Mass Media Mass communication via media technologies “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.” mind.” - Jim Morrison “All media exist to invest our lives with artif icial perceptions and arbitrary values. “ Marshall “ Marshall McLuhan “The flood of print has turned reading into a process of gulping rather than savouring.” -Warren Chappell “The medium is the message.” – Marshall McLuhan “New media empowers individuals to have no fear or shame in the dignity of their experience, language of knowledge.” – Jack Kerouac Types Characteristics
Broadcast/electronic Broadcast/electronic media Print media Lacks immediacy, delayed response Single source, simultaneous communication with a large audience Impersonal – vetting, editing, gut-wrenching events turned into cold and unemotional statistics and numbers, rarely exert appreciable effects on people already numb to overload of information surrounding them Comes at a price Content generated by official, professional, corporate sources Regulated Television, radio Books, magazines
New media (social media a subset of this) Real-time, immediate content and response Multi-way interactivity, Personal, customisable FOC or low cost (the users are the product) User generated content, collectively controlled by any/all users – raw, first-hand view to pluck at emotions and heartstrings of people, eliciting stronger, faster response - Videos of riot police brutality in Mubarak regime’s crackdown on protestors shocked many with raw gore and bloodshed - Tweets by anguished Syrians fleeing from strife in wartorn Syria, fear Little or no regulation Internet, SNS Wikipedia, MMORPGs
Functions, Roles & Uses
Extent, effectiveness
Entertainment, information & communication Commercial utility Credible, concrete source for news, information, academic materials Utilised more by the younger, tech-savvy generation (online news sites derived from existing/long-standing existing/long-standing printed material Tool/symbol of individual empowerment through: given more credibility than standalone news sites) o Personal freedom of expression o Runs on a regular schedule, standardized, consistent Choice of content Commonly regarded as a tool of democracy Reach & pervasiveness: Developed vs developing: 84% of c itizens in developing countries have access to traditional media such as newspapers and TV Urban vs rural Scale: regional vs national Audience susceptibility / receptiveness:
Audience type: children vs. youths vs. adults Audience’s perception of the source –credible?
Intention Meant to be informative documentary vs. spoof, humour, melodramatic News vs. entertainment
+ve SOCIAL Communal action, activism Occupy Wall Street protests organised through the use of Facebook events TIME expose on plight of sweatshop workers in Asia raised a furore protests boycotting MNCs such as Nike and Reebok, lobbied for an improvement in the onerous working conditions workers in China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia had to toil under. Expose about the highly publicised Foxconn suicides sparked serious soul-searching and reform on the part of Apple, catalysed partly by lobby groups Avaaz.org, change.org makes use of benefits of social media to achieve staggering numbers of signatories on its petitions Slutwalk that arose in Toronto in response to a policeman’s inaccurate and derogatory usage of the term “slut”, supporters took to streets to defend dignity.
Thisismyabortion.com
Anonymous: In October 2011, "Operation Dark net”, published in a pastebin link what it claimed were the user names of 1.5k members of Lolita City, a child porn site, took the site down Internet predator Chris Forcand, the first time a suspected Internet predator was arrested by the police as a result of I nternet vigilantism
Cooperation between state and masses in developing and delivering media content National day celebrations Sporting programmes and achievements
Connectivity – meaningful social interactions Youth counselling hotlines
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Extreme/ radical social activism Sea Shepherd society
Cloak of anonymity
insensitive, disparaging towards members of other communities, hate speech, cyber-bullying Amy Cheong Liberal states such as Britain and Australia legislated against ‘hatespeech’ or comments that might potentially unsettle delicate ethnic balance Amanda Todd →
Social instability due to inflammatory opinions published and distributed by an irresponsible or malicious press Rwandan genocide of the 1990s assumed its grotesque and fevered proportions through the deliberate aid of the press – Hutus were exhorted through the television, radio and newspapers to participate in the massacre of their Tutsi brothers, who were branded as ‘cockroaches’ and other less palatable terms through the very same channels
Tiniest error is magnified
black hole of possibilities for tensions and strife to occur Danish cartoons that degraded the image of Allah, would have remained a mere quibble if it was posted on a notice board, but in the papers, escalated to multi-national, heated religious row.
