Philosophy of Mass Communication - Essay Example

?Philosophy of Mass Communication Mass Communication is believed to be a task of delivering information, ideas and attitudes to a sizable and diversified audience via use of media developed for that purpose which seems much difficult than to communicate through face to face. The revenue of mass communication comes from the following sources Advertising revenue Circulation revenue, The audience generated revenues, Private support Government subsidies However people living in advanced nations are also interested to make charitable contributions to organizations such as Save the Children, UNCF and Autism Speaks that partially performing mass communication activities. The people nevertheless, have to make a rational decision in terms of paying for public donations such as mass media or charitable donations. The value of making a public donation needs to be kept in mind because it is largely responsible for keep the national systems running throughout the world. Mass media although seems simple but also has its own code of ethics and conduct, which the companies have to follow and the audience, will judge them as well. Donating to mass media appears reasonable as everyone nowadays is interested to believe in mass and social media. Charitable donations nonetheless have their own significance and importance and funding them is equally important regarding provision of support to media. As being a part of same country, every person has to perform its duties towards those who are being going through several downturns and problems of life. Therefore before donating, any person should consider his or her monthly income, his or her own personal expenses, and then should decide the level of donation he or she can make and should also perform a detailed research about legitimacy of the companies to which he or she is going to make a donation. The next step that is to be done is to see which organization requires the most and the donor has to donate accordingly and reasonably. The right of every organization needs to be considered in a local city at least. Roles of Railroads The railroads on the other hand, played an important role in the United States and It was an epic function at that time and therefore, it involved enterprises on a great scale that had quite a cash surplus too. Atlas shrugged has written “In a time between 1946-1957 in United States”. The novel was led by major characters like Dagny Taggart, James Taggart and John Galt. The basic theme of the novel was that US was experiencing a time where there was recession and facing a downward economic spiral in businesses (Notes 2013). Dagny at that time was the in charge of the Traggart Transcontinental Rail Road who was seeking to rebuild the crumbling track of Rio Norte Line. It also served for oil fields in the blooming industry of Colorado. Dagny throughout the novel shows her devotion to the railroads but faces several enemies who wanted to destroy her dreams. She has her first conflict between her brother regarding contracting with Rearden steel to build the railroads and then she had a fight with a manufacturer who was James’ old friend, She trusted Hayn Rearden more as she found her steel to be more reliable. The sensible decision needs to be made in a disturbed economic situation where Dagny faced the loss of her majority of skilled workforce. The case further worsens when the Traggart Transcontinental Railroad gets nationalized and Dagny experiences a main trauma. After seeking political aid a new law passes which takes the major competitor out of the business. Dagny however comes to know that there are certain people who want her out of the business world and she was facing huge losses. On the other hand, she starts working with Rearden in order to build the metal bridge but even then they face difficulties as the government considers Rearden’s metal to be not reliable and there again comes an end to Traggart Transcontinental’s works and then they finally decide to invest in John Galt’s Line. After their successful attempt they find a motor that was able to draw static electricity and could convert it into usable energy but was now destroyed. Dagny and Rearden therefore thought to find its inventor and invest in its development as transportation industry is going to be highly benefitted from the concept. At the same time, she is losing her railroads as she and her company is under great governmental pressure. The major industrialist with whom she was directly or indirectly attached have been withdrawing from the industry and Dagny has to experience several cuts in her trains’ schedule. Eventually the hiding enemy does his work and puts Dagny into great trouble. Gradually Traggart Transcontinental operations are forced to shut down and as the government passes the radical directive Dagny decided to withdraw from her Railroads. The story mainly revolves around the basic theme of railroads and Dagny inherited love of the railroads from her father. (Notes 2013) Technological Determinism (TD) Technological determinism is the idea to determine the importance of what technology has on our lives (Mcluchun n.d.). It also states that media technology shapes how in a society we think, act or feel etc and how our society operates as we move from one technology to other. There are certain suppositions that state that the theory of Technological determinism is more like Ontological Assumptions, Axiological Assumptions and Epistemological Assumptions. Its scientific theory states that as technology changes the culture or society changes to reflect the alternation. There is also a theory known as Falsifiability which states