reflection 4
The Importance of Mass Media
13.1 Identify the issues facing mass media.
Media hold an important place in our society. As an indication of their importance to you, consider these questions. If you met someone who did not watch television shows, see or rent movies, or listen to the radio, would you be surprised? What if the same person had never heard of Lady Gaga, Stephen Colbert, Oprah Winfrey, LeBron James, or J. Lo? Would knowing this change your interaction with that person? What topics could you and couldn't you discuss? If you concluded that many topics would be off-limits, you can see that media messages serve important social functions. For example, they help people bond with others who like or dislike the same shows, movies, advertisements, singers, or actors. Media messages and images also help shape how people view the world and what they understand —and perhaps misunderstand —about events around the globe. Because people are so deeply immersed in this media environment, however, they rarely think about their participation in it. Nevertheless, it is indeed an interaction because individuals participate in the communication process by selecting certain programs and agreeing or disagreeing with what they hear or see.
Why are media studies important? To begin with, U.S. Americans watch an enormous amount of television, although the exact number of hours is difficult to pin down. In 2016, Nielsen reported that U.S. adults spent a little over 32 hours per week watching television, followed by over 15 hours per week on their smartphones. When combining television, radio, PCs, TV-connected devices (e.g., DVDs, game consoles), tablets, and smartphones, adults spend about 74.5 hours per week using these various media (Nielsen, 2017b).
People turn to communication media for both information and entertainment. For example, most U.S. Americans turned to television to learn the results of the 2016 presidential elections. Eighty-four percent turned to television, while 48 percent used online platforms and a smaller number, 21 percent, turned to social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. The numbers add up to more than 100 percent because many people used more than one media. Thirty-seven percent used both television and the Internet to learn about the election results (Anderson, 2016). Although more people are turning to the Internet, it is important to recognize that television remains the primary information source. Of course, not all people turn to television. People at work may not have access to television but can check frequently for news on the Internet while working at their computers. People traveling by car rely on radio for their information.
Media scholars today recognize that they work during an era of rapid media change and development. For example, communication scholars Jennings Bryant and Dorina Miron (2004) identified six kinds of changes that are currently affecting and being affected by mass communication:
1. new form, content, and substance in mass communication;
2. new kinds of interactive media, such as the Internet;
3. new media ownership patterns in a global economy;
4. new viewing patterns and habits of audiences;
5. new patterns in family life; and
6. new patterns of interactive media use by youth.
Because of the rapid pace of these changes, measuring and studying their influence can be a challenge.
We live in an age when media consumers have more options than ever. In the United States, the average household in 2019 fell to 179.5 channels, which continues a trend of decreasing channels (Barr, 2019). Despite having so many channels, the average U.S. household only watched 12.7 channels (Mandese, 2020). So more choices do not necessarily mean that consumers are becoming more fragmented in their viewing.
Nielsen also recognizes that we are becoming increasingly diverse demographically as well as in the ways we are consuming media. According to another Nielsen report, "Changes in the population are creating a younger, more diverse, more tech-savvy consumer base. But connecting with them has become more complicated due to an exploding number of viewing options" (Nielsen, 2014, May 12). The rise of the Internet and the many choices that we now have led some to discuss the "end" of mass media, with some going so far as to claim, "The mass-media era now looks like a relatively brief and anomalous period that is coming to an end" ("Coming full circle," 2011). Some claim that the economic model for mass media is no longer viable and that spells the end of mass media (Greenslade, 2016), but others do not agree.
In contrast, others are seeing the Internet as another way for consumers to continue to consume even more television programming in many more places at many more times than ever before. As the Internet incorporates television programming, Shira Ovide, a New York Times technology writer, notes: "As home entertainment is being dragged into the digital world, I'm struck by how many holdovers have stuck around" (2020). She notes that much
programming remains locked into 30- and 60-minute episodes, and she asks, "Sure, the internet changed everything. But also, has it?" and ultimately concludes that "the new watching 'TV' still feels a lot like watching TV" (Ovide, 2020). Services like Hulu and Amazon Prime are becoming popular as ways that more people can watch television programming. The Internet is an important way that traditional broadcasting corporations are reaching wider audiences.Instead of killing the traditional broadcasting corporations, the Internet is seen by some as an increasingly important medium for traditional broadcasters to reach more audiences.
