Module 1-6 PDF

1. Introduction: mass communication, medium, media Topics: § From the beginning to mass media § Print media: the book § Print media: the newspaper § Other print media § Film as a mass medium § Broadcasting § Recorded music § The commu...

1. Introduction: mass communication, medium, media Topics: § From the beginning to mass media § Print media: the book § Print media: the newspaper § Other print media § Film as a mass medium § Broadcasting § Recorded music § The communications revolution: new media versus old § Differences between media Compulsory reading: McQuail D.: Mass Communication Theory. Sage, London, 2010. Part 1, chapter 2. http://docshare04.docshare.tips/files/28943/289430369.pdf Further or optional reading: Luhmann, Niklas: The Reality of Mass Media. Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 2000. Chapter 1-2. Task: Choose one type of mass media that is described by McQuaid in the text and then analyze it from a present-day perspective. How has it chanced by 2021? How has the content changed? How has audiences changed? How do you see the future of this medium in 10 years’ time? 200-300 words. Notes for the subject: THE RISE OF MASS MEDIA Aim § set out the approximate sequence of development of the present-day set of mass § media, § Indicate major turning points § place in which different media acquired their public definitions in the sense of their perceived utility for audiences and their role in society. The Mass Media (from zero) § Today’s mass media and totally different from the past. It’s changed and developed with human communication over time. 1  § the printing press: the historical moment when the technology for mass communication Four main elements for history of mass media § certain communicative purposes, needs, or uses § technologies for communicating publicly to many at a distance § forms of social organization that provide the skills and frameworks for organizing § production and distribution § forms of regulation and control. These elements do not have a fixed relationship to each other and depend very much on the circumstances of time and place. Sometimes the need arises. You need to improve or change this. Example: Copying by hand changed with telegraphic technology. Example: Movie, broadcast radio. So what is about? Money? Social and cultural environment? This is included all of it. If you miss something your need and result can change. Even freedom of thought, expression, and action have less importance for the result, it’s important to develop and purpose of use. Shortly § If society is more open: Communication methods and technologies have more opportunities to improve it. § If society is closer: Less opportunities for communication, methods, and technologies. Institutional frameworks of mass media were initially mainly western (European or North American) and most other parts of the world have taken up and applied the same technologies in a similar way. But this is not meaning they will use same way, purpose, goals and get same results. Print Media: Book § The history of modern media begins with the printed book. § Initially only a technical device for reproducing a range of texts copied by hand. What is change? What did bring? § Medieval World: Secular, practical and popular Works. The book was not regarded primarily as a means of communication. It was a store or repository of wisdom, and especially of sacred writings and religious texts that had to be kept in uncorrupted form. § Early date: Laws and proclamations by royal and other authorities. 2  § Then there occurred a revolution of society in which printing played an inseparable part Another important element is the library, a store or collection of books. § Idea of a book as a record or permanent work of reference § The later development: Mass medium. Mostly public information and important tool of mass enlightenment The successful application of print technology become a new craft and significant branch for commerce, and they transformed to publishers. And separated two branches of commerce. (Puslishers and Printers) Equally important was the emergence of the idea and role of the ‘author’ since earlier manuscript texts were not typically authored by living individuals. It also shaped export- import: Especially France, England, the German and Italy. In fact, many of the basic features of modern media are already embodied in book publishing by the end of the sixteenth century There was the beginning of copyright in the form of privileges granted to printers in respect. of certain texts. (Like Stationers’ Company in London) Freedom of the press and democratic political freedom cannot be separated. We need to think together. The book as a medium and institution: key features § Medium Aspect § Technology of movable type § Bound pages, § codex form Multiple copies § For personal reading § Individual authorship § Institutional aspects § Commodity form § Market distribution § Diversity of content and form § Claim to freedom of publication § Subject to some legal limits Print Media: the Newspaper The early newspaper was marked by its regular appearance, commercial basis (openly for sale) and public character. Thus, it was used for information, record, advertising, diversion and gossip. It was a voice of authority and an instrument of state. What is difference? § Orientation to the individual reader § Reality § Utility and disposability § Secularity and suitability 3  § Town-based business § Professional people What is new or not? § New is not its technology or manner of distribution. § New is its function for a distinct class in a changing and more liberal social-political climate. § The subject of the newspaper can be economic, social, cultural, technological, and so on. The principal features of the newspaper § Medium Aspects § Regular and frequent appearance § Print technology § Topicality of contents and reference § Individual or group reading § Institutional aspects § Urban, secular audience § Relative freedom, but self-censored § In public domain § Commodity form § Commercial basis (economic concern) § The party-political press One common early form of the newspaper was the party-political paper dedicated to the task of activation, information, and organization. The prestige press Bourgeois newspaper which independent from the state. It tended to show a highly developed sense of social and ethical responsibility. The popular press Real "mass" newspaper and it was a fundamentally commercial enterprise. Mostly included news like dramatic, sensational reporting, crime, disasters, and so on. Film § Film began at the end of the nineteenth century as a technological novelty. § As a mass medium, film was partly a response to the ‘invention’ of leisure – time out of work § Film is as much as ever a mass culture creator. (showcase for other media) Three significant strands in film history 4  1. Propaganda 2. Emergence of several schools of film art 3. The rise of the social documentary film movement Turning points 1. ‘Americanization’ of the film industry and film culture in the years after the First World War 2. The coming of television and the separation of film from the cinema. Broadcasting § Radio and TV seems to have been a technology looking for a use, rather than a response to a demand for a new kind of service or content § The status of television as the most ‘massive’ of the media in terms of reach, time spent and popularity has barely changed over thirty years and it adds all the time to its global audience. § Although its political aspect is not accepted, it has an important place in today's politics. Recorded Music § The recording and replaying of music began around 1880 § Relatively little attention has been given to music as a mass medium in theory and research. § Music was not only used for social or cultural events. It has also been used for politics. The Communications Revolution: New Media versus Old § It’s harder to point out this difference than before. It’s caused by the reduction of uniqueness and experience with technology and digitalization. Dimension of freedom versus control § There is a political front between the media and society. In this political center, there are problems of freedom and control. § The various new media, using cable, satellite, or telecommunications networks for distribution, still await clear definitions of their appropriate degree of political freedom. The key new medium in this respect is the Internet. § Common carriers don’t produce content. Open to personal content. Therefore, they are far from public matters. § Also sometime, the new media is alleged to be too free and abused. § Desktop publishing and photocopying and all manner of ways of reproducing sound and images have made direct censorship a very blunt and ineffective instrument. Result: The new digital media is difficult to control compared to the old various media, although it is more prominent in terms of freedom, it is unthinkable that it cannot be controlled compared to the old. Dimensions of use and reception Even so, a few dominant images and definitions of what media ‘are best for’ do appear to survive, the outcome of tradition, social forces and the ‘bias’ of certain technologies. 