The Influence of Television on American Society and Politics

Within Joyce Nelson’s essay, “TV News: A Structure of Reassurance”, Nelson criticizes the TV news structure that perpetually disconnects current events from their historical background through comforting anchorpeople partnered with advanced technology to create a TV program that minimizes the important implications of current events. Though lacking the amount of information that a print news publication can maintain, the TV news can convey immediate information through technological advances of modern TV equipment to allow the medium to remain competitive. The façade of in-the-moment international information broadcasted directly to viewers enables anchorpeople to maintain the feeling of immediateness, keeping the viewers believing the program

     What role does television play in society? For decades we have seen many parts of our world rapidly going through changes in technology. Today’s society has been transformed by means of communication and the available information through mass media. Most Americans rely on television for news, sports, and entertainment. Television is just one of the many examples of how technology has changed our lives. Since the invention of the television in the early 1900’s, it has played a very important role in our lives. Having a television set in the home has become very essential in today’s society. We depend on it to entertain us with its sitcoms and to inform us about current world issues. The

The popularity of television developed in the 1950’s, but the power of television as a medium secured its place in the 1960’s. This is demonstrated statistically in a Roper research poll aimed to investigate American television habits and related attitudes (Small 12). Adult participants were asked how they received most of their news about world current events and were then given options including television, newspapers, magazines or radio. In 1959, 57% identified newspapers over television; by 1969, television had taken the lead as the preferred source as stated by 64% of individuals (13). Participants were also asked which source they would be more inclined to believe if they experienced conflicting reports of the same news story. In the 1959 poll, the results showed television slightly behind newspapers, but the 1969 responses showed an increase of 44% choosing television as a more trusted source over 21% identifying newspapers. Again, the enchantment with television was revealed when more than half of the respondents identified TV as the option most likely to keep if forced to choose between the four previously mentioned mediums (13). The changes exhibited over a decade reveal the public’s budding dependence on television broadcast news.

Fox’s television shows, Glee, was an introduction to the frequent ‘social issues’ teenagers in America faced daily. Glee is a musical comedy drama. The cast are majority Caucasians and addressed topics commonly faced by children such as “cyber bullying, schools shootings, suicides” are just to name a few many issues. Once Glee’s season ended, Fox has always been a trendy television station. Fox needed an innovative television show to satisfy their audience. The entrance of Fox’s television shows “Empire”. “Empire is a powerful drama about a family dynasty set within the glamorous and sometimes dangerous world of hip-hop music” 1(Fox.com/Empire). Like ‘Glee’, Fox’s drama show Empire addresses a number of social issues as well that ‘currently plague America’s society’, specifically the African American community, such as ‘homosexuality’, ‘mental illness’, and ‘police brutality’.

The first of my proposed topics is studying how politically inspired television shows impact the American view on the political system. For this topic, I will examine the relationship of shows such as Scandal, Madame Secretary, The Good Wife, and The West Wing and the political opinions of viewers of these shows. Collectively, these shows garner millions of viewers each week. I myself tune in to these shows and often wonder what grasps people attention. I often find myself asking whether or not these shows have any impact on the ordinary American’s view of politics. One of the largest pros to doing this topic is my interest in it, but it also presents a situation in which I can somewhat easily do original research by studying this relationship at Gardner-Webb University. A con is definitely the potential lack of research by professional sources. This could be resolved by studying the psychological effects of media on personal actions. For this topic, I will be able to original research by doing a survey at Gardner-Webb, to see how many people watch these shows, and how that affects their views on politics.

In the past century, there have been many different developments of mass media. Starting in the 1900’s, newspapers and magazines were the main sources of communication. With these being the only way to communicate, the news came slowly and often late. In the 1940’s the radio came out. With this quick source of news, people often tuned in before and after the war for updates that were given. The radio was, by far, the quickest source of news at this time. The television came out in the 1950’s. The first televisions were in black and white. Television provided the news the same day and entertainment. People were more prone to watch the news rather than getting a newspaper. In 1962 satellites were launched into space. This provided news from around the world. Today, mass media continues to develop more and more. Cell phones used to be big and

Its 2015, the news is covering a monumental occasion. Rainbow flags flow in the breeze. People are cheering, crying, and shouting out words of happiness. Men stroll down the street kissing and holding hands. The news camera zooms in on a woman, her face is flush with red a wide smile spreads across her face as she talks about how happy she is to finally marry her long time girlfriend. I watch the news with a smile on my own face. I'm truly happy for them, because this decision hits close to home. I know a secret that the rest of my family doesn't. “ This would have never happened in my generation, this display makes me sick.” my father grumbles next to me. With a sigh I glance over at my little sister whose looking down with pain in her eyes.