We see this influence, for example, when we look at Netflix, which many people view as a provider of movies. While it is widely known that "Netflix is secretive about viewing figures," it is estimated that they spent an estimated $13 billion on original content in 2018. Yet, "80% of Netflix streams are for licensed content that first aired elsewhere, with 42% of viewers never viewing original content"' (Iqbal, 2020). Although some of this television programming is created by Netflix (e.g., The Baby-sitters Club, Feel Good, Girl/Har), these shows are all destined for a mass audience who can watch them whenever they wish, wherever they wish. Netflix is also internationalizing U.S. television offerings by adding TV "series from Argentina, Britain, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain and Turkey to its American offerings" (Hale, 2017).
The coming years will reveal what happens to mass media. Will audiences become further fragmented as more choices become available across a range of platforms? Or will media consumption be driven by popularity among audiences so that television programming continues to draw mass audiences - although not all people are watching at the same time or on the same screens? Or will different media take different paths with the Internet?
What Are Mass Media?
13.2 Identify the main forms of mass media.
Mediated communication refers to communication that is transmitted through a channel, such as television, film, radio, and print. We often refer to these channels of communication more simply as media.
The word media is the plural form of medium. Television is one communication medium; others include film, radio, magazines, advertisements, and newspapers. When you pick up the telephone to speak to someone, you are using yet another communication medium. When you write a letter, your communication is mediated by the form of letter writing. Even the voice and the body can be considered media of communication.
For all the complexity and variety of media studies, its focus typically falls on mass media, or mediated communication intended for a large audience. Mass-mediated messages are usually produced and distributed by large organizations or industries in the business of mass communication. Mass media businesses are also known as culture industries because they produce television shows, made-for-television movies, video games, and other cultural products as an industry. The creation of these cultural products is not driven by individual artists, but by large groups of workers in for-profit and some nonprofit) organizations.
The study of media is often a moving target because changes in media continually occur. Part of understanding the influence of media on our everyday lives entails understanding the changes that have occurred and what media were available in other time periods. Historically, communication has been framed by the media available during a given time. Let's now look at some of these industries and the media texts they produce.
One of the first media addressing a large public was newspapers. During the nineteenth century, many newspapers grew in distribution and readership as the cost of mass printing declined. As expansion westward continued in the United States, the newspaper played a critical role in community building. Newspapers flourished during this period in staggering numbers. For example, "Before the end of 1867, at least four newspapers had been published in Cheyenne, a town that still had a population well under 800, in the Wyoming Territory" (Boorstin, 1965, p. 131). These numbers are all the more impressive in view of today's decline in newspaper readership. As you can see, different eras embraced different communication media.
Today, when most people think of newspapers, they first think of large-circulation papers in large metropolitan areas, such as The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. They might also think about smaller, local papers, including the Corvallis Gazette-Times, the Nome Nugget, and the Knoxville News Sentinel. Because large-circulation newspapers serve different needs from local papers, many readers subscribe to both. Other newspapers target specific demographic groups, such as immigrant communities, ethnic and racial communities, LGBTQIA+ communities, or retirees. Some are bilingual. Others are referred to as the "alternative" press. These alternative-press newspapers attempt to present perspectives and voices that may not be heard in the mainstream press. Examples of alternative papers include the Seattle Stranger, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and New York City's Village Voice.
