The Impact of Mass Media

President Abraham Lincoln de sustainred his infamous Gettysburg address dedicating the Soldiers field of study Cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19th, 1863. It was estimated 10,000 people attended the ceremony to as accepted the speech live and it was sidereal days before the message was read close to in print. President Barrack Obama delivered his live State of the Union take last January to an estimated 30 million television viewers at base of operations while a nonher(prenominal) 1. 3 million liveed it online and it was only minutes subsequently the speech was d unrivalled that people were able to read near it in print.Mass media is printed and electronic means of communication that carry messages to widespread references. In the twenty-first Century United States, visual sense media products range from traditional newspapers and magazines, to radio, television, and mesh. The internet has brought a whole new era of sec information to the media utilizing online salu tary-disposed ne bothrks and live news outlets. In 150 years this Nation has g cardinal from in truth cosmosness on site to view something live to the tycoon to tick razets live from the comfort of our own home. Where will we be in another 150 years?Although indorsement media is most clock unfiltered, mint media has adult beca employ of advanced technological means plying instant international exceed while greatly influencing kind changes. The Functionalism of Mass Media The functionalist eyeshot emphasizes the way in which the parts of a ball club argon structured to maintain stableness (Schaefer, 2009). So what is the purpose of the media? Mass media plays great roles in our everyday life. In addition to providing frolic, news, and education, media products ar overly utilize to socialize and market.As a chance(a) routine, many people nowadays tally use of hoi polloi media tools for mixed reasons such as socializing, gathering data, sharing information, an d even escape. Television is a source of media that has a strong effect on society immediately. It is important to look at the influence of television because an average Ameri smoke who take to cable TV watches over eight hours of television a day (Guillen, 2005). The medium of film is particularly suited to representing multiple perspectives finished its ability to convey subjective experience.Film is also a medium with rich resources for transportation the sights, sounds, rhythms, and auras of a particular space and time, or what is called chronoscopesthat is, time-space articulations, characteristic of particular, historically find conceptions of the relations between the human, the social and the natural world. Further, the film medium is also well equipped to represent the multiscape complexity of globalization with its flows and disconnectednesss (Manning, et al. , 2010) The media increases social cohesion by presenting a common, much or less standardized, view of cult ure through citizenry communication (Schaefer, 2009).I retrieve we could all agree mass media provides valuable information which each idiosyncratic uses for work or mortalal reasons. For example, many folks will watch the news on television or seek information via the internet daily to stay abreast of current events. As this paper is being written, a devastating earthquake and Tsunami recently struck Japan and straightway the country is trying to avert nuclear disaster. There is risk of nuclear power plants exploding and on the verge of meltdown. This in no way comp atomic number 18s to the 9/11 attacks, still as fellow humans we are genuinely concerned for the well being of our neighbors to the Far East.Significant sporting events or sports entertainment such as the Olympics or the Superbowl are media tools used as a reason for people to gather and socialize with family and friends. The advertising moguls know this and also use these mass media events to market their product s to millions of consumers. With the explosion of the internet and its global instant reach, new virtual societies cast off formed using weavesites such Skype, Twitter, and Facebook. These online tools are communities of people from all over the world meeting, make new friends, or catching up with old friends and family too in a web based portal.More and more people are beginning to live in a virtual reality world. term the privacy of these communities is often times criticized, the benefits of such media greatly increases social interaction. This theory also relays the message that the media is an enforcer of social norms (Schaefer, 2009). The mass media broadcasts information and television shows which reinforce social norms by pointing out the events that violate mores and folkways such as crimes and substance abuse. By doing this and not glorifying criminal behavior, the mass media can publicly emphasize the proper behaviors or formal norms to countless people.The Conflict w ith Mass Media Conflict theorists view the mass media as a means to reinforce divisions within a society which differs from the functionalist theory that mass media is used as a tool for social cohesion. Functionalist and conflict theorists would agree the mass media provides information, entertainment, and social outlets but where it differs is how much is provided and who decides what is convey (Schaefer, 2009). Gatekeeping is the process where material passes through a series of checkpoints before it reaches the reference.The media assiduity is funded by major problemes whose interests are the desire to maximize profits (Schaefer, 2009) and are shaped by these businesses agendas as well as the desires of the small throng of individuals who constraint what eventually reaches the viewers. The community and the filmmakers accept different expectations regarding content and control (Coffman, 2009) too. Quite often, the media is structured in such a way that real minority inte rests or groups are simply neglected or used as stereotypes in television. The news inaccurately covers its communities by having most of its stories about violence.A University of Miami study of local television news found that the time wedded to crime varied between 23 to 50 percent even though violent crime in the city remained constant, involving less than peerless tenth of one percent of the population (Guillen, 2005). much times one can watch the local evening news and hear more stories of violence in other parts of the Nation as well as other countries over good human interest stories in their local community. Technological advances of mass media products and communications offers many the opportunities for instant information, but not everyone shortens to enjoy this though.There is a digital divide within the U. S. and in particular global when compared to the U. S. How big is the global digital divide? Less than 10 percent of the worlds population uses the Internet. St atistics compiled by the International telecommunication Union as of the end of 2002 indicate that Internet use as a proportion of the population ranges from less than one percent in many underdeveloped African, Central American, and southeast Asian countries to between 50 and 60 percent in Iceland, the United States, Scandinavia, Singapore or South Korea (Guillen, 2005).Because of these statistics, Americans are at risk of ethnocentrism if we dont take this into taradiddle when associating with developing nations. Another area where Americas are at risk of being ethnocentric is when we overstress U. S. dominance (Schaefer, 2009) in the mass media. The Interactionism of Mass Media Interactionists