Chapter 6 Synopsis

Chapter 6 Synopsis

This chapter focuses on different types of media and how they shape our lives and experiences. The media helps us to understand information, news events, national and global media events, and the public. “Masses” is referred to as the changes that happen in the structure of different societies that undergo industrialization and the working class (224). The term “masses” is normally used in a negative context. The term “mass media” came about during World War II. This was because television began to be popular all over the world and this was one of the major ways of communication and information spread. Everyone who listens or views mass media productions develops opinions and finds out information through the one main source, even if it is a bias source. Electronic and digital media expanded the way that we used to think of mass media. The internet, cell phones, and other wireless devices became very popular in the 1980s-2000. The term “mass” was rethought and given a new context. The term used to be described as “mass media is produced and distributed under the auspices of major source of corporate and/or state power in any society with a strong mass media system” (226). This was because the audience size was much smaller. Now, as an audience, we believe that we are “potential producers, as well as consumers who exercise choice, with regards to the media through which they interact in their everyday lives” (226). These new forms of mass media have changed the whole production. Now print and voice media is being taken over by media that combines images, colors, movement, text, and sound. In the past radio, books, and newspapers were the main source to get information. Today these types of mass media seem to be dying out and being taken over by other forms of mass media.
The term “medium” is defined as the means of mediation or communication in which the message passes through (229). The medium is only the way that the message is given. Some examples given of a medium are the radio, the television, a megaphone, the internet, and your voice. Marshall McLuhan was a media theorist in the 1960s. He believed that the medium was any extension of ourselves in any technological form. With this definition, we can define media in a different way. All kinds of media are also considered a medium. McLuhan wrote the book Understanding Media: Extensions of Man. This book is about different types of medias and mediums. He explains that there is no way that one can separate messages, information, or meanings from the media that gives out the information. McLuhan also feels that media technologies “give potential for power to our individual bodies by extending our senses and thereby extending our individual power in the world” (244). He used the term the message is the medium.
The news is a big media output. This type of mass media is judged by its viewers. This is because people will make a decision as to whether or not the source of the news is credible and how important the material being covered is. Some may consider the newspaper to be more credible than the television because it may be more neutral and less bias. People end up ranking different media and mediums. This happens mostly because of cultural differences. The newer types of media are considered to be less reliable and credible to some people. We perceive the news through the characteristics of the newscaster. We base some of our credibility on the newscaster’s gender, culture, background, clothing, appearance, accent, tone of voice, and where he or she is sitting on the set.
Newspapers and print media seem to be getting taken over by other types of technology and media. Now most newspapers are available online and are able to attract people’s attention better and people are more interested in the stories. Looking at a newspaper online as opposed to print gives the reader a much different experience. Online the website can combine images, video clips, images, fonts, and type sizes. This is a more interactive experience for the viewer and therefore can be more enjoyable. This in turn makes people “active viewers rather than passive viewers” (234).
Media forms can be characterized into two separate categories: broadcast and narrowcast. Broadcast has one central source which broadcasts too many different venues. Narrowcast has a target market or audience that they are trying to get their message across to.
There have been several criticisms of the media. One is that the mass media is propaganda. An example to back this up is the rise of Nazism in Germany during World War II. Other scholars research the way in which the mass media works. They try to understand the ways that the mass media can influence the world. The way they tried to understand the media better was through the terms “hypodermic needle” or “magic bullet” effect (239). The hypodermic effect says that “the media has a direct and immediate effect on audiences, forcing passive follower behavior among viewers who are drugged by media texts that inject ideas into their viewers” (239).
One main reason for having mass media is so that the audience viewing the media feels a sort of closeness with each other. They air a destructive event that happened in a community to others who surround the area. This brings up awareness throughout the area and brings people closer together. These media events can be viewed locally, nationally, and globally. This in turn involved a large range of producers, sources, and media. The example used in the coverage of 9/11.
All of these media productions are owned by large media conglomerates that have an agenda and political views in mind. This makes the media somewhat incomplete. The conglomerates do not allow some things to be aired on their stations because it is against their point of view. This in turn leaves the news with a bias and in some cases changes around the entire story. The media institutions censor themselves so that they do not get fired or kicked off the larger conglomerate’s side.