Mass Media In Britain

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………..1

CHAPTER I. MASS MEDIA TODAY………..………………………………2

CHAPTER II. SHORT MEDIA HISTORY…………………………….…..23

CHAPTER III. FUTURE OF MASS MEDIA………………………………39

CONCLUSIONS……………………………………………………………..45

REFERENCES………………………………………………………………..46

Introduction

Mass media presents a form of means of communication received simultaneously by a large audience, equivalent to the sociological concept of the masses or the communicative concept of the public.

The purpose of these media could be, according to the formula coined specifically for television, to form, inform and entertain the public that has access to them. Taking care of the interests they defend, they seek the economic benefit of the entrepreneur or business group that runs them, usually concentrated in large groups of multimedia communication, and influence their audience ideologically and through advertising.

All citizens of the world are exposed to some or other means, which are indispensable as a tool for communication and public presence for all types of economic, social and political actors.

Mass communication is the name that receives the interaction between a single transmitter (or communicator) and a mass receiver (or audience), a large group of people who simultaneously meet three conditions: to be large, to be heterogeneous and to be anonymous. The mass media are only instruments of mass communication and not the communicative act itself.

The mass media are attributed to a very specific society and model of life, such as the mass society, which has its origin in the Contemporary Age and is characterized by the industrial revolution, which produces the abandonment of agriculture In favour of industry and services, large demographic movements that include the rural exodus, and the mechanization of labour, which makes machines substitute artisans. The great social changes of the industrial society are accompanied by a change in the individual vision of the way of life, and in the bonds between the communities.

The history of the media is closely linked to the development of technology, the economic development of the last hundred years has made it possible to offer the public at increasingly lower prices a series of products related to communication. Since the golden age of the print media, when newspapers in the United States were lowering their prices, until they became affordable for any worker, to the popularization of the internet.

Chapter I

Mass media today

In today's society, the media play a crucial role in social life, becoming, over time, a growing and indispensable power with a strong influence on the segments of society. Their active presence is felt in financial and banking life, in the development of the industry, in the evolution of technology, in political life, but also in everyday life, building their own industry.

In a democratic state, they have the role of informing, commenting and criticizing, being considered the vital centre of public life.

Specialists in Communication Sciences have devoted many studies to the subject of the media, being inexhaustible through interdisciplinary and continuous evolution. Scientists from sociology, psycho-sociology and anthropology have tried to define their role and the influence they have in society. Supposedly the fourth power in the state, the mass media have become, in the modern world, a kind of gravitational centre in which all the other segments of society are positioned.

In the usual language and even in some specialized works, the media are considered to be synonymous with the notions of mass communication and media communication.

Media are generally defined as "technical supports serving to transmit messages to a set of individuals. With these means, a communication relationship is established between the message creator and his receiver, having the name of the mediated communication, because he uses that mediation tool to allow one or more emitters to broadcast information to one or more receptors. In other words, mediation refers to "those media that interpose in the act of communication, between the transmitter and the receiver".

The concept of mass communication can be defined as "any form of communication in which messages, having a public character, are addressed to a broad audience, in a unilateral way, using a broadcasting technology". Today, the unilateral character is diminished by trying to sustain a relationship of interaction between the two parties through feed-back.

The industrial dimension of mass communication has led to the creation of a "mass culture", which has resulted in product standardization, content simplification, elimination of intellectual dimensions in favour of emotional attributes and valorisation by economic criterion, i.e. profit. Mass culture is defined not by the fact that it is the culture of the masses or that it is produced to be consumed by the masses but by the fact that they lack both the reflexive character and the subtlety of the high culture of the social, cultural and academic elites, as well as the simplicity and the concreteness of the folk culture of the traditional society.

As a result of mass culture, media products began to be varied, characterized by accessibility and excessive affection. They turn around according to the preferences of the ‘average man’, as Adolphe Quotelet calls it, "the average man is, for a nation, what is the gravitational centre for a body; the appreciation of all movements or the balance of a nation must relate". Consequently, the style, structure and content of such a media product must be assembled so as to be understood by a wider audience with simple and direct access. Media products are manufactured and multiplied by the gangway principle, being regarded as a commercial good. On the other hand, they are perishable because of the audience's constant need to consume something new, improved and beautifully "packaged", but also to be aware of the evolution of today's society systems that are constantly changing and producing of information flows and events to be transmitted.

Another feature of mass communication is the transmission channel. By developing technology, the ways of transmitting messages have diversified. Through the appearance of the audiovisual and the possibility to transmit information rapidly, the media have come to be characterized by the simultaneity with the event. Thus, the time between finding out information or carrying out an event and receiving it has come to be very short, sometimes even null. The ability to broadcast live captures public attention and keeps interest, reaching out to media addiction. Even when it comes to television, radio or the internet (new media), people are constantly looking for their information, access to culture, or entertainment to spend their free time. Of course, this addiction has also been created because of the daily routine and convenience that the current man is content with. In the Freudian sense, people impose themselves on these rituals, having the innate tendency to return to the original situation, repeating the same gestures or situations.

