Mass Media Effects

Mass Media Effects

 Hostile

Media Effect: some feel that media coverage is biased against opinions on issues

 Research

has shown that hostile media effect is not just differences of opinion but a difference of perception

 People

seem to pay more attention to information that contradicts rather than supports their pre-existing views

 Media

bias: non-uniform selection or coverage of news stories in media  Many Americans seek out biased news- to find confirmation for their preconceived opinions

 Newspapers

used to reflect the opinions of the publisher  1798: Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts: prohibited the publication of “false, scandalous, or malicious writing” against gov’t

 Made

it a crime to voice any public opposition to any law or presidential act- act was in effect until 1801

 1861:

Lincoln ordered many newspapers closed when he felt border states were biased in favor of the Southern cause

 19th

century: American newspapers openly advocated one or another political party  Editorials and editorial cartoonsgo against the publisher’s opponents

20th Century: Yellow journalism to increase sales  William Randolph Hearstpublisher of several major market newspapers- deliberately falsified stories, which may have contributed to Spanish-American War  Early

 Leading

up to WWII- politicians who favored U.S. entering the war on the German side accused the media of pro-Jewish bias, said that newspapers were controlled by the Jewish

 Hollywood

was said to be full of Jewish bias- pro-German politicians in U.S. called for Charlie Chaplin’s film The Great Dictator to be banned- they said it insulted a respected leader

 1960’s-

Civil Rights Movementsome White Southerners stated that television was biased against White Southerners and in favor of mixing the races- Star Trek didn’t air on some Southern stations

 1969:

Spiro Agnew (VP for Nixon) said he saw the media as bias against the Vietnam War and called those who opposed the war to be “nattering nabobs of negativism”

 American

Society of Newspaper Editors in 1997- survey said 61% of reporters stated they were members of or shared the beliefs of the Democratic Party  15% said their beliefs were represented by the Republican Party

 2002

study- Dartmouth College116 mainstream U.S. papers (The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle included) found that mainstream press in America tends to favor liberal viewpoints

 Reporters

who expressed moderate or conservative points of view were often labeled as holding a minority point of view  Liberal bias about issues like race, welfare reform, environmental protection, and gun control

 Zogby

International- survey results said that 83% of people surveyed believe there is a bias in the media, 64% said that the bias favors liberals, 28% of respondents believe the bias is conservative

 Patrick

Buchanan- The American Conservative editorial- wrote the liberal media establishment’s reporting on the Watergate scandal “played a central role in bringing down the President.”

 Nixon:

“I gave them a sword and they ran it right through me.”

Books about Liberal Bias  John

Stossel- Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media

 Ann

Coulter- Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right  Brian C. Anderson- South Park Conservatives: The Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias

Claims of Conservative Bias  Disney,

CBS Corporation, New Corporation, TimeWarner, General Electric- corporate conglomerates own the majority of mass media outlets

 Media

is operated for profitthrough the sale of advertisements, which tends to drive news, commentary, and public affairs towards supporting industry

 Capitalist

model creates competition for fair and quick news coverage and investigative reports

 Rupert

Murdoch (CEO of News Corporation- parent of FOX News)  Richards Parsons- CEO of Time Warner  Both contribute to Republican candidates

 Fox

News: “The roots of FOX News Channel’s day to day on air bias are actual and direct. They come in the form of an executive memo distributed electronically each morning, addressing what stories will be covered and, often, suggesting how they should be covered.”

Books on Conservative Bias  Eric

Alterman- What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News  Al Franken “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them”

 Concerns

about coverage of Iraqsaying that media had insufficient coverage of invasion and occupation, but some have also said that media has been unfair to US forces

 Did

the U.S. media criticize the conduct of American soldiers? (some feel that media was worried about upsetting viewers and losing profits)

 Some

though feel that media has been too critical of U.S. forces  Media has failed to send a message to support the U.S. forces

Effects on Elections  Some

feel that elections on centered on candidates, and the amount of funds, personality, and sound-bites instead of serious political discussion or policies offered by parties

 Americans

are influenced by the way the media reportconcentrated on short soundbites, scandals, mistakes by candidates

 Reporting

of elections avoids complex issues or issues which are time consuming to explain

 Doonesbury:

comic strip, accused of liberal bias  A conservative letter writing campaign caused Doonesbury to disappear from 38 newspapers, but it was reinstated

