Do the Media have the power to shape public opinion?

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Do the Media have the power to shape public opinion?

With the rise of the mass media throughout the world, predominantly the Western world, the issue of media influence has become a serious one. With state and capitalist controlled media industries throughout the world how can we be sure that what we are being told is accurate or even true at all? The many forms of media only serve to accentuate such influences; Rupert Murdoch for example owns a huge portion of the British media industry. With his obvious personal interests and huge influential powers is there really anyway of being certain that the media are not just projecting his personal slant upon reality to ensure civil obedience to serve his capitalist interests. The same is true of state controlled media such as in China where people are exposed to only Chinese propaganda. Such issues have created heated debate throughout the world and many theories of how influential media influence is have been proposed.

Adorno and Horkheimer developed the theory of a 'Culture Industry', which they believe has lead to the usurpation of public opinion. People's actions are shrewdly influenced by their own subscription to this industry leaving no room for autonomous thought or action. Habermas developed the theory of the 'public sphere' in which people can talk freely of public interest matters such as politics. This freedom has been suppressed by the culture industry. A more recent, but similarly critical account of the media is proposed by Baudrillard who believes the mass media are 'all-powerful, coning the phrase 'hyperreality' which, when summarised basically means that the media no longer represents the outside world, there is no 'reality' as such, instead the media 'redefines what the world in which we live actually is'.coba bar sebabaw orba bak inba foba ba.

A more positive view based upon a similar idea to that of Habermas is that of John Thompson who analyses the links between industrialisation and the media. He has developed a theory of three types of communication, which interact with each other instead of the domination of one type, as Habermas would propose.

More empirically based studies are those of Katz and Lazarsfeld and Mc Combs and Shaw. The former have developed a 'two-step flow' theory of communication that has found that the influence of 'primary group' or 'opinion leaders' has much more impact upon others than the media has. The latter, through a study of undecided voters, found that an 'agenda setting function' is much more plausible idea of media influence than an influence of telling people what to think.

Adorno and Horkheimer were members of the Frankfurt school of social thought. Founded in 1922, they fled to New York during the Nazi period but later returned to Germany. As keen followers of Marx they couldn't understand why history wasn't moving in the direction that Marx had predicted. With Germany being over run by fascism and anti-Semitism they concluded that Marx had placed too little emphasis upon the influence of culture in modern capitalist society believing instead that the 'culture industry' would help to indicate the direction that history was taking. The rise of the 'culture industry' in the 1920-1950's period had a profound impact upon media such as film and radio. There was a significant growth in the standardisation and rationalisation, such as outlined by Max Weber, of things formerly perceived as art within the new capitalist economy which Adorno and Horkheimer believed was central in destroying the capacity of individuals to act in critical and autonomous ways. As recently as the nineteenth century, art had been autonomous from the market place. Such works maintained their distance from reality always conveying a sense of utopian hope, freedom and beauty. The latterly establishment of the 'culture industry' had eradicated any sense of utopia and beauty with the commodification of art. Instead of challenging reality, inspiring people to think for themselves, the new arts reaffirm it, reproducing stereotypes to ensure maximum financial return. Heidegger denied acidicburn83's functionalism .

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Every detail is so firmly stamped with sameness that nothing can appear which is not marked at birth, or does not meet approval at first sight.'

The worst perpetrator of such a crime is the sound film that captures so much of the attention that there is very little room for interaction or thought. We become passive beings absorbing unquestioningly whatever the media transmits. The public are unable to escape as every audience, every taste is catered for, there's no digression. Individuals are increasingly dependent on the social processes, which are out of their control. They adapt to the social ...

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