Media Construction of Reality

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CONTENTS

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Table of Contents…..…….…………………..…………….…….…………....…….....1

Media’s Construction of Reality..………...……...………………………………….…2

The Media…………………………………………………….………………………….2

The Environmentalists….……………………………….…………………..………….4

Conclusion…………………………………………....………………………………….6

References……………………………………………………………………………….7


MEDIA’S CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY

Media has the ability to influence opinions by publicly ratifying or vilifying the motives and activities of any group and uses this ability at its own discretion. A nuisance protestor can easily become a hard core activist, depending on the perspective. As the owners of the media have a vested interest in the global market place, ‘ (…) [in] 1998 five transnational corporations controlled the vast majority of the media content’ (Wiseman 1998, p. 75), the perspective is somewhat bias. Bonney and Wilson attest that:

‘most of what the media report as having happened did actually happen. They do not, in general, fabricate the facts. What they do, rather, is to report them from within the dominant perspectives on the social realities of the day.’ (1988, p. 11)

Fowler (1996, p. 2) also points out that news, in a capitalist society, usually agrees with the ideology of the controlling groups as news is an industry that has its own commercial interests at heart, and far from neutrally reflecting social reality actually promote the “social construction of reality.” The ideology of the media is the determining factor when it comes to what news society actually hears and from whose perspective.

THE MEDIA

Windschuttle (1990) claims that news is a broad but selective interpretation of society through a mediating ideology and in a capitalist society social control and cohesion is maintained not by force or coercion but through ideology. The Collins Dictionary of Sociology (1995, p. 163) defines deviance ‘[as] any social behaviour which departs from that regarded as ‘normal’ or socially acceptable within a society or social context.’ Windschuttle (1990, p. 294) suggests that the portrayal of certain forms of behaviour as deviant by the media, and invention or exaggeration of the evidence used to confirm their case assists in defining the limits of acceptable behaviour within society. The unacceptable behaviour is selected for inclusion in the news reports as it generates strong moral indignation amongst the readers, having the effect of creating the image of a threat to society’s foundations, its values and beliefs. The initial behaviour which is portrayed as deviant can be relatively minor, however it is the manner in which the deviance is portrayed that has the effect of actually constructing a negative perspective of those who participate or sympathize with the individuals or groups involved. The media’s interest in the deviance displayed by activists, the fact they dare to stand and question the validity of what society believes to be the ‘norm’, amplifies its severity and the degree to which their thoughts or actions contradict what society is based on. Cohen (1966, p. 6) suggests it is in this way the media contributes to the process of deviance amplification by presenting stereotyped images of deep-seated social values and interests in the news, leading to ‘moral panics’.

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Media reports portray a frightening image, Devine (2001) reported that there are disturbing links between the anti-globalizationists and religious zealots, they have a shared aim, similar structure and methods, and a vocabulary of extreme violence. Mitchell (2000) described activists as hardened international protesters with a potential for violence and a recent report (The Australian 18 March 2002, p. 6) depicted a sea of demonstrators leaving a trail of damage in its wake. Reports like these reflect the way in which activists are frequently presented in the mainstream press, violent, destructive extremists, but, as Anleu (1991, p. 5) claims, deviant behaviour ...

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