Another development that followed the lowered cost of mass printing was the development of the magazine. Magazines are produced weekly, monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly. Some, such as Time, Harper's, Reader's Digest, and Smithsonian, target broad, general audiences. Other magazines focus on more limited audiences-Ebony, Latina, Men's Health, and Woman's World, for example —and still others on specific topics, as shown by the titles Bon Appetit, Hot Rod, and Rhode Island Monthly. Like newspapers, magazines offer important forums for political discussions, but they also address distinct interests, such as crafts, hobbies, or travel. Like
newspapers, magazines have generally seen declining revenue in their print formats and have been moving increasingly to online digital formats. However, the Pew Research Center reports that "2013 and early 2014 brought a level of energy to the news industry not seen for a long time. Even as challenges of the past several years continue and new ones emerge, the activities this year have created a new sense of optimism-or perhaps hope —for the future of American journalism" (Mitchell, 2014). Newspapers and magazines are adjusting to the new digital world and feeling more optimistic about their future as new revenues are coming in to digital news platforms. Investors sense that digital formats will bring a positive return on their investments. Even after President Trump tweeted that The New York Times was "fake news" and its subscribers "dwindling," the newspaper reported that it added 276,000 digital and 25,000 print subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2016 (Pallotta, 2017). Since then, digital revenues have been increasing. One example is The Guardian: "Today, 55 percent of Guardian revenue comes from digital sources, a real feat of transition," while The New York Times is expected to get over 50 percent of its revenue from digital sources in 2020 (Benton, 2019). As magazines and newspapers move online, their digital presence will become increasingly important for readers as well as revenue streams.
Popular books are another medium addressed to a large audience. Sometimes called mass-market paperbacks, these books include romance novels, self-help books, and comic books as well as other genres that are produced in large numbers and distributed widely. e-books (electronic books) constitute another type of mass media. E-books are books read on a computer screen or e-readers (such as Amazon's Kindle) instead of a printed page. Sales of e-books have taken off, with 69 million sold in 2010 to over 335 million sold in 2019 (Watson, 2020). Although e-reader devices are becoming increasingly user-friendly, many readers still say they prefer the printed page.
Motion pictures, first shown commercially in the 1890s, flourished throughout the twentieth century. Although today people can make movies relatively cheaply with digital video, high-quality productions that draw large audiences cost millions of dollars to produce, distribute, and advertise. Therefore, movie studios with adequate resources dominate the motion picture industry. Although some documentary movies do become popular, such as Tiger King, I Am Not Your Negro, and On the Record, most best-selling movies are purely entertainment-oriented, such as Little Women, Deadpool, Parasite, and Ad Astra.Typically, large-budget films receive the widest distribution and the most publicity, but small-budget films can also reach audiences and sometimes offer alternative views of important social issues.
Like movies, radio technology emerged in the late nineteenth century. At first, it had important applications at sea, but in the 1920s stations sprang up all over the United States. As journalism professor Jane Chapman notes, "Radio's takeoff was swift, and public enthusiasm for it peaked during the 'golden age' of the 1930s and 1940s" (2005, p. 147). Radio programming included not only news and commentary but also quiz shows, dramas, and situation comedies.
With the rise of television, the Internet, and other competing media, radio broadcasting has become much more specialized, with radio stations serving specific audiences by broadcasting classical music, jazz, country music, news, sports, or other focused content. Audiences for these specialized programs are often targeted based on identities, such as age, socioeconomic class, race and ethnicity, or language. Today, radio is also broadcast over the Internet, via satellite, and through podcasts. And although commercial enterprises dominate radio in the United States, nonprofit radio, such as National Public Radio and Pacifica, also exists.
Popular music, another form of mass media, existed long before radio, and people listened to it live in public and private venues and, later, on gramophones and record players. Popular music now also plays on television and via other communication media, such as CDs, DVDs, and MP3 players. Streaming music services are increasingly how many people listen to music, as traditional music sales have declined. There are many streaming platforms for listening to music, with Spotify and Apple Music among the most popular. People choose how to stream music based on their own situations. If you have high-quality audio equipment, you may want to listen to music over Tidal rather than Pandora. Those people who like to listen to classical music might choose Idagio, but "Idagio doesn't have music that falls outside the realm of classical music, so you're out of luck if you like a little Springsteen with your Stravinsky" (Germain, 2020). The market for streaming music is growing as Amazon, SiriusXM, YouTube, and others are competing for this market. In spite of the pandemic, streaming music revenues are expected to continue to grow past $1 billion in the United States alone (Stassen, 2020).
