Media, Technology and Society

Theories of Broadcast Media 2

OVERVIEW

• The concept of Media

• Ideology

• Media Influence

What is Media?

Communication channels through which news, entertainment, education, data, or promotional

messages are disseminated.

Media includes every broadcasting and narrowcasting medium such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, direct mail,

telephone, fax and internet.

Media is the plural of medium and can take a plural or singular verb, depending on the sense

intended.

The concept of Media

Ideology generally refers to the promoted “ideals” for which society feels the need to

conform to.

Ideology

These ideals are influenced by a number of different social institutions.

One of these is the mass media.

Ideology

Media Influence

If we take a look at the offerings on television we can see that there are definite ‘ideals’ being communicated. An example of this is how the media presents family units.

Regardless of the programme you watch, there is a good chance that the lead character’s family is a nuclear unit.

The Nuclear Unit Family

A nuclear family, elementary family or conjugal family is a family group consisting of two parents and their children (one or more). It is in contrast to a single-parent family, to the larger extended

family, and to a family with more than two parents

The Nuclear Family

Theories

Media-Society Theory I: the Mass Society

Media-Society Theory II: Marxism

Media-Society Theory III:

Functionalism

Media-Society Theory IV: Critical Political Economy

Media-Society Theory VI: Technology

Determinism

Media-Society Theory VII: the

Information Society

Media-Society Theory I: the Mass Society

• Mass society theory invokes a vision of society characterized by alienation, absence of individuality, amorality, lack of religion, weak relationships, and political apathy.

• Mass society theory is a complex, multifaceted perspective.

• To mass society theorists, the media represents and promotes the worst problems of modernity.

Media-Society Theory II: Marxism

• Marx was an economic theorist who wrote during the 19th Century.

• His ideas deal with social and economic power relationships and have been influential in economics, politics and sociology and can be very useful for media students.

• He claimed the media was party to the construction and maintenance of ideas and values that supported the capitalist system.

• A Brief Introduction to Marxism

Media-Society Theory III: Functionalism

• According to the functionalist perspective the media is a marketing product and entertaining

• The functionalist perspective sees the media as teaching what is virtuous and appropriate.

• The media has four essential functions for society:

a) surveying the environment to give reports and information

b) relaying replies to this information

c) amusing

d) transmitting traditions to upcoming generations

• What is Functionalism?

Media-Society Theory IV: Critical Political Economy

• Critical political-economic theory focuses primarily on the relation between economic structure and dynamics of media industries and the ideological content of media.

According to critical political-economic theory, the media institution has to be considered as part of the economic system with close links to the political system.

Media-Society Theory IV: Critical Political Economy

The consequences of this close connection can be observed:

the reduction of independent media sources,

concentration on the large markets,

avoidance of risks,

reduced investment in less profitable media tasks such as investigative reporting and documentary film-making.

Media-Society Theory VI: Technology Determinism

• The sociologist Gouldner interpreted key changes in modern political history in terms of communication technology.

• He connects the rise of “ideology” to printing and the newspaper because in the 18th and 19th centuries printing and the newspaper stimulated a supply of interpretation and ideas.

• He then reveals that radio, film and television led to a decline of ideology because of the shift from “conceptual to iconic symbolism.”

Media-Society Theory VII: The Information Society

Van Dijk suggests that modern society is in process of becoming a network society:

a form of society increasingly organizing its relationships in media networks which are gradually replacing or complementing the social networks of face to face communication.

Media-Society Theory VII: The Information Society

New media technology leads to an information society, characterized by:

a) Predominance of information work

b) Great and accelerating volumes of information flow

c) Problems of information overload

d) Growth and interconnection of networks

e) Globalizing tendencies

f) Loss of privacy

g) Reduced constraints of time and space

Example of the worldwide ideology

September 11th:

The dominant discourse was that the war was justified

because of the need to restore some sense of equilibrium, bring those who committed the crimes to justice and destroy

dangerous terrorists (Allen, 2002, News Culture, Open University Press)

Media, Technology and Society

Theories of Broadcast Media 2