Mass Media Influence On American Society
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About the site Resources
"It is the power that shapes and molds the mind of virtually
every citizen, young or old, rich or poor, simple or
sophisticated" (Sweet Liberty, 2000, 1). The media is a part
of everyday life in America. News and events outside of
one's home or neighborhood are brought to their area via
the newspaper, magazines, radio, television, and the
internet. As the quote above mentions mass media, and its
components, are very powerful and are capable of
influencing one's mind, as well as their behavior. The images
and stories introduced to children and young adults make it
difficult for these viewers to distinguish between fact and
fiction (Cable News Network, 1998, 3), thus stimulating
confusion and blind emulation. (oppapers.com)
About This Site
This site is devoted to such problem as interpretation and modeling of historical
events in mass media of USA. It is made during studying of USA history and culture
by Danila Dudarev, student of the ISLU, in 2009.
Essays
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Impact of Mass Media on Individuals, Society, and Culture
Mass Media and Its Negative Influence on American Society
The Influence of the Media on Politics
Mass Media
Stereotypes in the American Media
American Media Influence on Global Culture
The Media and Mass Misinterpretation of Islam
Media Influence on Black Children
The Media and the Environment
Politics and the Media
The Perpetuation of Negative Images of African Americans through Mass Media
Media Influence on the Female Form
Protecting Ourselves from Media Manipulation: The Use of Alternative Media as an Information
Source
Mass Media Violence and the Effect on Children
How Media Controls Our Lives
You will be able to find other related essays if you visit 123helpme.com
Some of them are free, and some are chargeable.
Another source of information is www.associatedcontent.com
Books & Articles
Books
• Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture
• With Malice toward All? The Media and Public Confidence in Democratic
Institutions
• Media Effects and Society
Also you can find other books in electronic version at this site: questia-online-library
Journal Articles
• Controlling Communications That Teach or Demonstrate Violence: "The Movie
Made Them Do It“
• Body Image, Supplements, and Media Influence
• Predictions of Public Opinion from the Mass Media: Computer Content
Analysis and Mathematical Modeling
Also you can find other journal articles in electronic versions at this site: questia-onlinelibrary
Resources
www.associatedcontent.com
123helpme.com
questia-online-library
oppapers.com
www.pravmir.ru/article_2465.html
Examples
Example 1 - Iraq
Example 2 - Kosovo
Mass Media of the People, for the People, and by the People. November 18, 2005
by Michael Chesnut
Before going to war in Iraq several years ago, the people at large in the United States were prepared psychologically for war through
the mass-media every day for about a year. Whenever there was "news" on the television, there were indications that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction. The United States has about 10,000 weapons of mass destruction, which must not be as newsworthy
as speculation about other nations.
The case of Iraq makes clear that for the people at large to have any influence on international policy or decision-making in the
United States, the people must reclaim the mass-media to educate the public and to communicate information and ideas instead of
accepting rumors as truth and acting without knowledge - which is acting out of ignorance, much more dangerous for a nation than a
single person.
While still fighting in Afghanistan, almost 300 million people in the United States were exposed to the idea and prospect of war with
Iraq - war with Iraq it was. The psychological preparation in the United States was extensive and disturbing. The simple exposure,
repetition, and increasing frequency of the idea of a dangerous Iraq convinced some. Few people exposed to the mass-media could
have been excluded from the "concerns" of the administration.
The issue of war with Iraq was presented as a high-profile court-case in which there appeared to be two sides in the dispute for and
against war. These two sides seemed incompatible. President Bush had already stated, "You are for us - or against us." The only
judge in the matter appeared to be the administration, but what happened to the people, and what happened to the mass-media?
As it turned out, only the prosecution in the case for the war was able to present its case, and the defense (against the war) was
nowhere to be found. This is not because the defense did not exist - it is because the defense was not portrayed in the mass-media
except in a derogatory and degrading fashion. People who exercised their rights to protest were portrayed as "traitors" and
"dissenters".
In the case for and against war in Iraq, the Bush administration presented its case, refused to listen to ideas or information that ran
counter to its "intelligence sources," then served as a judge in the case, deciding to go to war
with Iraq despite not having been attacked. Most of what the
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people believed came from the mass-media, which was speculating along with the administration.
Mass Media of the People, for the People, and by the People. November 18, 2005
by Michael Chesnut
In a court of law, the decision-making process that led to war in Iraq would have been "conjecture" primarily. There would have
been two-sides to the issue presented for the people, and there would have been a jury to deliberate, to think, to discuss, and to
decide what to do based on available information. Contrasting perspectives about Iraq's WMDs would have been sought instead of
silenced.
