Racial Differences in Evaluations of the Mass Media

1992 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee B. Becker ◽  
Gerald M. Kosicki ◽  
Felecia Jones

Analysis of two national data sets reveals that African-Americans in general know less about how the mass media operate, see fewer outside influences on the media, see themselves as having less influence on the media and are less cynical about the media than are whites. African-Americans who have the most contact with the dominant white society do evaluate the media as being more biased, compared with those with less contact with white people. Blacks and whites alike judged the news media to be influenced by advertisers, big business, unions and to be influenced by the two major political parties. If many news media are part of large corporations, this fact has not gone unnoticed by audiences, fairly or not.

Author(s):  
Jesper Strömbäck

During election campaigns, the three most important sets of actors are voters, political parties and candidates, and the media. The purpose of this chapter is thus to describe and analyze Swedish election campaigns with a focus on four interrelated aspects: how voters learn about politics and the issues at stake during election campaigns; how the news media cover election campaigns; how the parties plan and run their election campaigns; and the importance of election campaigns in terms of campaign effects. Among other things, the analysis shows that the mass media are highly important for an understanding of Swedish election campaigns that the parties’ campaigning can be considered semi-professionalized, and that election campaigns have become more important as electoral volatility has increased. Overall, the analysis also suggests that Swedish election campaigns work quite well in terms of mobilizing voters politically.


Author(s):  
Svitlana Kalenyuk ◽  
◽  
Viktoriya Zhelyazkova ◽  

The detailed consideration of lexical processes, structuring of lexical units, study of neologization processes, selection of functional types of neolexes, their classification and systematization provoke the active development of modern linguistics. The purpose of the work is to identify thematic subgroups of socio-political vocabulary, to find out the structural-semantic and functional features of the neolexes of the analyzed vocabulary in the mass media of Mykolayiv region. The object of the work is the vocabulary of the mass media of Mykolayiv region. The subject of research is socio-political vocabulary, neolexes in the mass media space of Mykolayiv region.To solve the above problems used methods of linguistic research, the choice of which depends on the purpose, objectives and collected factual material: the method of observation and the method of continuous sampling (to identify tokens related to the socio-political layer, innovations in publications and broadcasting); method of comparison (to determine the neological nature of the studied units and features of the mass media of Mykolayiv region at the all-Ukrainian level); descriptive (for inventory and classification of empirical material); component analysis (from the study of word semantics), comparable (during the analysis of socio-political vocabulary of the period 2015-2018). In the article the basic modern classifications of social and political vocabulary of language of mass media are considered, the thematic subgroups of tokens of the Nikolaev mass media are analyzed, features of the offered classification are established. Having analyzed the most important thematic subgroups that have been identified in the course of working with factual material, the following thematic subgroups function in the mass media space of Mykolayiv region: nomenclature names in the language of mass media; names of departments, bodies in the structure of the state administrative apparatus; names of political parties, movements, ideological currents and their members; tokens of the military sphere; name of social processes of disorganization of public life. The active use of the names of political parties, movements, ideological currents and their members is observed during the election campaign. In our opinion, due to the negative attitude of the society to the political activity of the majority of the representatives of the People’s Deputies of Ukraine, the affiliation of specific individuals to the respective parties has been silenced lately. But, of course, this subgroup of social and political vocabulary takes place and is actively reflected in the mass media, for example: poroshenkivci, election campaign, coalition government. Words that directly describe the life of society (spiritual life, cultural values, etc.) fully fill the pages of the media of various types, for example: patriotism, national symbols, street art, independence, unemployment, subsistence level. The nature of the information space is to respond quickly to what is happening in people's lives. That is why the vocabulary of the military thematic subgroup is most widely used, as the mass media reacts to the actual news worrying the Ukrainian society in general and Mykolayiv in particular. Other lexical spheres also actively function in mass media space of Mykolayiv region. Words to denote the most important political, economic, religious and other concepts form the basis for articles in newspapers and on the Internet.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Anang Sujoko

