THE PERVASIVE ROLE OF THE MEDIA
Political debates and presidential news has always flooded the headlines and newscasts. These always seem so important and everyone is talking about the candidates and their issues. Why do you think this happens? This happens because the media leads us to believe it is important. A quote from McCombs and Shaw sum this up, "We judge as important what the media judge as important." You can see this happening if you just open your eyes a little and look around. Even people who have no opinion on politics start discussing politics with their families and co-workers. They do so because media deems it important.
Mass Media as a form of communication has a great ability to influence opinions on a given issue. The Theory of Agenda- Setting can be summarized as the media tells audiences, “Not what to think, but what to think about." The theory takes emphasis on how those media institutions affect viewers to a greater extreme by not telling audiences what to think about a certain issue but telling the public what issue they need to have on their minds. Agenda-setting, also referred to as gatekeeping, is the process that allows some information to reach the audience while other information is kept out.
Watergate Scandal is probably the most famous example of Agenda-Setting. When the media covered the event, very few Americans knew about the event. But after a year, when the media kept covering the issue, the survey showed that almost 90% of the Americans were very concern about the event. Media exposure has been found out as determinant of public priorities whereby public opinions will correlate to massive media exposure.
Agenda- Setting has been probably most used in political advertising. It is but true that media can alter personal views of the people towards specific candidate.
Agenda- setting also shows a sad side of the media world-- people have little control over their own beliefs beyond whatever news channel they turn to. It is most obvious in advertisements shown on television. The theory has also great effect on Advertising. Advertising alters the way people go through their daily routine in order to make them purchase or support something they normally would not. Agenda-setting is strong and will continue to dominate mainstream views for many of years.
Mass Media as a form of communication has a great ability to influence opinions on a given issue. The Theory of Agenda- Setting can be summarized as the media tells audiences, “Not what to think, but what to think about." The theory takes emphasis on how those media institutions affect viewers to a greater extreme by not telling audiences what to think about a certain issue but telling the public what issue they need to have on their minds. Agenda-setting, also referred to as gatekeeping, is the process that allows some information to reach the audience while other information is kept out.
Watergate Scandal is probably the most famous example of Agenda-Setting. When the media covered the event, very few Americans knew about the event. But after a year, when the media kept covering the issue, the survey showed that almost 90% of the Americans were very concern about the event. Media exposure has been found out as determinant of public priorities whereby public opinions will correlate to massive media exposure.
Agenda- Setting has been probably most used in political advertising. It is but true that media can alter personal views of the people towards specific candidate.
Agenda- setting also shows a sad side of the media world-- people have little control over their own beliefs beyond whatever news channel they turn to. It is most obvious in advertisements shown on television. The theory has also great effect on Advertising. Advertising alters the way people go through their daily routine in order to make them purchase or support something they normally would not. Agenda-setting is strong and will continue to dominate mainstream views for many of years.
DIFFUSION OF INFORMATION AND INNOVATION
MOVING TOWARDS SOCIAL CHANGE
An idea perceived as new by an individual can be considered as innovation. It maybe an idea, practice, or object. Researchers call it diffusion of innovation. Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. It is a special type of communication concerned with the spread of messages that are perceived as new ideas.
Communication is the process by which individuals create and share information with one another in order to reach a mutual understanding. Through a communication channel, messages are sent from one person to another. Mass media channels are more effective in creating knowledge of innovations, whereas interpersonal channels are more effective in forming and changing attitudes toward a new idea, and thus in influencing the decision to adopt or reject a new idea. Most individuals evaluate an innovation, not on the basis of scientific research by experts, but through the subjective evaluations of near-peers who have adopted the innovation.
There are three ways in which time dimension is involved in diffusion. First, time is involved in the innovation-decision process. The innovation- decision process is the mental process through which an individual passes from first knowledge of an innovation to forming an attitude toward the innovation, to a decision to adopt or reject, to implementation of the new idea, and to confirmation of this decision. The second way in which time is involved in diffusion is in the innovativeness of an individual or other unit of adoption. Innovativeness is the degree to which an individual or other unit of adoption is relatively earlier in adopting new ideas than other members of a social system. There are five adopter categories, or classifications of the members of a social system on the basis on their innovativeness: (1) Innovators (2) Early adopters (3) Early majority (4) Late majority (5) Laggards.