The case of Iraq is a national one because it now directly concerns the people of the United States, the armed forces, their
families, parents, and children. The case of Iraq is also an international case because it has established a precedent for the U.S.
by invading another country that has not attacked our nation. If not the supposed WMDs in Iraq, then what does threaten the
people in our country?
For any nation that is founded in the name of democracy, the greatest threat to the people in that country is the neglect of basic
human resources and rights. In the United States, the Bill of Rights describes the rights of the people, among them - freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, and freedom to assemble and protest. These are very special rights that
distinguish our country from tyrannical regimes, so long as the people exercise and practice them.
The primary problem in presenting the case against war in Iraq - before the bombs began falling - was that the exercise of these
rights was not portrayed in the mass-media, even though people were exercising them across the nation, mostly in urban areas
that have access to more ideas than one gathers from public television. Few people protest in rural areas and small towns. Without
a voice in the mass-media, the people must accept what it gives them instead of using it as a tool.
For the 300 million people in the United States, the peace movement was neither broadcast nor portrayed objectively. Democracy
entails the representation of the people and the process whereby their ideas, knowledge,
feelings, and decisions are counted. There are possible courses of action or non-action, and the majority of people
either support them or not. The mass-media must not bombard people with the conjecture of any nation or else it is not a freepress either.
With the present technological and digital tools that allow for the mass-broadcast of information all over the country, the massmedia influences the mental conditions of the people. The workings of democracy either become more refined and efficient
because of these tools, or else more mediocre, illegitimate, and wasteful of time, energy, and the lives of the people. The media is
a mediator between government and the people, and real communication is not a one-sided process.
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(www.associatedcontent.com)
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Kosovo 1999, or About One Method of Consciousness Manipulation in Mass
Media. Nov 21, 2007 by A.A.Danilova
One of the most famous methods of influencing consciousness in mass media is a method, which we will call personalizationmaterialization. Its matter is that when journalist (issue) illustrates concrete conflict, the side, which he sympathizes with and which
he wants to present in positive light, is described through the fate of concrete people, their sufferings and troubles. Reader
involuntarily projects grief of another man on himself and compassionates victims.
Serb troops have continued attacks on unarmed men, women and children.
« The lives of pregnant women and newborns are at particular risk among refugees fleeing Kosovo . There have been a significant
number of women giving birth on the road in harsh conditions, resulting in the deaths of newborn infants, said Dr. Manuel Carballo.
Most of the refugees are women and children, and many of the women are pregnant or are breastfeeding »
Albanian refugees cross the border
Refugees camp
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Albanian refugee seeks for children, disappeared
without a trace.
Another side of the conflict is presented as much as possible impersonal: targets, aims, troops, forces etc. Of course, peaceful
population on the both sides of front line suffer equally, death and anguish in Serbian family is the same as in Albanian, French,
American or Russian.
The aircraft did get through to their targets last night
NATO hits passenger train
Behind targets, aims and in military trains – the same women, children, the same grief, the same war, rushed into their destiny.
At the time of military campaign NATO against Serbia this method was applied at the most.
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Right are Albanian refugees, left is Serbian soldier.
(“Newsweek”)
Serbian soldier on the destroyed houses ash
Serbian soldier
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It is difficult to realize the dimensions of this method, if you don’t make special analysis of mass media materials. But illustrations
provide visual demonstration of it. The analysis of weekly “Newsweek” for 1999 convincing shows, that all illustrations are divided on
two groups:
tragic photos of Albanian families on the one hand and militarized photos of Serbian side on the other hand.
No one issue of weekly “Newsweek” for 1999 has even one photo-material about Serbian peaceful populations, which suffered great
losses during military campaign of NATO.
Photos of destroyed Serbian architecture monuments, schools, hospitals, victims of bombing and their disconsolate relatives were
excluded from data flow.
The third group of illustrations tells about American military heroism:
Albanian children greet American soldier
Can we imagine brighter illustration for heroic sagas about nobility and self-sacrifice of brave american soldiers, which implicitly and
explicitly are opposed to Serbian soldiers, violating and killing guiltless Albanian women? These girls striking contrast with those, who
appear on the photos, illustrating articles about Serbian brutality. So visual association is created: Serbians personify cruelty and
barbarism, Americans symbolize happiness, peace, creation and calmness.
Hundreds of people as before strong sure, that in militarized totalitarian countries (in fact any world state can be called such if it is
necessary) the only way to introduce right and humane democratic system is military operations.
This text is translated from Косово 1999, или об одном приеме манипулирования сознанием в СМИ. Данилова А.А. Nov 21,
2007
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Video
Fox.flv
This is one of the examples of
mass media work, the aim of
which is to interpret and
model historical events