Mass media prevalence and forms

Because we are constantly bombarded with information and imagery in news stories, advertisement, and multitude of
entertainment venues, it is especially important for us to use the sociological imagination to understand our connection with mass
media.

Media consumption

Canadians are world leaders when it comes to spending time on the Internet. Canadians are also increasingly substituting the
Internet for traditional media forms. A sizable portion of online users check whether and road conditions, view news or supports,
obtain and save music, listen to radio, watch TV shows and movies, and make calls.

Traditional forms of media

Mass media refers to communications that target large audiences. Before global mass communication via the Internet, media were
concentrated in seven Main areas: books, newspapers, magazines, cinema, recordings, radio, and TV.

The first Canadian magazine also originated in Nova Scotia: the Nova Scotia Magazine and comprehensive review of literature,
politics, and use, first copy published in 1789.

The Internet changed everything

The seven traditional media are constantly changing as a result of the growing influence of the Internet. Books, newspapers,
magazines can be purchased online and read using wireless e-readers, or they can be access through electronic libraries.

Digital audio is one example of how the Internet has changed existing media and created new markets.

Netflix provides the second example, now that increased broadband access has created a viable residential market, Netflix has
expanded from being a distributor of TV and film content to a producer as well.

The Internet has even led to the development of new currency. Bitcoins are a form of digital currency that are mined on the Internet
and later exchanged online for material goods (games, books) and services. Besides revolutionizing the traditional media, the
Internet itself is considered to be a form of mass media.

New media

modern media technologies are often categorized as new or engaging. These new media encompass everything on the Internet,
from educational resources to communication services to social networking applications to web browsers to e-commerce businesses
and audio and video podcasts. On the Internet, you can visit a vast array of sites from everything from chatting to banking, gaming,
reading, and gambling.

YouTube: a media disrupter or a force to be reckoned with?

Is the leading media outlet for public expression, through its video sharing. It is best understood as a reach business, in that it
enables users to expose themselves to a vast number of visitors. Those who access the site can find debates on a range of topics
from religion and politics, can learn how to do things like beat a level of you favourite videogame to put up drywall, can watch
controversial sports and celebrity moments. All of this is uploaded by individuals who have captured events on video.

YouTube is both a disrupter of popular culture and a creative outlet. This is the essence of its success and controversy. Burgess and
Green (2009): YouTube is a disruptive force because it is variously understood as a disturbing platform that can make the products of
commercial media widely popular, challenge the promotional reach the mass media is accustomed to monopolizing, and at the same
time is a powerful platform for user created content while challenges to commercial popular culture might emerge, by the user
created news services, or generic forms of vlogging, which might in turn be appropriated and exploited by traditional media.

Smart phones take over

Tomi T. Ahonen, mobile as 7th of the mass media, in it he combines all types of print (newspapers, magazines, and books) into one
main form of media, these along with recordings, radio, cinema, TV, and the Internet, comprise what he calls the six old forms of
mass media. Due to the increasing prevalence and capacity of smart phones produced by leaders such as Apple, Samsung, he argues
they deserve their own category.
“The next 4 billion”: he claims that there are 480 million newspapers daily which circulation around the world, yet eight times more
people subscribed to a mobile network then by a newspaper, there are 1.5 billion total television sets on the planet, but mobile is 2
½ times bigger and there are 3.9 billion FM radio on the planet, however with a reported 4 billion in subscriptions, mobile is now the
most pervasive technology on the planet.

He has identified augmented reality as the eight mass media, augmented reality: an enhanced version of reality created by the use of
technology to overlay digital information on an image of something being viewed through a device.

There is an app for that

apps allow mobile users to do everything from online banking to sending messages, creating documents, reading newscasts, playing
games, researching terms, checking stocks, calculate the risk of diseases such as breast cancer, and numerous other amusing
activities. You can now do so many things with apps and spend so much time using them that this is raising concerns that
electronically mediated communication may cause people to stop interacting in real life.

Sherry Turkel (2011): a sociologist and an expert on computer culture, we are now connected to more people than ever before but
we tend to maintain relationships with those using computers as intermediaries. Also, we opt for the company of our personal
online network over that of the strangers around us, a phenomenon she refers to as being alone together in public spaces. Because
we have ongoing and relatively permanent access to Internet, infinite sources of information are with us at all times.

New forms of media are unique

New forms of mass media often improve on features of previous forms, but surprisingly, they rarely make old forms obsolete.

Marshall McLuhan: understanding media: the extensions of man, in which she claims that with each new technological innovation or
medium, a change is introduced that fundamentally alters the way we experience life. Explains, the railway did not introduce
movement or transportation or road into human society, but it accelerated and enlarged the scale of previous human functions,
creating totally new kinds of cities and new kinds of work and leisure. Each new media form has priorities that may not in themselves
be unique but that fundamentally change how we now experience things by introducing new possibilities and changes in pace, which
in turn create a different world.

