Public Sphere And Soundbite Analysis

Chris Hedges’ “American Psychosis” is one author’s explanation behind the perceived degradation of America, attributing this decay mostly to a nationwide engrossment in the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Hedges further purports that the American government itself is behind making famous people front-and-center at all times, so that the populace has no chance to focus on the nation’s actual problems. He suggests that this reality TV state-of-mind turns life into a “world of unadulterated competition” where our attention-craving society discards the losers “like Styrofoam boxes that held junk food”. Those ‘excess’ human beings who cannot keep up with the endless quest for notoriety, he contends, end up unemployed, imprisoned, or homeless, because the only worth humans have in the modern world is their ability to make headlines. The final piece of his article is dedicated to fomenting some kind of vengeful revolution against celebrity culture, in which the public purges itself of inconsequential distractions so that they can once again separate illusion from reality.

Today’s media (news) plays an enormous role in the lives of people in directing a specific perception of the world around them. Most often media conduct's a subconscious effect upon its spectators in which the upshots are deliberately or illdeliberatly towards a particular topic.

In the novel, the public are exploited by the controllers of mass communication through their desire of easy and simple gratification, so much that the public is only consuming shallow “mindless escapisms” and at that point, independent thought ceases to exist (McGiveron, “Trick”). The public is so willing to continually gorge itself on these

On March 28th, former cabinet minister John Milloy came into class as our final guest speaker. He told the class that the academic, political, and religious worlds were of the most interest to him. He then explained the hardships of combining both political and religious worlds together, and how this was just a small example of the many traditional worlds that are forced to come together through politics. For a large part of John Milloys visit he spoke on the persona of politicians today. At one point he said politicians are often seen as “A bunch of Liars.” Politicians attempt to sell a vision/platform that they often know is unrealistic, and the voters subconsciously know this. Near the end of his talk, he touched on the importance of media

The transition from the written word to image has changed the public discourse dramatically, as television is an entirely different medium, requiring a different type of content to satisfy its viewers. Neil Postman argued that television excluded serious literary debate from mainstream media, because it wasn’t compatible to the format of television shows and commercials. Postman’s fear was that television would strip religion, education, politics and commerce of their seriousness, and turn them into entertainment. His prediction was mostly accurate, and it also applies to the internet, which affects public discourse in a similar way to television, even though it does this in slightly different ways.

Saunders criticizes the megaphone, claiming it places priority on entertaining, profitable news as opposed to news that is educational or enlightening. Saunders furthers this claim by arguing that news media is habitually over-simplifying complicated issues, thus desensitizing the masses to stupidity and frivolity. Saunders’ essay is important because although it was published in 2007, it is still relevant (and will most likely be relevant as long as media exists). In fact, the points he makes in this essay are even more relatable now, as social media has increased greatly in popularity. Everywhere you look, there is a new “breaking story” about the Kardashians or the Jenners; and people accept this as real news! Saunders’ essay encourages readers to be critical of mass media and seek out undiluted, uncontaminated, earnest news

Celebrity gossip takes precedence over politics, and articles along the lines of “How to shed 15 pounds in 1 week!” is more important than national tragedies. Huxley warned people of this, when he told us that “the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.” (Huxley). Even when news is broadcast, it is made to attract the viewer and not to inform them. For every tragedy, there are two other stories of trivial value to make the viewer feel good about themselves. Nothing is seen as salient anymore.

The media has intensely affected society, an effect so immense that people don’t notice its presence sometimes. Individuals become solely

Weber highlights the dual position of mass media, which operate both as transmission vectors and as actors. The philosopher argues that the emergence of media monopolies, especially in television, transformed information into “pre-formation” (Phillips, 2011, p.170). Indeed, journalists and reporters used to process raw data, analyze it, and provide their readers with more or less relevant keys to enable them to form their own enlightened outlook on the content presented. With the advent of information technologies, the focus has shifted towards less analysis and a larger volume of “news”: “Transparency here would equate with immediacy of meaning and accessibility of comprehension” (Phillips, 2011, p.163). News TV channels offer a constant loop of raw data over raw data. They provide only superficial critiques of the material that they offer to their viewers: ”as you say, not so long ago the notion of information ‘implied a process of alteration’: it was developed to take into account the inevitable aleatory effects of space and time in the transmission of data.” (Phillips, 2011, p.170). Social media has intensified the thirst for fast circulating, humongous volumes of material, which is doubly mistaken for information and transparency: “it [social media, author’s note] can stimulate the expectation that ‘then’ is

The media, a powerful source of information but what are the affects? While the media is seen by many as a vital source of information offered through a variety of different outlets, the theoretical underlining affects of the media demonstrates how stories from within it can influence society. The imprtance of not only recongnizing but understanding the media’s affects remains a vital priority in all forms of information today in how it is received and interpretated by different audiences. The level of effect of the media however, has been disputed heavingly, as with different forms of media such as online have developed a different affect for the mass media consumer. When regarding the level of effect the media holds, the 2016 Presidential campaign presents a prominent case study that shows a limiting affect of the mass media that

In chapter seven of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing the author describes his thoughts on the effect of publicity images. He finds publicity problematic and argues that consumption is turned into democracy through the use of publicity. Publicity images surround us and are a part of our everyday modern lives. Something is always there whether it is on the internet or in a magazine constantly trying to convince us of something the creator is trying to portray. Each image for that couple seconds of time effects that memory we have and the images are constantly changing.

The media influences how people experience social life. Media such as newspaper, television and film, are important sources of information, education and entertainment. It can be used to learn more about the world and the people in it. In this regard it can be said that the media represent, interpret and endorse aspects of social experience (O’Shaughnessy and Stadler, 2005). The media are also implicated in social regulation, or in other terms, the government of society. The media are implicated in government and politics in an obvious way because modern systems of democracy are conducted through the media. But the media have a bigger role to play in government by structuring how society is controlled and maintained.

In modern society, mass media is an unavoidable influence on our daily lives. Humans are reliant on mass communication and information for everything: work, education, entertainment, and much more. In her novel Gone Girl, author Gillian Flynn uses the thrilling story of Amy Dunne and her husband, Nick Dunne, who is accused of her murder to illustrate how much power mass media has over the general public’s judgement and opinions, despite their increasingly common dishonesty. In Gone Girl, the media runs with stories that have little substance for the sole purpose of grabbing public attention, they use their power to alter public perception multiple times and push their own agenda, and they create public personalities for people that do not match who they truly are.

The Society of the Spectacle examines the everyday manifestation of capitalist driven agendas. The book Society of the Spectacle was written around the time that the Vietnam War was going on and in fact it is argued that the world had been overtaken by the notion of spectacle. In the book Debord describes what the spectacle is comprises of through multiple approach and examples that illustrate how the vase outlets in society consumer the public mindset. According to Debord, “The whole Life of those societies in which modern conditions of production prevail presents itself as an immense accumulations of spectacles. All that once was directly lived has become mere representations” (Debord 12). Here Debord is making the connection as to how things are now summed up in society. Things that were once directly lived are now mere representation of what they were in the past. Thus, this leads to the conclusion that the media and other outlets have affected the reality of those living in this world that now is becoming a spectacle of what society wants rather than what the society actually is itself. The society of the spectacle is simply is an equation that equals and blindside solution to what the majority of authority wants the public sector to know.

Throughout society, the mass media constantly changes over time. The mass media play a prominent role in informing the public about what occurs within the world, especially in areas which audiences do not acquire direct experience and knowledge. This essay will argue that the propaganda model is no longer valid as it has become outdated. This essay will also discuss the model in relation to the five filters and draw on Rampton's critique of the propaganda model in contemporary society.