American society is presented information over a wide range of events that we encounter in life throughout the history of the United States on account of media. Media presents ongoing information within the boundaries of the United States in addition to foreign affairs believed to be significant to the American public. The media has a massive influence and impact on the American society covering certain events that are taking place all over the world. However, sometimes media only covers one side of the story to create interest in the American public while behind the scenes generating themselves as a significant role in day-to-day life within this country. Many events broadcasted beyond the boarders of the United States, unfortunately, has

The invention of television has impacted American society positively, because it helps spread information faster and influences the way people think about important social issues. It is estimated that about 15 million Americans watch the Cable News Network, CNN, at least once a day and millions more tune in abroad (Stark). In the news culture, information has become presented to the public quicker throughout the years. This causes news to be digested faster as well. In fact, events, such as election results or political choices, have become frequently analyzed before they even take place. For example, the effects of Clinton’s bombing of Iraq, in the summer of 1996, were being explored before a weapon had even been fired (Stark). The spread

During the late 1940s, the small box known as the television increased significantly in popularity and usage, becoming a center of millions of families’ lives. In the 1950s, however, television started to change American society. Television programming mainly consisted of three national networks, which aired: comedies, westerns, quiz shows, and professional sports. By the end of the 1950s, there were nearly 55 million television sets across America and along with this seemingly rapid and broad introduction of the new television came significant societal changes. Culturally, the television caused Americans to evolve to become more materialistic in their desires, business to become more franchised, and average TV watching-Americans to become more united and similar. Politically, the television caused political campaigning to evolve and increased awareness of current political issues.

Focus groups were used previous to World War II but, did not become common among marketers until the 1950`s. In the 1980`s focus groups were rediscovered by social scientists and called them “group interviews” but, the concept remains the same. Popular culture was introduced into popular culture in the 1990`s with President Clinton using them for his research teams. During the origins of focus groups 6-10 participants were included who focused on the effects of television programming, film, product consumption and advertising, and public understanding of health issues. Understanding the motivation of the participants was often sought after by researchers. In 1937 focus groups started at the Princeton University of Radio Research.

Everyone’s heard of Autism or Down Syndrome, possibly even Huntington’s Disease, but there are many different kinds of genetic disorders that most people have never heard of or have only seen on television. Ectrodactyly is a rare disorder most people wouldn’t know of, however if you’ve watched Ryan Murphy’s popular American Horror Story: Freak Show, you’ve seen it. It was formerly known as ‘lobster claw hand,’ and in Freak Show, Jimmy Darling, portrayed by Evan Peters, has this disorder and is known in the traveling show as ‘Lobster Boy.’ What it is, is a disorder that causes a cleft on the hand where the middle finger normally would be. This is just one example of a strange disorder that isn’t overly known in our culture, but has probably

With the growth of modern society the question of whether or not television (TV) is dead has risen in order to try and help understand the ever developing digital age. The term ‘dead’, however, is perhaps an overstatement as television isn’t necessarily dead yet, it has simply been trying to stay relevant and essentially has been ‘dying’ since its commencement in the 1940’s. Firstly, we need to ask, what is television? Author, Elihu Katz, provides a perfect understanding in which he states that television is a technical device that over time has become entrenched within society as an organisation consisting of rules and roles in a setting of many social institutions (2009, p. 2). Secondly, it needs to be understood that as technology consistently progresses, the television medium has had to advance alongside it (Oren, Petro, 2004, p. 93). Over time however, the developments of television and technology have ironically been the main reason for the disruption of the medium, both television historians and theorists would agree. The addition of newer and better ways of creating, watching and advertising for TV has aided in its demise. Television is no longer a small box in the corner of a room with an antenna on the roof and that is precisely why it is considered to be dying. Through the exploration of the history of television, the reasons for its downfall can be easily uncovered, and considering this, the initial question can be asked – is television dead? This essay will

The early nineties thus emerged as a liminal period in the trajectory of media practices. Television shows during this period were forced to navigate the methodological shift from maintaining the myth of television as a living reflection of the movement of time to the imminent advancement of the spectacle. This intermediary condition of the period gave rise to shows with equally confused psychic realities, often appearing to straddle the thin line between real and fake, and highbrow and lowbrow.

Mass media is the sources that any individual can get the news from. These sources can be many types and forms. The type I am considering in this paper is the visual media that is received through news channel. Today, in the light of globalization and modern technology, the world became smaller place considering how fast the news information can be delivered from almost everywhere. Almost every country has media or news organizations that has TV channels with a number of reporters who are distributed to many place all over the world. These reporters gather most of valuable news regarding any event and report them to keep the audience with the most current updated information. Important to realize, the news channels are very common news source for most of the audience all around the world and especially in the United States. However, “Almost three-quarters of Americans, (71%) watch local TV news and almost two-thirds, (65%) watch network news over the course of a month. And more than one-third (38%) of Americans watch news on cable television (Olmstead). According to these statistics, the effect of the news channels cannot be denied. Since the news channels play a role part in daily life of the audience, a number of issues can be caused by the effect of the news channels that would make the news misleading rather than truthful. “The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has been tracking views of press performance since 1985, and the overall