Mass Media As A Myth Maker

The article below touches on themes from both Module 3 and Module 4.

It talks about new sources of news information. This would normally be considered good, since different sources counter some of the bad effects of concentration of ownership.

It talks about globalization, since these new sources are not American.

It talks about how these new sources are forcing traditional news media to deal with issues of gate keeping.

And it talks about the front line of the war on terrorism - not the hillsides of Afghanistan, but the hearts and minds of the billions of media consumers across the world.

The New York Times, "A Public Flooded With Images From Friend and Foe Alike"

Media As A Source of Information

Enculturation - "Rap, Black Rage, and Racial Difference"

"Much rap music provides a spectacle of self-assertion with images of black rap singers threatening white power structures, denouncing racial oppression and police violence, and celebrating a diverse realm of black cultural forms extending from Afrocentric nationalism to the gangster lifestyle. With its staccato beat, multilayered sound, aggressive lyrics, in-your-face messages, and defiant style, rap provides a spectacle of revolt and insurrection in its live performances, music videos, and recorded forms. Blasting out of boom boxes in the ghettos, roaring from car stereos, and blaring from home sound systems, rap provides a cascade of sounds threatening middle class order and decorum and the powers that be."

But just what are teens learning from the radio? Sex, sex, and more sex.

"Teen-Oriented Radio and CD Sexual Content Analysis"
by the National Institute on Media and the Family

"Overall, 22 percent of radio segments contained sexual content, and 20 percent of these were "pretty explicit" or "very explicit." When there is sexual content on the radio, it tends to be during music segments (44% include sexual content) or during talk segments (30%). Almost half (44%) of sexual messages during talk segments referred to sex outside of pre-existing relationships, whereas fewer than one in ten (6%) messages referred to sex within a pre-existing relationship. ...

For both the CDs and the radio programming, very few songs or segments included messages about sexual planning/responsibility, the consequences or risks of sexual behavior, the benefits of sexual patience, or fidelity."

Rosenstiel and Kovach examine what they call the new Mixed Media Culture, in which the classic function of journalism to sort out a true and reliable account of the day's events is being undermined and displaced by the continuous news cycle, the growing power of sources over reporters, varying and inconsistent standards of journalism, and a fascination with inexpensive, polarizing argument. The authors explore the implications of these changes for the role of journalism as a cohesive element in our culture and as a forum for public debate and catalyst for problem solving.

Warp Speed: America in the Age of Mixed Media
By Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel

The most recent analysis of the state of the news media shows those trends have accelerated.

Project for Excellence in Journalism, "The State of the News Media 2010"

"In the meantime, perhaps one concept identifies most clearly what is going on in journalism: Most news organizations - new or old - are becoming niche operations, more specific in focus, brand and appeal and narrower, necessarily, in ambition.

Old media are trying to imagine the new smaller newsroom of the future in the relic of their old ones. New media are imagining the new newsroom from a blank slate.

Among the critical questions all this will pose: Is there some collaborative model that would allow citizens and journalists to have the best of both worlds and add more capacity here? What ethical values about news will settle in at these sites? Will legacy and new media continue to cooperate more, sharing stories and pooling resources, and if they do, how can one operation vouch for the fairness and accuracy of something they did not produce?"

"Showing that a certain behavior is pervasive can cause people to think that the behavior is normal, Harman said. And if the media attention given to the behavior is enough (or way more than enough in the case of Paris Hilton), it can have an influence.

When the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Paris Hilton is partying and drinking and driving, even if it's not right, then that can become reality. Even if it's not the actual reality, in that person's mind it is, Harman said."

North Jersey Media Group - "Blacks debating negative images of hip-hop"

"Watch hip-hop videos today and you'll probably be blown away by the amount of skin on display. Breasts bursting out of bikini tops. Bottoms "covered" by thongs.

Maybe it's caused by the success of crunk, the hard-core hip-hop sound from the South that's dominating the charts. Or could it be the effect of hip-hop's enduring obsession with pimp and stripper culture? Whatever the reason, the objectification of black women - both visually and lyrically - is all the rage."

What's Love Got To Do With It?

This quiz shows how our concept of romantic love between man and women have been molded by the media.

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation - "Teens, Sex, and TV"

"In April 2002, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a nationally-representative survey of young people ages 15-17 about the role of television in influencing the sexual decision-making of teens. This survey snapshot high-lights the key findings from that survey."

Just How Effective is the Media?

"In April 1999, two students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, gunned down 12 of their class-mates and a teacher and then killed them-selves. Like earlier ghastly and seemingly inexplicable crimes, this one generated a frenzied search for explanations. But instead of talking about the easy availability of firearms, the mean social pecking order at Columbine High School or the personal demons that drove the two young criminals, many politicians and media pundits focused on violent entertainment."

"Why does the conviction persist that there is a causal link between the media and children's behaviour? As both Goldstein and Freedman point out, a critical survey of the research indicates that there is virtually nothing to show that the media cause bad behaviour or obesity. But because the media are so prevalent in our lives - and increasingly so with the advent of digital media, the internet, mobile phones, etc - the fear is that they must be doing something to us, particularly to children and ‘vulnerable’ people. In a society where risk consciousness dominates, the risk of harm, however minute or uncertain, outweighs the evidence of non-harm. This sense of risk is imbued with the conception of the mass of human beings as victims of media messages, passive recipients who can't be trusted to make rational choices."

"The iMedia Brand Summit in southwest Florida this week focused not on the art of digital marketing but on the art of digital conversation, a timely topic after the Super Bowl aired three consumer-generated ads. Unilever's campaign for Dove Cream Oil is a consumer-generated-ad contest in which the winner spot will air during the Oscars."

Mass Mediation of Leisure

Case Study #1 - Sports

This article describes exactly how and why women athletes are chosen to endorse products.

Case Study #2 - Product Placement

How Stuff Works - "How Product Placement Works"

"Have you ever watched a television show or a movie and felt like you were watching a really long commercial? If so, then you've been the victim of bad product placement. There's certainly a line that can be crossed when presenting brand-name items as props within the context of a movie, television show, or music video. Clever marketing folks try never to cross that line. They want their products to be visible within a scene, but not the focus. The product needs to fit, almost seamlessly (almost being the key word here) into the shot and context of the scene. When done correctly, product placement can add a sense of realism to a movie or television show that something like a can simply marked "soda" cannot."

The New York Times - "Product Placement Grows in Music Videos"

"At least two related trends have contributed to the growing popularity of placements: the move of videos from television to the Internet and the attempt by record labels to make videos a revenue source and not just a marketing tool for selling CDs."

"According to a report released last week by PQ Media, a research firm, the money spent on product placement in recorded music grew 8 percent in 2009 compared with the year before, while overall paid product placement declined 2.8 percent, to $3.6 billion."

Chronicle of Higher Education - "Attention, Shoppers: Your Dreams in Aisle 3"

"America has always been a nation of shoppers. The dawn of mass production brought new ways to sell goods at affordable prices, and the department store, mail-order catalog, and five-and-dime expanded our cultural horizons. When the German economist Werner Sombart asked, in 1906, "Why is there no socialism in the United States?," he found the answer in the fact that American workers wore better clothes, and lived in bigger, more comfortable homes, than their European counterparts did."

"In the 20th century, supermarkets and discount stores made shopping universal. Today, mass consumption has become an entitlement, like Social Security and veterans' benefits. Whether we study consumer guides or push our wire carts from warehouse club to outlet mall, we are searching for our dreams."