Refers to a diverse array of
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Mass media
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- Limited-effects theory
- The Knowledge Gap
- Agenda Setting
- Cultivation of Perceptions
- Racism and stereotyping
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Mergers and acquisitions Between 1985 and 2018 about 76,720 deals have been announced in the media industry. This sums up to an overall value of around 5,634 billion USD.[25] There have been three major waves of M&A in the mass media sector (2000, 2007 and 2015), while the most active year in terms of numbers was 2007 with around 3,808 deals. The United States is the most prominent country in media M&A with 41 of the top 50 deals having an acquirer from the United States. The largest deal in history was the acquisition of Time Warner by AOL Inc. for 164,746.86 million USD. Influence and sociology Main article: Influence of mass media
Limited-effects theory, originally tested in the 1940s and 1950s, considers that because people usually choose what media to interact with based on what they already believe, media exerts a negligible influence. Class-dominant theory argues that the media reflects and projects the view of a minority elite, which controls it. Culturalist theory, which was developed in the 1980s and 1990s, combines the other two theories and claims that people interact with media to create their own meanings out of the images and messages they receive. This theory states that audience members play an active, rather than passive role in relation to mass media. There is an article that argues 90 percent of all mass media including radio broadcast networks and programing, video news, sports entertainment, and others are owned by 6 major companies (GE, News-Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS).[26] According to Morris Creative Group, these six companies made over 200 billion dollars in revenue in 2010. More diversity is brewing among many companies, but they have recently merged to form an elite which have the power to control the narrative of stories and alter people's beliefs. In the new media-driven age we live in, marketing has more value than ever before because of the various ways it can be implemented. Advertisements can convince citizens to purchase a specific product or have consumers avoid a particular product. The definition of what is acceptable by society can be heavily dictated by the media in regards to the amount of attention it receives. The documentary Super Size Me describes how companies like McDonald's have been sued in the past, the plaintiffs claiming that it was the fault of their liminal and subliminal advertising that "forced" them to purchase the product. The Barbie and Ken dolls of the 1950s are sometimes cited as the main cause for the obsession in modern-day society for women to be skinny and men to be buff. After the attacks of 9/11, the media gave extensive coverage of the event and exposed Osama Bin Laden's guilt for the attack, information they were told by the authorities. This shaped the public opinion to support the war on terrorism, and later, the war on Iraq. A main concern is that due to this extreme power of the mass media, portraying inaccurate information could lead to an immense public concern. In his book The Commercialization of American Culture, Matthew P. McAllister says that "a well-developed media system, informing and teaching its citizens, helps democracy move toward its ideal state."[1] In 1997, J. R. Finnegan Jr. and K. Viswanath identified three main effects or functions of mass media: The Knowledge Gap: The mass media influences knowledge gaps due to factors including "the extent to which the content is appealing, the degree to which information channels are accessible and desirable, and the amount of social conflict and diversity there is in a community". Agenda Setting: People are influenced in how they think about issues due to the selective nature of what media groups choose for public consumption. After publicly disclosing that he had prostate cancer prior to the 2000 New York senatorial election, Rudolph Giuliani, the mayor of New York City (aided by the media) sparked a huge priority elevation of the cancer in people's consciousness. This was because news media began to report on the risks of prostate cancer, which in turn prompted a greater public awareness about the disease and the need for screening. This ability for the media to be able to change how the public thinks and behaves has occurred on other occasions. In mid-1970s when Betty Ford and Happy Rockefeller, wives of the then-President and then-Vice President respectively, were both diagnosed with breast cancer. J. J. Davis states that "when risks are highlighted in the media, particularly in great detail, the extent of agenda setting is likely to be based on the degree to which a public sense of outrage and threat is provoked". When wanting to set an agenda, framing can be invaluably useful to a mass media organisation. Framing involves "taking a leadership role in the organisation of public discourse about an issue". The media is influenced by the desire for balance in coverage, and the resulting pressures can come from groups with particular political action and advocacy positions. Finnegan and Viswanath say, "groups, institutions, and advocates compete to identify problems, to move them onto the public agenda, and to define the issues symbolically" (1997, p. 324). Cultivation of Perceptions: The extent to which media exposure shapes audience perceptions over time is known as cultivation. Television is a common experience, especially in places like the United States, to the point where it can be described as a "homogenising agent" (S. W. Littlejohn). However, instead of being merely a result of the TV, the effect is often based on socioeconomic factors. Having a prolonged exposure to TV or movie violence might affect a viewer to the extent where they actively think community violence is a problem, or alternatively find it justifiable. The resulting belief is likely to be different depending on where people live however.[1] Since the 1950s, when cinema, radio and TV began to be the primary or the only source of information for a larger and larger percentage of the population, these media began to be considered as central instruments of mass control.[27][28] Up to the point that it emerged the idea that when a country has reached a high level of industrialization, the country itself "belongs to the person who controls communications."[29] Mass media play a significant role in shaping public perceptions on a variety of important issues, both through the information that is dispensed through them, and through the interpretations they place upon this information.[27] They also play a large role in shaping modern culture, by selecting and portraying a particular set of beliefs, values, and traditions (an entire way of life), as reality. That is, by portraying a certain interpretation of reality, they shape reality to be more in line with that interpretation.[28] Mass media also play a crucial role in the spread of civil unrest activities such as anti-government demonstrations, riots, and general strikes.[30] That is, the use of radio and television receivers has made the unrest influence among cities not only by the geographic location of cities, but also by proximity within the mass media distribution networks.[30] 
Early minstrel shows lampooned the assumed stupidity of black people. Detail from cover of The Celebrated Negro Melodies, as Sung by the Virginia Minstrels, 1843. 
