John Gabriell B.

Garcia
Comm 130 TWX

Baran and Davis were able to discuss four trends in Media theory: the mass society
trend, limited-effects trend, critical cultural trend, and the meaning-making trend. These
trends, according to Baran and Davis, were outlined in a linear timeline, and the shifts
from one trend to the other are caused by important events in history.

The mass society trend is basically an outlook of media as having the power to maintain
an existing political order or to uprise a radical change in the society. It deals with the
role of media in establishing social order. Criticisms arose as this trend puts so much
thought on media as the primary way to social order, undermining other factors. This
was also primarily disproved by the limited-effect trend which called the earlier trend an
“unscientific” discourse.

Limited-effect trend was lead by postpositivist researchers who used ‘scientific methods’
in social sciences. Basically, this opposes the earlier trend, saying that media does not
have any direct influence to people, but rather strengthens and already existing social
trend.

The critical cultural theory emerged from a neo-Marxist perspective, saying that media
is controlled by elites in order to maintain their power. This trend focused on the
production and consumption of media, and how values portrayed in media affected
audience reception.

The meaning-making trend, on the other hand, focuses not on the content nor the
power of the media, but the agency of the audience. This gave the audience a choice of
what to consume, and what to take into their lives. Media may or may not be powerful,
but the important part is how the audience reacts on media.

Shifts in the trends are brought upon by man’s search for answers on questions that
were not primarily answered by the current trends. For example, the limited-effect
theory has been practiced for so long for having ‘scientific basis’, but it could not explain
the current situations happening during the 20 th century. Revolutions, the civil rights
movement and women emancipation were emerging with the help of media; therefore,
deeming the trend almost unable to adapt to the situations.