New media may provide us with markedly new experiences, but the old ones retain their appeal. cellphones for example have
several features that do not exist elsewhere, such as ringtones and specialized apps. Also, despite their small screen sizes, cellphones
are much more advanced than home computers, especially when it comes to multiple simulations inputs. Mobile is unique in other
ways as well, people who use more phones are permanently connected to the Internet and can personalize their experiences as a
function of the particular app they download.

Privacy and regulation

Every time you visit a website, you leave an information trail behind you that can be tracked and used in various ways by other
individuals and businesses and even by the government.

Privacy concerns also raise the question of whether the Internet should be regulated, and if so, how. Net neutrality: refers to a
principle of equality and detachment with respect to how information on the Internet is treated by network providers. Net neutrality
prevents Internet providers from manipulating how Internet traffic gets prioritized. Otherwise, major media providers, can prioritize
their own stations and channels, restrict access to competitor’s products, and or charge additional fees for access to competitor
stations.

Sociology and theory

Functionalist framework

Different sociological frameworks help us better understand how the mass media influences us and how we in turn influence the
mass media. Since the main concern of macrolevel functionalist framework is social order, this perspective helps us see how the
media contributes to social stability. Example, a manifest function of the media is to provide us with current, up-to-date
communication. By listening to or watching a live news broadcast, we can learn about practical matters of local interest such as the
weather and traffic conditions, and also global events. Also the mass media helps us learn about important events in real time.
The media played a key role in connecting us to other people and to information and in that way help us become more socially
aware of ourselves, our communities, other people, diverse cultures, current events, and a plethora of issues facing society. The
mass media have many socializing effects, some of which are less obvious than others, and some of which may be harmful, as a
conflict framework demonstrates.

conflict framework

focuses on large-scale institutions such as the media, but it suggests that society is characterized by disparities and power struggles
linked to the unequal distribution of resources. The media are an essential source of information, and because most of the media are
in the hands of a small group of powerful corporations, a handful people have the power to shape the messages contained in the
media.

media ownership is concentrated

when it comes to newspapers, music, TV, and movies, the concentration in ownership is apparent. Example, Québeor media owns
companies that together publish 40% of Canada’s daily newspapers.

Monopoly: a company that has exclusive control over a particular product or service. Example: Brunswick news, a private newspaper
publisher, which owns all three of New Brunswick’s English-language daily newspapers, most of its weeklies, and even most of the
French language newspapers.

Conglomerate: a corporation made up of several widely diversified companies.

Agenda setting: the media is not neutral

Corporate giants like Comcast, Walt Disney, Bell media selectively determine which issues we will be exposed to as we read the
papers, watch TV, or listen to the radio.

Messages we are repeatedly exposed to become relevant and therefore important to us. So the media also tell the public which
issues they should be more interested in. There are links between agenda setting in media, what the public thinks is important, and
the policies developed to deal with the issue. As political scientist Bernard Cohen (1963): the press may not be successful much of
the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about. Several theorists in a
variety of disciplines have highlighted the implications of private, centralized ownership of the mass media for agenda setting.

Manufacturing consent: the political economy of mass media, Herman and Chomsky (1988) - explain how the news media are
controlled by a concentrated elite. That elite creates propaganda about international affairs that becomes the basis of what the
public is repeatedly exposed to as daily news. These guy’s ideas have been known widely as the propaganda model.

In contrast to what the general public perceives to be true about democratic system, they contend that the media serve the interest
of those in power by filtering the messages the public receives in a way that generates consent for particular political and economic
agendas. In this manner, the news media are able to manufacture consent for government policies or for particular politicians
political platforms during election time.

Karen Dill (2009): leading social psychologist in the area of media influence, interesting paradox: we live in a culture that is
powerfully influenced by media messages yet we fail to recognize that influence, feeling we are invulnerable. We may accurately
perceive that particular shows, messages, and advertisements are functional and that they contain paid actors and models who are
endorsing specific products for the benefit of the corporation, yet we also falsely believe that the media are transparent – that news
programs simply present us the facts, and that fictional programming’s only function is to entertain us. On the other hand, the media
are an effective resource for conveying news, providing entertainment, sharing views, offering outlets for discussion, disseminating
information, and networking. But on the other hand, they are profit centred businesses, and some become so successful that they
come to dominate and control the market as monopolies and conglomerates.

How the media shapes our perceptions

The interactionist framework

microlevel interactionist theoretical framework helps us appreciate how we are individually and uniquely influenced by people
around us, from the significant others who are important to us and central to our well-being, to those from whom we take cues or
learn particular skills in more temporary or isolated situations (manager who trains you to perform the basics of your job), to the
more abstract generalized other that reflects an understanding of group attitudes and norms.