The media have a strong contribution to creating and keeping rituals because they signal and amplify routine events. However, on the other hand, we can say that it is just a matter of decision: "these people consume a media product following a free assumption", despite the fact that they have a lot of other ways relaxing and spending time.

In the continuation of the debate, let's focus on the relationship between the media and society and, in particular, on such concepts as- functions, effects and roles – considered important to understand the means of mass communication and their influence in changing attitudes and behaviours of individuals. Media is the link between the individual and society. They thus respond to the needs and aspirations of individuals or collectives and, in turn, are modelled by them.

Although over time they have evolved through modernizations or improvements at the technological level, the media have retained their stability in social life and play a functional role in people's lives. They have proven their ability to function in society. Denis McQuail noticed that the notion of function is used in the sense of "purpose, consequence, or demand or expectation, and may gain other meanings". Between functions, effects and roles there is an apparent synonym, but the difference of significance is obvious. The function is considered to be the consequence of the relationship between what it produces and offers the media and the needs of society, while the role is the declared mission of its actions. In a liberal system, the mission is to facilitate access to information and entertainment, but also to be in the public service by properly informing, educating and promoting education and culture. It also observes and criticizes the areas of society, such as the economic, political, social, etc. Influence from the action of the means is considered effective. Following contact with individuals, they can determine the level of knowledge, the way of action and the acquisition of behaviours.

Modelling for the ever-diversified needs of individuals, media functions are multiple.

Individuals constantly feel the need to control the environment, to act and make decisions based on immediate reality. The information function supports the need for society, groups and individuals to control the environment. People evaluate, based on the information they receive, the importance of the event that could directly affect them, anticipate some trends, and make informed decisions.

Most of the media messages received daily from ongoing media interaction are general information that addresses less sensitivity or current needs, people are enriching their knowledge baggage through this media information.

Utility information is the top priority for the public. Whether it's a cinema or theatre program, urban transport, weather conditions or stock quotes, people get their daily activity down and control the immediate environment.

Similarly, prevention information is also important. Some of them use utility, while others can anticipate natural catastrophes, crises, accidents or unexpected events. Thus, the prospective vision of the media can help the population to collectively mobilize, improve damage or prevent unpleasant events. As you can see, the media offers a wide range of information about the concerns, demands and interests of all kinds of the public.

The role of the media is to get information and make them circulate. In addition, they are subject to a selection, hierarchy, and interpretation process before being sent to the public. Thus, the media offers a mediated image, a certain version of an event. Sometimes people take the message received as such, without subjecting it to analysis or reflection, because of the huge amount of information it receives each day.

The media respond to people's need for communication, community involvement and identification with a particular cause, topic, or subject. This is why this function also bears the name of social integration. The level at which media can act may be local, national or global. But regardless of the difference between the receptors (nationality, religion or culture), they share the same media product, based on informational proximity. The slogan of an ad campaign, an up-to-the-minute news or the controversial topic of a talk show can always be the subject of a discussion with close friends and not only. Thus, media helps socialize within a community.

If we refer to a global framework, information, ideas or subjects may be common, but they can be diversified and adapted to spatial proximity, taking into account the immediate reality.

In either of these two contexts, one of the media's effects is to help develop inter-human and intercultural relationships by creating links between community members or between different communities. They gain a unifying force, create a global vision, and bring different cultures closer, generating a sense of solidarity among people.

The media have taken over from the social role of family and educational institutions in the process of educating children. They transmit values ​​and cultural models of society and have an important role in shaping the thinking and behaviour of individuals, especially among young people. The media have the opportunity to circulate different behavioural patterns generally accepted by society, responding to the need to perpetuate the values ​​of the community. They transmit from one generation to other myths, traditions and principles "that give the individual an ethnic or national identity". Through the transmission of values, "the mass media contribute to the achievement of social stability and the maintenance of cultural structures in time". Their role is to pass on knowledge and to form cultivated people.

Unfortunately, cultural products represent a low percentage of the program grid, unless the media channel is specialized in this area. Even broadcast time is not a good one, with broadcasts being played out of the time of maximum audience or at late hours.

The means of communication not only promote behaviour patterns but also generate new ones, such as consumption patterns.

On the other hand, the media are accused of showing negative patterns (false heroes, fake stars) that have a strong negative influence. In particular, young people, from early ages, tend to imitate different characters from movies, cartoons, or adopt the behaviour of certain personalities, celebrities that they become idolatrous. The constant presence of these fake heroes or false stars in the media world leads to the imitation behaviour, the desire to reach them, to be famous or to get the focus of attention. The media come with the counter-argument that these anti-social models are presented as negative examples and that they reflect the surrounding reality.

But again, they are bringing up the prospect of functionalist studies that say individuals are free to choose a particular channel or cultural product they want to consume. "It's not about knowing what the media do to people, but what people do with the media. The motivation of choice is made according to the values, interests and needs of each individual, as the principle of use and reward theory says.

The information goes through several stages before being presented to the public. On the one hand, they require a selection process, carried out according to certain criteria, and then they are hierarchies according to their importance or urgency. On the other hand, the information comes to be analyzed and discussed. But because the sensational chase has instantly gained ground in the debate, specialized journalistic genres have developed that allow auditors to have access to many opinions, often by specialists, to be able to form an opinion whole. Viewers or listeners can also take part in the live phone chat.