Television is among the most familiar forms of communication media. Early in its development, in the mid-twentieth century, networks such as ABC, CBS, and NBC dominated because they were the only providers of content. The rise of cable television, with its multiple specialized channels, has taken significant market share away from the networks, yet they remain important and continue to draw large audiences. Since its inception, cable television has expanded to include pay channels such as HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax. In addition, satellite television is challenging cable television. Because television programming is expensive, the medium is dominated by commercial enterprises; however, the United States also has nonprofit television stations, many of which belong to the Public Broadcasting network or to the satellite network Deep Dish TV. In addition, cable TV stations are required to provide public, educational, and government-access channels.
With the developments of mass media online, many people have decided to cancel their cable subscriptions and opt for online viewing instead. At the beginning of the chapter, we saw that Charee "cut cable." The trend is very clear: "The number of pay-TV households peaked in 2010 at 105 million; now it's down to approximately 82.9 million. And a study last year by eMarketer forecast that number to dip to 72.7 million by 2023" (Schneider & Aurthur, 2020). Yet, as we saw earlier, the new streaming TV is very similar to the older forms of TV.
The Individual and Mass Media
13.3 Describe various models of media.
Media scholars are interested in the impact media messages have on individuals, but they are also interested in how individuals decide which media messages to consume or avoid. Marketers and media producers especially want to know how they might predict and characterize individuals' choices so that they can more effectively influence consumer choice. In this section, we'll explore both aspects of individual media consumption -how media messages influence us and how we become active agents, or active seekers, of various media messages and resisters of others. With the term active agent, we stress that even though people inhabit a densely media-rich environment, they need not be passively bombarded by media messages.
The Individual, Mass Media, and Society
13.4 Understand five issues in media studies: social identities, understanding the world, media events, media violence, and media economics.
Why do media play such an important role in society? One reason is that they often serve as the voice of the community. In this way, media offer people a means of thinking about themselves, their places in the world, and the societal forces around them. As individuals, we can only choose from among the media choices available. Societal forces, including the government, economics, media organizations, and advertisers, largely determine which media options are available. In the following section, we'll look at three important roles that media play in society: confirming social identities, helping people understand the world, and helping individuals understand important public events. And finally, because no discussion of media and society would be complete without a discussion of media violence and media economics, we will conclude with these topics.
Ethics and Mass Media
13.5 Identify five ethical issues with mass media.
Because media messages are so powerful, they can generate powerful responses. One potential response is media activism, or the practice of organizing to communicate displeasure with certain media images and messages as well as to advocate for change in future media texts. The issues that media activists address are important because they highlight many significant ethical questions surrounding mediated communication. Media activism, of course, is
not limited to the United States. Media activist groups have mobilized around the world to express ethical concerns about media coverage on a range of issues.
Voicing ethical concerns through media activism is not a recent phenomenon. People have been concerned about media content and images for centuries. The notions of freedom of speech and freedom of the press articulated in the U.S. Constitution reflect one response to media control. In the early twentieth century, as silent movies became popular entertainment, concerns about their racy content and the transition to talking movies led to calls for government regulation of media. In an attempt to avoid government regulation, Hollywood established the Hays Office to create its own system of regulation. The Hays Code, which was published in 1930, established strict rules for media content with the goal of wholesome entertainment. Some of the Hays regulations still apply today, such as the ban on exposing children's sex organs. Other regulations, however, have become outdated, such as the ban against portraying sexual relationships between interracial couples or using vulgar expressions or profanity, which the code specified as including the words "God, Lord, Jesus, Christ (unless used reverently); cripes; fairy (in a vulgar sense)."
The Hays code came about because of media activism in the 1920s, and it continued to set industry standards until the late 1960s, when the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) devised its rating codes. The MPAA represents the six major Hollywood studios. These codes have changed slightly since then, but most people are familiar with the G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 ratings.
Today, media activism has concentrated largely on the ethics of five areas: children's programming, representations of cultural groups, bias in news reporting, alternative programming, and the use of media as an activist strategy. Let's look at each of these in turn.
The first area of ethical focus of media activism is the concern over the impact of media images on children. Complaints about content in television shows and its influence on children led to the creation of the TV Parental Guidelines (TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board, n.d.), which are a self-regulating system of the television industry. These guidelines rate programs in terms of appropriateness for particular age groups. You have probably noticed the rating codes in the upper-left corner of the television screen. (An explanation of the ratings is available at http://www.tvguidelines.org/ratings.htm.) This kind of rating system is voluntary, so unless an adult activates the V-chip or an adult is present to change the channel or turn off the television, the rating system may not work as it was intended.
