The Influence Of Mass Media

Let us face the facts, mass media and popular culture need each other to coexist. Furthermore, in today's society the mass media serves the interest of popular culture. Moreover, it is the vehicle of free speech in a diverse, multicultural society. In addition, mass media refers to communication via radio, televisions, movie theaters, television, newspapers, magazines, and, etc; thereby, reaching out to the larger audience. On the contrary, popular culture can refer broadly to common aesthetic or life practices, in both the statistical and qualitative senses. However, therapists have used the term more precisely to designate a particular form of common culture that arises only in the

"The media 's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that 's power. Because they control the minds of the masses” (Ruddy, 2002). Malcolm X, a prominent African American human rights activist, strongly believed that the media played a vital role in how they make society perceive events and people. An issue that is present, historically and currently, is media contributing to racism. When news is reported involving certain races, stories are sometimes distorted in a way that creates a negative perception of that race. In result, society’s stereotypes, assumptions, bias’ and beliefs can be altered. Further, media reaches masses of people through a multitude of outlets. For instance, radio, television, advertisement, internet, and social media are all mediums that can depict a race poorly given the opportunity. Through an analysis of specific instances throughout history, it will be clear to see that Malcolm X was able to identify an unfavorable power the media has. All in all, media has the capability to foster bias and also misrepresent races involved with public news in order to create an image they favor to be shown to society.

The fear of crime is one of the most lasting outcomes of a crime-ridden society. Crime, deviance, delinquency and other social problems have always been a staple of newspaper accounts, television news shows and crime dramas. The majority of the population relies on the news media as the main source of information and the basis on which they form their opinions and voting decisions. Knowledge of these events is secondhand, filtered through the media graphically and textually, thus appearing immediate, shocking, entertaining and informative. In today's society the media has become our firsthand experience for our source of information, opinion, and news about the world. While there is some debate as to how much influence the media actually has, there is some evidence to suggest there is some connection. The controversial topic between mass media and the fear of crime can be explained by the influential aspects of the media, moral panics of crime and the fear of victimization.

Marshall McLuhan’s and Lawrence Alloway’s writing looks at how technology, such as radio, tv, etc., affects the world and how mass media affects culture through its opinions, art, and political influence. Their thoughts, though somewhat difficult, are similar to the current reality and therefore easier to relate to. In their collective writings they discusses five key points: technologies as extensions of ourselves, the electrical age bringing a global embrace; sense ratio and the impact from technology; the artist’s role to model coping with change, and humanities understanding of the artist's role.

Mass media are the primary component of modern society. People customarily consume countless hours of television, movies, and surfing the net where they see examples and expectations of what men and women are supposed to be. Advertisements and magazines inform us of how we are supposed to look, relate to one another, and live. The influence of mass media manifests itself into our routines, our purchasing decisions, our politics, our opinions and emotions, and almost every other aspect of our everyday lives. This tremendous influence most certainly plays a colossal part in how we view gender as well. June Cleaver was the ultimate example of the nurturing matriarch that was supposed to stay indoors taking care of the home, and Edith Bunker was shown as what a dependent and passive wife was supposed to be. At the same time, men were shown as having the opposite characteristics. You had Clint Eastwood, Ward Cleaver, and the Marlboro Man exuding the strength, aggression, breadwinning characteristics of "real men". Boys and girls, men and women believed they were to identify with these roles.

Media outlets have been used through the years as a way to communicate and maintain the world together. They were often seen as something positive because they were able to provide information from all around the world to a person’s home. Nowadays the media has evolved to become an important role in society. As cited by Parsons, Reichl, and Pedersen (2017), while the media is often used as personal enjoyment and diversion it had grown to be a way in which individuals explore and expand their curiosity on subjects such as personal enrichment, self-awareness, and sexuality. However, negativity has also come with this popular trend. Since a young age, individuals are exposed to different messages through the media. The media have become a way to promote and incite stereotypes that might influence people into believing they must behave or look a certain way in order to be accepted into society. By promoting certain stereotypes, the media have also found a way to reinforce and reproduce certain gender norms. For instance, the role-learning theory supports this idea by mentioning that the images the media portrays eventually become the ideas that will influence individuals’ development of beliefs and self-concepts (Andersen, 2015). In other words, the media have developed the power to influence how people believe they should behave and look. In brief, some of the media outlets that have had the greatest impact on influencing the perception of gender in society are television,

Rapist. Murderer. Robber. Sex Offender. Burglar. Gang Leader. All names that are given to African-Americans. But, rarely do we see them described by their positive attributes. The documentary, 13th, talks about mass incarceration and racial bias against African-Americans. The racial bias is growing more and more; it has transitioned from slavery to the police brutality and clear hierarchy known today. The media plays a big part in this because they portray blacks a certain way, giving negative and incorrect impressions to their viewers. The over-publicity and exaggerated exposition of African-American crimes by the media have contributed to the mass aggression and discriminatory beliefs towards them.

