social
stereotypes and prejudices, mass
media is also a powerful tool in
disseminating certain political ideas. In
some countries, the mass media is
strictly regulated by the government.
Authoritarian states usually use the
mass media for its project of nation-
building.
Hence, it constantly watches over
oppositions and protest in alternative
platforms of mass media. Mass media
can also be used to strengthen
national interests. As President Suharto
declared in a speech on National press
Day in 1989:
This function is commonly associated with the
term development journalism. Mass media
can also be used to inform people about
corruption and can be a catalyst for social
change as in the case of toppling Marcos
regime during the Edsa people power I in 1986.
in these sense, mass media can perform three
functions: as conservative, progressive or
transformative institution.
Herman and Chomsky (1998) argue
that the mass media do not simply
provide objective information and
images. These information and images
are already pre-selected, edited, and
screened out before they are
presented and consumed by the
audience.
Chomsky and Herman point out that
they are created simply to meet
corporate needs. Those of recent years
have permitted media firm to shrink
staff even as they achieve greater
outputs, and they have made possible
global distribution system that reduce
the number of media entities.
MASS MEDIA AND THE
SOCIETY OF SPECTACLE
Mass media do not only maintain the
status quo by disseminating
propaganda, they can also make and
unmake the career of politicians. In an
age of society as spectacle, a term
coined by Guy Debord (1931- 1994),
French artist and social critic, spectacle
or media images dominate politics in
modern societies.
In the 1920, Walter Lippmann
described the emergence of a
new professional class of
“publicists” and “press agents”
standing between US politicians
and the media. They are now
called public relations consultants.
Walter Lippmann
MEDIATIZATION OF SOCIAL LIFE
The intrusion of media experts in politics
and electoral campaigns are perfect
examples of mediatization of politics.
Mediatization refers to the pervasive effect
of mass media on how people see and
interpret social events. The mass media,
through the influence of large advertising
companies, generate images called
“spectacle” by the French sociologist, Guy
Debord
THE RISE OF KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY
The new age of internet-based
mass media ushers in the so-
called information societ or
knowledge society.
CYBERDEMOCRACY AND
GLOBALIZATION OF MEDIA
According to Jodi Dean (2009,
p. 22), “the expansion and
intensification of
communication and
entertainment networks yield
not democracy but something
else entirely: communicative
capitalism”.
Communicative capitalism allows for
the proliferation of divergent opinions
and political positions in cyberspace.
Such free-for-all exchange of
opinions and ideas do not add to
clarification of political issues but
simply add to the confusion of
diverging opinions.
The age of internet does not
merely pose a threat to
intelligent process of discussing
diverse and opposing opinions,
it also creates new inequalities
and exacerbates pre-existing
ones.
Inequalities created by the access and
use of CITs called digital divide. The
“digital divide” became one of the
political and academic “hot-topics” of
the1990s after a series of influential
surveys and studies in the US and
Europe highlighted a sustained
empirical picture of inequalities
after a series of influential surveys and
studies in the US and Europe highlighted a
sustained empirical picture of inequalities
in the use of information and ICTs-in
particular, the computer and internet
(Sewyn and Facer 2010, p. 1). The digital
divide now recognized as an international
issue. High income OECD countries
account for over three-fourths of the
world’s Internet users.
Developed
China: 37%
Developing India: 10%
Not using
internet: 65% Other
developing
Countries: 53%
Total Population: 7 billion
Manuel Castells defines the digital divide
as “Inequality of access to the
Internet”(Castells 2001, p. 248). Access to
the Internet is moreover, “a requisite for
overcoming inequality in a society in
which dominant functions and social
groups are increasingly organized around
the Internet” (Castells 2001, p. 248).
Digital divides are an expression of the
logic of competition because they give
benefits to those who participate in the
Internet and deprive others of those
benefits; it is a phenomenon of
exclusion” (p. 213).
Manuel Castells
Jan Van Dijk and Kenneth Hacker
(2008) argue that there are four forms
of barriers to access:(1) the lack of
“mental access,” which refers to a lack
of elementary digital experience; (2)
the lack of “material access,” which
means a lack of possession of
computer and networks connection;
(3) The lack of “skills access,” which is
lack of digital skills; and (4) the lack of
“usage access” signifies the lack of
meaningful usage opportunities
The digital divide is, therefore, a
symptom of a much larger and more
complex problem-the problem of
persistent poverty and inequality.
In an information society, productivity
and economic growth become more
and more dependent in the access
and use of latest information
technology and computer-mediated
communications. News and public
information are readily accessible in
the Internet.
For example, the AccuWeather
application application is an America
media company that provides for-profit
weather forecasting services
worldwide. It provides daily and hourly
updates on weather condition
worldwide. Another good example is
Flipboard.
In 1992, the Philippines had one of the
lowest levels of telephone penetration in
Asia: slightly more than 1 per 100
inhabitants. By1995, there were about 60
telephone companies, but most were
operating only in urban areas and the
long-distance traffic was controlled by a
single company, the Philippine Long-
distance telephone company (PLDT)
In 1995, a new telecommunication
policy act was passed which, although
still favoring the dominant carrier,
acted to both deregulate
telecommunications and increase
coverage in more rural areas. One
result was an increase in the number of
phone lines to almost 4 per 100
inhabitants by the end of 1999.
March 29, 1994, 1:15 a.m.: Benjie Tan, who
was working for ComNet, a company that
supplied Ciso routers to the Philnet project,
established the Philippines first connection
to the Internet at a PLDT network center in
Makati City. According to recent statistic
from the Global Web Index, the Philippines
has the fastest growing Internet population
in the world, experiencing 53% growth in
the last five years.
The Philippines does not have the
biggest number of Internet users. It
has only about 37 million Internet
users, which pales in comparison
to China’s 618 million Internets
users-the biggest Internet
population in the world to date.
Politically, access to Internet is
necessary for the democratization
and participation of citizens in
modern societies and the globalized
world. Social media and ICTs
provide easy access for people to
organized social movements within
and outside the net. In fact
according to Manuel Castells,
Internet is like the electricity of the 20th century. Poorer countries is
more likely to be the ones that have lowest levels of the new
technologies. Some of the countries in this region, where some of
the richest and poorest nations in the world can be found, are world
leaders in the development of digital technology, whilst others are
amongst the most ICT-deprived in the world.
The advent of ICTs is also ironic considering
that it is supposed to provide free access
and equal opportunities for all, yet it is also
creates new oligopolies and corporate
monopolies. Apple, via iTunes, controls an
estimated 87% market share in digital music
downloads and 70% of the media-player
market.
