History of Media Effects

1. Consider the history of media effects presented in Chapter 3. Choose one historical media event that has occurred in the country of your choice. How has your chosen historical media event opened up a larger discourse about a social issue? Did the issue create conversion or reinforcement of public opinion about the social issue represented in the media event? Support your answer with reference from the text. With reference to the case of Mas Selamat Kastari who was believed to be involved in the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group in plotting terrorism activities in Singapore such as crashing a plane into Changi Airport . He was Singapore’s most wanted fugitive for more than a year after escaping from detention on 27 February 2008. Since then, it was the largest manhunt ever carried out in Singapore, furthermore daily local newspapers, TV news report, posters also tried to raise public awareness about Mas Selamat through repeated news coverage. Hence, with the aid of mass media, Mas Selamat was certainly the hottest topic everywhere and eventually became the historical media event that opened up a larger discourse about terrorism which was a social issue ever since 1963. In the early 80s, the government had implemented a series of measures to counter terrorism in Singapore and after 1991 Singapore has not experience any terrorism therefore resulting in the citizens letting down their guard and eventually the issue on terrorism was taken lightly. With reference to agenda setting theory which explains the powerful influence mass media have in telling us what issues are important, the case of Mas Selamat involving the massive usage of mass media had successfully trigger the fear in the minds of the citizens and the issue on terrorism(security matters) became increasingly important during that period of time. Many citizens wrote in to Straits Times claiming that the government deserved to be blamed for the escape of Mas Selamat and if terrorism will to happen