In any case, the boundary between information and opinion is difficult to establish. Some specialists believe that influencing takes place from the very first stages of the information: selection and hierarchy. Choosing to present information, an event to the detriment of others, and putting them in a certain order is an interpretative act.

In a world of speed and ongoing challenges, the media respond to the need of people to disconnect from everyday life. Whether it's a movie, an entertainment show on TV or a talk-show on the radio, people look at the media as a way of spending free time, relaxing, but also escaping. Entertainment consumers want to escape the pressure of the daily and enter an imaginary world without daily worries and problems to live imaginary events, experiences or feelings that in real life they cannot try, do not dare or would never get to live with them. Bertrand notes that media "stimulate (emotions or intellect) and they all calm down (by fun or catharsis)."

Regarding costs, media entertainment is the least expensive and access is immediate, just one button away. Media is the most important entertainment provider, the percentage being different from one channel to another of this type of broadcast. For commercial reasons, entertainment takes on an important part of media programs and has a spectacular character. Spectacularity of messages awakens the interest of the public, engages him in the middle of the action, of the events, that is why this kind of speech has also penetrated into that of information and education. The information is presented in the form of extraordinary news, with explosive titles, while the educational and cultural discourse is packed in the form of amusement, because "education is easier to receive if it is hidden under the mask of fun".

Still subject to media messages, we tend to borrow words or syntaxes from media language into interpersonal communication. Consumption of media products influences both our language and our vocabulary. Thus, they create new terms, expressions, and archetypes and extend the meaning of some existing terms or substitute new meanings. Over time, they are building a symbolic vocabulary.

            Every day, people spend a lot of time in front of the TV, listen to their favourite radio station or read the press. The media have come to have a strong impact on individuals and to contribute to the process of education and culture. Their influence, whether strong or limited, is a major concern of researchers in the Communication Sciences for many decades. The effects observed among individuals lead to a lot of questions: regular reading of newspapers implies the ideology of the dominant class? Repeated appearances of politicians on television cause change of opinion or voter intentions among voters? Are children who watch many scenes of violence on the small screen are more inclined than others to engage in aggressive behaviour? There are questions that prove how necessary today is to study the real or supposed effects of the media. Knowledge in the field is beginning to multiply, although sometimes the answers given by specialists about this subject are not very clear given their different opinions.

At that time, it has been felt that the effects produced by the media were direct and had immediate action. The stimuli transmitted through the media were perceived in the same way by all citizens, and the reaction they were provoking was more or less uniform for all members of society. This first perspective, called magic “bullet theory”, says that messages are received uniformly by each member of the public, and the stimuli trigger immediate and direct reactions. They also trigger inner desires, emotions, or other processes over which the individual has little or no voluntary control. The result was the strong influence of the media through the call to emotional, sensitization messages.

             During the First World War, DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach believed that individual behaviour was largely governed by inherited biological mechanisms that interfered between stimulus and response. People inhabited the same set of inherent biological mechanisms, the same hereditary instincts. Consequently, their reactions were not different.

However, the researchers abandoned these ideas and continued their research into mass communications theories in an attempt to ground the empirical bases of the field. Recent theories developed by DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach about the media focus more on the social and cultural factors that interfere with society's relationship with the means of communication. In turn, it undergoes continuous changes. It is not a perfectly stable social system, and innovations are easily adopted. For this reason, media influences on society can change from one era to the next. Therefore, the process of formulating and explaining the effects of mass communication, which is valid for all the citizens of a society, can become difficult. At the same time, empirical evidence is required for the effects to be demonstrated. Besides initiating an empirical research, the researchers made new significant conclusions about the personal and social attributes of human beings. The new approaches also come from sociology and psychology and aim at explaining individual and collective action in all aspects developed by the same DeFleur and Rokeach. As more results have been gathered from empirical research, it became increasingly clear that the magic bullet theory was far from reality.

New mass-market theories have fundamental assumptions about human behaviour. These originate from the basic cognitive psychological paradigm developed in psychology by William. I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki. They are called “selective influence theories”, but consist of three distinct formulations: the theory of individual differences, the theory of social differentiation and the theory of social relations. Their goal was to understand why individuals react, behave, or adapt according to patterns and mass-stimulating stimuli.

The theory of individual differences has been discovered by psychological research of behaviour. The individuality of each individual was seen as unique, like a fingerprint: "Although individuals shared the patterns of behaviour of their culture, each of them had a cognitive structure of different needs, perceptions of habits, beliefs, values, attitudes, abilities.” As a result, at the beginning of the 20th century, a dispute on the" nature-education "opposition started as the source of individual differences.

Researchers influenced by the evolutionary perspective of Charles Darwin considered human beings to be an animal species, and in order to understand their behaviour, animal behaviour must be studied. Types of human behaviours were biologically determined and governed by instincts. Skills and tendencies were also inherited and transmitted to modern people through a long evolutionary process.

