Brianna Cruz

October 2nd, 2017

English 401-01

Dr. Michael Martin

Professional Writing

The Emotional Impact of the Media in Society

The scholarly article I have chosen to cover for the first reading response is The Emotional

Impact of Traditional and New Media in Social Events, by Dr. Minodora Salcudean and Dr.

Raluca Muresan. These two professors from Romania collected research after a traumatic event

impacted a community in Romania. These can be found in the abstract, as the authors state,

Social media is an essential component of the media process and classical press channels are

connected to the social networking flow, where they can find information and, at the same time,

tap into the emotional pulse of society (Muresan and Salcudean.) This quote is important to

students in the Mass Communication field because it broadly defines what our motive is when

creating content in any form. One way to connect to an audience is through emotion, which

encompasses the role of pathos in the rhetoric of the article and has a lasting impression on

people consuming the information, because it psychologically impacts them.

This article is helpful and effective to Mass Communication majors, especially with the

journalism tract because the study indicates the importance of considering the audience when

using the rhetorical process. One quote that further explains the importance of the study for
journalists is found in the second paragraph as the authors write, The conclusion of this case

study show that the interweaving between media and social media has generated a change of

paradigm in Mass Communication, as a result of which professional journalists continue to play

a role as responsible filters (Muresan and Salcudean.) The role of a journalist to be responsible

filter information for their audience is important because the content should have an even amount

of positivity and negativity due the effects of too much negative news on society emotionally.

One thing I learned from the article is that first moment responses often generate an abundance

of helpful information to news sources and citizens alike. In the first paragraph of the

introduction, the authors write, With events featuring strong emotional impact that extends

nationwide and worldwide, the public and media communication are under the direct influence

of first-moment reactions which arise and the spread spontaneously at incredible speed and

uncontrollably across the online medium, (Muresan and Salcudean.) The introduction explains

how news feeds often get their information from first hand witnesses that display an initial

response to the event. This allows the audience to feel greatly emotionally impacted by the event

and often leads to groups banning together to support or dispute the happenings. This can be

applied to my work personally because it will expand my availability of sources and ability to

gain knowledge on the event or conflict. This will allow me to better inform my audience of

what is occurring with the most accurate descriptions possible.

This article can positively impact students majoring in Mass Communications on any tract

because it analyzes the influence of all forms of media. This allows students to understand the

importance of sourcing, other available methods of sourcing for content, and the effect of

emotional appeal in journalism. The authors used the example of a night club fire and the data
they collected for one month post-accident. This study illustrates the impact tragedy displayed

through social media on current society members. This article may allow professionals to

examine the interchangeable media outlets and how they can both beneficially contribute to an

event both positive and negative for the audience.

Works Cited

Salcudean,Minodora, and Muresan, Raluca The Emotional Impact of Traditional and New

Media in Social Events. Comunicar; 1/1/2017, Vol. 25 Issue 50, p109-111. Web.