Name : Evan Miah

Assignment : Paper 1

The Media has influenced and infiltrated us and our surroundings, in unprecedented levels which
are really invisible to all. This is why its important to understand and study the media, especially
when it has that much of influence over the mass, since there is a saying, the medium is the
message, and the message is not always the message. In this assignment i have chosen the media
publication Vox, which is owned by Vox Media. The goal of this assignment will be of proving
the reason that this specific media publication that i choose goes through the five needs the
media publications aim to achieve in order to maintain their full influence over the people.
Sources will be my publication, also The Magazine from Cover to Cover, 3rd edition, Sammye
Johnson and Patricia Prijatel, Oxford University Press, with the Vox publication website.

The first need we will look at with this publication is the cognitive need, where people tend to
look and search for specific things or more, and thus uses media, be analogue or digital. For
example, in the publication i choose in Vox, basically is a news media website or publication
which attracts users like me, who like being updated with the news. The publication is divided
into many parts, depending on your cognitive needs, wether be entertainment, sports, news,
politics, drama, comedy, etc. For example, there is an article in this media publication " Whats
Causing Climate Change "by David Roberts, explains or is basically an opinion based article
which takes the reader away to another world or thinking, while there is another article called ,"
7 mistakes you will make when hiring a financial advisor " which is of totally different topic and
feel, and many more, thus providing the cognitive needs of the people through the medium.

The second need we will look at is the affective need, which is basically the aspect if watching
the media which aids us connecting emotionally through the content and helps us build or
develop emotional responses. An article named" Whats Causing Climate Change "by David
Roberts, explains or is basically an example of an affective need. This article basically with
images and explanations describes the violent affects and outgoing scenarios of climate change
and wildfires and what we are expected to do to contain it, thus making us build up an emotional
defense.Affective needs can come from any form, thus it can be also from entertainment for
example an article from this same publication" Beethoven’s 5th Symphony is a lesson in finding
hope in adversity " by Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding is an article with a different affective
need, more mellow or emotionally connective in other ways.

When looking into our third need, which is personal need. This is a need which is basically what
happens when consuming too much media, which in turn assists humans in creating and
solidifying identity traits. It is possible to view characters, which appeal or us, or with traits
which appeal to us , and thus eventually following them or an individual. Eventually our
behavior start to mimic theres, and there is a change of the mindset of society. An example of
this can be seen in the Vox homepage or website, and you will see a trend more of left or liberal,
rather than conservative or right. For example, articles like "Trump’s Nevada rally was an
exercise in delegitimizing voting — and denying reality" By Cameron Peters , "Trump keeps
telling people to vote twice, even though that’s a crime" ,By Cameron Peters , and " A federal
court blocked Trump from using the census to undermine immigrants’ political power "By
Nicole Narea, shows or diverts the mass who is using the media into a more left than a right or a
neutral place of opinion when it comes to politics.

The next part or need, comes to be social need, where its basically the human need to feel
socially connected or be connected , which basically pushes us to use these media etc.As quoted
from the book The Magazine from Cover to Cover, 3rd edition, Sammye Johnson and Patricia
Prijatel, Oxford University Press, which states " we use the media to help us fit in society.
Researchers call this function the social utility of information". An example of this would be the
part that Vox allows its users to be connected to them and be communicative to them via many
social mediums, specifically, face book twitter and youtube. There are also many other tools
provided for communication for example, sharing content which is relevant, so it will be
provided and view across the entire Vox community.

The last but not least need if the tension release need, which i feel is a very important need. This
actually can also be referred to as escapism, and basically describes a humans tendency to escape
form the tensions of everyday life, so for which they turn to the media jn order to escape the
reality. " Readers often head for magazines for escape and diversion " as quoted from The
Magazine from Cover to Cover, 3rd edition, Sammye Johnson and Patricia Prijatel, Oxford
University Press. By viewing my publication, i have recognized many articles which are able to
divert an individuals mind, since there is a range of topics which also ranges in different
emotional expressions. There may be entertainment, then there be a bad news. An example for
this may be the article , " How the coronavirus outbreak is roiling the film and entertainment
industries " By Alissa Wilkinson, may make you take a break form the reality of the pandemic to
a more comfort place where it may relate and not bother you, thus making you escape your
reality.

So far we have seen how the publication, Vox has contributed to attaining these five important
needs in order to consume the readers mind and maybe body. This publication, with its articles
have fulfilled its requirements with the five needs according to research and content viewing.
The digital media has changed the way people think and behave, specially in the time of
technology and human advancement, so its important to know what you hear and follow since
humans are independent when thinking.