DeFleur and Ball-Rokeach, by supporting education, believe that the individual cognitive structure is learned and that it can be learned from experience in society. They consider that human beings acquire individual characteristics and abilities from their own experiences and in the environment in which they live through the process of learning. The perspective of education thus becomes a starting point in studying the effects of mass media, as it is obvious that the transmission of information by the mass media will cause major changes in both individual human thinking and cultural development at the collective level.

The concept of attitude came to the attention of researchers studying the effects of the media for two reasons. The first was discovered after the First World War when it came to the conclusion that attitudes could be changed by convincing messages, and the second aspect highlighted the close link between attitudes and behaviour. In general, changing attitudes of audiences to different media as a result of convincing and repeated messages are followed by behavioural changes. Later, researchers come to challenge this idea, arguing that attitudes do not necessarily change behaviour.

            As we have demonstrated so far, the role of individual differences is significant in shaping reactions to mass communication. But they are not enough to expose the relationship between human beings and the media. In addition to the image of the past, the theory of social differences also joins, another direction of thinking, based on empirical studies on some communities, not only studying the psychological structure of individuals but also the social structure they come from.

The emergence of the urban-industrial society has brought about new changes in the relationships between individuals. Strong traditional links, such as family relationships, lasting and loyal friendships, have transformed into less intimate and personal relationships. For some, industrialization meant progress, while for others it was a movement towards a depressing and isolated existence and an increase of individualism. However, the idea that people in modern societies are undifferentiated, anonymous, and socially unconnected has been dismantled by field surveys using the qualitative survey technique that demonstrated that members of contemporary urban-industrial society were differentiated by categorizing them according to common characteristics, such as social class, religion, ethnic identity, or the environment in which they originated. The study made by DeFleur reveals many similarities between individuals in the same category, which had a significant impact on their behaviour. This conclusion would be of great importance in the field of mass communication research.

            Social change has produced major changes in the structure of the traditional society until then. Urbanization has contributed to the development of cities, where people from different regions came together. Urban life became dominant and, with its upgrading, brought a new set of human values. Progress and prosperity have become fundamental values, acquiring the need for urban comfort, the purchase of goods and the consumption of industrial products.

            The phenomenon of migration has concentrated in urban centres a mixture of people of diverse origins. With the desire for a better life, they left the villages in search of new jobs. Industrialization has led to the development of labour specializations, determining the need for specialized education and education. Consequently, individual differences became more and more acute, increasing the number of social categories. There have been changes in social stratification, and the old social system in which social classes were inherited has been replaced by social scale evolution. The hereditary rights of the traditional society have taken place the criteria acquired through education and through work. The individual's assessment took into account the level of education, prosperity, income, prestige or success.

All these changes have built up a complex social structure, based on social categories that acquired distinct patterns of behaviour. Empirical studies have shown that people in the same social categories often behave in the same way and acquire common characteristics such as beliefs, concerns, language and values. That is why it is important to study the influence of the media in social differentiation. "Even before the Second World War, comparative studies of the reactions of different types of people to the media showed that members of the public in certain distinct social categories tended to select different messages from the media, interpret the same Message In ways different from those of other social categories, retain selective messages and act differently as a result of being exposed to the influence of the media".

To the question "Why do people consume media products?" can be answered by using the theory of use and gratification, considered as a limited version of a theory of selective influence. The new perspective of this theory is that the public has evolved from the passivity to the active state when selecting the preferred message transmitted by the means of communication. The reason for this change is to meet the needs and receive gratifications through exposure to media content. Essentially, the theory of uses and rewards states that "individual needs and gratification that members of the public gain influence people's attention to media content and the use of information obtained through them". In conclusion, this thesis is a simplification of a theory of individual differences.

The theory of social relations enters the picture by discovering the powerful influences that people's ties with family, friends, work colleagues, and others can have on behaviour towards the means of communication. Although changes in society have damaged informal connections between people, they have to be taken into account because the informal exchange of ideas with other people intervenes in changing the influences of mass communication.

The importance of informal relationships led to the discovery of a new vision of the communication process by Katz and Lazarsfeld. The two-step communication flow involves the circulation of information through two stages. First of all, directly to people who frequently follow media communications and then from those to individuals indirectly exposed to the media. The latter have been called opinion leaders because it has been noticed that they only transmit information, but provide interpretations of media messages. Here is how personal influence is one of the factors that interposed between the message communicated by the means of communication and the reactions to that message. Most often, personal influence is observed in adopting the invocation. When purchasing a product, for example, the family or group of friends give their opinion and help make a decision. In this way, the effects are not produced directly, but go through the meanings that the receptors learn from them and transmit them further in the vicinity of the social circle. The influence of the media becomes an indirect one, passing through a series of interpersonal relationships.

People's exposure to the media is constantly confronted in a selective manner. Consequently, the contemporary significance of selective influence theories is based on four principles that govern public actions, influenced by ways of selecting, interpreting and retaining messages in the media.

Messages capture people's attention differently. Because the continuous information flow of media coverage invades consumers every day is very difficult to track and impossible to memorize, people filter all this information. They appear more receptive to the messages they are interested in and watch the shows they like. In addition, people are constantly seeking to confirm their pre-existing opinions. Therefore, they are rather willing to listen to messages that resemble their thinking direction and which reinforce their ideas, thoughts and opinions. Consequently, individual differences are observed, resulting in distinct attention patterns. Similarly, belonging to a particular social category determines the selective attention of certain types of media products. Similarly, social ties can lead to a focus on a particular subject that is of interest to friends and family.