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Inability to control the flow of communication - Pornography on the internet, advertisements, songs and music videos promoting stripping and sexting - The internet cannot be effectively controlled – given the increasing number of ways to circumvent governmental restrictions – allows for such behaviours to persist Chinese netizens’ consistent mastery and resourcefulness in
circumventing firewalls, censors and restrictions
Spread harmful ideology to a wider audience Political leaders in Singapore have recently raised concerns that members of Muslim extremist groups have been using online platforms to spread their beliefs to young Muslims Syria, government has set up FB groups and Twitter accounts to track down protestors, fuelling the bloodshed and internal c onflict
Shapes values and beliefs *Is itself shaped by existing values and beliefs/ (necessarily?) reflects a society’s values and beliefs Can be leveraged to promote worthy causes but can also exert negative influences, create climate of fear (terrorism)
Value/belief systems: Gender ideals: beauty and sexuality Cultural attitudes (racial prejudices and stereotypes) Social norms Religion
Beauty ideals: oppression, stereotyping Males: dominating figure: tall, strong Females: Youth as the ideal
Adolescents employed to be models, ambassadors, “faces” of fashion houses targeted at women in their 30s BeingGirl website controversy: “consumerism masquerading as education” - Advice on puberty as it markets the use/sale of its products
Sexuality and violence: Images of sex and violence common in movies, television, games Children and youth especially vulnerable Desensitisation towards what is taboo and/or unacceptable Made even worse by the possibilities of reaffirming perversions online under the sanctity of anonymity Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment, children who were exposed to violent scenes were more likely to hit the Bobo Doll Columbine shootings inspired by the video game "Doom"
Eva Longoria, voluptuous actress from ‘Desperate Housewives’, features most famously in an ice cream commercial for Magnum. Tenuous link between sexual desire and desire for delicious food, yet Magnum sales reportedly spiked after the campaign.
Virtual world affecting the physical world Digital memories Beauty ideals body image self esteem “Private” information, personal life (posted online) now a public and corporate affair as companies check potential employees’ SNS pages
Interpersonal interaction and communication: enhances or distances? Compromise face-to-face interaction/ emotionally detached/ diminish
value of relationships Sociologist Robin Dunbar: Dunbar’s Number = 150 = estimation of how many other individuals an ordinary human will be able to maintain viable societal interactions with vs. 600 FB “friends”.
New media threatens security: identity theft, cyber attacks (digital memories) -
Increasing tendency for new media to compromise privacy Inability to permanently delete your Facebook account; Facebook accounts converted into a memorial for deceased members Friendster’s plans to delete old archives of photos, blog entries and messages incited feelings of nostalgia even for members who had long since stopped visiting the site Yahoo shutting down GeoCities (an early provider of free web home pages) and Google shutting down Google Videos in favour of Youtube Efforts made to preserve old online content “It reflected a particular moment in our lives” As more of life is lived on the web, emotional attachment and investment is transferred from the physical to the digital Impermanence of the Internet no longer the norm but the exception since the advent of Google and Gmail Propaganda – government regulated media biased, inaccurate information - Press is subjected to government repression, censorship and interference - Stifle journalistic freedom to suit national purposes - Veritable voice muffled by authorities No press freedom in authoritarian regimes such as China, NK, Myanmar Chinese Internet users first coined the term "Fifty Cent Party" for
Politics Outreach: Govt/ political organisation able to convey messages effectively Obama For America launched “For All” website
Bridging platform between government and common man, 2-way instead of
top-down - People able to communicate concerns to govt, prominent political figures directly, immediately, without the hassle of bureaucracy, procedure or formality that slows down/ hinders/ filters LHL twitter/ facebook
Greater political involvement/activity, inform public, watchdog, ‘investigative journalism’, exposes abuse of power to the masses - Serves as a check and balance against ineffective government, improves a country’s well-being as a liberal democracy 1973 Watergate 2006 exposure on Abu Gharib abuses
Large governmental corporations manipulate, set agenda for many issues Chose not to report on genocide in Rwanda over a hundred-day period in 1994 that killed over 800k people, footage gathered at great risk by journalists were dropped or censored for fear that they were too graphic for viewers, Western governments ignored it, preferring not to acknowledge the killings until the ended, refusing to term it as “genocide”, US withdrew troops, U.N. refused to interfere.