The second ethical focus of media activists has been distortions perpetrated or reinforced by media. The concern here is that such portrayals create stereotypes and misunderstandings. Minority groups, in particular, have had such concerns, as we can see in the number of media activist groups focused on media representations of racial and sexual minorities. On record with Newsweek, Martin Reynolds of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, a nonprofit that
promotes diversity in the newsroom, has asserted, "The black press and the ethnic press as a whole have consistently maintained far more credibility in their communities than their mainstream counterparts" (Celis, 2017). Yet that is not to say that minority groups have the same alternative viewpoints about mainstream news.
Media activism has recently taken on more meaning since the "fake news" phenomenon which has been causing confusion among Americans (Barthel et al., 2016). Media activism has traditionally been understood as alternative outlets using media to spark and sustain social movements. But in a world where journalists are no longer the exclusive "gatekeepers" of information, mainstream media channels are increasingly seeing themselves as activists. Media activism, then, now refers to media owners repurposing what it means to disseminate news to the public (Ward, 2015). In fact, some media insiders increasingly see themselves as activists against privately disseminated fake news.
These activists argue that when people have limited contact with minority groups, they are likely to gain false impressions from media misrepresentations. In turn, these distorted images may lead to hate crimes or discriminatory government policies, such as racial profiling. Media activist groups that monitor media producers and challenge them to create responsible and accurate images include Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) and Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) as well as organizations that have broader goals but that include a media activist focus, such as the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
A third category of activist groups has focused on structural issues in media industries and the consequences for how news content is constructed and broadcast to consumers. Within a profit-making environment, does making money influence what stories are covered, and how they are covered for wealthier consumers? For example, organizations such as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), the Annenberg Public Policy Center's factcheck.org, the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication, and the National Public Radio program On the Media are some of the organizations that focus on the news media and their accuracy and fairness in reporting various issues and the inclusion of diverse viewpoints.
The fourth ethical focus of media activists has been to find and provide media texts that offer alternatives to mainstream sources. Many newspapers, radio programs, and Internet sites are available for those who want alternatives to mainstream news media coverage so that they can hear a diversity of voices and opinions. Previously, we discussed the alternative press, but there is also alternative radio programming, such as the Progressive Radio Network, and other alternative media outlets, such as Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez's daily television program Democracy Now! Other alternative views are expressed as humor in print, online in The Onion, and on television on The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Alternative media outlets are not the same as fake news, in that
they do not present false facts but focus more on alternative interpretations of facts and report news that is not covered in mainstream media outlets.
Finally, some activists use media to communicate specific ethical concerns and messages to a wide audience. Thus, despite the fact that they lack the backing of huge media conglomerates, activists have used media to educate or influence audiences regarding cruelty to animals; the situations in Palestine, Guantánamo, and Afghanistan; violence against women; anti-Semitism; genocide; racism; and more. To get their messages out, these groups set up websites and webcasts, solicit funds to run advertisements on television or in mainstream newspapers or magazines, and sometimes organize demonstrations at strategic times and places.
As new media outlets develop (for example via the Internet, cable TV, and satellite radio) and the world continues to confront new challenges, new ethical issues and new ways of communicating will continue to emerge. We cannot forecast the future, but we do know that the ongoing process of change in the media environment shows no signs of abating. Media activists will continue to try to shape the media messages we receive, while at the same time, media producers will continue to try to sell what people are interested in purchasing. And so, bombarded as you are by media and the messages of a range of media activists, how can you become a responsible media consumer? Let's explore this topic next.
Becoming a More Effective Media Consumer
13.6 Describe three ways to be a more effective consumer of media messages.
As a potential consumer of practically nonstop messages coming from radio, television, newspapers, magazines, advertisements, movies, and so on, you need strategies for dealing with this complex media environment. The solution cannot be boiled down to a set of simple guidelines, of course, but here are some ideas to consider when interacting with media. To become more effective in your media consumption, be an active agent in your media choices, be mindful of the media choices you make, and speak out if you find media content offensive.