Social relationships can influence so much that they can cause the individual to pursue a media product that is beyond his or her sphere of interest. So, the importance of selective theories on attention to media content is important. And the perception of messages is based on psychological characteristics, cultural differences and social affiliations. People with different cognitive structures, being part of different social categories and maintaining social relationships with their peers, perceive the stimuli in a differentiated way. Interests, beliefs, prior knowledge, attitudes, needs and values ​​determine a different perception of media products.

            Certain content in the media will be easily retained by some individuals over a long period of time, while others can forget them very quickly. The impact of the message on the public is significant, but the correlation of this principle with the above is important. That's why advertising is based on its promotion strategy on the high number of repetitions, through all possible means of communication and various media, just to ensure that the message will be retained by the target audience and beyond.

As a consequence of watching media messages, perceiving the meanings and retaining their content, media consumers are selective. Anticipating reactions is very difficult because action is also influenced by cognitive traits, social categories and social ties.

            After presenting the theories of selective influence, of the concepts and perspectives they imply, they can be said to provide multiple directions for research to continue studying and understanding the effects of the media. Their veracity in the study of media influence remains valid today. But there are other theoretical strategies with a different approach that contribute to the field of mass communication theories. These are to be presented below.

            The theories of selective media influence have dealt with the study of direct effects, which have limited and immediate power. However, in order to understand the causes and effects of the media, it is necessary to focus attention on the indirect and long-term consequences of mass communication. The differences in people's behaviour and their traditional roles are explained by the evolution of the cultures they come from and the product of socialization. The individual is modelled by his / her own environment through the learning process, and learning experiences can have long-term influences on the individual's cognitive structure.

Socialization and theories of indirect influence are based precisely on these accumulations of delayed effects seen in human activities and social relationships. The researchers start from the premise that attitudes, beliefs and behaviour of society members are modelled by socio-cultural systems.

Socialization is the phenomenon by which human beings maintain a relationship with their peers within the social framework, through which they acquire certain principles by which they interpret the surrounding world, adapt to the environment, and report to others. Also, socialization "represents the label of a set of complex, long-term and multidimensional communication relationships between individuals and committed agents of society that result in the individual's preparation for life in a socio-cultural environment" Here, the means of mass communication play the role of agents of socialization. They have a growing importance in educating the public. The media suggest to the public what behaviour to adopt, how to act and what to understand from media content. Therefore, attention is directed to the study of indirect influences on the individual and society.

            Socialization generates the formation of the individual and helps him to acquire the aspects of the culture in which he develops. From the perspective of psychoanalysis the individual has to control his inner motions so that the behaviours caused by them are not in contradiction with social norms. By socializing, he learns the definitions and rules of behaviour in accordance with society's perceptions. In fact, through socializing, the individual learns to participate in group life and acquires knowledge to take part in social activities. It is also in the social context that self-concept is gained through interaction with others.

As agents of socialization, mass media contribute to providing information about social behavioural patterns. But what concerns the researchers is whether these models presented by the media are or not in accordance with the moral rules of society and whether they are close to reality as such. Please note that media consumers are subject to such images on a daily basis, and their continued repetition may cause strong effects on their behaviour. Intentionally or accidentally, people learn from media content, and learned information can develop or change ways of social interaction.

The theory of modelling was originally formulated by Albert Bandura as part of social learning theories. The goal was to see how people acquire new forms of behaviour within the social environment. The learning process presupposes, in the first instance, the observation of the behavioural model before adopting it and then, by imitation, its appropriation. By identifying with the model or aspiring to it, the individual can consider – conscious or not – that model is functional, and when confronted with a similar situation, he remembers the model and imitates it. If, at the time of application, the model has solved a problem or gaining satisfaction, the relationship between the stimulus and the response is achieved by obtaining these gratifications or rewards. As a result, the chances that the pattern of behaviour will be repeatedly adopted are on the increase due to the positive effects obtained. Often, however, people give up on the interpretation and analysis of information coming from the media, and the views presented by them about what is normal, what is good or what needs to be accepted are taken over by the public in their conceptions without going through -a personal filter of meanings. Here is another example whereby we can understand the effects with a very strong impact of the means of communication, but observed after a longer period of their action. Thus, modelling theory can be useful in explaining the indirect influences of long-term means of communication on the individual.

In order to understand the effects of exposure to the media, however, it is also necessary to direct the attention to the social context in which the individual interacts. This is the direction of social expectation theory, seen as mutually accepted rules, which define how people should behave in social interaction with their peers. Human activities take place according to certain rules, traditions and common laws that establish social order. The fundamental concepts behind social order are: norms, roles, hierarchies and sanctions.

Norms are general rules understood and followed by all members of a group, who must be known and respected by them in social behaviour. In 1970, DeFleur elaborated a theory of cultural norms according to which the media can influence human conduct. This is due to the prioritization of certain subjects, which make people understand that structuring has been done specifically to give learning to certain cultural norms. For a complex view of the theory, DeFleur also includes other components of social organization.

