The Fundamental Characteristics of Media Power and Its Relationship to Other Forms of Power - Literature review Example

THE FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MEDIA POWER AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER FORMS OF POWER by The media has always been important in the society because it has massive power that influences a wide variety of issues in the world ranging from politics, fashion, economy, peace and personal issues among other issues. As such, the concept of media power has attracted attention among scholars all over the world especially as it relates to other forms of power. To understand how media influences other aspects in the world, it is important to understand the fundamental characteristics of media power. Media power affects key decision-making and the ideologies that are formulated in different areas and spheres of life. This paper, therefore, discusses the fundamental characteristics of media power and its relationship with other forms of power. In the discussion of media power, Freeman (2014) states clearly that it is no longer controversial to suggest that the media is powerful as a social actor in the society. He then asks important questions regarding media power. He asks, “What is the nature of this power and Does it refer to people, institutions, processes, or capacities? (Freeman 2014:319).Freeman acknowledges that despite the fact that media power cannot be conceived as a tangible or visible property in its exercise, it is a relationship that exists between different interests conceived in struggles for a range of objectives that include influence, control, legitimization and status. Media power is not a new concept because it has been in existence for a long time. Media has had its influences in terms of issues of specific technological aspects on historical events, the effect of books on reformation, pamphlets in the French revolution and also the press in the cultivation of democracy in the United States of America (Freedman, 2014:322). This shows that the media power has been felt historically throughout the world and is not a new concept, for instance attributed to technological innovations. The prospects for contesting media power have become smaller today than ever because it has become a reality that media has real and strong power. For example, a combination of global media trends has diminished the quantity, diversity and quality of political affairs in the mass media. Media power is symbolic and persuasive in a general sense because the media has the potential of controlling the minds of the consumers of the media whether in writing, audio, video or live coverage. However, the media is not powerful in the sense of physical, coercive power. However, it is powerful in terms of controlling intentions, knowledge, plans, opinions and beliefs towards certain issues in the society. This means that the media is powerful in terms of influencing the mental representations of people. However, despite the pervasive and symbolic power of the media, the audience of different forms of the media engages actively in the use of information, knowledge, perception or the point of view that they get from the media. However, despite the power that the media has, some people can still manage to resist the persuasion of the media with regard to certain issues (Couldry, 2003:38). Another important characteristic of media power relates to the issue of access. Power is generally based on access to resources. The media makes it possible for people to access different forms of information that influences them in different ways. For instance, the access to public discourse is made possible by mass media. The mass media is an important tool in terms of helping people make different kinds of decisions based on the information that the media provides. As such, because people have the power to make decisions and act on those decisions, then it would be sensible to point out that media is powerful in terms of its influence in decision-making. Despite the fact that it is widely understood that the media has power, there has been confusion as to what actually is meant when one states that media has power. As freedman (2014) states, this confusion has been caused by two main issues of power that include consensual power to and the more coercive power over. This has caused a tension between understanding power because of individual regulation and also acting as a source of domination (Freedman, 2014:321). The consensual power of the media gives people the chance to decide for themselves what they take in from the general information given by the media and act on it. on the other hand, the coercive form of power forces people to act on the information provided by the media. As such, questions and confusion has mounted as to whether the media has consensual or coercive power. Providing an answer to these questions and confusion is a difficult thing to do because people consume information from the media differently depending on the information being given, the intellectual level of the audience and also how the information will potentially affect the audience’s life. For example, the media can give information that a storm is coming and will lead to mass destruction of property. This information could be coercive in the sense that it will force some people to take steps that did not want to, for instance relocating to different zones for the sake of their lives and property. On the other hand, the same piece of information could be consensual to other people, for instance those who would want to confirm whether this information has a truth-value and then act once they have confirmed the validity of the information. Therefore, the interpretation of the actual power that the media possesses is dependent on different factors (Thompson, 1995:15). The notion that media power is coercive has also been developed by the claim that the concentration of power to one entity, owned by either an organization or an individual is a dangerous thing. This is the case because media is known to influence populations and carry specific agenda. For instance, the media can be used to further peace messages to different quarters of the society. Similarly, the media can also be used to spread hate messages, racism and incitement against certain groups and this has been