Mass media has the power to build a discourse on public discussion. This strength should be used in carrying out its function as a watchdog in democratic practice. The mass media must break away in a position as part of the executive or legislative because he himself is the fourth force in the pillar of democracy. In the 2019 Indonesian Presidential Election (Pilpres) the mass media showed practices that weakened this position with the presence of affiliated media owners or even became part of the political parties supporting one of the candidate pairs in the 2019 Presidential Election. This paper is critical thinking about how politics mainstream mass media in Indonesia in polarizing support to candidate pairs. The data are collected through observation of media content and in-depth interviews with informants from media workers and informants who have competence in the field of mass media. The results of the study show that mainstream mass media tends to still be positioned as the main source of information in the five-year democracy event. The preaching of mainstream mass media still shows partiality to certain candidate pairs by not expressing criticism and vice versa often showing criticism on other candidate pairs. The mass media that have affiliations to political parties tend to show partiality to the authorities and ignore the critical role in overseeing government practices. The oligarchy of the media industry in Indonesia has not shown the role of overseeing the social and political environment.


Author(s):  
Saveleva Zh.V.

The prevalence of autism is growing, the problems of stigmatization and discrimination of people with autism spectrum disorders in society are exacerbating. The mass media play an important role in enlightening and reducing stigmatizing effects, in connection with which the goal was formulated to study the construction of images of a person with ASD in the mass media by the method of qualitative and discourse analysis of video clips from the federal channel. According to the results of the study, it can be argued that the range of characteristics used to describe people with autism in media discourse is diverse, but in retrospect, dominant interpretation models can be identified. At an early stage, the prevailing image of a person with ASD was deprived of the quality’s characteristic of normotypical people who do not want to leave their world. People diagnosed with autism were referred to as the intolerant category of "autistic". Since 2013, there has been a discursive turn, within which the category “autist” is replaced by tolerant speech patterns, adults with autism get into the lens of the media, the topic of uncommunicability as a property of a person with autism is replaced by the intention of the lack of opportunities to communicate, one of the reasons for which is social exclusion. In television stories of recent years, the mass media are actively constructing the image of a person with autism spectrum disorder through his inner world, through the advantages that a person with ASD can have due to his characteristics. However, it cannot be said that there has been a complete change of the image: the old cliches, as a rule, manifest themselves at a more latent level of grammatical constructions and semiotic meanings.


Author(s):  
Julia Partheymüller

It is widely believed that the news media have a strong influence on defining what are the most important problems facing the country during election campaigns. Yet, recent research has pointed to several factors that may limit the mass media’s agenda-setting power. Linking news media content to rolling cross-section survey data, the chapter examines the role of three such limiting factors in the context of the 2009 and the 2013 German federal elections: (1) rapid memory decay on the part of voters, (2) advertising by the political parties, and (3) the fragmentation of the media landscape. The results show that the mass media may serve as a powerful agenda setter, but also demonstrate that the media’s influence is strictly limited by voters’ cognitive capacities and the structure of the campaign information environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 61-72
Author(s):  
Bolu John Folayan ◽  
Olubunmi Ajibade ◽  
Olubunmi Dipo Adedoyin ◽  
Toyin Segun Onayinka ◽  
Toluwani Titilola Folayan

The mass media play at least five basic functions which include news dissemination, surveillance of the environment, correlation of the components of the society, entertainment and transmission of social heritage.  Sometimes, disruptions and impairments do occur in the performance of these roles and some of these basic functions become dysfunctions, which turn the media into purveyor of negative values. The present study investigates how popular the Nigerian TV reality show, Big Brother Naija (BBN), is perceived by its viewers. Three hundred heavy viewers of the programme were surveyed from Lagos and Ede, South-West Nigeria, and their opinions and attitudes were sought regarding; why they like or dislike the programme; the gratifications that those who like the programme derive and whether the BBN, as media content, is generally functional or dysfunctional to the society. Sixty-six per cent 66 (33.7%) of respondents like the programme because it entertains. Half of the respondents, 99(50.5%) dislike ‘immoral aspects’ of the programme. The viewers affirm that the eviction part of the programme was their highest form of gratification.  Most respondents, despite public outcry against the programme, consider the programme to be “functional”. Findings reinforce the postulation that TV viewers are not passive consumers of media contents.


2015 ◽  
pp. 179-199
Author(s):  
Federico Ruozzi

The article presents the entanglement of the Catholic Church and the media by focusing on the case of the Second Vatican Council and the television broadcast of its events. The mass media attention of the council stimulated, according to the author, a double level: the media conveyed more information about the church event than it had ever done before, but at the same time, the mass media influenced the discussion of the council fathers. The article also analyzes, through the lens of the Council, the recent relationship between the Catholic Church and the Italian television.  