Media influence, for any given individual, bear in mind that as consumers, people choose to indulge in certain forms of media and
they select particular versions of those media. Additionally, people can opt in or out of forms of media, although in some cases they
may face social sanctions, such as when friends are suddenly unable to reach them through Facebook. Furthermore, people may
selectively spend a lot of time, moderate amount of time, or very little time exposed to any or all of the various media. The impact of
mass media socialization on any one individual is quite difficult to establish.

The symbolic interactionist perspective is interested in communication, interpretation, and meaning. In frame analysis (1974),
Erving Goffman: explains that how an interaction or event is depicted or framed is integral to its perceived meaning. Similarly, Stuart
Hall: uses the term representation to describe how meanings are attributed to media images. There are multiple interpretations for
the media image we see, as a result, the meaning of a particular image emerges from an interaction between the characteristics of
the image itself and the nature of the individual’s own interpretation of that image.

Entman (1991): maintains that the essential determinant of framing is sizing, since this helps the general public interpret the
importance of an event. Sizing refers to the overall silence of the event in the flow of the news based on how much material on the
event is available and how prominent it is displayed. So when event that receives a lot of coverage, will be interpreted as most
important while other issues will be deemed less relevant, mainly because the public is not as aware of them. In addition to sizing, he
also identifies four other priorities of news narrative that contributes to frames and help create meaning by making certain aspects
of the news media more sailent.

1. Agency: refers to the inclusion of particular words that suggest where responsibility for an event lies. Example: Time’s
“shooting to kill the Soviets destroy any airliner” helps frame the 1983 drowning of Korean Airlines flight 007 as an
international event with a clearly guilty party.
2. Identification: includes the use of words that encourage or discourage identification with the central characters in a news
story. Entman suggested the inclusion of names of victims or humanizing phrases such as innocent human beings encourage
identification, while use of neutral terms of such as those who died or civilians, discourages identification.
3. Categorization: refers to the overall framework used to label an event by the media. The Korean Airlines incident mentioned
earlier was most often categorized in the print media as an attack rather than a tragedy.
4. Generalization: refers to the extent to which a media story is generalized to a large political system or issue. Example: when
Pakistan experienced a catastrophic flood in 2010, financial aid was slow to follow. Because of the country’s ongoing political
instability, media stories often speculated that money received for aid might be taken by corrupt officials are used to
support terrorism.

On TV, framing centres on the main characters who deliver messages, framing includes the overall objective of particular shows
(tough guy wins the ultimate fighting championship title), together the characters and themes perpetuate common but unrealistic
cultural beliefs such as that anyone can achieve success, celebrity status, and popularity.

For academics, the three prevailing concerns about mass media are consumerism, stereotypes, and violence.

Consumerism: the media teaches us that we need to buy products

many decades of research have found that repeated exposure to advertising increases brand recognition, which results in a positive
association with particular brands and a desire to select those brands. From a corporate standpoint, the influence on youth is
profitable enough to warrant investing billions of dollars targeting children commercials.

Feminist framework

besides fostering consumerism, the mass media present us with certain types of messages, repeatedly. One negative implication of
this practice is that mass media shows stereotyped depictions of men, visible minorities, people with disabilities, gays, lesbians, the
elderly, and especially women.

Stereotype: an over generalization about a group that is often based on faulty assumptions. Many feminist perspectives point out
the most differences between men and women are socially constructed rather than the result of biology. Traditional gender roles
are emphasized in the media in ways that continue to teach females to be nurturing and submissive and males to be aggressive and
independent. Part of this occurs through repeated exposure to mass media generalization about how women and men behave or
how they ought to behave in society.

The media reinforces stereotyped images of men and women

the media teaches us: that popular women are turned into the latest consumer trends, emphasizes the importance of women’s
beauty. While women’s images in media are changing, and overall cultural message remains.

Anderson and Grey (2008): note that the most common representation of women in media is as victims, most commonly of sexual
violence. Other consisted media images include women as overly feminized or sexualized, women as nurturing and caring, based on
their role as mothers, and women as inscrutable and dangerous.

Effects of stereotyped portrayals of women in media: by the time girls reached the age of four or five they have already internalized
the narrow ideal of female beauty we get in media messages, compared to those who watch less TV, girls who are heavily TV viewers
have more restricted notions of female beauty, share more common perspectives of beauty, and place more emphasis on the
importance of beauty.

Males: also portrayed a negative, stereotyped ways by the mass media. In an analysis of how men were depicted in newspapers,
magazines, and TV shows Macnarmara (2006): found that men are consistently portrayed in relation to violence or aggression.

