Mass media - powerful?

What is mass media? According to Trenholm, there are 2 kinds of media, the old and the new. The old media refers to traditional one-to-many forms of mediated communication such as TV, radio, newspapers and books. New media refers to digital information and telecommunications systems, like the Internet and handphones.


So what are the outcomes of mass media? Many theories have been proposed in the last 90 years. This blog entry will focus on the 2 extreme sides of the theories.


The Powerful Effects Theory was proposed in the 1920-1930s. It believed that the mass media is all powerful and influential, and this leaves the audience powerless and passive. The intended message is wholly received and accepted by the audience. Naturally, we would think this theory to be absolute nonsense. Us, being ‘brainwashed’ by every message that we hear, is it even possible?


However, in 1938, a radio station illustrated how this theory might be possible.


Listen!



As part of their Halloween’s joke, the radio station broadcasted a novel - ‘The War of the World’ as news flash and emergency response bulletins. There were reports of how Martians had landed and invaded Earth and were causing widespread destruction. Regular programming broke down as the studio struggled to keep up with casualty updates, firefighting developments and the like. It caused widespread panic among millions of people and police had to be sent to control the crowd.

It was the first time The War of the Worlds broadcast had been attempted in the United States, so listeners were accustomed to accepting newsflashes as reliable. However, this theory is less likely to work nowadays as audience have the power to verify what they hear on radio with other media.


The opposite of the Powerful Effects theory is the Limited effects theory, which was proposed in the 1950-60s. It argues that the media is powerless and that the audiences are powerful. Audiences are active with the ability to resist media message. We sought out competing media messages for our own needs, such as for surveillance, to improve or strengthen personal identities and for diversion. Many of us read the newspapers daily to keep up with current affairs and trends. We also use the mass media to enrich ourselves so that we have things in common with our friends. However, this theory states that if we are not happy or satisfied with what the mass media has to offer, we can simply just turn it off.


Really?

As much as we say we have the right to choose whether we want to be influenced by mass media or not, it is ineveitable that we are subjected to mass media influences everyday, everywhere. It is too ideal to say that we have total control.


In conclusion, over the years, we have come to regard the Powerful effects theory and Limited Effects theory to be obsolete in this generation. What we have in place today are the Moderate effects models, which state that the ability of the media to influence its audience remains, but media selectivity does not equates to no effects!