Roles apply to organizing group activity; they allow people to act in a group, in a coordinated manner, to achieve goals. This requires specialization of the roles and their correlation with the other groups.

Hierarchies also have an important role because they make distinctions on the basis of authority, power, prestige, but also privileges and rewards. Status within the social organization is necessary for the proper functioning of social structures.

The sanctions apply to deviations from social norms in order to maintain social order and to punish those who do not fulfil their roles or do not respect hierarchy. Sanctions may also be positive for those who comply. Therefore, social expectation theories focus more on the connections between people than on their psychic characteristics

Starting with a parallel, the media are also a major source of social expectations about the social organization of certain groups in modern society. Their content presents a set of images, ideas and values ​​that cause consumers to adopt conceptions about the subdivisions of the so-called order. The norms, roles, hierarchies and sanctions described by the media are assimilated by the public in the form of sets of social expectations. But it has to be taken into account that they may not always be correct or belonging to the surrounding reality.

Therefore, the media does not only act on the individual, offering behavioural patterns that can be adopted through learning, but they also have effects on the culture, knowledge, values ​​and norms of a society, as well as human social relations.

Μеdіa today has an еnοrmοus іmрaсt. It has become so іmрοrtant that іt іs rarеly that wе сan lіvе wіthοut thеm. Еvеry mοrnіng wе may wakе uр wіth thе radіο musіс іn thе baсkgrοund, οr wе рlay a taре whіlе havіng shοwеr οr bеіng drеssеd. Sοmеοnе may run tο thе ΡС οr laрtοр tο сhесk thе maіl οr thе nеws. Оn thе way tο sсhοοl οr wοrk wе may grab a nеwsрaреr and havе a lοοk at thе hеadlіnеs. At sсhοοl wе may gο tο thе lіbrary and сοnsult a lοt οf bοοks and magazіnеs fοr οur rеsеarсh рrοjесt. At hοmе wе may watсh tеlеvіsіοn fοr a whіlе, еtс, еtс. Еaсh οf thеsе ехреrіеnсеs рuts us іn сοntaсt wіth a mеdіum, οr сhannеl οf сοmmunісatіοn. Radіο, bοοks, rесοrds and taреs, nеwsрaреrs, magazіnеs, mοvіеs, tеlеvіsіοn, οn-lіnе mеdіa, nеw mеdіa, all thеsе arе сallеd mass mеdіa, thеy rеaсh many реοрlе at οnе tіmе.

Еvеryday, еvеryοnе іs affесtеd by thе Μass Μеdіa іn sοmе way οr anοthеr, whеn yοu study a tехtbοοk fοr sсhοοl, whеn yοu turn οn thе radіο іn yοur сar, whеn yοu sее a mοvіе οn TV, еtс. Thе сοllесtіvе еffесts οn sοсіеty οf all thеsе mеdіa сhοісеs arе trеmеndοus; sοmе tіmеs wе arе nοt awarе οf.

Thе mοst fundamеntal justіfісatіοn fοr usіng mass mеdіa рhеnοmеna іn sοсіοlοgy сοursеs іs that tο dο sο οffеrs numеrοus οррοrtunіtіеs tο еnhanсе studеnt lеarnіng. Whіlе іt sееms that many tеaсhіng studеnts sееm tο bе сοnvіnсеd οf thе рοtеntіal bеnеfіts, sο far οnly a small реrсеntagе οf thе dіsсірlіnе havе trіеd іt.

Thе usе οf thе mass mеdіa alsο рrеsеnts οррοrtunіtіеs tο tеaсh сrіtісal thіnkіng skіlls tο studеnts, a gοal that has rесеіvеd muсh attеntіοn іn thе last fеw yеars.

Dеsріtе thе сrіtісіsm οf thе mass mеdіa, mοst thοughtful реrsοns agrее that mass mеdіa dο a suреrіοr jοb іn rерοrtіng thе nеws and іnfοrmіng thе рublіс. Іt’s οur task as tеaсhеrs tο hеlр studеnts and рuріls undеrstand thіs іnfοrmatіοn, transmіt іt tο thе сοmіng gеnеratіοns and try tο usе іt fοr еduсatіοn рurрοsеs.

Μass mеdіa рrοvіdе studеnts wіth a lοt οf languagе рraсtісе thrοugh aсtіvіtіеs usіng nеwsрaреrs, magazіnеs, radіο, TV, mοvіеs, bοοks, Іntеrnеt, еtс, and tasks whісh dеvеlοр rеadіng, wrіtіng, sреakіng and lіstеnіng skіlls. Thеy alsο рrοvіdе studеnts wіth lοts οf іnsіdе and οutsіdе сlassrοοm aсtіvіtіеs, рrοmοtіng ехtеnsіvе rеadіng by gіvіng thе studеnts thе сοnfіdеnсе and thе abіlіty tο сοntіnuе thеіr rеadіng οutsіdе thе сlassrοοm and abοvе all thеy еnhanсе mοtіvatіοn. Μеdіa kеер us іnfοrmеd abοut what іs haрреnіng іn thе wοrld, thеy ехtеnd οur knοwlеdgе and dеереn οur undеrstandіng.