Violent Media Effects  Television  61%

of TV shows are violent  Violence is on the rise for both cable and broadcast networks  Few shows emphasize and antiviolence theme

 40%

of violent scenes on TV include humor  54% of violence is lethal  51% of TV violence shows no pain  Out of 9000 analyzed over 4 years- only 4% had an anti-violent theme

 Media

violence can be one contributing factor that leads a person to exhibit aggressive attitudes and behavior

 Exposure

to media violence can increase the probability of both short and long term harmful effects  Effects are mediated by characteristics of the viewer (demographics, psychological states)

 Media

violence does NOT affect all viewers in the same way

Short Term Media Effects  Viewer

aggression: Bobo Doll experiments in 1970’s demonstrated how children who watched violent media portrayals were more likely to punch a Bobo Doll afterwards than children who did not watch a violent media portrayal

 Recent

studies find that kids who watch violent television are at an increased risk for aggression  Exposure to violent media increases aggression and antisocial behavior in adults too

Fear  Kids

who are high television viewers are more likely than low television viewers to exhibit symptoms such as anxiety, trauma, and post-traumatic stress

 When

kids view scary events in the media, they become more likely to fear those events in the real world  Fear induced by media in childhood is likely to linger into adulthood

Desensitization  People

can become jaded even after minimal exposure to media violence  As a result, some individuals exhibit a greater acceptance of violence and a decrease in empathy and concern for victims of violence

Long Term Media Effects  Long

Term exposure to media violence is related to aggression in a person’s life

 Longitudinal

research shows childhood viewing of violence has a causal effect on aggressive behavior in adults  The degree to which viewers identify with the characters who behave violently impacts their likelihood of exhibiting aggressive behavior

 Once

children become adults, their behavioral dispositions are difficult to change

Media violence is related to violence in society  When

TV is introduced into a country, crime rates in the country increase  When a high profile violent act is depicted on television, the incidents of criminal aggression increase afterwards

 (For

example, teen suicides increase after a suicide appears on a fictional TV program)

 Exposure

to violence over time leads people to exaggerate their chances of being victimized

 Research

conducted on this theory states that:  The television world is a violent landscape  As a result, TV viewers will cultivate a view of the real world that matches the TV world

 They

will believe the world is a mean and violent place  They overestimate the amount of violence in society as well as their chances of being victimized

Exposure to violence over times leads people to grow more accepting of violence  Similar to short term desensitization effect- research also shows that long term exposure to media violence leads people to be more accepting of violence and less concerned about victims of violence

 Incitement

effects: the production of a behavioral tendency towards violence  Instructional effects: the teaching of audiences of how to do something

 When

media produce an incitement effect, the media have created a behavioral tendency that did not already exist (viewer aggression is a behavioral effect created by the media)

 Instructional

effects might occur when an already violent person learns how to conduct a bloody rampage by learning skills on television

Industry Perspective  Violence

is a natural part of life Interviews with producers of the top primetime shows say that violence is just a natural part of human life, and thus a natural part of its cultural representations

 Violence

is necessary component of dramatic portrayals: Drama is based on conflict, and violence is a tool of conflict. Thus, many dramatic portrayals will need to portray violence

 The

industry shows responsible violence portrayals- They claim to show the negative side of violence

 The

Hollywood industry has same family values as the rest of America- They claim that Hollywood is not in fact disconnected from the values of mid-America

 Media

violence does not harm audiences anyway, even kids

 Industry

has tried to deny that the television landscape is a violent space- They are selective in supporting content analyses that support their claims that television is not violent

 They

applaud a study conducted by the UCLA Center for Communications Policy, which claimed that only 2 network shows in 96-97 season raised serious concerns about violence

 Members

of the industry have engaged in self-regulation of media content

 Most

networks have their own departments of broadcasting standards and research departments

 The

V-Chip provision of the Telecommunications Act of 1996  Television industry devised its own system of categorizing programs for violence, sex, and offensive language

 The

V-chip technology involves an electronic filtering device that parents can use to block the reception of sensitive or potentially harmful programming

 Parents

are reliant, however, on the ratings assigned by the networks themselves  1998 study found the 79% of all shows containing violence did not receive a V rating

 Within

children’s programming, 81% of the programs with violence did not receive an FV rating for Fantasy Violence