The Effects of Media Propaganda
Abstract
The media serve the agenda of six corporations that owns them. Just about any source of information that you see, hear or read is controlled by the agenda of the six corporations. They control the country with media propaganda agenda using the illusion of choice. The media has influenced us, economically, sociologically, and psychologically.
The media function with the intent to shape our thinking into believing what they wanted us to believe. Many of the news coverage in the media is due to the fact that it align with the media agenda. This would paper allowed us to see different areas we have been shaped by the media and the strategy they used to achieve their objective. The media propaganda is key major part of media operation and is used to accommodate as well protect the agenda of the elite.
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The American culture of today is communicated through media. Media is the most powerful and influential force in the country. The media are powerful agents of socialization and they set the standard that majority follow. The power giving to American media has allowed them to be very effective using propaganda as strategy, the media tend to say they serve to relieve social conflicts into minimum. We clearly see that the media promote social conflicts by separating class. The image that media has created in the mind of masses has economical, psychological and sociological impact the masses.
The intent of the media is to satisfy their own agenda, not to inform and entertain. They been very successful using this strategy, more of their agenda less of the masses interest. Richard Cohen once said “We are going to impose our agenda on the coverage by dealing with issues and subjects that we choose to deal with.”
Propaganda is form of communication that attempt to influence the attitude of the community towards some cause or position by presenting only one side of an argument. Propaganda is widely spread throughout the media to create chosen result in audience attitudes. Media main objective is to influence the attitude of the people. The audio visual media such as television, radio, and sound motion pictures means of communication are available to the psychological operator.
Their effectiveness is based on seeing and having the persuasive message. These medium provide an excellent means of persuasive message. Television projects the sense of sight, adding the element of motion, like motion picture, it combines sight, sound and motion. Television is an immediate effect, it places the viewer is two locations simultaneously, creating the illusion of participating in a distant event. The transmission of T.V overcomes illiteracy, audience need not be able to read.
The Psychological media propaganda advantage helps the media through television bring people in global separate locations together by exposing then visually to the same ideas and concepts. Psychologist Hadley Cantril and Hazel Gaudet, led us to some valuable discovery after October 30 1938 when radio broadcast war of the world? As a result of this broadcast there was a national panic for all to see the effect of media propaganda. While many panic during the broadcast, some remain calm and collected. The people that were not panic displayed what psychologist called a critical faculty (pg589). The lack critical faculty was the lack of the ability to create a framework in which to check if information were true.
The people that lacked critical faculty are the low income bracket because of limited sources of information. A psychology study conducted by Cantril, along with Gaudet, H, the model which accounted for how movies influenced children. The study of media effect has spawned many functional theories today such as Agenda-setting theory, cultural imperialism theory. The powerful influence of media is revealed through agenda setting the ability to tell the masses what issues are important. Many have been concerned about the psychological effect of media as far back as 1922. Media has the power to presents images to public through propaganda. Which McCombs and Shaw investigation of presidential campaigns in 1968, 1972, and 1976. In the findings, they concluded that the mass media psychological a significant influence on what voters considered to the major issues of the campaign.
The agenda- setting allowed the media not to reflect reality, they filter and shape it. They also concentrate on few issues and subjects leads the public to view those issues, as more significant than other issues. The time frame is the most important aspect of this phenomenon. Bernard Cohen (1963) psychology effect of media, they may not be successful in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about. Lastly, the western nations dominate the media around the world.
The western nations used cultural imperialism to impose their western views through media on third world countries. They simply shape and control third world destroying their native cultures through the effect of media propaganda. There are several different theory that provide evidence of this. In as much as the third world countries continue to broadcast western civilization’s programs, then these countries will always believe they should act, think and live as westerners. Clearly it is widely seen how media propaganda has impacted our lives psychologically.
Over the past generation, it has become very clear that the U.S mass media is a major influential voice in the U.S society. Edward S Herman once said media operate in systematic propaganda model. The media serve to mobilize support for the special interests that dominate National, State and Private activity. Propaganda is not the only function of the media, however it is a very essential aspect of their overall service. Certainly in a capitalist society and major conflicts of class interest. The media function to serve the large propaganda requirements of the elite. The media have consistently promote the agenda of the elite, particularly in U.S.
First thing to consider in the economic effect of media propaganda is the ownership of the media is among a handful the largest profit corporations in the world. Many of these corporations have a comfortable size of interest in U, S economy. Objectively, their needs to remain profitable corporation severely influence the need operations and major content of media broadcast. Subjectively, the self- interest of the handful corporations as become the operation of the media. Second advertising, has colonized the U.S media and is also responsible for most of their generating income.
Third media are drawn into symbolic relationship with powerful sources of information by economic necessity. Media depend upon news provided them by corporation and government sources and due to this fact they are pressured to follow corporate agenda. Whenever the wealthy right-wingers were dissatisfied with political media coverage. They make sure that they send a clear message of their displeased. The ideology of double standard of the media propaganda work effectively.