Disruption of key cyber infrastructures that can potentially threaten security Wikileaks – Julian Assange’s unprecedented release of over 76k secret documents exposed U.S. intelligence operatives and 100 Afghan informants Taliban scouring the site to ‘punish’ informers, less likely for Afghans and foreign intelligence services to cooperate with US in future
Activism Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/PIPA & Wikipedia’s blackout
Well-informed, vibrant electorate that can fuel democracy, rejuvenate and better educate 2011 Singapore GE, Singaporean online users sparked lively debates on the Internet that dared to challenge the conventional viewpoints perpetuated by decades of authoritarian rule. Alternate views on housing and cost of living via political websites such as ‘The Online Citizen’ less compliant electorate that argues for more alternate views in Parliament, scales tipped away from the dominant incumbent party, lowest percentage win by PAP since independence, ‘retirement’ of former Minister of Home Affairs Mr Wong Kan Seng Political reform/ change: Technology and information penetration in China will eventually force the Great Firewall of China to crumble and even lead to the political opening of the Chinese system, according to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt. Effective platform for masses to organise revolutions against oppressive regimes historically unprecedented speed of mobilisation, empowers masses to positive actions Arab Spring – Tunisia, Libya, Egypt. Nine out of ten Egyptians and Tunisians responded to a poll that they used Facebook to organise →
undercover Internet commentators that the Chinese government paid to influence public opinion. Fifty cents refers to the alleged pay the Internet commentators received per post. Party organisations train the fifty centers to safeguard the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) interests and to neutralise undesirable public opinion by pushing pro-Party views Blanket bans by NK and Myanmar on foreign libertarian voices Cultural Revolution – reading of Communist texts and radio broadcasts
Non-committal, anonymous nature of online political groups/activities Hacktivist group Anonymous opposes Internet censorship and surveillance, has hacked various government websites and major security corporations. In 2012, American magazine Time named Anonymous as one of the most influential groups of people in the world. Department of Justice website was shut down only 70 minutes after the start SOPA.
Lack of regulation/’filters’ on new media platforms often lead to biased, onesided, unwarranted political attacks
protests and spread awareness, Tahrir Square protests unseated Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak “Media coverage is often what prompts a police department into action” Economy Traditional media: content-creators sell the product to the audience – run by massive media conglomerates New media: the audience/users are themselves the product Consumerism o Consumerism masquerading as education Hyper-commercialism: Movie > TV shows > Merchandise > Books > Games etcetc
Times Inc. Warner Disney
Information Proliferation of independent media outlets that strive to provide alternative view on world events (increasingly necessary in a world dominated and monopolised by Western media corporations) Al Jazeera is an influential antidote to Western bias of global news. Alan Fisher, English senior correspondent of Al Jazeera International: It “will take on a global view, rather than looking at things from a purely Western perspective”.