The third way in which time is involved in diffusion is in rate of adoption. The rate of adoption refers to the relative speed with which an innovation is adopted by members of a social system. The rate of adoption is usually measured by the number of members of the system that adopt the innovation in a given time period. The diffusion of innovations theory is applicable to many facets of communication. It can be applied to innovations both today and in the past, and should be considered when launching a new product into the marketplace. Using interpersonal communication to foster adoption of a product—after getting the innovators to adopt it—may be the best way for the new product to diffuse throughout a population.
SPIRAL OF SILENCE
Communication is the process by which individuals create and share information with one another in order to reach a mutual understanding. Through a communication channel, messages are sent from one person to another. Mass media channels are more effective in creating knowledge of innovations, whereas interpersonal channels are more effective in forming and changing attitudes toward a new idea, and thus in influencing the decision to adopt or reject a new idea. Most individuals evaluate an innovation, not on the basis of scientific research by experts, but through the subjective evaluations of near-peers who have adopted the innovation.
There are three ways in which time dimension is involved in diffusion. First, time is involved in the innovation-decision process. The innovation- decision process is the mental process through which an individual passes from first knowledge of an innovation to forming an attitude toward the innovation, to a decision to adopt or reject, to implementation of the new idea, and to confirmation of this decision. The second way in which time is involved in diffusion is in the innovativeness of an individual or other unit of adoption. Innovativeness is the degree to which an individual or other unit of adoption is relatively earlier in adopting new ideas than other members of a social system. There are five adopter categories, or classifications of the members of a social system on the basis on their innovativeness: (1) Innovators (2) Early adopters (3) Early majority (4) Late majority (5) Laggards.
The third way in which time is involved in diffusion is in rate of adoption. The rate of adoption refers to the relative speed with which an innovation is adopted by members of a social system. The rate of adoption is usually measured by the number of members of the system that adopt the innovation in a given time period. The diffusion of innovations theory is applicable to many facets of communication. It can be applied to innovations both today and in the past, and should be considered when launching a new product into the marketplace. Using interpersonal communication to foster adoption of a product—after getting the innovators to adopt it—may be the best way for the new product to diffuse throughout a population.
SPIRAL OF SILENCE
A TIME TO SPEAK AND A TIME TO KEEP SILENT
I remember a time when I sat down at a dinner with a circle of acquaintances talking about a movie we’ve just seen. I don't know those people that much I've just been listening to the conversation. I loved the movie, but they all kept talking about how much they hated it. I can't understand why, but I didn’t want to express my views in front of them. We’ve been through this one time or another and this failure to express personal views can be related to the so-called Spiral of Silence.
The phrase "spiral of silence" refers to how people tend to remain silent when they feel that their views are in the minority. It is regarded as another type of agenda setting theory that is focused on macro-level rather than on micro-level consequences. The closer a person believes the opinion held is similar to the prevailing public opinion, the more they are willing to openly disclose that opinion in public.
Spiral of Silence is related to the mass media, in such a way that mass media influences public opinion. Shifts in public opinion occur commonly and therefore this theory is used to search an explanation for behavior (speak up or stay silent). The theory says that once the vocal side has the upper hand, the other side is caught in a "spiral of silence", finding it increasingly difficult to dispute whatever the other side says, thus hampering the fair representation of the two sides.
One place where we can observe what this theory describes actually happen is in the area of voting. Specifically, polls taken before an election are often unreliable, because people may be afraid to express an "unpopular" opinion.
The phrase "spiral of silence" refers to how people tend to remain silent when they feel that their views are in the minority. It is regarded as another type of agenda setting theory that is focused on macro-level rather than on micro-level consequences. The closer a person believes the opinion held is similar to the prevailing public opinion, the more they are willing to openly disclose that opinion in public.
Spiral of Silence is related to the mass media, in such a way that mass media influences public opinion. Shifts in public opinion occur commonly and therefore this theory is used to search an explanation for behavior (speak up or stay silent). The theory says that once the vocal side has the upper hand, the other side is caught in a "spiral of silence", finding it increasingly difficult to dispute whatever the other side says, thus hampering the fair representation of the two sides.
One place where we can observe what this theory describes actually happen is in the area of voting. Specifically, polls taken before an election are often unreliable, because people may be afraid to express an "unpopular" opinion.
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