5  Television, despite the many changes and extensions relating to production, transmission, and reception, remains primarily a medium of family entertainment, even if the family is less likely to be viewing together The expected diffusion of digital radio and television might tend to reinforce the latter trend, along with demographic trends to more one-person households, more divorce and fewer children. Dimensions of media use: questions arising Inside or outside the home? Individual or shared experience? Public or private in use? Interactive or not? 6 2. Media and Society: Theoretical Contexts for Media Studies Topics: § Media, society, and culture: connections and conflicts § Mass communication as a society-wide process: the mediation of social relations and experience § A frame of reference for connecting media with society § Theme I: power and inequality § Theme II: social integration and identity § Theme III: social change and development § Theme IV: space and time § Media–society theory I: the mass society § Media–society theory II: Marxism and political economy § Media–society theory III: functionalism § Media–society theory IV: social constructionism § Media–society theory V: communication technology determinism § Media–society theory VI: the information society Compulsory reading: McQuail D.: Mass Communication Theory. Sage, London, 2010. Part 2, chapter 4. http://docshare04.docshare.tips/files/28943/289430369.pdf Further or optional reading: Carey, James W.: Communication as Culture. Essays on Media and Society. New York & London: Routledge, 1989. Part 1, chapter 1. Task: Choose your favorite “media-society theory” described by McQuail in the text and then analyze it from a present-day perspective. What is its contemporary relevance? How does it help us to describe reality today? What are your critical views on the concept? 200-300 words. Notes for the subject: MEDIA, SOCIETY AND CULTURE: CONNECTIONS AND CONFLICTS § Mass communication can be considered as both a ‘societal’ and a ‘cultural’ phenomenon. § The mass media institution is part of the structure of society, and its technological infrastructure is part of the economic and power base. Rosengren cross tabulates these two opposing propositions. Domain of society: The material base 1 (Economic and political resources and power), to social relationships (in national societies, communities, families, etc.) and to social roles and occupations that are socially regulated (formally or informally). Domain of culture refers to other essential aspects of social life, especially to symbolic expression, meanings and practices (social customs, institutional ways of doing things and also personal habits). The media (as cultural industries) respond to the demand from society for information and entertainment and, at the same time, stimulate innovation and contribute to a changing socio-cultural climate, which sets off new demands for communication. The option of autonomy in the relations between culture and society § Societies that are culturally very similar can sometimes have very different media systems. § While promoting "modernity", it can damage the cultural identity of poorer and less powerful countries. An inconclusive outcome It seems that the media can serve to repress as well as to liberate, to unite as well as to fragment society, to promote as well as to hold back change. Mass Communication as a Society-wide Process: the Mediation of Social Relations and Experience § The media to a large extent serve to constitute our perceptions and definitions of social reality and normality for the purposes of a public, shared social life, and are a key source of standards, models, and norms. § The main thing to emphasize is the degree to which the different media have come to be interposed between ourselves and any experience of the world beyond our immediate personal environment and our direct sensory observation. media acts as a middleman between us and the world. Instead of directly experiencing things, we often rely on media to understand the world around us. Media shapes our perceptions of The mediation concepts reality by: -Framing reality: Media presents information in a specific way, influencing how we interpret events and issues. -Setting norms and values: Media can promote certain values and behaviors, shaping our understanding of what is right and wrong. Mediation involves several different processes -Creating a shared culture: Media helps to create a shared culture by providing common experiences and references. 1. It refers to the relaying of second-hand (or third-party) versions of events and conditions which we cannot directly observe for ourselves. 2. It refers to the efforts of other actors and institutions in society to contact us for their own purposes (or our own supposed good). Mediation metaphors § The notion of mediation in the sense of media intervening between ourselves and ‘reality’. 2  § Mediation can mean different things, ranging from neutrally informing, through negotiation, to attempts at manipulation and control. A Frame of Reference for Connecting Media with Society There are 4 main themes that shaped the debate about media−society. Theme I: Power and equaIity Media relate to structure of power: they have an economic cost and value, they are subject to political, economic, and legal regulation and they are effective instruments of power. Power is not equal to all groups or interests. § ModeI of dominant media: media as exercising power on behalf of other powerful institutions. Audiences are constrained to accept the view of the world offered. Media as an instrument of cultural imperialism. § ModeI of pIuraIist media: allow diversity and unpredictability. No dominant elite, change and democratic control are possible. Audiences initiate demand and can resist persuasion or react to what is offered. Theme II: SociaI integration and identity About how social order is maintained and how people are attached to various kinds of social unit. Two views 1. Mass communication leads to lower levels of social solidarity and sense of community (most often viewed). 2. Mass communication has a capacity to unite scattered individuals within the same large audience, helps to form identities. Both forces are at work at the same time. 1) fragmenting effect on society that can be liberating 2) optimistic version of the unifier of society 3) pessimistic to detachment, loss of belief, rootlessness and a society lacking in social cohesion 4) society can be over−integrated and over−regulated, leading to central control and conformity Centripetal: form of more social unity, order, cohesion and integration Optimistic/pessimistic: normative dimension. Centrifugal: the stimulus towards Theme III: SociaI change and development 3 Is mass communication a cause or effect of social change? How technology of communication, changes in society and distribution among population of belief, opinion and values react and relate to each other is a point of discussion. Theme IV: Time and space Mass communication can build bridges over discontinuities in our experience created by distance and time. Communication is delocalized and has no time restriction. There is enough time to store a lot of information, but information and culture seem to be subject to faster obsolescence and decay. Problem of information overload. Media-Society Theory I: the Mass Society Theory is emphasizing the interdependence of institutions that exercise power and thus the integration of the media into the sources of social power and authority. Media are a causal factor, offer a view of the world and manipulate people. Contribute to the control in society by largeness of scale, remoteness of institutions, isolation of individuals and lack of strong local or group integration. The new forms of media seem to undermine the validity of mass society theory in its portrayal of the media as one of the foundation stones of mass society. The monopoly control is now challenged by the online media. Media-Society Theory II: Marxism and PoIiticaI Economy § Mass media belongs to the base structure of society and is dependent on the economic and power structure of society. Whoever owns or controls the media can determine what they do. § The media are instruments of the ruling class. The dissemination of messages affirms the legitimacy and the value of class society. From the 20th century on emphasizes on the effects of media in the interest of the ruling class. § Media institutions are part of the economic system, with close links to the political system. One approach in this theory says that the product of media is the audience (deliver attention to advertisers). The theory can be applied to the internet: commodification of the users of free access platforms which deliver targets for advertisers. Relevance of political economy because of growth of media concentration, growing global information economy, decline in the public sector of mass media and in public control, digital divide. Media-Society Theory III: Functionalism Explains social practices and institutions in terms of the needs of the society and of individuals. Society is viewed as an ongoing system of linked working parts or subsystems, each making an essential contribution to continuity and