Understanding Mass Media

In our previous class, we discussed the different ways people receive messages and the different stages of the mass media: elitist stage, popular stage, and specialized stage. In these stages, I could see the evolution in each. The Elite stage was for the wealthier upper class people and focused mainly on communication towards them. The popular stage addressed a broader group of people and less inclusive. The specialized stage focused on more specifics of the popular group. Examples of this transformation could be a television. During the Elite stage, TV was found only in wealthy homes. As the popular stage began to occur, more and more people owned televisions. Now, we are in the specialized stage where TV’s are becoming more detailed and technical, like the 3-D TV or LCD. In class, we also discussed selective retention and selective perception and the difference between both. An example of selective retention is if I look up to Lebron James because he is a famous basketball player and I find out that he is taking drugs and setting a bad example for kids, I would avoid the bad things because I am only interested in the good things about him.  A good example of selective perception is going into the subway and not listening to a homeless man who has something important to say because I believe he never has anything important to say.

The reading, Mass Media in Modern Society, focused on social media during the 18^th-20^th centuries. The four theories of the press shapes how we see media in our world today. We first used media to strictly further government policy. Then we began using it to check on government and also meeting needs of others including entertainment. From this reading, I understood that the media had a lot of controversies. Whether it was publicly or privately posted, media chose to address only the things that they chose to expose. Along with that, they also chose to address the wealthier crowds.

I also understood the different functions of the media; that the media focuses on addressing surveillance, Correlation, and transmission. Some conflicts that the media had to be aware of is the amount of information exposed to the people. For example, if media was addressing a serious hurricane watch and the news was showing a dangerous hurricane, people would react frightened and fearful. Therefore, media has to make sure that the people receive information in a way that they do not over react to, if it is possible. 

I thought it was really interesting how examples were given about reporters leaving out words or descriptions that would jeopardize their community, country, family, etc. The true story changes when it is about something that the reporters/editors are familiar with.

PIPA, SOPA, and Bernays

Imagining the internet world without free music, movies, books, and writing would not make sense to most of us. In fact, I believe that many people would have little reason to be on the internet at all. The PIPA and SOPA acts have triggered a lot of conflict and protest amongst people, and major corporations such as Mozilla and Google. After reading a couple of articles about the two acts, I grew a better understanding of what the internet and life in general would be like if these acts were passed. For example, much of Youtube’s content, like people singing and posting their favorite songs, would violate the act and therefore would have to be removed. The internet would not be as interesting as it is now. Google and all other search engines would be forced to remove sites that would lead us to watching movies, downloading music, and reading books. Youtube probably would not exist and everyone would be worried about what they are posting on Facebook and all other social networks. There were many protestors against the act. In one case, Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, wrote on Twitter, “Thanks for all the calls, e-mails, and tweets. I will be opposing #SOPA and #PIPA.” Merkley was actually one the senators who helped write the bill (NYTimes). Overall, if these bills were passed our lives would be incredibly altered. Thankfully, there are many people, including myself, that are against these acts and are pushing to stop them from being passed.

I was very interested in the “Century of Self” documentary we saw in class. It is incredible how one man, Edward Bernays, can influence an entire world that something is important or accepted. I took a lot of important information from this video. The big example that struck me was the women’s smoking example, where Bernays paid a group of good looking girls to pull out a cigarette and start smoking during a huge parade. The way Bernays organizes this one, simple idea and creates a world change is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Another interesting idea is how people desire stuff; that everything we want are things we really do not need and how we were manipulated into thinking that we need all these things. It made me wonder, “Can I do something like this? Can I organize an idea and instill it in people’s brains so that it remains permanently?” And of course, I have seen this technique in much of our culture today; especially fashion trends. If the celebrities are wearing it, then the people are wearing it. It’s a matter of wanting to fit in and so everyone decides to accept the idea even if they, personally, did not agree with it in the first place. I feel a little more aware of this way of manipulating and now I realize that I am a victim of it.