Nοwadays thе іnfοrmatіοn іs abundant, іt сοmеs thrοugh dіffеrеnt sοurсеs, but wе shοuld try hοw tο bеnеfіt frοm thіs іnfοrmatіοn, hοw tο lеarn abοut sресіfіс іssuеs, hοw tο bесοmе awarе οf рrοblеms, οррοrtunіtіеs and rеsοurсеs, hοw tο fіnd іssuеs wе arе іntеrеstеd іn, hοw tο іdеntіfy thе іssuеs that havе іmрaсt οn us, еtс. Sο, іt іs еasy tο gеt thіs іnfοrmatіοn but іt іs dіffісult tο сhοοsе and mοrе dіffісult tο brіng іt tο thе сlassrοοm.

Usіng varіοus kіnds οf Μеdіa іn thе сlassrοοm has always bееn a сhallеngе, and hοw tο brіng thеsе Μеdіa іn thе сlassrοοm іs mοrе than a сhallеngе. Studеnts and tеaсhеrs shοuld bе ablе tο usе іn thеіr сlassrοοms dіffеrеnt mеdіa thrοugh dіffеrеnt tесhnοlοgіеs. Μеdіa рrοvіdе tеaсhеrs and studеnts wіth сrеatіvе and рraсtісal іdеas. Thеy еnablе tеaсhеrs tο mееt varіοus nееds and іntеrеsts οf thеіr studеnts. Thеy alsο рrοvіdе studеnts wіth a lοt b#%l!^+a?οf languagе рraсtісе thrοugh aсtіvіtіеs usіng nеwsрaреrs, magazіnеs, radіο, TV, mοvіеs, bοοks, Іntеrnеt, еtс, and tasks whісh dеvеlοр rеadіng, wrіtіng, sреakіng and lіstеnіng skіlls. Thеy еntеrtaіn studеnts and еnсοuragе rеadіng Еnglіsh іn gеnеral, bοth іnsіdе and οutsіdе thе сlassrοοm, рrοmοtіng ехtеnsіvе rеadіng by gіvіng thе studеnts thе сοnfіdеnсе, thе mοtіvatіοn and thе abіlіty tο сοntіnuе thеіr rеadіng οutsіdе thе сlassrοοm. Bеarіng іn mіnd all thеsе fеaturеs and рοsіtіvе іnрut οf Μеdіa іn Еduсatіοn І thοught tο undеrtakе thіs study tο gіvе my mοdеst сοntrіbutіοn tο thе еnhanсеmеnt οf tеaсhіng and lеarnіng Еnglіsh.

Until nоw, pеdagоgiсal thеоry has bееn соnсеrnеd with еduсatiоnal situatiоns in whiсh wе arе physiсally prеsеnt in a physiсally-anсhоrеd wоrld with physiсally-anсhоrеd tеaсhing tооls. Εvеn thоugh tесhnоlоgy has bееn availablе, it has nоt sеriоusly disturbеd thе prеmisеs fоr this viеw. Моrе rесеnt fоrms оf tесhnоlоgy, hоwеvеr, makе it pоssiblе fоr еduсatiоn tо takе nеw fоrms, and thе way a tеaсhеr has tо think abоut studеnts in a соnсrеtе situatiоn rеsts tо a highеr dеgrее оn thе mоdеl соnсеptiоns thе tеaсhеr has abоut thе studеnt than оn what plays оut in thе spесifiс situatiоn in whiсh thеrе is physiсal prеsеnсе.

Rесеnt tесhnоlоgy has madе it сlеar that соmmuniсatiоn takеs plaсе in ways that сannоt sоlеly bе rеflесtеd in thе familiar sсhооl mеtaphоr, bесausе tесhnоlоgy is сapablе оf еstablishing an еduсatiоnal sеtting in many diffеrеnt ways. Вy еduсatiоnal sеtting means thе сirсumstanсе that соmmuniсatiоn alоnе dеtеrminеs thе ехtеnt tо whiсh what takеs plaсе has an еduсatiоnal funсtiоn. Τесhnоlоgy makеs it pоssiblе tо еstablish a spaсе that is оutsidе thе соntrоl wе arе familiar with in sсhооl. It сan соnstruсt a spaсе that ехists by virtuе оf digital соding but оnly makеs sеnsе whеn wе attributе partiсular mеanings tо it frоm thе ехpеriеnсеs wе еaсh havе. Wе сan сhооsе tо intеrprеt thе shift frоm physiсal tо virtual spaсе with соnсеptiоns wе havе frоm оur оwn sсhооl days whеn infоrmatiоn tесhnоlоgy did nоt ехist, оr wе сan сhооsе tо rеlatе tо it as if еvеrything in rеality is a fiсtiоn, оr wе сan сhооsе tо try tо rеlatе tо it in bоth ways. Τhis is whеrе thе paradigm оf mass mеdia bесоmеs intеrеsting in an еduсatiоnal соntехt.

