The Role of Media in Contemporary Societies - Essay Example

How Media Views Audience The role of media in contemporary societies has been to intense speculations and controversies. Media, in essence, has the capacity to function as a propagandist tool to voice certain political or institutionalised beliefs. Electronic media in particular often plays a catalytic role in developing and fostering biased audience or consumers. Audience research reveals that television, internet or other forms of visual media often has a telling effect upon the psyche of consumers, causing them to act not out of their own accords, but according to what they are being given to consume. On the contrary, media should play a responsible role in relation with particular social, cultural or ethical issues that are of immediate concern to a community. It is imperative for media to show the audience how to make free choices, in line with their liberal, democratic and subjective stakes. But the reality often speaks of a different story – a story of needless and oppressive tyranny of thought and reason. An umpteen number of cases bear witness to strict regulations being imposed on audience in the name of research, which, in actuality, puts under cover the critical issue of freedom for audience. Controlling mechanisms unleashed by media correspond in no way to the arbitrary liberty given to audience. Given that we are talking about a democratic and sovereign society controlled by a rational-minded and transparent body of administrators, we should refrain from allowing us the luxury of thinking that audience psychology follows a unilateral and meek direction. They are the backbone of any market, be it essential commodities or real estate. Therefore, their opinions should hold as the word of mouth when it comes to dealing with media discourses on an academic level. Ien Ang, an expert in media discourses, cultural studies, and international relations, shares some interesting perspectives on how media views its audience under rapidly changing paradigm of global politics and economy. One of the most critically acclaimed viewpoints of hers deals with the critical political economy of media. This theory is to be assessed in this paper, with reference to how media audience is subjected to scrutiny normative parameters of ethnography, culture, and politics of economy. Any research work of substantial scope and extent is bound to be organised on a diversified set of factors. Similarly, media research, as an independent field of investigation, is grounded on ethnographic probes. Under a given socio-cultural setup, a group of audience has in common certain aspects of living that are carried on from one generation to another. What is more important within an ethnographic framework is that the indigenous clan has its root firmly fixed on past trends. So for a researcher to get a comprehensive insight into the traditional aspects of audience, it is imperative that sh/e must amass enough empirical data to identify patterns that are key to giving an accurate and objective picture of the group concerned. What is even more important is that research initiatives on media audience must be taken on an equitable platform, so that consumers belonging to a homogenous milieu can express their points of view in an unperturbed manner, not having to worry about the consequences of their actions. Ien Ang states that socio-economic factors are rarely taken into consideration when media studies are conducted under specific preconditions (Ang 1996:153). On the contrary, allowing for community leverage has almost become a utopian conjecture in ethnographic researches. Instead, political authority has taken an upper hand in manipulating research outcomes which should otherwise be treated as strictly objective findings not having anything to do with imperialistic agenda or politicised statements. The term ‘critical’ in Ang’s critical political economy view has an eponymous significance per se. the usage of this term immediately distinguishes the research approach as different from loose and diabolic methodologies. Also, it narrows down the approach to a combination of theoretical probes amply backed by empirical findings. Hence, when we talk about the political economy of a given society in which media audience holds a distinctive stake, we invariably try to link up relevant theories with actual reports of sales and consumption. Subsequently the purview of the study becomes broader and more acute, as probability theories become an important research tool just as the Marxist conceptualisation of modern society does. It is relevant to note in the context of Marxism that most of the global media houses have been allegedly practising cultural imperialism to impede development of communication for peoples of the developing countries (Wasserman 2010:52). It is evident from the introductory part of this essay that performing such deliberations does not augur well either for a healthy media expansion or for the purpose of mass enlightenment at large. By means of articulating subjective viewpoints in the guise of neo-liberalism, postmodern institutions foreclose the possibility of involving native cultures in a global drive for customised and free trade. The viability of Ang’s critical political economy theory becomes apparent in this context. Quite clearly, the theory posits that indigenous forces of a nation need to participate in effective media communication, in order to thwart ploys of political indoctrinations and other forms of instrumentalism. Ang theorises that social and cultural studies do not endorse pragmatic stagnations in any way. Since society consists of diversified trends and beliefs that are perpetually at flux with one another, seeking further progress, there is really no chance of getting stuck with a predefined notion of passivity. Instead, audience research should be approached critically keeping view of the massive impetus of political structuralism. The author notes that television audience holds one of the keys to successful media research. Television being a medium of multipurpose interests airs all sorts of programmes, for everyone in a household. This multifaceted nature of television can be best understood by conducting relevant audience research. What is important in the context of television audience is how they are driven to elicit positivist responses most of the times. If one goes by mere theoretical attempts to analyse television audience and their responses, it would have to be based on hypothetical premises not having firm empirical backing (Ang 1991:172), which would surely jeopardise the purpose of investigation. In essence, Ien Ang’s notion of the media audience from the perspective of political economy is rooted in early attempts to understand capitalism. At the outset of capitalistic marketplaces in Europe, wealth was treated to be the governing principle upon which media communications involving circulation of capitals revolved. It was not before the nineteenth century that political class consciousness came to the fore of economic frameworks, thereby gaining a socio-cultural mileage of its own (Meehan and Riordan 2002:18). What Ang introduces is, therefore, nothing new in the ambit of neoclassical economist approaches to media studies. But her contribution is still significant because of its argumentative nature and relevance to postmodern conditions of wealth. She successfully bridges the discursive gap between the procedural aspects of wealth distribution and media discourses. According to Durham and Kellner (2006), Ien Ang succeeds in distinguishing her thesis on critical political economy from other media related isms (312). To conclude, we must say that it is rather problematic to identify any clear line of demarcation between prevalent audience research and Ang’s insightful theory. Hence, comparison is better to be avoided, particularly on the basis of other popular commodity theories of mass communication. Each has its unique paradigm in the context of cultural studies within informed quarters of each nation-state. List of References Ang, I. (1996) Living Room Wars. London: CRC Press ---. (1991) Desperately seeking the audience. New York: Routledge Durham, M. G., and Kellner, D. (2006) Media and cultural studies: keyworks, 2nd edn. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell Meehan, E. R., and Riordan, E. (2002) Sex & money: feminism and political economy in the media. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press Wassermann, H. (2010) Tabloid Journalism in South Africa: True Story!. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press Read More