order. The media can be seen as one of these 4 systems. The media are self−directing and self−correcting. The media are no source of major change, they are rather maintaining society. Media-Society Theory IV: Social Constructivism The view that structures, forces, and ideas of society are created by human beings, continually recreated, or reproduced and open to challenge and định, khách change. quan, mà nó đượcThere is general tạo ra và định hình bởi chínhemphasis on khác, con người. Nói cách the Lý thuyết Xã hội học về Xây dựng cho rằng thực tế xã hội không phải là một thứ gì đó cố possibilities for action and also for choices in the understanding of reality. Social reality must xã hội là một sản phẩm của quá trình tương tác xã hội và được liên tục tái tạo. be made and given meaning (interpretation)Các by Thực tế human xã hội là sản actors. điểm chính của lý thuyết này: phẩm của con người: Con người không chỉ bị ảnh hưởng bởi xã hội mà còn có khả năng tạo ra và thay đổi xã hội. Vai trò của ngôn ngữ và ký hiệu: Ngôn ngữ và các hệ thống ký hiệu khác đóng vai trò quan trọng trong việc tạo ra và duy trì thực tế xã hội. The picture of ‘reality’ that news claims to provide cannot help but be a selective construct Sự tương tác xã hội: Thực tế xã hội được hình thành thông qua quá trình tương tác giữa các cá nhân và nhóm xã hội. made up of fragments. Quyền lực và sự đấu tranh: Các nhóm có quyền lực có thể định hình thực tế xã hội theo lợi ích của họ, dẫn đến sự bất bình đẳng và bất công xã hội. Social construction refers to the processes by which events, persons, values and ideas are first defined or interpreted in a certain way and given value and priority, largely by mass media, leading to the personal construction of larger pictures of reality. The ideas of framing and schemata play their part. Media-Society Theory V: Communication TechnoIogy Determinism Tendency to concentrate on the potential for (or bias towards) social change of a particular communication technology and to subordinate other variables. History shows trends of a shift over time in the direction of more speed, greater dispersion, wider reach and greater flexibility of communication. Theory 5: công nghệ truyền thông vai trò chủ đạo trong thúc đẩy sự thay đổi xã hội. Công nghệ không chỉ phục vụ con người mà còn định hình cách sống, làm việc và tương tác với nhau. Media-Society Theory VI: the Information Society Các điểm chính của lý thuyết: -công nghệ có khả năng tự quyết = nó định hình xã hội thay vì bị xã hội định hình. Information society -Tập trung vào sự thay đổi công nghệ: các công nghệ mới như máy in, điện báo, điện thoại và internet đã và đang thay đổi xã hội. -đánh giá thấp các yếu tố xã hội: Lý thuyết này thường ít chú trọng đến các yếu tố xã hội, kinh tế và văn hóa khác cũng ảnh hưởng đến sự phát triển và ứng dụng công § Rise in the service sector nghệ. § predominance of information-based work, § production and distribution of information of all kinds have become a major sector of the economy. Melody: Societies that have become dependent upon complex electronic information networks. Van Cuilenburg: the exponential increase in production and flow of information. 5 3. Theories of media effects I.: Strong effects Topics: § The premise of media effect § The natural history of media effect research and theory: four phases § Types of communicative power § Levels and kinds of effects § Processes of media effect: a typology § Individual response and reaction: the stimulus–response model § Mediating conditions of effect § Source–receiver relations and effect § The campaign Compulsory reading: McQuail D.: Mass Communication Theory. Sage, London, 2010. Part 7, chapter 16. Further or optional reading: Bryant, Jennings & Zillmann, Dolf: Media Effects. Advances in Theory and Research. Hillsdale, New Jersey – Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1994. Task: Think of your own experiences with the media, then think of an occasion when media had a strong effect on your thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Match this instance with one of the theories described by McQuail and try to interpret it. You should write one forum entry and one reflection on somebody else’s thoughts. Try to be critical but polite. Notes for the subject: PROCESSES AND MODELS OF MEDIA EFFECTS The Premise of Media Effect Most effect research has been initiated from outside rather than within the media, especially by social critics, politicians, interest groups, and so on. The Natural History of Media Effect Research and Theory: Four Phases The development of thinking about media effects may be said to have a ‘natural history’, in the sense of its being strongly shaped by the circumstances of time and place. 1: All-Powerful Media The then-new media of press, film, and radio were credited with considerable power to shape 1 opinion and belief. It was mostly used for propaganda purposes. 2: Theory of powerful media put to the test The transition to the empirical enquiry led to a second phase of thinking about media effects. These studies were primarily concerned with the influence of films on children and young people. The results confirmed many ideas about the effects on the emotions, attitudes and behaviour of young people. Attention was mainly concentrated on the possibilities of using film and other media for planned persuasion or information. 3: Powerful media rediscovered There was plenty of contemporary evidence of a circumstantial nature that the media could indeed have important social effects and be an instrument for exercising social and political power. 4: Negotiated media influence Social Constructivist: The media tend to offer a ‘preferred’ view of social reality (one that purports to be widely accepted and reliable). This includes both the information provided and the appropriate way of interpreting it, forming value judgements and opinions, and reacting to it. Spiral of silence’ theory. This emerging paradigm of effects has two main thrusts. 1. Media ‘construct’ social formations and even history itself by framing images of reality (in fiction as well as news) in predictable and patterned ways. 2. People in audiences construct for themselves their own view of social reality and their place in it, in interaction with the symbolic constructions offered by the media. Models of Media Effects 1. Direct effects, 2. Conditional effects, 3. Cumulative effects, 4. Cognitive-transactional effects Types of Communicative Power There are two ways; 1. Behavioural and causal line: That is consistent with stimulus-response thinking and in which power is equated with the probability of achieving some given outcome, intended or not. 2. Sociological and derives: Max Weber’s definition of power as the ‘chance of a man or number of men to realize their will in a communal action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action’ (1964:152). In this view of power, a relationship is 2 presumed to exist between the partners to action and coercion is possible to achieve some aim. Levels and Kinds of Effects Media effect: The consequences of what the mass media do, whether intended or not. Media power: Refers to a general potential on the part of the media to have effects, especially of a planned kind. Media effectiveness: a statement about the efficiency of media in achieving a given aim and always implies intention or some planned communication goal. Lang and Lang: types of effects: Reciprocal: consequences for a person or an institution of becoming the object of media coverage Boomerang: Causing change in the opposite direction to that intended. Third−party effect: The belief that other people are likely to be influenced, not oneself. Sleeper effect: Effect that do not show up until much later. Processes of Media Effect: a Typology This device was suggested by Golding (1981) to help distinguish different concepts of news and its effects. Planned and short term § Individual response § Media campaign § News learning § Framing § Agenda-setting Planned and long term § Development diffusion § News diffusion § Diffusion of innovations § Distribution of knowledge Unplanned and short term § Individual reaction § Collective reaction § Policy effects Unplanned and long term § Social control § Socialization § Event outcomes 3  § Reality defining and construction of § meaning § Institutional change § Displacement § Cultural and social change § Social integration § Individual Response and Reaction: the Stimulus–Response Model § Single message - individual receiver - reaction Problem: any process of media effect on individuals must begin with attention or ‘exposure’ to some media message. The stimulus−response model is short term and individualistic. Response: Implying some interaction with the receiver and the learning process. Reaction: No choice or interaction by the receiver, behavioural reflex. The theory had to be modified to take account of selective attention, interpretation, response, and recall. It presumes a direct effect in line with the intention of the maker, and a built−in stimulus. Also referred to as ‘bullet’ or ‘hypodermic’ theory because it far exaggerates the probability of effect and the vulnerability of the receiver to influence. Does not take account of long−term effects. Mediating