Transcript document

MASS MEDIA
MASS MEDIA
A form of communication that
reaches a vast audience
Newspapers
Television
Radio
Internet
Film
Magazines
Books
Functions of the Mass Media
Inform
Educate
Entertain
Culturalize / Help transfer values
Stimulate spending / Promote sales
Propaganda (in times of war)
Expose wrongdoings
Make a living
Possible Requirements of the
Mass Media
Be accurate
Be truthful
Entertain
Stimulate change
Be fully comprehensive
Promote exchange of views (between
people/ government)
Clarify goals/ values in society (NE)
Why The Mass Media Has
Grown
Growth in literacy
Technical advances
Rise of commercial markets and
consumption
Need for rapid communication
Political support/use
Who Should Control the Mass
Media (or who actually does)
Business (FOX, CBS, MediaCorp)
Government (laws, censorship, licenses)
Individual leaders (dictators, religious
leaders, etc)
Advertisers / Underwriters
Producers/ editors (by selection of
information)
The people (demand for programming)
Possible Threats from the Mass
Media
Used for Government control
Can it stimulate violence, immoral acts
Lead to apathy / Can lead to ‘overexposure’ of serious issues
Intellectual and physical decline
The Future of Print Media
 Newspapers:
 No evidence that readership is declining
 Important as political force.
 Magazines:
 More rather than fewer (expensive)
 Books:
 Increasing readership(mainly
entertainment)
Challenge from the Electronic
Media
Internet / SMS / Digital film / TV
 Increasing number of users.
 More voices and listeners
 More current / immediate
 Variety of sources for comparison
 No censorship
 Man in the street has a voice
 Experts / Specialist knowledge not required.
 Publishers not required.
Issues
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The influence of the media
Popular culture and the media
Censorship
Propaganda
Media rights and the privacy issue
Role of the media in nation building
The credibility issue: Infortainment,
docudramas, reality shows
and the blurring of the lines between fact
and fiction, truths and half-truths...
AMY TÜBKE-DAVIDSON (New Yorker Magazine): You spent four
months watching Fox News. What did you see?
KEN AULETTA (Media Commentator): I saw a news network that was
not free of bias and "fair and balanced." This is not to say that Fox News
doesn't do some things well. It is to say that the network is not always what
it claims to be. The network proclaims, "We report. You decide." But, too
often, Fox both reports and decides. The presenters are opinionated
throughout the day, not just in the evening hours. Too often, the
commentators tilt to the right (conservative) and don't provide both
sides - in its desire to right the excesses of what it sees as liberal press
bias, Fox often goes overboard.
Rupert Murdoch has long believed that the news media are dominated
by liberals and that one of his missions is to counter this.
There is no question that the network most Republicans in Washington
turn to is Fox.
Think:
Does Rupert Murdoch have an influence on US Government policy
especially those relating to broadcasting regulations?
THE END