What Do Academic Studies of News Production Tell about the Way Journalism Shapes Our Understanding of the World - Term Paper Example

Media and Society What do academic studies of news production tell us about the way journalism shapes our understanding of the world Submittedto: (Professors' Name) Author's name January 13, 2009 Many theories have arisen overtime which deal with the impact that media and its different mediums have had on the way people perceive political, social, economic forces and systems. In recent times, the spread of media has been vast and has played an instrumental role in bridging bridges between nations and states. As Marshall McLuhan so aptly put it" the medium is the message" and he even suggested that the mass media was becoming a "global village". Journalism too is a medium which is used by different forces in order to portray the external environment which affects all of us in various ways. In order to analyze the effects that journalism has had on the society, it is imperative that it be studied in all of its dimensions-including the journalistic practices, norms, routines, and values which apply to different social situations. Firstly, one thing that can be understood is that journalism can never be totally objective since journalists are incapable of totally isolating and alienating their personal beliefs and opinions regarding an issue from the stories that they ultimately do produce.( Soloski 1989) Journalists too are a part of the social network and values on which they report and hence, the element of bias does affect them all. As Berkowitz stated in his research findings, that journalists will inevitable view events against the background of these values. In fact, journalists themselves oppose many of the ideas which have been brought forward by the academicians' due to the difference in thought and schools of thought. This can be depicted by the varying values to which both adhere to and even in the social role that we see the journalists portraying in the society today. In the 8th and 19th century, the perception of Journalists was redefined and it is this definition which most people still belong to. If one was to see to analyze the objective journalist, one can trace it back to the Penny Press, which cultivated this image and role of the journalist. The twentieth century saw the rise of the more neutral and objective journalist image, one who does not let personal biases get in the way of his portrayal of the stories and news. A person who is guided by matters of fact alone and personal opinion does not play a role in the depiction of the news items. After all the news and stories have been gathered, they are in fact evaluated in order to remove and personal biases and opinions effect on the news item. However, this so called neutrality mode of the journalist has been challenged by many academicians over time. Different models and approaches have been presented to negate such an image and idea. One such model was presented during the 19th century period, and it was defined as the advocacy model. This model argued the fact that the journalist was used as a neutral person to present events and stories. It stated that the journalist should rather be a mere observer rather than providing his own opinion and voice to the story. Another model which criticized the role of the journalist was the defined as the New Journalism mode, which not only questioned the matter but the style of presentation as well. According to this model reality can be presented without allowing for any sort of intervention or interpretation to mar it. In this model, reality is framed by literary texts and hence, impersonal viewpoint is the main focus area. Another model which has challenged the notion of public journalism model-which portrays the journalistic presentation of the news items free from any biases of any sort. Due to these variations of perception of the journalist and his presentation of the story items, there has always been a clash of opinion between the journalist and the journalist researcher. Several studies have pointed it out that of the major reasons for the journalists letting personal opinion mar the objectivity of the news report is due to the fact that most journalists have no prior educational experience and background and their experience is gained from their work. Journalistic researchers have different approaches to the research that they ultimately carry out and the production of those news reports. One of approach to journalistic research, defined as institutional approach, focuses on the social mapping and networking of news work. Another approach called Gate keeping, addresses journalistic research in terms providing between the individual and the social network. One issue that occurs with the institutional approach is the fact that it differentiates between items which are considered to be more newsworthy and those which are less newsworthy. This variation in the research itself fallows the bias of the researcher to ultimately have a hand in the presentation of events as well. Also, those areas where news stations are already present would have more airtime than more remote regions as a result of the already availability of facilities and set up. That adds to the element of biasness as certain regions news is therefore considered more important than other areas. In those cases where friendships between competing news networks occurs, there is a probability of the news reporting to be biased as the reporting is affected by the peers perceptions and notions. Hence, in order to climb the social ladder journalists identify those news items which would ensure them more airtime and would get them more noticed. Therefore, the audience would also be aware of certain "strategic" new stories and news reports while at the same unaware of other less strategic ones due to the interpretation of the journalists. The above theory was examined by a number of academicians such as Gans who outlined the connection between journalists and their sources. (Gans 1979) As quoted by Sigal" news is not what happens, but what someone says has happened or will happen."(Sigal 1986) As the world has increasingly become a complex and global village, the barriers between the various regions and the nations have dissolved. Journalists are the medium or rather the arbitrator body between the various institutions and the public. The influence of this very medium has can be witnessed by the crackdowns on it by the governments in order to curb this influence on the public. The political system has become increasingly reliant on this medium as can be witnessed by the huge amount of expenditure carried out by the current President-elect of USA; Barack Obama, for the purposes of a massive media campaign. Journalists are not mere devices but in fact a part and parcel of the biases, preferences and cultural values which the entire society belongs to. Therefore, whenever a news report gets published or broadcasted it is done so through the insight of these very cultural traditions and background. As noted by Carey in his study, the journalist is no longer viewed as a quasi scientist who observes the events on from the outside but is in fact a part of the process as he is someone who represents the society.