proven in the past conflicts. The media can also be used to effectively plan and carry out open and hideous activities in society. Therefore, when power concentrates on one entity, it is likely to be misused because of issues of monopolization, which emphasizes on the coercive nature of power. Because of the heavy influence that media power has in terms of how it affects how people, think, make decisions, act and influence other people, it has a relationship with other forms of power. First, the relationship between media power and political power can be clearly seen through the political systems throughout the world. For instance, the media has played a significant role in the political power in the U.S. The United States politics is strongly based on the virtue of democracy, openness and accountability. The media has played a significant role in ensuring that those who occupy political offices in the United States observe these virtues and also protect them. The media has been on the forefront in exposing issues that are not founded or do not reflect the above virtues. The founders of the Western nations, such as the USA understood the importance of a free press. However, they knew that a free press would be useless if people could not understand the information it gave. Therefore, they made public education a fundamental aspect in the maintenance of a free society (Van Dijk, 1996:10). In the current world, the power of the media has influenced politics by a major way. For example, media played a significant role in the recent overthrowing of the government in Egypt. The locals used the media, such as facebook and twitter to communicate and liaise to fight solders and overthrow the government. The US has also used the media to run its activities on the fight against terror. For example, despite the fact that Charlotte Beers had no experience in state department affairs, he was appointed as the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, having worked as an advertising professional meaning that she had a media background (Shah, 2012). Countries that have favored dictatorship in the past or currently, such as Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Syria have always ensured that the state operated the media outlets in those countries. The reason behind such actions is that the dictatorial governments understand that the media has power to influence politics and that if they are left to operate freely they are likely to undermine their political stands and break them. the close control of the media has emphasized the influence that media power has on political power because such states use the media to ensure that their propaganda mechanisms reach the masses. In addition, they use the media to ensure that the citizens only get access to the information that support the dictatorial governments (Oswald, 1993:385). Media power has also had an influence on economic power. The media has been important in terms of its contribution in the development of institutions that facilitate economic growth and progress in countries. The media acts as an important institutional mechanism that helps in the achievement of a successful policy formulation that promotes economic growth. An important question here, however, is whether causality originates from the media towards development or from development towards the media (Coyne & Leeson, 2004:21). Despite the fact that the media has important role to play in promoting positive economic growth, effective institutions also play a role in terms of promoting an effective media. This means that it is an effective media that contributes to economic growth. For instance, in countries that have effective institutions that support media, such as USA, the media supports the economic development because it reports issues that can undermine positive economic growth, such as corruption and also expose companies that engage in money laundering and also those who fail to pay taxes. The media also puts to light issues of government spending to ensure that there is accountability. However, in areas where institutions do not support effective media, its influence on economic power is minimal because the media does not help in the fostering accountability nor does it expose vices such as corruption (Coyne & Leeson, 2004:24). The media power also has an influence on the power of fashion. The impact of the media on the fashion industry is enormous. Fashion trends are heavily supported by the power of the media. For instance, Hall states, “From the worlds fashion capital of New York City to the streets of small-town America, the range of clothes we wear reflects our diverse personal tastes and the environments we live in. But our sense of fashion also draws on international influences, such as the diffusion of different cultures into mainstream styles and the global network for designing and creating apparel.” (HALL, (2012:4). This means that the media in its different forms such as print, video and social media have become the main sources of information especially on how people communicate and wear. The fashion industry has significantly changed because the media helps fashion statements to travel to different parts of the world fast and attract attention and also influence how people consume contemporary fashion styles. For instance, people dress using similar fashion styles throughout the world. The media enables fashion designers to establish links directly with their customers and potential consumers of their styles thereby promoting new fashion trends throughout the world. The social media has helped designers and fashion companies display their products and also the names created for those designs. This shows the influence of media power on the power of fashion in the world. In conclusion, as discussed in the paper, the media has always been important in the society because it has massive power that influences a wide variety of issues in the world ranging from politics, fashion, economy, peace and personal issues among other issues. The fundamental characteristics of media power as discussed above include its coercive and consensual nature. the media is also persuasive. As discussed in the paper. Media power influences other forms of power, such as politics, economy and fashion in different ways. 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