Conditions of Effect The revision of the stimulus−response model involved the identification of the conditions that mediate effects. McGuire: main kinds of variables have to do with source, content, channel, receivers and destination. Also variables of style, types of appeal, order and balance of argument have variably effects. Generally, research has failed to establish the relative value of different modes (audio, visual) in any consistent way. Relevant changes in effects have been found in the degree of motivation, interest, and level of prior knowledge. Ray: cognitive learning is most common, affective response (opinion) less, conative effect (behaviour or action) even less. = Effect hierarchy. Only counts when there is high involvement. According to Chaffee and Roser, high involvement is also a necessary condition for consistency of effects, and thus for a stable and enduring influence. In a non−laboratory media situation, receivers choose their own stimuli. This undermines the validity of the conditioning model, since the factors influencing selectivity are bound to be strongly related to the nature of the stimulus. Source-receiver relations and effect There have been several attempts to develop theories of influence taking account of relationship between senders and receivers. Refer often to interpersonal relations. French and Raven: five forms of communication relationship in which social power may be exercised by a sender and influence accepted by a receiver: 4 1. Reward: Depends on there being gratification for the recipient from a message 2. Coercion: Depends on some negative consequence of non−compliance 3. Referent power: Refers to the attraction or prestige of the sender, so the receiver identifies with the person 4. Legitimate power: Influence is accepted on the assumption that a sender has a strong claim to be followed 5. Expert power: Superior knowledge is attributed to the source or sender by the receiver (dentist in add) Kelman: there are three processes of influence: 1. Compliance: Refers to the acceptance of influence in expectation of some reward or avoid punishment 2. Identification: When an individual wants to be like the source, adopts behavior 3. Internalization: Influence is guided by the receiver’s own pre−existing needs and values. Functional effect. This last one is the one preferable to one that assumes that the audience is irrational or highly rational. The Campaign Basic features There are many kinds of campaigns. These include public information campaigns designed to benefit the recipient on matters such as health and safety or to provide a public service; election campaigns for parties or candidates; advocacy campaigns for a particular cause; campaigns in developing countries for some aspect of ‘modernization’; commercial advertising; government-corporate image-making; propaganda or ‘public diplomacy’ on behalf of national foreign policy. Filter conditions: There is a set of filter conditions or potential barriers that can facilitate or hinder the flow of messages. Attention is important. Perception matters because messages are open to alternative interpretations, and the success of the campaign depends to some extend on its message being interpreted as intended. Boomerang effects can happen (counter−effects). 5 4. Theories of media effects II.: Weak effects Topics: § A model of behavioural effect § The media, violence and crime § Media, children and young people § Collective reaction effects § Diffusion of innovation and development § The social distribution of knowledge § Social learning theory § Socialization § Social control and consciousness formation § Cultivation § Media and long-term social and cultural change § Entertainment effects Compulsory reading: McQuail D.: Mass Communication Theory. Sage, London, 2010. Part 7, chapter 17. http://docshare04.docshare.tips/files/28943/289430369.pdf Further or optional reading: McCombs, Maxwell: News Influence on Our Pictures of the World. In: Bryant, Jennings & Zillmann, Dolf: Media Effects. Advances in Theory and Research. Hillsdale, New Jersey – Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, 1994. Task: Many of the theories discussed by the text are dealing with the effects of violent media contents. Watch this video on YouTube and then express your thoughts on it in the forum. In your comments you must refer to the text. You should write one forum entry and one reflection on somebody else’s thoughts. Try to be critical but polite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyaYMOCt_Ug Notes for the subject: SOCIAL-CULTURAL EFFECTS A Model of Behavioural Effect It is obvious that in situations of unintended effect, some individuals will be more prone than others to react or respond to stimuli, ‘more at risk’ when harmful effects are involved. It rests on the presupposition that media experience is no different in essence from any other experience, act, or observation which might have consequences for learning or behaviour. 1 The Media, Violence and Crime Mostly focused on the potential of media to encourage, if not cause, crime, violence, and aggressive, antisocial and even criminal behaviour. The concern lies primarily in the repeated demonstration of the high level of the portrayal of crime and violence in popular media of all kinds. The secondary reason is a widespread perception, whether correct or not, that the social evils mentioned grew step by step with the rise of the mass media during the twentieth century. Three main conclusions: § Television content is heavily saturated with violence, § Children are spending more and more time exposed to violent content, § Overall, the evidence supports the hypothesis that the viewing of violent entertainment increases the likelihood of aggressive behaviour. Theory Outline three basic theoretical models for describing the process of learning and imitation of television violence; 1. ‘Social learning theory’ of Albert Bandura: Which children learn from media models what behaviour will be rewarded and what punished. 2. ‘Priming’ effects (Berkowitz, 1984): When people view violence it activates or ‘primes’ other related thoughts and evaluations, leading to a greater predisposition to use violence in interpersonal situations. 3. ‘Script theory’ of Huesmann: Holds that social behaviour is controlled by ‘scripts’ that indicate how to respond to events. Violence on television is encoded in such a way as to lead to violence, as a result of aggressive scripts Evidence of effect It's not easy to be certain on this matter and even this falls short of a clear statement of causation and leaves aside the question of other influences, such as the environment. Catharsis: Aristotle’s theory of drama has been applied to this process. Although it is clear that most aggression aroused by media portrayals is vicariously released without harm to others, there is little empirical support for a theory that sees a benefit in exposure to violence Inducement of fright Another frequently observed effect of violent and ‘horror’ content is the arousal of fear and emotional disturbance. Fear induced by media can often be intense and endure for long periods. It is not always easy to predict which content will be disturbing. In assessing the likely 2 degree of and harm of frightening content, we need to distinguish according to types of content (e.g. physical or psychological threat), degree of realism, motivation for ‘exposure’, plus receiver variables of age personality and emotional stability. Media and Crime Research has uncovered no such causal connection. Nevertheless, the overwhelming message of the media has always been that crime does not pay and that criminals are not attractive people. Similar to sexually explicit content. Such material encourages the acceptance of violence against women and desensitizes those exposed to it. Media can also demonize persons or groups in such a way that there is a real risk of violence by an individual or collective action. There is evidence that violence has been directed at such groups as child sex offenders, ethnic minorities terrorists, gypsies, migrants, and so on. But, other conditions have to be present. Media, Children and Young People Expectations and fears (mostly the latter) abound in the general and research literature about the influence of media on children, aside from the issue of violence and delinquency. Undesirable effects: § an increase in social isolation; § reduction of time and attention to homework; § increased passivity; § reduced time for play and exercise (displacement); § reduced time for reading (due to television); § undermining of parental authority; § premature sexual knowledge and experience; § unhealthy eating and obesity; § promotion of anxiety about self-image leading to anorexia; depressive tendencies. Beneficial effects attributed to media include: § provision of a basis for social interaction; § learning about the wider world; § learning of prosocial attitudes and behaviours; § educational effects; § help in forming an identity; developing the imagination. Many of the above hypotheses can be supported as plausible according to social learning theory and a number have been investigated. No general conclusion is possible and none of