Mass Media: Shaping identity of the Society

Muntasir Murshed1

In the late 21st Century, mass media could be primarily classified into eight mass media industries:
books, newspapers, magazines, recordings, radio, movies, television and the internet. However, with the
explosion of digital communication technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the question of
what forms of media should be classified as mass media became more prominent. For example, it is
controversial whether to include cell phones, video games and computer games in the definition. In the
2000s, a classification called the "seven mass media" became popular. In order of introduction, they
were print media, recordings, cinema, radio, television, internet, cell phones. Television is now the most
captivating form of mass media that has acclaimed preferences of the masses all around the globe. It
has emerged as a pioneer in transmitting information and broadcasting entertainment shows all around
the globe. It has now become a basic necessity in life. This shows that the television media has the
highest reach to audience and as a result it possesses the greatest power of “social persuasion.”

Mass media has evolved as an indispensable means to stay up-to-date about national as well as
international affairs. Journalists,’ striving to circulate news, have an ethical duty to ‘seek the truth,’ to
avoid sensationalism and protect individual confidentiality issues. The fundamental aim of journalism is
to serve the people with news, views, remarks and information on issues of public interest in a fair,
unprejudiced, specific and decent manner. Therefore, it is highly essential that journalists have crystal
clear knowledge with regard to what they are presenting as news. They must evaluate the effectiveness
of the news in terms of its impact on the viewers/readers. Moreover, they should follow an ethical code
of obligation before publishing any kind of news. The targeted audience should thereby never be
exposed to news which are classified to be socially vulgar, obscene, or offensive and may have negative
impact on their minds. However, in this era of intense professional competitiveness, it is often seen that
mountains are built out of mole hills and therefore media loses its effectiveness in the Society. The only
thing that matters in almost all social media channels today is ‘TRP’ which is an abbreviation for Target
Rating Point (or Television Rating Point). In the surge for higher TRPs, social media often loses its virtues
and integrity and may in turn generate adverse impacts on the socio-economic platforms.

The media today holds the supreme power to shape the society and therefore my essay focuses on how
media exploits the society and how it can ideally be used to optimize Social Welfare.

There are many complex definitions of mass media but the simplest of definitions would be that it refers
to channels that bridge connecting people to different parts of the globe by disseminating information
tapping technology. The technology through which information is shared varies. Broadcast media such
as Radio, television, etc. transmit information electronically while Print Media uses papers in the form of
newspapers, books, magazines, leaflets, etc.
1
B. Sc. Graduate and Research Assistant, SBE, North South University
Email : m.murshedhtc@gmail.com
The association between mass media and the society can be depicted in the manner that mass media
exists as a mode of mass communication that links all individuals within a society through dissemination
of information via optimal use of technology. It keeps a common man aware of the sophisticated things
happening within a society as well as around the globe. Suppose, a man from a country which is
unknown to the developed world climbs the Mount Everest; it is the mass media that gets that man and
his country acquainted with the world and vice-versa. Mass media, apart from being the preferred
source of information, has also been a means of entertainment. At the end of a busy & hectic day’s work
mass media, especially television and radio, becomes the tonic that relieves tension from the shoulders
of an individual.

The three basic roles of the media are to spread information, provide education and entertainment. It is
recommended that journalists work with a profound sense of responsibility towards the society. The
core duty of journalists is to become accurate and fair in their publication. It can be appealing for the
media to exaggerate material, distorting the reality of the situation or misleading the society into
suppositions and impressions that are incorrect and potentially damaging. A "flood" of immigrants, for
example, may in reality be a relatively small number of people just as a "surge" in a stock price may be a
quite modest rise. The media should be aware of the need to avoid content, which is offensive, obscene,
fake, menacing or distasteful in character with intent to annoy, abuse, intimidate or bother any person.
The social responsibility of media journalism is of supreme value because media journalism is viewed as
the potential mirror of the society. It must, therefore, provide an honest, all-inclusive, and intelligent
account of the events in a context that provides meaning. The legal responsibility is that the publication
of groundless, indecent and influenced material should be circumvented at all costs in order to
safeguard oneself and the organization from the legal clutches. And the professional responsibility is
that journalists have certain professional obligations to shoulder and honor. The basic duty is to publish
information in all circumstances. Commitment to their profession and strict adherence to accepted
professional norms is essential.

The relationship between mass media and social politics is of utmost importance because it stimulates
both negative & positive effects on the Society. There is a strong bidirectional interconnectedness
between mass media and politics. Mass media is often referred to as ‘watchdogs’ of political
governments in a democratic society, which implies that the media should function on behalf of the
public. Hence, political success in the modern era has got a positive correlation with the grip over the
mass media. The stronger the grip the greater the success and vice-versa. As a result, dominant political
parties tend to customize media news by exercising their power in order to portray a good image in
front of the society. However, in many democratic societies the mass media acts as a form of checks and
balances which tend to mitigate the tyranny of the elected government.