For example the media treatment of murder coverage or report is based on if it is a worthy victim or unworthy victim, which majorly depended on their relationship to the elite interests. The news coverage of Vietnam War and the development it appear as if the media were opposed to the war. Contrary to the image the media portray, they continued to present the War in manner consistent with the interest of wealthy till the very end. This provide a good example on how media propaganda operates to maintain economic agenda. For news to be worthy of coverage it would have to meet the elite requirement and it must be something the media can sale.
It very certain that all these facts have major impacts on how media deliver news to the general public, the economic effect of media propaganda determines what event or incident gets media coverage. It is a system that continues to develop a systematic approach of how to protect the interest of the elite without making it obvious to the public. We believe that the media exist to inform and entertain, however the reason for the program will watched on T, V is to keep us interested till the next paid commercial. The more will considered the economic effect of media propaganda the more will discovered that its centered around the agenda of wealthy folks. The agenda of the elite is what is propagated by the media, the generally public received it as the truth follow. The Sociology perspective of the media is also an important aspect to consider.
If the powerful are able to fix the premises of discourse, to decide what the general populace is allowed to see, hear, and think about and to “manage” public opinion by regular propaganda of their own strike in an issue or immobilized by effective propaganda the media will serve elite interest uncompromisingly (Herman,1996). It very essential to look different sociology perspective of media propaganda and how they influence our society. Functionalist believe that media propaganda contributed to the benefit of the society. Charlie Wright (1975) was able to identify ways media contributed to society. He said media coordinate and correlate information that is valuable to the culture. People gather in groups to watch, they talk about what they see, and they share the sense that are watching something special (Schudson 1986).
Functionalist view media propaganda as an important function in society. It is the media to influence social uniformity on bigger scale. Media propaganda has been accused of creating dysfunction. Postman (1989) argued the media culture undermines the educational system. Conflict perspective claim that corporation use media propaganda to satisfy their own agenda. Sitcoms and News coverage are not created to inform and entertain, however they are to keep our interest to the next paid commercial. This perspective view media as conduit for social coercion. The owners of media use programing and advertising to influence certain and targeted social class.
Whatever agenda or trend they introduced through media is the public mimicked, the media maintain dominance and remained major influential force in the nation due to the fact that they were use propaganda very effectively. From the conflict perspective, modern day media are instruments of social control,(Sullivan 2007) while interactionist and functionalist agree that media propaganda is necessary, conflict perspective view media propaganda as necessary evil. The media propaganda is used as an instrument of social control and also an effective way to carry out their agenda.
Interactionist perspective, media propaganda is used to define and shape our definitions of any given situation. This perception of reality seems to come together as daily value and cultural change. The definition of American in the 50s is definitely different what we see expect today. The way the media portray family is the set standard that majority of society would consider acceptable. The effect of the media propaganda is powerful that social acceptance is solely dictated and depended on what the media approve. The symbols that the media present to us will represent what is acceptable and proper. So anyone that does not identify with the symbols are considered to be an outcast.
The media propaganda create a perfect society illusion that the masses strive to emulate. You have athletes, celebrities and models promoting clothing, brand that vast majority cannot afford. To consider to be part of the elite class society you have to identify with those things. Many people have lost their own identity trying to meet up with media expectation of them. Many also get into huge debt due to the fact that the image of happiness the media portray is things you can afford to buy with good credit. The interaction between the masses and the media is symbolic. They serve their own agenda, whenever the public interact with the media is to acquire information or to be entertained, however whenever the media interact with the public is serve their own agenda, which is the agenda of the elite groups of individual that runs them.
The agenda of the elite is to impose their “Will” on the masses and make money of it. CEO of Walt Disney, Michael Eisner once said “We have no obligation to make history, we have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective. The media interaction with general public is symbolic because it revolved around money, money is the symbol that connect the media with the public.
Conclusion
The media control the country using propaganda and illusion of choice to achieve their agenda. The 6 media giants control 90% of what we read, watch, listen to and anything outside these sources is consider not to be credible. The information that we received on daily basis are controlled by six individual who run these companies. The media form and shape the society culture, reality and acceptance. They not only function to promote the agenda of the elite, they impose the culture accepted by the elite as set standard for all. The instrument that the media use to control society is propaganda.
The media used the illusion that they exist to inform and entertain, however they existed to serve the agenda of the elite. They use different avenue to capture and change the public minds in order to achieve their own objectives. Our culture in America today is what the media say it is, Social conflicts are promoted by the media, separating public into different classes and holding one particular groups as the set standard of the rest. Finally the new coverage or any information we gathered through media is the media’s imposed agenda.
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The Effects of Media Propaganda. (2016, Aug 13). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/the-effects-of-media-propaganda/
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