these can be regarded as either fully proven or entirely ruled out. Collective Reaction Effects 3 The logic of the stimulus-response model: The new elements mainly relate to the manner in which reactions are transmitted to others, often at great speed and with considerable amplification of overall effects. One important kind of effect is manifested in widespread panic in response to alarming, incomplete or misleading information. The causes lie much deeper, and the media were essentially only the messenger. Rumour: Precipitating features of panic seem to be incompleteness or inaccuracy of information, leading to an urgent search for information, usually through personal channels, thus, giving further currency to the original message. Diffusion of Innovation and Development Most evidence relates to the many attempts since the Second World War to harness mass media to campaigns for technical advance or for health and educational purposes in developing countries. Information diffusion model (Rogers): information, persuasion, decision adoption, and confirmation. The role of the media is concentrated on the first stage. Convergence model (Rogers and Kincaid): emphasizes the need for a continual process of interpretation and response, leading to an increased degree of mutual understanding between the sender and receiver. Mass communication is itself an innovation that has to be diffused before it can play a part in diffusion processes of the kind familiar in modern or developed societies. There is now much less expectation of direct large−scale effects on levels of development. There is also more emphasis on the need to improve public communication for the mass of the people and communication freedom as a human right as preconditions of progress. The Social Distribution of Knowledge Major media effect: Their capacity to inform and keep informed a large-scale society in a manner consistent with the needs of a modern economy and a participatory democratic process. While mass-mediated information considerably raises the average and minimum level of ‘knowledge’ in a society and the speed of circulation of information, there is a good deal of dispute about continued inequalities and about the varying capacity of different media to achieve these results. It has led to the coining of new expression – that of the ‘digital divide’ – in place of the older term ‘knowledge gap’ Two main aspects to the knowledge gap hypothesis 1. The general distribution of aggregate information in society between social classes, 2. Spesific subjects or topics on which some are better informed than others. In general, motivation and perceived utility influence information seeking and learning, and these factors come more from the social context than from the media. Social Learning Theory 4 The basic idea is that we cannot learn all or even much of what we need to guide our own development and behaviour from direct personal observation and experience alone. Bandura’s model posits four basic processes of social learning that occur in sequence; Attention: Our lives and personal needs and interests relevance with media content of potential. Retention: We may then retain what we have learnt and add it to our stock of prior knowledge. Socialization That the media play a part in the early socialization of children and the long-term socialization of adults is widely believed, although in the nature of the case it is difficult to prove. The thesis of media socialization has, in fact, two sides to it; 1. the media can reinforce and support other agencies of socialization 2. they are also viewed as a potential threat to the values set by parents, educators and other agents of social control The main logic underlying the thesis is that the media can teach norms and values by way of symbolic reward and punishment for different kinds of behaviour as represented in the media. Social Control and Consciousness Formation A common view is that the media act non-purposively to support the values dominant in a community or nation, through a mixture of personal and institutional choice, operational requirements, external pres-sure and anticipation of what a large and heterogeneous audience expects and wants. Cultivation Among theories of long-term media effect, the cultivation hypothesis of Gerbner (1973): It holds that television, among modern media, has acquired such a central place in daily life that it dominates our ‘symbolic environment’, substituting its (distorted) message about reality for personal experience and other means of knowing about the world. Television is also described as the ‘cultural arm of the established industrial order [which] serves primarily to maintain, stabilize and reinforce rather than to alter, threaten or weaken conventional beliefs and behaviours’ The Theory The central hypothesis of the research was that viewing television gradually leads to the adoption of beliefs about the nature of the social world which conform to the stereotyped, distorted and very selective view of reality as portrayed in a systematic way in television fiction and news. 5 In this theory of media effect, television provides many people with a consistent and neartotal symbolic environment that supplies norms for conduct and beliefs about a wide range of real- life situations. The resulting research has two main thrusts: 1. testing the assumption about the consistency (and distortion) of the television ‘message system’; 2. The other designed to test, by way of survey analysis, a variety of public beliefs about social reality, especially those which can be tested against empirical indicators. Media and Long-term Social and Cultural Change Mass media have been said to lead to personal isolation, individuation and social diversity or even fragmentation. Other theorists have credited the media with (or accused them of) promoting homogeneity and social cohesion, sometimes to an excessive degree of conformity. The influence of media is generally likely to be indirect. They work to change public expectations, the possibility for meeting needs and, especially, the way things are done in other social institutions. Entertainment Effects The largest category of media content can probably be labelled as ‘entertainment’ and it is the main reason why media are so popular. The ‘uses and gratifications’ tradition of research offers some ways of uncovering the satisfactions (intended effects) sought out by audiences and some relevant findings, but there is still little clear conceptualization in this neglected area of media effects. The concept of ‘escapism’ is inadequate to account for entertainment effects, and the various theories of pleasure that have been put forward do not lend themselves to precise formulation and testing. 6 5. A functionalist approach to media: media functions, public service, commercial media Topics: § Media and Society § Sources of normative obligation § The media and the public interest § Main issues for social theory of the media § Early approaches to theory: the press as ‘fourth estate’ § The 1947 Commission on Freedom of the Press and the social theory of responsibility § Professionalism and media ethics § Four Theories of the Press and beyond § The public service broadcasting alternative § Mass media, civil society and the public sphere § Response to the discontents of the public sphere § Alternative visions § Normative media theory: four models Compulsory reading: McQuail D.: Normative Theory of Media and Society IN. Mass Communication Theory. Sage, London, 2010. Part 2, chapter 7. 6TH EDITION ATTACHED!!! Further or optional reading: Shaw, Donald L. & McCombs, Maxwell E. The agenda-setting function of the press. Public Opinion Quarterly, 1972. 36. sz. 176–187. Task: Normative media theory has four basic models. Which one do you find the most relevant? Why do you find it appropriate? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this model? 