Editing Mass media (section)

== Influence and sociology ==
{{Main|Influence of mass media}}
{{Essay-like|section|date=February 2013}}
{{Globalize|section|date=March 2015}}

'''Limited-effects theory''' theorizes 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''' 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.

In 2012, an article asserted that 90 percent of all mass media—including [[Radio broadcasting|radio broadcast]] networks and programing, video news, sports entertainment, and other—were owned by six major companies (GE, News-Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.morriscreative.com/6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america/|title=6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media in America|date=15 June 2012|website=Morris Creative Group|language=en-US|access-date=21 November 2019|archive-date=6 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206172759/https://www.morriscreative.com/6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america/|url-status=dead}}</ref> According to Morris Creative Group, these six companies made over $200 billion 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 consumers to purchase or avoid a particular product. What a society accepts can be dictated by the amount and kind of attention the media gives it.

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".<ref name="enotes"/>

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.&nbsp;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.<ref name="enotes"/>

Since the 1950s, when cinema, radio and TV began to be the primary or only source of information for most of the population, these media became the central instruments of mass control.<ref name="Lorimer94p26"/><ref name="Vipond2000p88"/> When a country reaches a [[advanced capitalism|high level of industrialisation]], the country itself "belongs to the person who controls communications".<ref name="Eco67"/>

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.<ref name="Lorimer94p26"/> 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.<ref name="Vipond2000p88"/> Mass media also play a crucial role in the spread of civil unrest activities such as anti-government demonstrations, riots and general strikes.<ref name="civil">{{cite journal |last1=Braha |first1=Dan |title=Global Civil Unrest: Contagion, Self-Organization, and Prediction |journal=PLOS ONE |date=31 October 2012 |volume=7 |issue=10 |pages=e48596 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0048596 |pmid=23119067 |pmc=3485346 |bibcode=2012PLoSO...748596B |doi-access=free }}</ref> 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.<ref name="civil"/>

Media artist [[Joey Skaggs]] has demonstrated the ease with which mass media can be manipulated using fabricated press releases, staged events, and fictitious experts. His long-running series of media hoaxes reveal how news outlets can be drawn to sensational narratives, often publishing stories with minimal fact-checking. Skaggs' work has been cited as a critique of journalistic practices and a case study in the vulnerabilities of modern media systems.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Harold |first=Christine |date=2004-09-01 |title=Pranking rhetoric: “culture jamming” as media activism |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0739318042000212693 |journal=Critical Studies in Media Communication |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=189–211 |doi=10.1080/0739318042000212693 |issn=1529-5036}}</ref>

[[File:Virginia Minstrels, 1843.jpg|thumb|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.]]
[[File:Bettie Page driving.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|A magazine feature from ''Beauty Parade'' from March 1952 stereotyping women drivers. It features [[Bettie Page]] as the model.]]
[[File:TheUsualIrishWayofDoingThings (cr).jpg|thumb|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|Stereotype}}
{{Globalize|section|date=March 2015}}

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.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Powers |first1=Shawn |last2=el-Nawawy |first2=Mohammed |title=Al-Jazeera English and global news networks: clash of civilizations or cross-cultural dialogue? |journal=Media, War & Conflict |date=December 2009 |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=263–284 |doi=10.1177/1750635209345185 |s2cid=144850273 }}</ref>

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.<ref name="Mass Media and Racism"/> 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 segregation|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.<ref name="Mass Media and Racism"/> Mass media, as well as [[propaganda]], tend to reinforce or introduce [[stereotype]]s to the general public.