Mass Media: Are We Easily Swayed or Do We Think Critically?

Assesment1 * Are we easily swayed by the mass media or do we have the ability to think critically about what we see and hear?

Student no: S2848618

The word media originates from the word medium, meaning singular. The term media is plural. It refers to all forms of technological mediums used to promote, entertain, educate or inform the general public. (Turow, 2011) This mass communication is used by large companies and their share-holders to generate messages to the masses. (Turow, 2011) These mediums can be broken down into; The Print media, Electronic media, Audio-visual media and information technology. (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012)) The Post-modernist belief is that the public are unlikely to see past the illusion created by the media. Chibnall shows through carefully selected techniques how the media aims to sway, manipulate and illicit ideas amongst the masses. (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012) So if this is the case then can the audience really think critically about what they see and hear and what affects can the media then have on the public’s thoughts and feelings on crime? Below explores two different case studies which closely look at the relationship between media and the fear of crime.

Bessant & Watts, (2007) post-modernist theory states that the mass media is “simply an enormous factory for manufacturing illusions.”(p.447) In other words that the audience are essentially mindless drones that act as sponges and will soak up all fallacies and untruths. (Bessant & watts, 2007) This theory suggests that people are unlikely to think critically about what they see and hear because what is presented is generally just accepted at face value as truth and the manipulation to great. An example of this manipulation is seen in Germany’s propaganda and in particular Hitler’s speeches, in which “His propaganda experts created an environment in which both the individual and the group lost their identities and were fused into a homogeneous mass.”(Levyatan 2009). Hitler’s aim was to create a “robot-like following”(levyatan 2009), an audience that wouldn’t think critically or question the mass genocide to come. This was mostly accomplished through careful manipulation of the German public through well thought out techniques designed to illicit a certain response. (Levyatan 2009) For example Hitler’s speeches could start out quite dull creating a sense of boredom designed to create complacency only to conclude with a strong conclusion, dramatisation and a sense of immediacy.

Chibnall discusses similar techniques that are used by the mass media. Listed below are eight ‘new values’ used often when reporting crime. (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012) The first four are immediacy, dramatisation, novelty and titillation. These techniques aim to control and entertain the public. The media’s focuses on reporting mostly exciting, sex and crime driven stories. (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012) They choose to report them as everyday and individual events that have just happened rather than explaining any historical or social contexts. (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012) As a result the audience can believe that this kind of crime is very common and often doesn’t understand the reason or the underlying relationships between victim and offender. The last four are personalisation, simplification, conventionalism and structured access. (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012)These techniques are designed to really connect with the listeners and viewers. The media chooses to write stories about people its audience can already personally relate too such as high profile individuals. (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012) Then takes complicated and unfamiliar facts, simplifies it and puts it into familiar contexts that the general overall public can understand. (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012) Then finally, cites state officials and police officers to give their story credibility. (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012) Unfortunately the result is that the public is less likely to question what they are being shown or have heard and mass media consumption leads to exposure to violence which is inflated and simplified.

Below are two case studies that explore the relationship between the media and fear of crime. The first is Curtis’s study of ‘Jack the Ripper and the London Press (2001) in which he explores how powerful the written word could be in London and its ability to drum fear into the masses. (Marsh & Melville, 2008) He believed the press coverage during the police search for ‘the Ripper’ was responsible for the public’s growing fear. (Marsh & Melville, 2008) That the newspapers exaggerated and built on the stereotypical views of the people and how They viewed the east end of London. Marsh and Melville (2008) said it was see as “a crime and disease ridden, uncivilized jungle.”(p.3) Curtis’s study indicates that there is definitely a possible link between the media and its fear of crime. However, a survey done in Trinidad shows a distinct lack of relationship between media and crime. (chadee & ditton, 2005) The survey consisted of asking the public different questions about crime. It looked at their views and fears of crime and compared it to the amount and different types of media they were exposed too. (chadee & ditton, 2005) The results concluded that there did not appear to be an obvious relationship between what the people had seen and heard about crime and their views and feelings on the matter. (chadee & ditton, 2005) The variation in results would suggest that other variables are at play, perhaps the cross-cultural differences or social context needed to be explored .The Trinidad study concluded that perhaps people in this culture viewed the media unreliable, or the news reports were unmemorable and that the frequency of the reports was unreliable. (chadee & ditton, 2005)

The overall evidence; Hitler’s propaganda campaign and the mass hysteria encouraged by the London press explored by Curtis would seem to support the idea that consumers really are susceptible to the media’s influence. It would suggest that listeners and viewers are indeed incapable of seeing through the subtle and effective techniques harnessed by the media. However, the survey done in Trinidad; accessing the lack of relationship between the media and fear of crime clearly indicates that this is not always the case. This suggests that outside social factors need to be taken into account such as a person’s media consumption, how the media is viewed within that culture and the outside social influences on the individual, such as family and friends. To conclude, the fact then remains that despite the overall evidence because other variables have to be accounted for at all it would seem to refute the post-modernist concepts that the public are unable to reflect on what they see and hear within the media. This would ultimately suggest that media consumers are not always easily swayed by the mass media and are able to think critically about what they have seen and heard.

REFERENCES:

* Bessant, J. & Watts, R. (2007) Sociology Australia 3rd edition. Crows Nest, NSW: Allens & Unwin.

* Chadee, D. & Ditton, J. (2005). Fear of crime and the media: Accessing the lack of relationship. Crime media culture, 3(1), 322-332. doi: 10.1177/1741659005057644.

* Hayes, H. & Prenzler, T. (2012) An introduction to crime and criminology 3. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.

* Lev, E. (2008) Mass media usage and its influence on our social life. The review of communication, 4(1), 427-429. doi:10.1080/15358590802020756.

* Levyatan, V. (2009) Analysis of Hitler’s speeches. Media history, 15(1), 55-69. doi: 10.1080/1368880802583299.

* Marsh, I., & Melville, G. (2008) Crime, justice and the media. Florence, USA: Routledge.

* Turow, J. (2011) An introduction to mass communication, 4th edition. Florence, USA: Routledge.

References: * Bessant, J. & Watts, R. (2007) Sociology Australia 3rd edition. Crows Nest, NSW: Allens & Unwin. * Chadee, D. & Ditton, J. (2005). Fear of crime and the media: Accessing the lack of relationship. Crime media culture, 3(1), 322-332. doi: 10.1177/1741659005057644. * Hayes, H. & Prenzler, T. (2012) An introduction to crime and criminology 3. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia. * Lev, E. (2008) Mass media usage and its influence on our social life. The review of communication, 4(1), 427-429. doi:10.1080/15358590802020756. * Levyatan, V. (2009) Analysis of Hitler’s speeches. Media history, 15(1), 55-69. doi: 10.1080/1368880802583299. * Marsh, I., & Melville, G. (2008) Crime, justice and the media. Florence, USA: Routledge. * Turow, J. (2011) An introduction to mass communication, 4th edition. Florence, USA: Routledge.