200-300 words. Notes for the subject: NORMATIVE THEORY OF MEDIA AND SOCIETY The mass media are presumed to serve a social purpose. These include the effects of disseminating information, expressing different voices and views, helping public opinion to form on issues and facilitating debate. Normative Theory: The ideas of right and responsibility that underlie these expectations of benefit from the media to individuals and society. Sources of Normative Obligation 1 The central difficulty is that ‘the media’ in a free society do not, for the most part, have any obligation to carry out many of the positively valued purposes that have been referred to and that are taken for granted. They are not run by the government, nor do they work on behalf of society. Formal responsibilities: They are required to do no harm. The media are free to choose or avoid, various positive ends. Among the sources of normative expectation, the most fundamental are probably those that stem from the historical context that has shaped the role of the media institution. Variable Powers: There are some forces that affect the work of the media. Media takes position according to these forces. Public opinion: Media is influenced by public opinion. Customer and clients (Advertisers): Powerful individuals and organizations can be hurt by the news and may also need it to further their ends. For this reason, they keep a close eye on media conduct for their own protection or seek to influence it. State and agents of government: Circumstances determine how independent media can be of the views of government, which always has some capacity to reward or punish. The Media and the Public Interest There is a ‘public interest’ in how the media conduct itself and this concept is very contested in social and political theory. What is problem? First problem is encountered is that public control, even in the supposed public interest, of all media, is inconsistent with freedom of expression, as usually understood. Second problem is media are usually established not to serve the public interest as such, but to follow some goal of their own choosing. The goal is sometimes defined in cultural, professional, or political terms but more often it is the goal of making profit as a business. This points to the key problem of determining just what the public interest might be and of who should decide it. Rather, the many different media should be left free to do what they want, within the limits of the law. Blumler makes three key points 1. The power of the media has to be used in a legitimate way, has to take responsibility 2. A certain transcendent quality attaches to the notion of the public interest: The future of society is more important than their purpose. 3. Notions of the public interest must work in an imperfect and impure world. This means inevitable tension, compromise, and improvisation according to circumstances. 2 Two of the main versions of what constitutes the public interest and how its content might be established (Held) 1. Majoritarian: The issue should be settled by reference to the popular vote. 2. Unitarian or Absolutist: The public interest would be decided by reference to some single dominant value or ideology. Main Issues for Social Theory of the Media First: The issues that relate primarily to how a media system is structured and the conditions of its operation: Freedom of publication: Media should be free from control by government or other powerful interests. Sufficient to allow them to report and express freely and independently. Plurality of ownership: The media should not be monopolized. The Media system should not be dominated by a few controlling interests. Universality of provision: The communication network of society should reach all citizens at equal cost to consumers. (Duty of government) Diversity of channels and forms: The media structure should be of different types. Citizens should have access to media that reflect their ideas and meet their interests and needs. Diversity of information: It should clearly exhibit differences such as region, politics, religion, ethnicity and culture. Media channels should be open to new movements and ideas and give reasonable access to small minorities. Second: Set of issues relates to the kind of service (content provision) that might be expected if the ‘public interest’ is to be served. Key elements include: Support for maintaining public order and the security of the state: There is a widely held view in democracies that there are some legitimate limits to media freedom and some matters on which they do have a duty to assist authority. (external threats, actual war, disasters, extreme internal conflict or violent terrorist acts) Quality of cultural provision: The media are expected to respect the traditional valued culture and the arts and language of their own national society or region. Support for the democratic process: Publishing full, fair, and reliable information on public matters, assisting in the expression of diverse points of view, giving access to many voices in society, facilitating the participation of citizens in social and political life. Meeting international human rights obligations: Media can have an international range of coverage and they influence membership of the wider international community. This has some negative (the possible incitement to hatred of foreigners, or engaging in propaganda for 3 war) and positive sides (do with development, foreign disasters and emergencies and on global issues of health and the environment). There is a third category of issues of a proscriptive kind, where the media are required to avoid various kinds of harm, usually unintended. The main additional requirements are as follows: Respecting the rights of individuals: The media also often shock or offend particular individuals and groups, causing distress and indirect harm. Harm to society: The welfare of children or other vulnerable groups may be involved, or encouragement may be given to crime, violence and other behavior considered antisocial, such as drinking, drug-taking, or promiscuity. Harm to individuals: There have been well-documented cases of the media playing an apparently stimulating role in crimes or suicide and there is a sustainable argument that certain kinds of representations, for instance violent pornography, can lead to imitation or have corrupting effects. Cases of imitation of terrorist acts fall within this category. Early Approaches to Theory: the Press as ‘Fourth Estate’ The term ‘fourth estate’ was reputedly coined by Edmund Burke in late-eighteenth-century England to refer to the political power possessed by the press, on a par with the other three ‘estates’ of power in the British realm: Lords, Church and Commons. The power of the press arose from its ability to give or withhold publicity and from its informative capacity. The free marketplace of ideas: This phrase has had the unfortunate effect of linking freedom of the press very closely with the idea of a literal free market. 20th century: The definition turned out to be wrong and this opportunity was missed. 21th century: The threats to freedom from increasing media monopoly have not gone away. The 1947 Commission on freedom of the press and the sociaI theory of responsibiIity The aim of the commission was ‘to examine areas and circumstances under which the press of the United States is succeeding or failing; to discover where free expression is or is not limited, whether by government censorship pressure from readers or advertisers or the unwisdom of its proprietors or the timidity of its management’. The commission forms an important milestone in the present story for several reasons. Several commissions have looked at specific problems arising from the activities of the media, especially in relation to violence, pornography, and civil unrest. Social responsibility A responsible press should ‘provide a full, truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context which gives them meaning’. It should ‘serve as a forum for the exchange of comment and criticism’ and be a ‘common 4 carrier of the public expression’. The press should give a ‘representative picture of constituent groups in society’ and also present and clarify the ‘goals and values of society’. Four Theories of the Press and Beyond Soviet communism (disappeared theory): Press reflects the system of social control. Authoritarian: Every society has a right to preserve public peace and order, and thus has a good right to prohibit the propagation of opinions which have a dangerous tendency. A Liberal-pluralist of market model: Identifies press freedom closely with property rights, neglecting the economic barriers to access and the abuse of monopolistic publishing power. Liberty = freedom from government. This theory only applies to the printed press, only to journalism. Who benefits from the right to freedom? The state may intervene to protect ‘essential’ interests. Social responsibility: Comes before media rights and freedom. Focus on national and development goals, need for autonomy and solidarity with other countries. Gov’t may allocate resources selectively and restrict journalistic freedoms. Still, most of the developing world qualify for the authoritarian label. Media share an attachment to their own distinctive media logic. Professionalism and Media Ethics Most frequently found principles in journalistic codes § Truthfulness of information § Clarity of information § Defence of the public’s rights § Responsibilities in forming public opinion § Standards of gathering and presenting information § Respecting the integrity of the sources Certain specific provisions that were common (present in more than 70% of codes) included: the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, and so on; respect for privacy; and prohibition of bribes or any other benefits. The Public Service Broadcasting Alternative Public service broadcasting refers to a system that is set up by law and generally financed by public funds (often a compulsory licence paid by households) and given a large degree of editorial and operating independence. 