Violence is the norm in the mass media

violence is prevalent in all sorts of media from video games, TV, movies, and films.

Social learning theory

Albert Bandura and his colleagues conducted a series of experiments demonstrating how children learn to imitate aggression
displayed by adults. First experiment: children who had earlier witnessed a social model (adult research assistant) act aggressively
towards an inflated doll later imitated the behaviour when engaged in free play. The same process was enacted when children
observe the behaviour of aggressive adults on film. A later study showed that aggressive imitation can be eliminated through the use
of positive incentives and lessened through the subsequent use of punishment.

Social learning theory proposes that people learn by observing the behaviours of others and then go on to imitate that behaviour. As
a result, an immediate effect of viewing violence is that in the absence of other forms of intervention, it can lead to subsequent acts
of aggression.

We learn not only about acts of violence in the media, but we also learn about how to enact aggression.

Desensitization theory

proposes that repeated exposure to violence , lessens its emotional impact. Example: compare the very strong emotional reaction of
a young viewer who sees someone murdered on television for the first time to one who has already seen hundreds of acts of
violence in movies, as a result over time, the child will be less emotionally impacted by observing on-screen violence, and in all
likelihood they will eventually join the masses who don’t think twice about the violence they may be seeing in movies, in
videogames, or even on the evening news.

George Garbner: points out in a video called killing scenes: media and the culture of violence, that media producers know about
desensitization effects and thus need to come up with new techniques for gaining attention. As a result in order to maintain
consumer interest, movie sequels tend to have more killing presented in more dramatic, highly sensationalized ways as we move
from earlier versions to the more current ones.

Cultivation theory

explains how our thinking changes into specific ways as a result of repeated exposure to violence, the theory purports that repeated
exposure to TV violence has cumulative effect on viewers. It begins with fear and a sense of vulnerability that one will become a
victim of violence, then progresses to the point where people believe that the world is more dangerous than it really is, termed the
mean world syndrome. Can lead people to seek out more protective measures that are actually warranted, such as greater
government intervention and explains in part why some Canadians endorse things such as curfew bylaws to keep adolescents off the
streets at night and perhaps why some people feel they need to carry handguns for protection.
Summing up lessons learned about media violence

research shows us that exposure to media violence teaches people about violence and can lead to decentralization and can lead to
the eventual acceptance of violence. The propensity to become violent develops over time with media exposure.

Although a sizable body of research finds short and long-term negative effects of media violence, other related questions and issues
continue to somewhat undermine these results. Example: are we certain we have a handle on what exactly constitutes an act of
violence in media?

Besides the issue of how violence should be defined and measured, most of the effects are indirect and are difficult to establish for
any given person. While most people are exposed to considerable amount of violence on a regular basis, relatively few people
behave aggressively in the real world. As a result, some academics are still not convinced there is a conclusive evidence that
exposure to violence creates subsequent violence.

Postmodern framework

best suited to helping us appreciate the many ways that our lives change with each new medium. Postmodern ideas tend to
underline social action. The popularity of YouTube attests to the ability of consumers to influence the media and one another in
ways that we shape cultural trends. Similarly, the ability to communicate quickly and widely via the Internet on social networking
platforms. Postmodern approaches to the media also encourage consumers to be aware of media ownership objectives, to think
critically about the messages they take in and to make informed choices about what kind of messages and media they choose to
engage with.

Media literacy: thinking critically about the media

media literacy: the ability to recognize, critically assess and make informed choices about messages contained in mass media forms.

Media smarts (2014), media understanding includes an acceptance of these five assumptions:

1. all media are constructions: media content is created by individuals who choose to convey a particular message by virtue of
what is included and what is left out of the message. Since media messages represent the views of the capitalistic class, the
message is also under represent the views of the less powerful groups in society. Media literacy works towards
deconstructing a media messages to expose built in assumptions, stereotypes, and misrepresentation and to show how or
why they were made this way.
2. Audiences negotiate the meaning in media: individuals interpret meetings in a variety of ways depending on their own life
experiences, cultural background, age, gender, ethnicity, and social class. So the same media message may be interpreted
positively by one person and negatively by another.
3. Media have commercial interests: media literacy aims to encourage an awareness of how the media are influenced by
commercial considerations and how these affect content, techniques, and distribution. Most media production is a business
and must therefore make a profit. Questions of ownership and control are central.
4. Media have social and political implications: media have a great influence on political and social change by giving us an
intimate scene of national issues and global concerns. At the same time, mass media have the power to set agendas and
limit how and what we will be exposed to and they determine how particular groups are represented.
5. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form: each medium, by it a TV show, radio program, or videogame has its own way of
storytelling, and it is important to understand how a particular media form is getting your attention conveying its messages.