Lec 4

Mass Media and Socialization

Media affect how we learn about our world and
how we interact with one another.
The mass media mediate our relationships
with various social institutions.
For example, we base most of our knowledge
of government on news accounts rather than
experience.
We are dependent on the media for what we
know.
The media’s connection to politics also
affects how we relate to the world of politics.
Before the widespread use of the radio and the
television, the media was limited to newspapers.
Later, there were very few radio and television
stations, and even fewer people who could afford to
own them. Information was very limited. So the public
was pretty much spoon fed what the government
wanted them to know. There was a sort of unwritten
code that the media didn’t “tell all.”
For instance, it wasn’t until after his death that the
public found out the extent of Franklin
Roosevelt’s paralysis.
Most people didn’t know that because of polio, he
was usually in a wheelchair. In fact, there are only
three known pictures of him in a wheelchair.
Before mass media, political debate usually took
place in public forums where crowds were
physically present.
Today, instead of attending a political event, we
read or watch the news of a political
debate – followed by instant analysis and
commentary – in our homes.
Rather than taking part in community action, we
might satisfy a desire to participate in political
life by calling a radio talk show or posting on a
political website.
In turn, politicians rely heavily on the media( and
social media ) to communicate their messages.
 Many politicians now try to model their
campaigns after Obama’s “We Can”machine,
including having an online presence on
Twitter and Facebook. Keeping the political
process interesting is the key to keeping
youth interested. That is why we believe that
politicians are meeting them where
they’re on social media websites.
 All of this ensures that democracy stays alive.
How does the social media change the
election?
https://youtu.be/ftjJfUfE4Xc

How the media constructs the Public Opinion:

https://youtu.be/zTQZH_Bm3eM

Media Effects
https://youtu.be/qvgURfZMGoQ
 The levels of analysis in communications
research can be thought of as forming a
continuum ranging from micro to macro—
from the smallest units of a system to the
largest.
A micro level study examines communication
as an activity engaged in
and affecting individual people.
A macro level ……?
The role of media in our individual lives
(the micro level).
The role of media in the context of social
forces such as the economy, politics, and
technological development (the macro level).

If we want to understand the media and their

impact on our society, we must consider the
relationships (both micro and macro) between
media and the social world.
A macro level study examines social structures beyond the control
of any one individual—
social networks, organizations, and cultures.
These levels function hierarchically: What happens at the lower
levels is affected by, even to a large extent determined by, what
happens at higher levels.
In Communications Theories you studied Harold Laswell:
__WHO
__SAYS WHAT
__THROUGH WHICH CHANNEL
__TO WHOM
__WITH WHAT EFFECT?
MOST COMMUNICATIONS STUDIES ONLY LOOK AT THE LAST TWO
ELEMENTS
WHY HAS COMMUNICATIONS ONLY EXAMINED THE “WHOM” AND
“EFFECTS’
The problem with social science research and
any research for that matter is that it based on
ideas, beliefs, and routines that we take for
granted that we don’t even think about them.
In other words communications studies can only be
understood if we understand the particular culture in
which it is being conducted.

• Going back to the question of why communications

research has focused on WHOM and EFFECTS, one
possible answer is……
because communications studies scholars, for the
longest time, assumed that these were the only valid
types of research to conduct.
What has been described is called a PARADIGM
they are ways of representing reality based on
widely shared assumptions about how to
gather and interpret information.
• These paradigms do not provide truth; they
simply give us information that we find useful
in ways that we find acceptable.
Ex:
For 1500 years people thought the world was
flat.
Not only can paradigms change over time,
they can be accepted or rejected depending
on which part of the world you are talking
about.

“National Geographic and CNN, for example, are

not a particular kind of media, but brands which
represent authority over an area of content
(natural life) or expertise in current affairs
content management (journalism).” (Orihuela,
2012)
So,
• Does the NEWS portray the TRUTH?
• Why or Why not?
• Is it accepted that the news portrays the
truth in a news program or newspaper?
• Do advertisements always “spin” information
to get people to buy things or do they
accurately portray the benefits of a product?
Hypothesis Approach
researchers typically present a brief description of what
they expect to find and then test one or more
hypotheses, or relationships between two or more
variables that characterize some phenomenon.
There are many hypotheses are tested for
example:
The more newsworthy an event is judged to
be, the more prominently it will be covered by
the mass media.
Lets break down this statement to demonstrate
how one can test to determine whether this statement
is correct
The Hypothesis has two variables:
a) event newsworthiness
b) how much a story is covered or given coverage
prominence.
Questions :
- How does one measure the variables?
- How do we collect the data necessary for the experiment?

Which one is more newsworthy:

Abu Dhabi F1 or Dubai’s NYE Fireworks
How do we measure which story/content is more
newsworthy?

One possibility is to count the amount of news stories

published about both events.
Content is influenced by media routines:
The organizational routines approach argues that media
content is influenced by the
ways in which communications workers and their companies
organize work.
EX: News reporters are taught to write stories in the
inverted pyramid, for
example, putting what they consider the most important
information first and organizing the rest in descending
order of importance.
Journalism has routines—those habitual, ongoing,
patterned procedures - these include such things as
gatekeeping, balancing sides in stories, and reliance on
authoritative sources to provide more credibility.
Content is influenced by other social
institutions and forces:
This approach suggests that certain external
factors; economic and cultural forces-
audiences –Sponsorship- can also determine
content.
“Content is a function of ideological positions
and maintains the status quo.”

Mass media and the content produced is a

product of those who control media – those
who have the most power.

(Give examples)
Passive? Or Active?
Being an active audience is good because by
hearing multiple interpretations you can build
respect for different cultures and appreciation
for minority opinions, a critical skill in an
increasingly multicultural world.
Audience now is participating in media
They are becoming users of media.
How do people start to participate in media
today?

Product review (on Amazon or any other site)

Facebook update
Video on YouTube
Photos on Instagram
Blog in Tumblr
Tweet
There are many ways that audiences can
be active.
They can:
Select which media to use and choose when
to use them
Select specific media content
Interpret media content
Recall and think about media content
Exchange information about media content
Create and exchange media content
Most of the "milestone" studies fall into the "to whom"
category.
First of the studies was around 1930’s determining
how movies influence children; the resulting research
bridges- the "audience" and "effects" categories, and
the authors conclude that a host of individual and
situational factors mediate the effects of film.

Case study - The Invasion from Mars (Cantril, 1940)

is easier to locate squarely in the "audience" category.
Cantril explores audience factors associated with
panic behaviors through personal interviews with
audience members for Orson Welles's famous radio
broadcast.