(Carey 2000) According to Zelizer, journalists are not mere professionals belonging to a particular institution or body but in fact a part of the community which they report about-"united through its shared discourse and collective interpretations of key public events." Therefore, not only is the journalistic interpretation of events marred by the broader social context but also by the narrower interpretation since he belongs to this very society.(Zelizer 1993) Being a vessel of the society means that he is aware of the events that could be used to attract the audience and his attention and is at the same time his personal biases could impact the reporting. (McLuhan 1964) Media and its ramifications can be perceived and analyzed with a backdrop of the cultural influences that function within the media. If these same slightly biased and local journalists are operating in the media circles, then the news reporting would certainly be affected. It would no longer be bias-free but the journalists' would be reporting more about news items which would be more "interesting", "fascinating" and easier to report about. The media influence and its extent can be measured in terms of the social and cultural impact that it has had on society. Through print media etc, it has been able to not only target a larger area but at the same time bring regional and international interests into common with each other. A model presented by Denis McQuail called as the Uses and Gratifications model lays stress upon the reason why media has such an important role in influencing people's perceptions, notions and ideas about political, economic and social systems and institutions. It presented four reasons as to why this influence did exist and on the scale that it did. One of the significant reasons is that the audience identified with the roles, ideas, perceptions presented by the media.() The journalists belong usually to the region of operations and therefore, they have local insight into the society's mindset. Therefore, the audience is targeted with the appropriate sort of news casting and reporting. The effects theory outlines the fact that media can influence political campaigns, commercial advertising and business operations as well. An example can be quoted of famous trials such as of celebrities such as Michael Jackson and Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle whose trials were published and garnered much media attention even before the trial began. Thus, the audience had already gotten influenced and had certain notions about the trial before the trial's beginning. Greg Philo, the author of 1991 article "Seeing is believing" highlighted how the 1984 strikes carried out by the miners was in fact connected to the way the media had presented the event. Another significant study that was carried out by McCombs and Shaw highlighted an important fact-the correlation between the political campaign carried out by the media and its subsequent effect on the voters. (McCombs &Shaw 1972) This study was carried out during the 1968 presidential elections and a representative sample was asked to show the key issues that they considered being important ones. The media had already highlighted certain issues which were considered to be important ones according to them and both the results proved to have a number of findings in common. Thus, it was established through the findings of this study that : the evidence in this study that voters tend to share the media's composite definition of what is important strongly suggests an agenda setting function of the mass media". Louis Wirth and Talcott Parsons have stressed upon the way media is used as medium of social control. This theory was further substantiated upon with the notion presented by Jean Baudrillard" hyper reality"-according to which media not only presented a certain idea or belief but in fact had a major hand in cultivating the sort of image that was presented. (David 2005) Journalism does not merely paint a picture but in fact chooses the sort of images and colors that go in the image as well. As David Lerner (1958) stressed in his study that as a result of media and the sort of image that it was projecting worldwide, a number of nations' and regions which were operating on a traditional level started to become more westernized and modernized with time. The expansion of the media, in the developing world, according to this study has been huge as the locals of these areas are more susceptible to the influence of the media than in the west. Hence, quoting the examples of South Asian nations such as Pakistan and India, the recent expansion in the media has been huge as a number of news channels and entertainment channels have recently opened up. According to Jurgen Habermas, the transition of the absolutist regime to the liberal-democratic was carried out as a result of the influence of the media upon the society and its framework. According to Habermas, there was the emergence of the bourgeois sphere which allowed the different individuals of society to assimilate and evaluate information. (Habermas 1962) Therefore, it has been shown that how in various forms and ways media and journalism have impacted the way that these audiences and people have perceived the different organizations and systems functioning within the external environment. Whether it is the person who society chooses as the leader, or the way people perceive their won cultural values, journalism and media has had a major role to play in influencing the final opinion that people have had. (Berkowitz 1997) Not to be constricted by regional boundaries, it has allowed regions to be interconnected and for people to have access to more information than ever before. Internet facility has allowed the perception of the people to be heard as well but what cannot be undermined is that it is an opinion which is in response to the image projected by the media. The various schools of thought and academicians above all presented integral notions regarding an issue which has abolished entire political regimes while creating new ones. References Sigal, L. V. (1986). "Sources Make the News." Reading the News. New York: Pantheon. McLuhan, M. (1964). "Understanding media, the extensions of man." New York: McGraw-Hill. Gans, H. J. (1979). "Deciding What News is:"a study of CBS evening news, NBC nightly news, Newsweek, and Time. New York: Pantheon. Carey, J. W. (2000, V. 1)." Some Personal Notes on Journalism Education". Journalism, pp. 12-23. Berkowitz, D. (1997). Social Meanings of News: A Text-Reader. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage Publications. Zelizer B. (1993a, 43(4)). Has Communication Explained Journalism Journal of Communication,pp. 80-88. Soloski, J. (1989, V. 11). "News Reporting and Professionalism". Media, Culture & Society, pp. 207-228 Habermas, J. (1962), The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. McCombs, M & Shaw, D.L. (1972), 'The Agenda-setting Function of the Mass Media', Public Opinion Quarterly, 73, pp176-187 Gauntlett, David (2005), Moving Experiences - Second Edition: Media Effects and Beyond, London: John Libbey Read More