5 The general rationale for such systems is that they should serve the public interest by meeting the important communication needs of society and its citizens, as decided and reviewed by way of the democratic political system. A public broadcasting system should have: § A founding charter or mission; § Public financing to some degree; § Independence from government; § Mechanisms of accountability to the society and general public; § Mechanisms of accountability to the audience. The two main weaknesses lies in two sources of tension: 1. Tension between independence and the necessary accountability for finance 2. Achieving the goals set by society in the public interest and meeting the demands of the audience Also, a problems is intense competition. The reliance on the market reduced its capacity to compete on equal terms. But whatever the theoretical weaknesses, the practical consequences are real enough. Mass Media, Civil Society and the Public Sphere Public Sphere (Jürgen Habermas): A notional ‘space’ which provides a more or less autonomous and open arena or forum for public debate. A notional ‘space’ which provides a more or less autonomous and open arena or forum for public debate. Access to the space is free, and freedoms of assembly, association and expression are guaranteed. (the private sphere of the life of individual citizens) Civil society: One of openness and plurality, where there are many more or less autonomous and voluntary agencies between citizen and state that provide security for the individual. There is also adequate democratic political process, provision for justice and protection of human rights. Habermas: Habermas was somewhat pessimistic about the consequences for democracy since the public was more likely to be manipulated by the media than helped to form opinions in a rational way. Normative Media Theory: Four Models A Liberal-pluralist of market model: Identifies press freedom with the freedom to own and operate the means of publication without permission or interference from the state. Defines the public interest as what interest the public. The public sphere will be served by the operation of a free marketplace of ideas. A social responsibiIity or public interest model: Obligations to the wider society go beyond 6 self−interest. Responsible media will achieve high standards by self−regulation, government intervention not excluded. A Professional model: Serving the public’s need for information and comment and providing the platforms for expression of diverse views. The institutional and professional autonomy of journalism is also the best guarantee of an adequate watch begin kept on those in power. Choices belong to the press itself. An alternative media model: Smallness of scale and grass−roots organization, participation and community, shared goals between producers and audience, plus opposition to powers of state and industry. 7 6. A classic, public-centered approach to the media Topics: § Learning from news § News diffusion § Framing effects § Agenda-setting § Effects on public opinion and attitudes § The elaboration-likelihood model of influence § The spiral of silence: the formation of climates of opinion § Structuring reality and unwitting bias § The communication of risk § Political communication effects in democracies § Effects on the political institution and process § Media influence on event outcomes § Propaganda and war § Internet news effects Compulsory reading: McQuail D.: Mass Communication Theory. Sage, London, 2010. Part 7, chapter 19. 6th EDITION!!! Further or optional reading: Habermas, Jürgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. MIT Press, Cambridge, 1993. Part 5. Task: How are political issues represented in popular culture? Can you think of any current pop songs dealing with political issues? Introduce one of these songs in the forum with the help of a YouTube link and a short description how it can be related to McQuail’s text. You should write one forum entry and one reflection on somebody else’s thoughts. Try to be critical but polite. Notes for the subject: NEWS, PUBLIC OPINION AND POLITICAL COMMUNICATION News does not set out for the purpose of learning, but rather offers information for the target audience to choose according to their interests. The effect of learning depends on the target's attention and motivation level. The overall purpose is informative. It’s important for the view (attractiveness, message, comprehensibility) of the news source and the effect of trust and reputation among the audience. 1 News schemata and news processing News is topically and thematically ‘framed’ for easier understanding, and it is reasonable to suppose that audiences employ some of the same frames in their processing of incoming news. Graber (1984) applied this line of thinking to news processing. Graber defined a schema as a cognitive structure consisting of organized knowledge about situations and individuals that has been abstracted from prior experiences. It is used for processing new information and retrieving stored information’. Schemata help in evaluating new information and filling gaps when information is missing or ambiguous. They are also aids to remembering news. News learning can be conceived as the integration of new information into pre-existing schemata. It allows the information to be presented to the receiver in a simple way rather than critically examining it. The four dimensions in which audiences perceive and make sense of news 1. Space: Audiences decide if and how distant events might affect themselves. 2. Power: Audiences are likely to see news as concerning themselves as well as the more powerful. 3. Time: Audiences see events in terms of their own past and future history. 4. Identity: Audiences link or disassociate themselves with events, places, and people in the news. Factors associated with news learning: § Prior knowledge and interest on part of audience § Perceived relevance of topic § Credible and trusted news channel or source § Visual illustration § Concrete subject matter and ‘hard news’ character § News fits an available frame of interpretation § Repetition of news § Narrativity of text § News Diffusion § The diffusion of news in the sense of its takeup and incorporation into what people ‘know’ is mainly a short- or medium-term matter. Four main variables 1. The extent to which people (in a given population) know about a given event, 2. The relative importance or perceived salience of the event, 3. The volume of information about it that is transmitted, 4. The extent to which knowledge of an event comes first from news media or from personal contact. J-Shape: When an event is known about by virtually everyone 2 S-Curve: A slow start, then an acceleration, then a flattening as the upper limit is reached The diffusion of news has been made more complex by the increase of news channels and the decline of centralized news channels. The word of mouth plays a key part in the dissemination of certain kinds of news. Framing Effects Provides a strong hypothesis that an audience will be guided by journalistic frames in what it learns Cappella & Jamieson: The way the news is framed by journalists and how the audience frames news may be similar or different. They proposed a model of framing effects, with the central idea that news frames activate certain inferences, ideas, judgments, and contrasts concerning issues, policies, and politicians. Scheufele: framing effects are outcomes of interaction between interested sources and media organizations; journalists (media); and audiences. There are two kinds of frame: media frames and receiver frames. Both can be a cause and an effect. According to the model four interrelated framing processes involving these actors: 1. The construction and use of media frames under routine pressures (angles, values), 2. The transmission of framed news reports, 3. Acceptance of certain frames by the audience, 4. Consequences of frames for people’s attitudes, outlook and behavior Canagee & Roefs: frames embody some direction of valuation. Agenda-setting The news media indicate to the public what the main issues of the day are and this is reflected in what the public perceives as the main issues. The evidence shows there is a relation between the order of importance given in the media to issues and the order of significance according to politicians and the public but it's not clear. Media vary in their credibility, that personal experience and the media picture may diverge, and that the public may not share the same values about news events as the media. Dearing and Rogers (1996) offer several generalizations about agenda-setting; 1. Different media do tend to agree about the relative salience of a set of issues, 2. Media agendas do not closely match ‘real-world’ indicators, 3. The ‘position of an issue on the media agenda importantly determines that issue’s salience in the public agenda’ 3 Priming This idea shows that the political issues that receive most attention (highest on the agenda) also figure more prominently in public assessments of the performance of political actors. The priming ‘effect’ is essentially one of promoting certain evaluative criteria and it plays a part in attempts to manage news. Like agenda-setting, although it seems true to what is going on, it is difficult to prove in practice. Effects on Public Opinion and Attitudes The distinction between the various types of effect, especially information, behaviour, opinions and attitudes. The theory of cognitive dissonance (the reverse condition): Predicts that we will tend to look for information or ideas that maintain consistency and avoid the discomfort of incompatible opinions. This also means that new