Society is influenced by media in so many ways. It is the media for the masses that helps them to get
information about a lot of things and also to form opinions and make judgments regarding various
issues.” Along with its Evolution, mass media has had uncountable effects on the society, of which some
where good while most were bad. It means that mass media has got both positive & negative effects on
our society at large, but it is unfortunate that the negativity heavily outnumbers the positivity. The main
reason behind this has been excessive amount of media intervention in the social issues. Media
intervention in the society is desirable since it acts as checks and balances to counter the tyranny of the
social elites, etc. However it becomes undesirable when the media gives undue importance to small
social issues and unnecessarily magnifies them. Due to highlighting of these minor issues, many a times
the relatively more important social & economic issues get neglected. Thus the society gets adversely
affected.

Mass media has at times changed the dynamics of the society for the worse. The greatest power of mass
media is “Social Persuasion.” This is because people buy what they are being told by the Media. In the
current world where people are too busy (or too lazy) to verify the news telecasted in the leading media
channels & print media believe the mass media completely. Hence media has achieved control over the
Value Judgments of the viewers & readers who are not able to distinguish between right and wrong.
Media has become the supreme source of information which is held to be true at any cost. Thus it gives
license to the people who use mass media personally to shape the opinion of the people and thereby
adversely affect the society.

Culture and its preservation are the two most important national tasks that are required for maintaining
a unique identity of the society. It is beyond any doubt that mass media today has flourished
enormously and has reached a position where it can either preserve the social culture or easily lead to
its extinction. The effects of media are heavily inclined towards the youth who are easily persuaded by
what they are presented by the mass media. They buy whatever media sells. If the media prescribes
them to array from the cultural norms they don’t hesitate to do so. This is because people, especially the
young generation, are gradually losing their power of value judgment. Apart from changes in dressing
styles, there are many other aspects in which culture has been sacrificed by the sword of mass media.
Media has immensely glorified foreign cultures without knowing the fact that such foreign cultures may
not be appropriate and in accordance to the cultural & religious norms of a particular society. Traditions
have gone out of Fashion which can be attributable to the hard work of mass media. Television media
today has reached a height where even the religious discourse is broadcasted under a magnifying glass.
This has severely affected the social culture and has even led to an increase in the magnitude of
“atheism” around the globe.

According to economic theory, welfare economics is a subtle combination of positive and normative
economics, whereby positive statements are evaluated using data but normative statements rely on
value judgments. Economists have referred social welfare to sum of welfare of all individual within a
society and an individual’s welfare depends on his/her utility which in turn depends on his/her value
judgment. However mass media in this modern era has gained control over one’s power of value
judgment. People believe everything that is broadcasted and act according to what they are told by the
media. Hence, under such circumstances it is highly unlikely that maximization of social welfare can be
achieved since people no longer are able to use their value judgment to decide what is good for them.
Therefore, we can say that there exists a negative correlation between growth of mass media and social
welfare. There had been three specific theories that are used as yardsticks to evaluate the influences
mass media exert on the society. Conversely, the limited-effects theory is asserts that the pattern of
influence media generates on the society since it was derived when the availability and dominance of
the media was far less widespread. It states that there is negligible influence of media on the society
since people choose to watch or read news based on what they already believe. Therefore this theory
failed to recognize the power of the media to shape the society and alter the value judgments of
masses. It assumed that people have their own value judgment which is unaffected by the media. Thus
the effects or influences media exerts on the society are ‘limited.’ However, the class-dominant theory
was developed based on assumptions opposite to those associated with the limited-effects theory. This
theory states that media is controlled and dominated by few social elites and it serves the purposes of
those elites by reflecting and projecting their views. It strongly believed that the media has the power to
alter the value judgment of the mass and thereby exerts a significant amount of influence on the
society. Finally, the culturalist theory is the combination of the two aforementioned theories. It states
that the media does have the power to exert influence on the society and believes that even if there is
significant control of the social elites on the media, individual value judgment determines the
interpretation of the messages relayed by the media.

The power of mass media has traditionally been used to exploit the masses and the information
disseminated by the media through multiple technologies has been subject to alteration and biasedness
towards either the media corporations or towards the social elite groups. However, if this power can be
utilized in the correct manner then it can prove to be a stepping stone towards attainment of social
welfare. For this to happen mass media must be socially optimized whereby the negative externalities
driven by mass media have to be scrutinized and corrected. The mass media has to play its ideal roles in
solving social problems those already exist, rather than aggravate them or lead to creation of fresh ones.

The mass media is known as the national watchdogs of a nation and therefore it is essential for the
media professionals to measure what they are publishing as news for the public. Following intensified
intra-industry competition, mass media corporations should not entirely turn into an unsocial
commercial institution. Television and newspapers have the power it takes to shape the thinking power
of the public through spillover and dissemination of news and help common people build an opinion
regarding a person, a political party, any issue or even about a country. It is therefore the responsibility
of the journalists to be accurate, fair and ethical towards their jobs. Mass media should be for the
welfare of the mass within a society rather than the benefits being confined to a particular segment of
the population. Due to the fact that media affects the way of thinking of its audience, it must stick to the
ethical code of media journalism and must not publish or broadcast anything that may vulgarize or
brutalize the society.