Example Of How Society And Media Interact Essay

Developments in media technology have increased the influence media has over the public and reduced controlling power of governments. Media has the authority to shape public opinion through direct and indirect effects. The direct effects of media act as a stimulus that influences consistency, predictability, attitudes and behaviors. On the other hand, indirect effects recognize that the diversity of culture and background affects social response to the information.
A study by Lazarsfeld highlighted the influence opinion leaders had over mass media and campaign. This research also indicates that interpersonal influence through indirect effects is stronger than the direct effect. Moreover, voters with strong and established views are less likely to be influenced and persuaded by campaigns.
Consequently, the media has developed as a tool of political campaign. Campaigns affect voters through the resonance model or the competitive model. While the resonance model holds that a candidate's success depends on the likeness of their core message with the voter's preexisting political beliefs, the competitive model views political campaigns as competition for the hearts and minds of voters. The influential power of the media had led to the development of liberal and conservative biases. While conservatives feel that media should be used as an empowering tool for the oppressed, liberals insist that freedom of the press belongs to those who own the press.
The critical cultural model of mass communication examines how people use media to develop a view of the world by giving media context and content meaning. There are four types of effects of mass media on society. The message effect highlights the changes in reasoning, attitudes, behavior and psychology. While ownership effects influence media content, medium effects have the potential to can alter the nature of the message and the receiver’s response to the message. Through active audience effect, society is categorized into groups depending on media issues they respond to.
Theories of media and society suggest that environment and culture play significant roles as elements that affect the influence of media on people’s response to information. The media acts as a social learning tool through which extracted information is used to create rules about how the world functions. The rules constructed through media influence definition or meaning, interpretation of information and the prediction of outcomes.
Interestingly, significantly extended hours of tv can change an individual’s view of the surrounding world and cultivate a response termed the Mean World Syndrome (MWS). Heavy television watchers overestimate the chance of experiencing violence, believe their neighborhood is unsafe and assume an increase in crime rate.
Audiences seem to be attracted to media that have explicit points of view. However, most viewers believe that media content is biased when it contradicts their views and opinions. It is important to note that media content is not without bias and is influenced by elements of ethnocentrism, altruistic democracy, responsible capitalism, individualism, small-town pastoralism, moderatism, social order and leadership. Basic journalistic values stimulate notions of culture and loyalty, tradition, compensation, and redemption. Hence, media is biased in regards to its audience, owners, journalists, and environment. By setting the terms of public discourse, media motivates its audience to think, discuss and or debate about several issues of interest in society. Although media can inspire what people care about, it has little power in influencing the public to participate actively in the issues it addresses.