information can unsettle existing attitudes and lead to realignments. The Elaboration-Likelihood Model of Influence Petty & Cacioppo: Refers to the extent to which a person thinks about the issue and about relevant arguments contained in a message. We devote more effort to understanding and evaluating matters of greater personal interest and relevance. This is reflected in the way we process incoming information, either centrally (high elaboration, draw on knowledge to process information) or peripherally (draw on incidental cues, such as the perceived credibility of the source). Whether we adopt a central or peripheral mode is affected by receiver variables and message variables. Cappella & Jamieson: Processing incoming information can be online (the key information is all provided in the message itself) and memory−based (any message will tap into an existing store in one’s mind). The more that memory−based processing operates, the more peripheral is the route at also the greater is the chance of effects such as priming and framing. The Spiral of Silence: the Formation of Climates of Opinion The relevant theory concerns the interplay between four elements: Mass media, Interpersonal communication and social relations, Individual expressions of opinion The perceptions which individuals have of the surrounding ‘climate of opinion’ in their own social environment. The main assumptions: 1. Society threatens deviant individuals with isolation, 2. Individuals’ experience fear of isolation continuously, 3. This fear of isolation causes individuals to try to assess the climate of opinion at all times, 4 4. The results of this estimate affect their behaviour in public, especially their willingness or not to express opinions openly. People tend to conceal their views if they feel they are in a minority and are more willing to express them if they think they are dominant. The result is that those views that are perceived to be dominant gain even more ground and alternatives retreat still further. This is the spiralling effect referred to. Third party effects: The key point is that many people seem to think that other people are affected by various kinds of media content, but not themselves. This perception goes with a tendency to support censorship. Second−Person effect = reactions of public actors to stories that enter the news. They respond as if the fact of publication ensures that an entire public is paying attention. Pack journalism: The tendency of journalists to work together, arrive at a consensus, cover the same stories and use the same news sources. The Communication of Risk One of the functions attributed to mass media is that of providing a public warning of possible dangers and risks. 1. There is the tendency of media to portray the world as more dangerous than it really is, 2. There is the failure of the press to give advice to the public on many genuine risks connected with scientific innovation, 3. The media have the tendency to act as a conduit for all kinds of information and argument from all kinds of sources that can be alarming, but for which no editorial responsibility is taken. Political Communication Effects in Democracies They usually find their raison d’être in their service to their audiences, to whom they provide information and views according to judgements of interest and need. In order to perform this service they need to be independent of the state and of powerful interests. On the other hand, they also provide channels by which the state and powerful interests address the people, as well as platforms for the views of political parties and other interest groups. They also promote the circulation of news and opinion within the politically interested public. Third possibility where the state has considerable effective power over nominally free media and uses this power for its own advantage. The main forms of political communication effects: 5 1. Campaigns for election: short, intensive. Barely evidence that media make a great deal of difference to the outcome of an election. They have little or no effect on voting. Political attitudes are deeply rooted. There is evidence of potential for learning about issues and policy stands (agenda−setting). Learning effects can lead to opinion change. Election campaigns attract widely varying degrees and kinds of motivated audience attention. Election campaigns have larger effects where it reaches sectors of a less captive audience that was previously uninformed and without firm allegiances. This is the ‘trap effect’. The idea that new media have actually brought new news is open to challenge. The lack of effect from media campaigns can be attributed to the lack of room for change in familiar issues, the cancelling effect of opposing messages, the part played by personal relations and the ritual character that offers little new. Often election campaigns are aimed at maintaining the status quo rather than creating change. It is about associating parties with particular issues, framing and news agendas come in hand here. Different media draw different audiences with differing motivations. 2. Continuous flow of news: continuous process of news management and competition to define events and issues. All significant actors employ news managers (spin doctors) to ensure access. There is good support in theory for the belief that the news provides a good environment for influential messages since it is an independent source, credible and has no propagandist associations. 3. Opportunities for political advertising: depends on having resources but is limited in its potential by its propagandist character. The same applies to campaigns. Kennedy−Nixon debate in 1960, shows that television can lead to changed perceptions of candidates and some learning of policies. Effect on voter choice. The fact is that even though the chances of decisively influencing the outcome of an election are usually small, it would be easy to lose an election by not campaigning or doing it badly. Effects on the Political Institution and Process The case of politics provides fairly clear evidence of the adaptation of a social institution to the rise of mass media, especially given the fact that the media have become a (if not the) main source of information and opinion for the public. The challenge to politics from the growing centrality of the mass media and the rise of ‘media logic’ have taken several forms. These include: 1. The diversion of time from political participation to watching television (video malaise); 2. The negative effects of political marketing on voter trust and goodwill; 3. The increasing negativity of campaigning and campaign reporting; 4. The rising costs and bureaucratization of campaigning; 5. The loss by parties of their own channels for reaching a mass following and increased dependence on media channels and gatekeepers. Ideas about the influence of ‘media logic’ on political institutions 6 1. The diversion of attention from the local and regional to the national stage; 2. The reliance on personality and image more than on substance and policy; 3. The decline of face-to-face political campaigning; 4. The excessive reliance on and use of opinion polls. Four processes of change represent different aspects of mediatization 1. The media extend the natural limits of human communication; 2. The media substitute social activities and social institutions. 3. The media amalgamate with various non-media activities in social life; 4. The actors and organizations of all sectors of society accommodate media logic. Media Influence on Event Outcomes Lang and Lang (1983): The media ‘present political actors with a “looking-glass image” of how they appear to outsiders’. Bystander public: (referring to the general media public) provides a significant reference group for political actors. This is part of a process of ‘coalition building’. CNN effect: (somewhat ethnocentrically) to the general phenomenon of media exerting an influence on foreign policy, especially in regard to some foreign intervention, A similar potential effect has been looked at with reference to the giving of foreign aid. Gilboa: Global communication can play a number of different roles: 1. Displacing policy-makers; constraining actions in real time; 2. Promoting intervention; and being used as an instrument of diplomacy. Livingstone and Bennett’s study of CNN news content does show some tendency for foreign news to be more event-driven and less managed by officials at home, making such services more independent gatekeepers. a process described as ‘indexing’ Propaganda and War The deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist. It differs in some respects from simple persuasion attempts. It can be coercive and aggressive in manner; it is not objective and it has little regard for truth, even if it is not necessarily false, since sometimes the truth can be good propaganda. Some critics fear the success of the Internet since it will fragment the public sphere and the common basis of public knowledge on which democracy depends. Nevertheless, it remains the case that the Internet does bring new voices into the public arena (Stromer-Galley, 2002) and the established media have often acted to narrow the range of public debate. 7