A magazine feature from Beauty Parade from March 1952 stereotyping women drivers. It features Bettie Page as the model. 
American political cartoon titled The Usual Irish Way of Doing Things, depicting a drunken Irishman lighting a powder keg and swinging a bottle. Published in Harper's Weekly, 1871. Racism and stereotyping Further information: Stereotype
Mass media sources, through theories like framing and agenda-setting, can affect the scope of a story as particular facts and information are highlighted (Media influence). This can directly correlate with how individuals may perceive certain groups of people, as the only media coverage a person receives can be very limited and may not reflect the whole story or situation; stories are often covered to reflect a particular perspective to target a specific demographic.[31] Example According to Stephen Balkaran, an Instructor of Political Science and African American Studies at Central Connecticut State University, mass media has played a large role in the way white Americans perceive African-Americans. The media focus on African-American in the contexts of crime, drug use, gang violence, and other forms of anti-social behavior has resulted in a distorted and harmful public perception of African-Americans.[32] In his 1999 article "Mass Media and Racism", Balkaran states: "The media has played a key role in perpetuating the effects of this historical oppression and in contributing to African-Americans' continuing status as second-class citizens". This has resulted in an uncertainty among white Americans as to what the genuine nature of African-Americans really is. Despite the resulting racial divide, the fact that these people are undeniably American has "raised doubts about the white man's value system". This means that there is a somewhat "troubling suspicion" among some Americans that their white America is tainted by the black influence.[32] Mass media as well as propaganda tend to reinforce or introduce stereotypes to the general public. Ethical issues and criticism Lack of local or specific topical focus is a common criticism of mass media. A mass news media outlet is often forced to cover national and international news due to it having to cater for and be relevant for a wide demographic. As such, it has to skip over many interesting or important local stories because they simply do not interest the large majority of their viewers. An example given by the website WiseGeek is that "the residents of a community might view their fight against development as critical, but the story would only attract the attention of the mass media if the fight became controversial or if precedents of some form were set".[13] The term "mass" suggests that the recipients of media products constitute a vast sea of passive, undifferentiated individuals. This is an image associated with some earlier critiques of "mass culture" and mass society which generally assumed that the development of mass communication has had a largely negative impact on modern social life, creating a kind of bland and homogeneous culture which entertains individuals without challenging them.[7] However, interactive digital media have also been seen to challenge the read-only paradigm of earlier broadcast media.[7] Whilst some[who?] refer to the mass media as "opiate of the masses", others[who?] argue that is a vital aspect of human societies. By understanding mass media, one is then able to analyse and find a deeper understanding of one's population and culture. This valuable and powerful ability is one reason why the field of media studies is popular. As WiseGeek says, "watching, reading, and interacting with a nation's mass media can provide clues into how people think, especially if a diverse assortment of mass media sources are perused".[13] Since the 1950s, in the countries that have reached a high level of industrialization, the mass media of cinema, radio and TV have a key role in political power.[29] Contemporary research demonstrates an increasing level of concentration of media ownership, with many media industries already highly concentrated and dominated by a small number of firms.[33]
When the study of mass media began the media was compiled of only mass media which is a very different media system than the social media empire of the 21st-century experiences.[34] With this in mind, there are critiques that mass media no longer exists, or at least that it doesn't exist in the same form as it once did. This original form of mass media put filters on what the general public would be exposed to in regards to "news" something that is harder to do in a society of social media.[35] Theorist Lance Bennett explains that excluding a few major events in recent history, it is uncommon for a group big enough to be labeled a mass, to be watching the same news via the same medium of mass production.[36] Bennett's critique of 21st Century mass media argues that today it is more common for a group of people to be receiving different news stories, from completely different sources, and thus, mass media has been re-invented. As discussed above, filters would have been applied to original mass medias when the journalists decided what would or wouldn't be printed. Social Media is a large contributor to the change from mass media to a new paradigm because through social media what is mass communication and what is interpersonal communication is confused.[37] Interpersonal/niche communication is an exchange of information and information in a specific genre. In this form of communication, smaller groups of people are consuming news/information/opinions. In contrast, mass media in its original form is not restricted by genre and it is being consumed by the masses. Sardor Turayev Download 238.6 Kb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
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