that if the technology is introduced and the system does not change that this can prove that the technology is an ineffective one in the local setting at least. Technology development can take place in any field such as politics, culture, geography, society etc. At the broadest level TD has analyzed many changes such as moment of global economy from feudalism to capitalism and then globalization kicked and transformed the world into a global village. For some people, this seems to be a very helpful tool whereas for others it could be a major problem. The capitalist or industrialist society is another example of TD. The above novel discussed the main happening of the technology change and how the society initiated moving to a capitalist society showing the technology development. Social media The social media as seen has a great effect on any nation. As in the case of developed nations almost everyone could afford a laptop, computer or a powerful handheld and therefore stay in touch with the daily happenings of the world.. The media has a great influence on people as it has greatly influenced their minds over ages. People have now become much aware of the latest trends and fashions just by observing media. This shows that the Technology determinism has had a great effect in developed nations because it is closely linked with economic prosperity. The social media could be manifesting itself in any form such as TV, Radio, internet. Therefore social media has a great influence on people and even people can influence the media by describing their choices and preferences and giving feedback. These are also those who regulate the media by striking or taking legal action where they find some problems. Propaganda in terms of mass media The first and the basic evil propaganda techniques were used by Nazis which were created in the third Reich by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis Party (Org 2019). They not only had violence depth but also uttered great propagandas which are discussed below in detail. Symbolic imagery like posters was used, which was powerful means to communicate to a wide range of audience psychologically. Radio an another controlling mass media was recognized as the most important tool used in propagandas as at that time radio was the new technology and people were greatly influenced by it. Film and Cinema was known as controlling the social sphere which showed the documentaries of how they attacked the Jews. Newspapers were considered to be the most important tool which influenced the thoughts and opinions of the people. The working definition of propaganda means the spreading of ideas, information or rumor injuring an organization or an individual. In media propaganda has been in place for around thousands of years (Edge n.d.) and with the advent of technologies its power increased manifold. Nowadays propaganda can be spread to a mass group of people in a blink of an eye. The current commercials running on TV where different propaganda techniques are being used by political candidates to make themselves appear highly noble and pious in comparison to their competitors and it is a very viable example of propaganda in media. Same goes for different channels that are making different dramas to promote propaganda and the case of the film industry is also the same. This can be done through various mediums like radio, TV, Internet, posters, film and many more. Hence propaganda is an important part to consider as it covers substantial number of audiences across borders. Some of the commonly used propaganda techniques are Projection/Flipping, Bullying, Confusion, Rewriting history, Scapegoating and even Diversion etc (Boaz 2011). These have been used by conservatives in the modern world of the 21st century. The propagandas in general thusly give life to a new topic that has the ethical implications in the society. It has been revealed that so far Internet, TV, Radio, newspapers have been dominant sources of communication in the world but these tools of communication have significant ethical implications too. If amongst a range of audience only some are allowed to speak for their right whilst others are not then this may result in conflict between various factions of the community and it also an unethical act. It seems that the monopoly in current media environment interferes with the right to free expression of the majority of people in society thereby creating barriers in the way of truth and this gives rise to ethical implications. The effect of ownership greatly affects the media and also the minds of the people such as the Chain Ownership received a lot of attention in the industry. News reporting patterns were found to be connected to the ownership pattern. Independently owned daily newspapers had more stories and therefore more reportorial efforts. Therefore various mediums had various ethical issues that have to be considered and resolved. References Boaz,Cynthia. "Fourteen Propaganda Techniques Fox "News" Uses to Brainwash Americans." news Analysis, 2011. Edge. Media's Use of Propaganda to Persuade People's Attitude, Beliefs and Behaviors. http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/war_peace/media/hpropaganda.html. MCLUHAN, MARSHALL. Techonological Determinisim. http://www.doctordi.ca/COMS201/TechDeterminism.html. Notes, Cliff. Atlas Shrugged. 2013. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/atlas-shrugged/book-summary. Notes, Spark. Atlas Shrugged. 2013. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/atlasshrugged/canalysis.html. Org, Brains. 10 most evil proagandas used by Nazis. http://brainz.org/10-most-evil-propaganda-techniques-used-nazis/. Read More