Channel for feedback, consolidate public opinion, boost creativity User Generated Content – Tumblr, Indymedia – global perspective
Citizen journalism Stomp London riots After Egypt switched off its internet in January some activists brought laptops to places like Tahrir Square in Cairo to collect, via short-range wireless links, demonstrators’ video recordings and other electronic messages. These activists then broadcast the material to the outside
Increased accessibility of new media allows profit-driven interests of large corporations to become more easily proliferated than before, inaccurate information to draw in viewers and generate profits, more people are affected and adopt inaccurate views on world events Reliance on sensationalism and portrayal of only the shocking aspects of news events, heavily mediated, disproportionate emphasis on certain elements of events, skewing our sense of reality “Action news” formula adopted by many newspaper organis ations is packing 30-40 news events into a short 22 minute news-hole Bite sized-information “News in 5 minutes” section of ST Invisible Children’s KONY 2012 campaign, neglected to inform public that Kony was already running for his life and out of Uganda, Ugandan people voiced concerns that campaign might hamper relative stability, only 32% of the money raised went to direct services The spectacle of seeing soldiers donning gas masks in the Persian Gulf War overshadowed the reality that the Gulf never had a chemical attack
ethics
Sensitive
Privacy Who watches the watchers? An unmuzzled and effective media the best protection for a free society? Age of privacy is over – Zuckerberg If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place -Google CEO Eric Schmidt Privacy does not operate on the premise of hiding a wrong What is it? Basic right to protect personal information Freedom from intrusion Associated with anonymity and pseudonymity Importance Maintaining human condition with respect and dignity o Freedom of expression o Autonomy and individuality Helps individuals maintain their autonomy and individuality o Allows us to selectively disclose personal information and to engage in behaviors appropriate to and necessary for creating and maintaining diverse personal relationships one person's impression of another is gleaned only from a few key facts affects behaviour and interaction with the person It's fairer to allow each individual to control their own public face than to leave it to chance, to society at large, or to some governmental authority. o Encourages creativity, innovation – unconventional ideas, opinions to be fostered, developed and executed without fear of judgement, criticism Note that many scitech/artistic/ideological advances were first rejected and scorned
Problems Issues
If we are observed in all matters, we are constantly under threat of correction, judgment, criticism, even plagiarism of our own uniqueness. We become children, fettered under watchful eyes, constantly fearful that -- either now or in the uncertain future -- patterns we leave behind will be brought back to implicate us, by whatever authority has now become focused upon our once-private and innocent acts. We lose o ur individuality, because everything we do is observable and recordable Functional benefits o Safety: physical safety and safeguard a peace of mind Eg. protect people's identities at a political rally, public gatherings and so protect against potential attacks by political opponents or unwanted suitors o Safety against identity fraud, abuse of information o Protect interests in competitive situations, protection of property Game strategies, intellectual property Abuse of information Corporatization of information Privacy vs. transparency/accountability o Third party/government requests for data from (social) media companies
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Trends/ developments
Twitter transparency report: abiding by 75% of requests of US govt’s requests for user info Twitter told to give up Occupy protester's tweets Google: Announced that it would no longer censor search terms on Google.cn in 2010 conflict Aggressive approach to helping users combat government cyber censorship: warning Gmail users when Google suspects their accounts are being targeted by state-sponsored attacks and telling users when search terms they enter are likely to be rejected by Chinese government censorship filters The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) (2005), giving individuals the right for the first time to see information held by Government departments and public bodies Socially vulnerable people need control over personal info People who've escaped abusive relationships, people with marginalized religious or sexual preferences, people who fear losing their jobs Integrity of context: Peterson says that a more appropriate understanding of privacy today is based on context. We expect our communication to go on in an appropriate context (no drinking in church or praying in the bar) and we expect to understand how our communication will be distributed. If a college friend took photos of you drinking in a bar a nd showed them off to people in church, you might feel your privacy has been violated in both appropriateness and distribution. The bar is a p ublic place, though, and not completely secret. Thus the need for a more sophisticated understanding of privacy that is more than mere secrecy.
Security vs. privacy // liberty vs. control o "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin. Choice o Social media: self-publication, to craft/foster/create a public image, for attention BUT o Evolving preferences don’t justify elimination of choice Data privacy in (formal) education Privacy is dead thanks to new media? o New media merely reflecting change: Social norm evolving with time as the net generation becomes increasingly comfortable with posting private information online, more openly and with more people OR o New/social media the agent of change? Extent of data sharing now customisable, more sophisticated
1933, war-torn Sudan, Photojournalist Kevin Carter took a picture of an emaciated Sudanese toddler who was struggling towards a UN feeding centre, stopping to rest under the hungry eye of a vulture, published in the New York Times, iconic image of starvation.