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-176
Author(s):  
Muhammad Yunus Patawari

Mass media is one of the leading sectors in handling COVID-19. Amidst current health emergency, public trusttowards the information conveyed by the mass media is the key to successful mitigation. Various types of newsregarding massive COVID-19 reports in several media channels have the potential to cause information bias whichends in pros and cons. Insubstantial debates in varied media are counter-productive to the efforts of various partiesin educating the society to avoid misinformation. Based on this, it is important to know the media that are referencesand that gain public trust in seeking information. This study examines the level of public trust in information aboutCOVID-19 in the mass media, both old and new media, using an online questionnaire methodology on May 3, 2020,which was given to 60 respondents. The results show that the respondents’ level of faith in television is higher, but itsconsumption by viewers is much lower than that of online media (news sites and social media). The results showedthat viewers still deemed television a reliable reference for information. From these data it was found out why themedia are rarely used by the people but are able to gain high trust in the eyes of the public. The results of this studyare expected to provide an overview of the attitudes and behavior of the community in understanding COVID-19information so that relevant parties can make appropriate policies in the perspectives of media and communication.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 110-120
Author(s):  
Oksana Olshevskaya

An attempt to define the degree of media freedom in contemporary Russia leads to contradiction between the declaration of the mass media freedom provided by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Soviet Union heritage of unequivocal control of the press by the government, described by Siebert et al. (1984) as the Soviet-Communist Press Theory. The reason for this ambiguity could be explained by the great deal of different factors that exert an influence on the journalism, such as features of mass media legislation, governmental control of the media, the diversity of media ownership, sources of media incomes, and traditions of censorship in Russia.  The current development of the media legislation in Russia shows no improvement regarding the freedom of speech. In the beginning of the third presidential term in 2012, Vladimir Putin has signed several laws that reduced the freedom of speech through the limitation of public assembly, criminalization of defamation in the mass media, and intensification of governmental censorship on the internet. On the other hand, the contemporary press freedom that appeared in conditions of the new market economy in the beginning of the 1990s has brought discredit as to the conception of an exclusively positive impact of unconditional freedom on the mass media since the newspapers, television and radio channels were controlled by several powerful oligarchs who used the owned mass media to spread and support their political influence. However, after the authorities’ reference in the 2000s the balance was not regained. As a result, the majority of the media outlets in Russia became co-owned or fully controlled by the government. Another crucial aspect of the mass media freedom as the cultural phenomenon should be kept in mind: seven decades of severe censorship could not be erased from the journalism professional community’s memory in several years. The negative experience of predecessors transforms censorship into self-censorship in modern Russia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-124
Author(s):  
Aji Susanto Anom Purnomo ◽  
Novan Jemmi Andrea ◽  
Monica Revias Purwa Kusuma

2020 is the year when the world is faced with a health crisis, namely the Covid-19 pandemic or also known as the Corona Virus. All aspects of life are affected by this crisis, the joints of humanity are faced with limitations. The mass media are intensively reporting various incidents regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. The stories are often accompanied by journalistic photos. One of the functions of photojournalism is to strengthen the story of what the media wants to convey. Journalistic photos during this pandemic usually feature scenes from medical activities, government policies and large narratives that are cold on empathetic human relations. However, different from most photojournalism in most mass media, The New York Times publishes "Still Lives" photography projects that are done by its photographers. The project presents a different narrative from this time of the pandemic. The “Still Lives” photography project is important because it presents journalistic photos that tell a domestic narrative that is close to the sides of universal humanity, namely the stories of the photographers' homes and families. This study aims to describe and interpret the “Still Lives” photography project as an alternative in creating a different narrative from photojournalism during the pandemic. This study used a descriptive qualitative research method based on phenomenology with Roland Barthes' main theory of semiotics and supported by journalistic photography theory and representation theory. The research results obtained a complete explanation and meaning of the “Still Lives” Project from The New York Times. The project according to the theory of photo journalistic is photo story based on personal experiences. From the analysis through the theory of semiotics from Roland Barthes and representation theory successfully obtained a result that basically projects “Still Lives” can be understood as a representation of the universal experience and feeling by mankind. Project “Still Lives” provides the representation of covid-19 pandemic through the mass media journalistic that show an alternative offer to journalistic practice to use lyrical narratives and personal experience in the story and more empathy in the mass publication of pandemic covid-19.


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