extrapolate about everyday forms of social interaction in order to apologize society as a whole. Our social behavior is conditioned by the roles and statuses we accept, the groups to which we belong, and the institution we belong to (Schaefer, 2009).This theory is similar to the other t heories in that the media is a major source of daily activity. It is very similar to the funtionalist perspective in that it supports face to face interactions within society. This theory differs with the conflict theory where the interactionist looks for share understandings conflict theorists emphasize the differences of prospect or the struggle and the divisions within a society. Advances in technology probably play the biggest role within the Interactionism theory. The develop of the internet has facilitated new forms of communication and social interaction (Schaefer, 2009).One the internet alone, thither are sites corresponding Facebook that have gone global that fully supports social interaction. Another site desire YouTube is another area where anyone can erect a video of just about anything. The danger of the above mentioned sites is in that respect is little control to what is put onto these sites. Children who are exploring the net or have little to no parental supe rvision could end up see much more than what a social norm would expect. The internet is the exclusion to centralization and concentration on media.Interactionists see a change in the way people share media and how they get their news versus their interest in it. Why wait for the evening news or even for prison-breaking news on CNN, when Yahoo and Google are at your fingertips? (Schaefer, 2009). The internet is promptly available for the user and is also the only media outlet that allows the average person to get an audience of millions if a post, or most likely a video, goes viral. According to hyperdictionary. com, a viral video is a video cut short that achieves widespread distribution through online sharing.Interactionists play close attention to the use of symbols (Schaefer, 2009). Political leaders and entertainment figures use the media to control their images as symbols through public appearances called photo opportunities or photo ops. The underlying approach to a pho to op is to pose the candidate (or the actor) with symbols of appealing values, in the hope that viewers will equate the two. In beer commercials these values can include the friendly relationship symbolized by a welcoming group of guys in a bar. For a political candidate, the values could include patriotism or people where theres a candidate speaking with a U.S. flag as the backdrop or with his family or citizens of the community. Some movies engage their audience with alternative products to market the premier or to promote continual interest in the movie. For example, the Shrek series build global audiences as communities of consumers who are able to participate in a film by purchasing the many products placed throughout or by playing the computer games and visiting the Web sites developed as part of the multimarket commercial intertext of a given film (Manning, et al. , 2010).The Mass Media Providers Viewpoint. Media moguls and Webmasters perspective on the functionalist view of mass media is that it is a business, a big business. puffy sums of money are generated by advertising on television, websites, magazines, etc. While maximizing profits (Schaefer, 2009) may be the foregoing reason for the mass media from the individuals who are a part of the institution, I believe there are other roles the media providers take on too. Because of the global instant reach of todays media, activists or humanitarians use the tools to get messages out to the public quickly.Using the preceding example of the Tsunami that hit Japan, how fast did we see Red Cross commercials, texting 90999 to make an instant $10 donation to the relief effort? The conflict sales booth from the media providers is that it is a tight competition for scarce resources and the old way of doing business is gone. Many local newspaper circulations have closed shop do to in your face current events television programs. Additionally, with so many providers on the market and the advent of pay telev ision and radio, the marketing dollar is dwindling.For example, like many other consumers, I subscribe to XMSirius satellite radio because I loathe the promotion of consumption all the time. So, the satellite radio club is making the advertising dollar vice the media mogul. The interactionist view from the media providers is this perspective is the one that helps us understand one most important aspect of the mass media system the audience (Schaefer, 2009). The media giants know they would be washed up without the consumer. The interactionists have ways to keep the audience involved in the programming.Some example of how the audience participate in the programming are the reality completion shows like American Idol, Survivor, Dances with the Stars, to name a few. Viewers have the opportunity to take for their favorite player. The Mass Media and Social Change Social lives have changed hugely with the introduction of mass media into lives. An example of how media coverage can be f unctional, contrasting, and interactional can be seen in the reporting of the protests surrounding the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.Catherine Luther and Mark Miller analyzed pro-war and anti-war coverage in eight US newspapers and showed how reporters were more likely to use il received cues when referring to anti-war protestors, while using legitimate cues to refer to pro-war campaigners (Barker, 2008). Americans are either for or against the war and turn to the media for information. Differences of opinion are a valid way to gain insight into a society or cause. Lastly, the power of the media will generate interest to get people to arrive out and support. The View from the AudienceThe mass media are heroic from other social institutions by the necessary presence of an audience (Schaefer 2009). Without an audience, media products would vacate to exist. The functionalism perspective from the audience is most anything you want or need can be accessed, purchased, researched, an d you can even merge types of media into one source. The conflict with todays mass media is the unfiltered aspect meaning the freedom of press versus defend our children from some of the bad things seen on the media outlets.Another conflict the audience has with mass media is members of an audience do not all interpret media in the same way. Often their response is influenced by their social characteristics such as occupation, race, education, and income (Schaefer, 2009). Interactionist view on social interaction in todays media product offer more freedom of broadcasting and less freedom to censor. Conclusion The media has had a huge impact on society over the last two to three decades with the significant advances in technology.Although instant media is most times unfiltered, mass media has grown because of advanced technological means offering instant global reach while greatly influencing social changes. Viewers have instant news, entertainment, and socializing opportunities via many different types of media tools. From the functionalist view, and the interactionist, the mass medias biggest change has come with the introduction of the internet. The contrast to the movement of socialization and instant information is the change magnitude freedom of information that is shared throughout the media tools and the risk of unfiltered information to certain viewers.