TV , no substance TV, no substance TV, substance TV, substance TV, substance
TV, commercial enterprise Adverts, no effect
“Boys Over Flower”, adaptation of Taiwanese “Meteor Garden” throngs of adoring fans swarm to filming sites, near impossible for filming to continue. Instant fame of lead c haracters, merchandise, fashion style Birth of Mark Burnett’s wildly successful “Survi vor” series heralded entry of numerous other RTVs. “Big Brother”, “The Bachelor” bear testament to the media’s shibboleth “sex sells”. “Joe Millionaire”: backstabbing, flaunting beauty is the norm. “American Idol”, “So You Think You Can Dance”, “The Glee Project” Success of AI winners Jordin Sparks, Kelly Clarkson who won “Best Female Pop Artist” and “Best Pop Album” then, Jennifer Hudson went on to star in critically-acclaimed “Dreamgirls”. “Oprah Winfrey Show”, “Tyra Banks Show”, Ellen DeGeneres
News programmes. BBC’s “Hardtalk” presents round-table debates of and interviews with eminent leaders, political figures. John Pilger’s film about East Timor watched by 3 million people worldwide, a record half a million viewers called the switchboard afterwards to register their shock and horror at destitution and corruption that they viewed from their goggle-box. “Crime Watch”. “Crime Scene Investigation”: glimpse into working lives of people in law enforcement, forensics. Singapore’s MDA. Programmes’ air times meticulously arranged. Mature programmes screened later at night, when most young people are asleep, “Okto” for children, “Channel 5” for adults. One could well watch David Beckham and other soccer greats kicking a ball in a constructed threedimensional plane with a self-gratifying pleasure without actually feeling the need to buy a pair of Adidas soccer boots. Buy an iPod to belong to the cool stylish cult of Mac lovers. Manchester United exists both as a football club and a popular sports brand. Popularity of soccer sell its merchandise to massive audience. Adidas, Nike cashed in on club’s famous players and ex-players. David Beckham now synonymous with Adidas, Wayne Rooney with Nike.
Rising influence of pop culture degeneration of quality of TV RTV, profit-maximising, sex, drama, catfights sells Identify and unearth true talent, entertainment with value Media-savvy celebrities capitalise on fame and stardom to send worthy message to masses Collapsing geographical distances, educate, inform, empower masses with knowledge to bring out change
Cater to wants of consumers
Merely an advert, not a transmitter of information, “cool” factor alone satisfies consumer Adverts, In hands of skilful advert agencies, manipulate, language and images are powerful, affect manipulative weapons to be reckoned with, subtext, seduce us into it by selling us an implicit lifestyle and tribal identity The ubiquitous presence of the mass media in our everyday lives makes it an undeniable and ineluctable influence on values. Ranging from the billboards at seemingly every bus stop across the island, the advertisements on newspapers to the commercials played on television, the mass media ostensibly has infiltrated every nook and cranny of our lives, subtly exerting its power and moulding our values. Adverts usually set out to convince the consumer of his lack and tacitly entice him into buying the respective product or service. Advertising is an exercise of influence and co-option after all. Advertisers utilise entertainment to their advantage more and more these days: by conflating the two, the advert effectively becomes unassailable and persuasive. While there are many consumers who consciously or unconsciously buy into the allure of advertising, there exists also a sizable group able to resist its invisible and subtle force – who can without much difficulty view adverts as nothing but pure, unadulterated entertainment. While we may like to believe that consumers are smarter and more discerning today, we should be circumspect in dismissing entirely the value of adverts in informing and
influencing consumer choice. The electric age has spawned a culture of fragmentation and illusion that makes us more vulnerable to the suggestive powers of advertising. We live in a world where time and space are colonised and re-shaped by technology, where the boundaries and frontiers of reality and artificiality are engineered and recontextualised. Advertising is of course not spared from this wave of fracturing and demolishing once familiar borders. The fundamentals of consumer behaviour has remained largely unchanged – we still look for meaning and fun in the things that we buy. Our hunger for entertainment has extended the boundaries of what an advert truly means. It is not hard to see why any consumer would be persuaded to buy in. But even the most capricious consumer will bow down to practicality because his budget is limited. No amount of wit and gloss and convince someone with a shred of sense to waste money on a worthless product many times over. As the media’s influence is an insi dious force, there is a need to be vigilant and censorship is thus needed to keep style incheck to maintain the standards of TV programmes. Nonetheless, with globalisation and freer exchange of information, I am confident that we will evolve into more discerning viewers who value substance over style. Social activism is now, in many ways, intricately associated with social media, and for good reason – it gives power, finally, to the people.