Today’s topics were mostly on masculinity with some feminism topics and mass media. The topics that stuck with me the most were about how masculinity is used, the feminist movements over time and the mass media’s involvement in citizens life. For men to show there masculinity features they would have to prove their masculinities through test established by another male figure above that individual man. This could be seen when a father tells his son that if he wants to prove that he is a big boy he will take care of his younger sister. This gives the son a sense of duty and responsibility over someone else and overall show his power to his younger sister. This in turn would make the younger sister feel as if she is weak because it seems she needs to be taken care of.

Mass media is the primary component of modern society. People customarily consume countless hours of television, movies, and surfing the net where they see examples and expectations of what men and women are supposed to be. Advertisements and magazines inform us of how we are supposed to look, relate to one another, and live. The influence of mass media manifests itself into our routines, our purchasing decisions, our politics, our opinions and emotions, and almost every other aspect of our everyday lives. This tremendous influence most certainly plays a colossal part in how we view gender as well. June Cleaver was the ultimate example of the nurturing matriarch that was supposed to stay indoors taking care of the home and Edith Bunker was shown as what a dependent and passive wife was supposed to be. At the same time, men were shown as having the opposite characteristics. You had Clint Eastwood, Ward Cleaver, and the Marlboro Man exuding the strength, aggression, breadwinning characteristics of "real men". Boys and girls, men and women believed they were to identify with these roles.

“The media is the most powerful entity on the earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and that’s power. Because they control the mind of the masses.” - Malcolm X

During the past 20 years, the media has experienced massive changes in terms of the platforms it appears in as well as the audience it reaches. While traditional forms of media such as newspapers, television, are considered to be more controlled, with the newly occurring and vastly growing online media, information reaches more people and in a rapid pace never seen before. This essay will describe how new occurrences have gained media the power to actively re-enforce (however not to the extent of shaping) political public opinion.

A mass media effect, as defined by W.J. Potter (2011), is “a change in an outcome within a person or social entity that is due to mass media influence following exposure to a mass media message or series of messages” (p. 903). Simply put, this is when a medium - in this essay, a motion picture - changes an individual’s or group of individuals’ cognitions, attitudes, beliefs, affects, physiology or behaviors. Since its conception, film has been used as a way to entertain, educate, or influence the masses. Princess Mononoke, or Mononoke-hime in Japan (1997), is a Japanese animated film which teaches its audience that, despite many green aesops which suggest otherwise, the conflict between the preservation of nature and the

It’s a Thursday night and Jessie is sitting down, munching on some chips and dip, and watching the weekly episode of Scandal with her friend Mary in the dim light of their living room. A scene comes on the television with two gay men intimately approaching each other, about to have sex. For a minute, the girls are tensely sitting in silence, not speaking, but awkwardly staring at the television. As the scene turns to a commercial, the girls begin to loosen up and start giggling. Blushing, Jessie interrupts the awkwardness, “Well you don’t really see that too much!”

The world of Mass Media is a complicated place as told by former TV and Radio reporter, Al Meyers. “You never know what you’re going to be doing, but then there’s the ability to be able to do it and to share that with the people who are listening.” Meyers, who is retired, gave me the pleasure of sitting down and talking to me about the world of Mass Media Communication, then and now.

Behavioral sciences play a central role in figuring out the likely effect of mass media and communication in the society. Different theories and approaches are used to figure this out. This study refers to the Uses and Gratifications, and Cultivation theories to consider the effect of the media article below on individuals. The uses and gratification theory argues that consumers of a given media uses this media to satisfy and fulfill specific desires and needs. On the other hand, cultivation theory holds that heavy exposure to a certain media can cause an individual to have an illusory perception of the life reality based on the most consistent and repetitive message that is given in this media (Fourie, 2011).