The Field of Mass Media and the Instruments of Mass Broadcasting - Research Paper Example

136335 PRESENTATION CASE STUDY: Gang Rape by five men of a young woman in Darling Harbour, Sidney and the incident, unknown to rapists, was caughton the CCTV. This is a completely media dominated issue and is used as case study. Darling Harbour, the most popular touring resort, was bewildered when a young women, whom rapists called prostitute was attacked in a crowded night. Research on the case could be conducted using minimum number of audience representing various perspectives. Each audience could act as a researcher with personal angles and issues to probe.

Methodology depends on use of Critical Discourse Analysis. Techniques are direct set of questions that any researcher could ask. POINTS TO BE COVERED: 1. Darling Harbour is the popular holiday resort. Visitors are people in their holidays, passing by, backpackers, and hitchhikers. As they cannot be caught easily, perhaps they are indulging in horrifying crimes, considering the reports of repeated rapes 2. This was predominantly media circulated story. It is essential to know that media had been unbiased throughout its reporting and distorting reality had not taken place.

It is a fact that more media dependent people become, interaction with other humans lessens proportionately and our understanding of human nature diminishes. "As media remain a primary information and entertainment source, many scholars express concern that interpersonal discussions about important social topics will continue to decline leading to accelerated civic and social disengagement of the audience members, Wicks (2001, p.5). 3. Is this a cultural tradition handed down by Wild West movies 4.

If in reality, the victim is a prostitute, how could the men be justified in forcing their attention on an unwilling prostitute and it has to be treated as rape, even though it was not violent and here, it was a violent sexual assault, which has no justification. It is wrong to presume that prostitutes do not have morality or lack the power of saying no. 5. Media coverage had been overwhelming. Media can produce mass hysteria, sway people's minds, alter opinions, force accused to be flushed out into open, create awareness and question if incident was isolated.

It has to be probed if media had been successful in this case. 6. It is important to know why the case was hidden from media and public for 8 weeks, even though it is said to be hampering investigation and this could be entirely true; but has to be verified. 7. Presence of two Muslims amongst accused has created a cultural question. There were comments that free democracy with emphasis on personal gratification and freedom without fear of divine is responsible for such tragedies. Also it is told that Islam is the only way out.

(Based on articles in http://forums.muslimvillage.net/lofiversion/index.php/t25335.html). It would be interesting to know how many people would agree with this viewpoint. 8. One of the accused being a teenager raises the question of morality amongst school going children and makes it necessary to find if he was under influence of alcohol, or was he used by his older colleagues, or if psychological treatment is necessary. 9. It is important to know how far mass communication has influenced culture, where its clout is considered to be of paramount importance.

"While mass media necessarily fall within the range of cultural studies, the latter has a much wider range of reference, and there is only a limited overlap of issues and theory," says |McQuail (2005, p.112). It is important to know how far this could be applied to present case. 10. It is also necessary to find out that mass media, in its zeal to present sensation, has not overstepped the line of truth, which happens quite often. "In the process of amassing its impressive bulk of empirical findings, the field of mass media research has also perforce been certifying as normal precisely what it might have been investigating as problematic, namely the vast reach and scope of the instruments of mass broadcasting, especially television," says Gitlin in Mcquail ((2002, p.26). .

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. McQuail, Denis (2005), McQuail's Mass Communication Theory, 5th edn., Sage Publications, London. 2. McQuail, Denis (2002), ed. McQuail's Reader in Mass Communication Theory, 2nd edn., Sage Publications, London. 3. Wicks, Robert H. (2001), Understanding Audiences, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, London. ONLINE SOURCES: 1. http://forums.muslimvillage.net/lofiversion/index.php/t25335.html 2.