Mass Media as a Social Institution - Essay Example

Mass media as a social instituition Terrorism and the Politics of Fear is a reflection of the use of the“fear symbols” in politics that has reached high levels in the 21st century. It covers a wide range on how the social “fear” is constructed by the respective government through various means. The fear created is then manipulated and used to amend some of the public and foreign policy. It is suggested that the crime prevention projects and anti-terrorism efforts and campaigns, are some of the tactics used to illicit the social fear hence becoming a broad social control systems that don’t make us safer but invariable makes us less free. It talks about how citizen surveillance has been taken on a higher level but is used to prevent crime and states that the fear instilled in the society leads to citizens giving up easily on their civil liberties and privacy, which gives the pushing forces more controlling power (Altheide). Mass media is considered to be a social institution. A social institution is usually given a definition as an organization that is highly crucial to the socialization process; this is through providing a support system for various individuals in their struggle to become members of a larger social network(Art Silverblatt).Traditionally, social institutions such as church, government, school and family were used to provide individuals with the knowledge and the social skills needed to successfully integrate into the society. Through these institutions, people were able to learn the various things accepted and not accepted in the society, and also be able to communicate with others through various means, such as language, appearance or actions if we were to be part of the society. In Church, through religious doctrines and beliefs, we learnt how to live with one another In school we were taught the professional ways and how to be part of the educated mass (Cristol).. Through the government, we were able to learn of law and order, justice and criminalities and the punishment of violating any of the laid down societal rules. In the family setting, more was learnt including loving and caring for others, close relationship with other people, and the vital knowledge on how to live in the world with one another, that was passed down from the parents to their children through their every day life. For a larger part of our history, these were the known institutions that educated and natured us into a society (Art Silverblatt). At the end of the 20th Century, there was an emergence of mass media which through different televised programmes, movies, radio, and the fast growth of the internet use has now become the dominant social institution globally, by catering for different needs of society and even in educating its masses. In a highly digitalized world that is fast-moving, mass media comes in handy providing a platform easily accessed through modern developed technology, hence making the traditional social institutions redundant in their former active roles of educating the society (Cristol). People are increasingly turning to the media for direction in rules and behavior in a society, while being given a sense of membership through the different programmes watched. Cultural lifestyle has been highly affected as people schedule their daily routines based on the media scheduled programming, hence affecting what we hear, listen to, say and do day to day. Due to the availability of different kinds of information in the internet, and the fact that its relayed instantaneously, it has now taken a lead role in educating the society and fulfilling personal preferences and ideals (Mendelsohn). In the western society, privately owned media houses were never established with the intention of serving as a social institution. Instead, their aim was to attract audience by any means possible and make a profit for the company and the organization that funds them (Conlin and Hempel). Though in state-owned media houses, the media’s powerful influence is used as a social institution and it’s fully realized by using it to convey various messages to the audiences on what to think and what to do. This enables the government to maintain political agendas and used to ensure public opinion is positive and passive, therefore ensuring social stability. Due to the large numbers of privately owned media firms in the western society, most of the content aired is of no benefit to the society, but just used to attract audience and generate revenue (Mendelsohn). With this kind of intentions, harmful and subjective content can be easily included in the normal programming, which is increasingly used as society’s moral guidance and support; therefore, monitoring is required to limit the messages conveyed to the audience. Mass media has been used by other government to promote fear among its citizens. This is done by airing news and various popular-culture messages that are sure to cause unrest among the audience. Altheide argues that this fear is created best when the messages and meanings are part of a broader culture and are recognized the mass audience takes it for granted. The politics of fear reflect on the major changes that have taken place in the media fraternity in the past fifty years (Conlin and Hempel). An historical example is where Hitler proposed that a “big lie” would be believed if presented in simple Black-and-white and repeated severally to the audience. This form of manipulation is widely used today as mass media is used to promote familiarity and repetitive images and slogans about high crime rates and terrorism (Art Silverblatt). A great deal of public takes on the perspective that is portrayed by the various media houses and especially in news broadcasting. At our time, news is the most powerful resource for public definition. Media logic has become a great part of the society, where it’s used in seeing and interpreting social issues. This is attributed to the trust the public has bestowed on the media houses to provide true and non-biased information (Mendelsohn). People tend to forget that information can be transmitted, ideas presented, various moods expressed and even business conducted through media. But usually there is the concern that media will distort the information given in different ways to ensure its appealing to its audience. This distortion can lead to misunderstanding of the information intended to be put across (Conlin and Hempel). This fear of media has been termed by others as conspiracy, in which powerful moguls intentionally set out to determine the character of the behavior: what people learn, what they buy, how they vote and even what they believe in (Altheide). Virtually all of the original social institutions have been greatly affected by mass media, popular culture and the development in the information and technology sector. One of the most general impacts has been a move toward entertainment orientation, that is widely accepted by the audience and it is involved in institutional activities (Cristol). The results are known as “media culture” as the cultures that will be practiced would have been formerly presented in the media. In a broad perspective, it refers to the character of institutions such as religion, sports or politics that develop through the use of media, will lead to a society displaying the so called media culture. This happens since most of these institutions have been changed by the media in a manner that is acceptable and entertaining to the audience, hence compromising some of the essential goals (Art Silverblatt). The logical existence of media is to convey messages to their audience. The message should be useful in part of their life in one or another. Though, due to increased greed of the media houses and their need to increase their revenue without minding the kind of content aired, this has led to powerful people and governments to use the media to satisfy their personal needs (Conlin and Hempel). This has seen several negativity and criticism about government issues being buried and dwelling on minor issues and making them big headlines hence diverting the attention of the society to less useful matters. This practice is all over the world from one government to another, a trend that has really seen the media rubbished and people’s trust on them dropping down in large numbers (Cristol). The media as a social institution should therefore uphold their integrity and standards to promote a better society by giving truthful information and not allowing to be manipulated by the government or any other form of organization. With all this considered, then the society can then safely rely on the media as a recommendable social institution. References Art Silverblatt. (2001) Media Literacy: Keys to Interpreting Media Messages. Approaches to the Study of Media Literacy. Greenwood press. Conlin, M., & Hempel, J. (2003, October 20). Unmarried America.Business Week,3854, 106. Cristol, H. (2002, November/December). Losing religion, keeping faith. Futurist,36(6), p. 14. David L. Altheid. (2006). Terrorism and the politics of fear. Altamira press. Mendelsohn, H. (1966).Mass entertainment. New Haven, CT: College & University Press. Read More