Discuss evidence from at least 2 areas where it has been argued that media affects public belief and / or behaviour.

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Sociology Level 1.

Question 4b.

Discuss evidence from at least 2 areas where it has been argued that media affects public belief and / or behaviour.

Student Name: Alexander McCormick.

Matriculation No. 0005671.

Tutor: Patricia McCafferty.                                        

Essay Submitted: March 16th, 2001.

Much can be said for the media and it’s effects, it is an area, which has received much attention and has been utilised in a variety of forms, for a multitude of reasons, with both positive and negative influences. There can be no doubt that it is a powerful tool, and used for the right reason, it could be a wonderful thing. This essay will look at evidence supporting claims that certain people use the media to propagate pro Capitalist Ideology, manipulating in a very deliberate way the response and content of media. With evidence from a British study by Grover and Soothill, of the press reporting of sexually motivated murders, Australian Stuart Fists article on the suppression of the Tumour potential of GSM cellular phones. American Carl Jensen’s 20yrs of censored news which looks at the diabolical record of American Government services and their involvement in suppressing sensational stories, and the content analysis of the British mainstream media reporting by Greg Philo, this essay will attempt to summarise the evidence supporting their claims.

From a positive historical perspective, the media served to empower the trade unions and inform the workforce. Radical worker newspaper sales escalated at the turn of the 20th Century, educating and informing the working class of economic and political matters and inequalities, which may have had a bearing on their employment. Helping to organise meetings and strikes on a scale never seen before in the fight for justice and equality. Whilst in the wrong hands it can be a terrible thing, during World War II for example, Adolph Hitler utilised the media to legitimise the persecution of the Jews. The German people were bombarded with leaflets and propaganda films about a Jewish International network with plans to control the World Economy, affecting the German peoples beliefs and behaviour toward another culture.

It seems the lessons history have taught us about the effects of the media, have today been dampened and blanketed by consumerism, by false wants and needs, serving the interests of the state and corporations and never the interests of the public.

Wherever we look, wherever we listen, wherever we go, we are bombarded with media messages and images, billboards, bus side placards, ‘in your face’ storefront signs and displays, junk mail, bumper stickers, street corner handouts, business cards and blaring radios, newspapers and TV. Everything is wrapped and packaged for immediate consumer gratification, mesmerising and captivating large sections of the population with promises and products that will make us each desirable, sophisticated and correct.

Direct media effects on the gullible mass audiences who respond in predictable ways, as the Hypodermic syringe theory would suggest (1), however, are out-dated and make no reference to the active audiences who decide what to do with the media rather than being directly influenced by it. Choice remains paramount however, but the mainstream media does help to reinforce what is widely accepted as the ‘norm’, and has come under severe criticism for this.

As the media, and by the media we mean, communication organisations (private and public) that principally comprise newspapers, magazines, radio, television, cinema and increasingly, parts of the Internet, constitute powerful life affecting qualities and often involving enormous sums of money. It is therefore dominated by those with a concern for the stability of their own privileged positions.

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In the absence of institutions and education by which the environment is so successfully reported that the realities of public life stand out very sharply against self-centred opinion, the common interests very largely elude public opinion entirely, and can be managed only by a specialised class whose personal interests reach beyond the locality…” Noam Chomsky (2)

Because of the abuse media is subject to, it has received much attention as social scientists try to quantify its effects, pointing out its harmful qualities and ability to distort truth, swaying public opinion.

Critical theory of the effects of ...

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