Transcript Document

Media’s impact
on public opinion & policy:
implications for
journalists
by: Guy Berger,
Rhodes Journalism & Media Studies
“
Public opinion sets the bounds of
the possible – especially as
regards the shape of policy and
the exercise of power.
Qtn: how do orthodoxies change –
cf. women’s role, privatisation and
liberalisation?
Qtn: where does media fit in?
That’s why understanding media’s
impact is important.
Contents:
• THE ACTORS AND DYNAMICS
 5 models of action in media-policy
 Other issues in media-policy
• HOW MEDIA INFLUENCE WORKS
 3 theories of media impact
• CONCLUSION
THE ACTORS:
•the public
public opinion
•the media
•policy people
Specific players:
• media:
different platforms, premier outlets, media
stars (Oprah)
 public:
general public, civil society groups incl NGOs,
business, global forces, individuals.
 policy people:
the makers and the implementers.
 Qtn: who drives the process?
Five models of how the
relationship works:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Liberal democratic
Muckraker model
Bypassing civil society
Manipulation model
Propaganda picture
1. Liberal democratic model
MEDIA 2
COVERAGE
1
PUBLIC +
OPINION
GOVT
RESPONDS
3
i.e. The public is the active source of public opinion
eg. Aids activists win coverage, affect govt
2. Muckraker model
PUBLIC +
OPINION
1
2
MEDIA
COVERAGE
GOVT
RESPONDS
3
i.e. Media coverage is active source of public opinion
eg. Exposure of child abuse
3. Bypassing Civil Society
2
GOVT
RESPONDS
1
MEDIA
COVERAGE
= “PUBLIC OPINION”
i.e. Media impacts on govt, irrespectv of real public opinion
eg. Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky
4. Manipulation model
2
MEDIA
COVERAGE
1
GOVT
INITIATES
PUBLIC +
OPINION
3
i.e. Government is the originator of public opinion
eg. Iraq war in US, Info scandal, discredit leader’s rivals
5. Propaganda picture
MEDIA
COVERAGE
1
2
GOVT
INITIATES
i.e. Government is the originator, circuit incomplete
eg. media coverage pleases govt, ignores public
Summing up (a):
• Policy people infer Public Opinion from
media,
• and they use media to promote their
policies.
• Often it is interaction of media &
politicians (not the public) that affects
govt policy & practice.
Summing up (b):
• But civil society also has a real role to
play as in the first model.
• In practice, many situations combine
aspects of all five models.
• Media is assumed to be a factor in all five
Other issues 1:
• Enthusiastic, one-sided & simplistic treatment
in the media = rapid policy change;
– Eg. anti-retrovirals
• Complexity & debate = slower policy action.
– Eg. genetically modified crops
• Effect on politicians & policy is a transition:
mobilisation -> action ->
maintenance -> fade
(as the media intensity declines).
Other issues 2:
• Some media more influential than others: eg.
TV greater on dramatic & short-term events.
• But often TV takes its cue from print.
• Intermedia agenda-setting power. For
example, some titles set “the story” for others.
• Note: power of international media and
cultural imperialism.
HOW MEDIA
INFLUENCE
WORKS
The making of “public
opinion”
• What is public “opinion”?
• Theory 1: indirect effects
• Theory 2: direct effects
• Theory 3: deeper effects
Defining
Public Opinion




Knowledge and information
Beliefs (about reality)
Values (about goodness)
Norms (about behaviour)
=> attitudes, which in turn => contextualise and
colour specific opinions on specific issues.
• Public Opinion = a set of shared attitudes based
on: knowledge, beliefs, values, norms.
• i.e heart-and-head on an aggregated scale
Influence: Theory 1
1. Very Indirect effects (“Tertiary-level
effects”):



Media creates new publics, causes changes in
politics, alters people’s time allocation.
A “media dense” environment will have
greater effect in this area, even on identities
Much less the case in most of Africa.
Influence: Theory 2a
2. Most Direct effects (“Primary effects”):
Works on short-term attitudes and opinions
A. Stimulus-response (S-R) theory:
Overly-powerful view.
But true that S-R exists in affective responses:
fear, tears, identification, anger, laughter,
arousal. Suicides, fashions, riots.
Less-powerful view: S-R is modified by psycho
variables, socio variables, 2 step diffusion.
Influence: Theory 2b
2. Most Direct effects (“Primary effects”) cntd:
B. Uses & gratifications theory:
Audiences act on media; they make the effects.
But:
 People do change through media exposure,
 Messages are not open-ended,
 There are unobvious effects (= consumerism),
 Reinforcement, rather than change, effect.
Still: U&G valid ‘cos audiences not purely passive
Influence: Theory 3
3. Direct, but deeper, effects or influence
(“Secondary effects”):
Works on beliefs, values, norms, worldviews
(foundation of attitudes & opinions)
More longterm, & relatively powerful:


Agenda-setting effects
Paradigmatic effects.
Influence: Theory 3a
3. Direct, but deeper, effects or influence
(“Secondary effects”):
A. Agenda-setting effects:
 Defines what is NB.
 Affects not what you think,
but what you think about.

Plays to advantage of specific forces.
Influence: Theory 3b
3. Direct, but deeper, effects or influence
(“Secondary effects”):
B. Paradigmatic effects:
 How you think about the agenda:
 i.e. “framing” what has been “primed”.



This effect defines reality & norms.
Defines what is wise, normal, praiseworthy,
acceptable, right. And what is:
deviant, disgusting, outdated, unacceptable.
Influence: summing up
What theories we’ve covered:
 Stimulus-response effects
 Modified S-R
 Uses and gratifications
 Agenda-setting
 Paradigms
There is value in all of them. Media impacts
on public opinion and policy in all these ways
CONCLUSION
•
•
•
Audience role and “decoding”
Public Opinion – fact or fiction?
Summing up impact
Audience role
Media effects are subject to receiver decoding:
(a) hegemonic, (b) negotiated, (c) oppositional
a. “Hegemonic decoding”:
Reinforcing influence operates at 2ndary level.
You accept the media’s agenda, the paradigm &
the attitude-opinion effects.
Audience role cntd
b. “Negotiated decoding”:
You accept the paradigm, maybe even
agenda, you stop at the attitudinal stuff.
Question: Why?
Ans: Situated & Mediated meaning levels
c. “Oppositional decoding”: a “weak effects”
approach. Implies a resistance orientation.
Public opinion: fact or fiction?
Very notion itself of Public Opinion can be argued
to be an effect of media coverage.
A construct that masks real power – that of
media, their owners and their sources (such
as govt or PR companies).
Self-fulfilling: policy people – who influence so
much media coverage – gain their own
understanding of Public Opinion from the selfsame media.
Policy impact:
But even fictions have impacts:
 Affect the circuit of policy making,
via media & bypassing media, and upon
media (affecting its interests & operations).
 Influence the decoding by audiences: the
setting of media agendas and framing
 Influence audience decoding via effect on
knowledge, attitudes, and practices.
Summing up
Media, public, policy people
= a dynamic & powerful triangle!
that is sometimes not a triangle!
and that works at diff levels, issues, times!
Understanding
Journalists need to grasp the complexities and
the nuances about actors, PO, influence.
In this way, strategise & heighten our impact
The continent needs optimum relationships.
Think about it. Act upon it.
Be a conscious player in public opinion