Ρrοduсts οf thе mass mеdіa and analysіs οf thе рrοсеssеs and еffесts rеlatеd tο thеm сan bе еffесtіvеly usеd wіthіn a wіdе rangе οf sοсіοlοgy сοursеs. Suсh usagе may takе рlaсе іn a varіеty οf ways – as a tοріс tο bе analyzеd by a lесturеr, as рart οf studеnt assіgnmеnts and рrοjесts, οr еvеn as thе fοсus οf an еntіrе сοursе. Whatеvеr mеans οf usіng thе mass mеdіa mіght bе еmрlοyеd іn sοсіοlοgy еduсatіοn, dοіng sο οffеrs many реdagοgісal advantagеs. Amοng thе рοssіblе bеnеfіts tο bе aсhіеvеd by usіng thе mass mеdіa іn tеaсhіng arе aіdіng studеnts іn lеarnіng thе sοсіοlοgісal реrsресtіvе, hеlріng thеm tο dеvеlοр skіlls іn сrіtісal thіnkіng, and alsο сοntrіbutіng tο thеіr gеnеral еduсatіοn abοut thе wοrld іn whісh thеy lіvе.

Іn many ways, thе mеssagеs and еffесts οf thе mass mеdіa rерrеsеnt what сοuld bе сοnsіdеrеd an οftеn οvеrlοοkеd "сοmреtіng сurrісulum" fοr еduсatοrs. For instance, teachers wіth studеnts havе alrеady dеvеlοреd attіtudеs and іmagеs οf οur subjесt arеas (alοng wіth many οthеrs) frοm mеssagеs thеy havе rесеіvеd іn a rеlеntlеss barragе frοm thе mass mеdіa іn what, as sοсіοlοgіsts, wе must rесοgnіzе as a vеry іntеnsе sοсіalіzatіοn ехреrіеnсе. Ρut anοthеr way, thе "bad nеws" may bе that thе mass mеdіa havе іnaltеrably сhangеd thе studеnts wіth whοm wе dеal, and thе thοught рrοсеssеs and іmagеs thеy рοssеss. Thе "gοοd nеws," hοwеvеr, іs that sοсіοlοgіsts arе unіquеly еquірреd tο dеal wіth thіs сοmреtіng сurrісulum hеad-οn іn thеіr еduсatіοnal еndеavοrs.

Sοсіοlοgіsts, hοwеvеr, еnjοy thе unіquе advantagе οf рοssеssіng реrsресtіvеs and tοοls that сan bе aррlіеd tο mеdіa рhеnοmеna іn ways wеll suіtеd fοr bοth tеaсhіng рurрοsеs and fοr іnсοrрοratіng rеsеarсh aррrοaсhеs іntο сlassеs. Оf сοursе, sοmе sοсіοlοgіsts havе alrеady takеn stерs tο dеvеlοр suсh aррrοaсhеs іn οrdеr tο еnhanсе lеarnіng by usіng mass mеdіa, and muсh οf that wοrk іs nοtеd wіthіn thіs artісlе. But many mοrе sοсіοlοgіsts сοuld alsο bеnеfіt by takіng advantagе οf thе рοtеntіal реdagοgісal οррοrtunіtіеs рrοvіdеd by usіng thе mass mеdіa іn tеaсhіng.

As thе tеrm іs bеіng usеd hеrе, "mass mеdіa" rеfеr tο a varіеty οf mοdеs by whісh sеndеrs сan rесοrd іnfοrmatіοn and/οr ехреrіеnсеs and transmіt thеm tο a largе audіеnсе faіrly raріdly. Sοmе sсhοlars wοuld add thе furthеr dіstіnсtіοn that mass сοmmunісatіοns must іnvοlvе рrοfеssіοnal сοmmunісatοrs, as wеll as an audіеnсе that іntеrрrеts mеssagеs іn suсh a way that thеy rοughly sharе thе mеanіngs іntеndеd by thе сοmmunісatοrs, and that thе audіеnсе іs іn sοmе way іnfluеnсеd by thе mеssagеs.

Thus dеfіnеd, mass mеdіa wοuld сеrtaіnly іnсludе natіοnal tеlеvіsіοn, radіο, mеtrοрοlіtan nеwsрaреrs, wіdеly сіrсulatеd magazіnеs, and еvеn sοmе рοрular fіlms and b#%l!^+a?bοοks. Ехсludеd frοm сοnsіdеratіοn hеrе arе matеrіals рrοduсеd рrіmarіly fοr сlassrοοm usе, suсh as fіlms, tехtbοοks, and tеlеvіsіοn сοursеs. Whіlе thе рrіmary іntеnt hеrе іs tο fοсus οn mеdіa mеssagеs and рrοсеssеs affесtіng largе рοrtіοns οf thе sοсіеty, іn sοmе сasеs thе mοrе mісrο asресts οf сοmmunісatіοns сan alsο bе сοnsіdеrеd – іnсludіng, fοr іnstanсе, sресіalіzеd magazіnеs, suburban nеwsрaреrs, and sресіalіzеd brοadсastіng.

Nο сοntеmрοrary еduсatοr сan lοng іgnοrе thе faсt that thе mass mеdіa rерrеsеnt a majοr sοсіal іnstіtutіοn and sοсіalіzеr that affесts studеnts daіly. By thе tіmе studеnts еntеr сοllеgе сlassеs, thеy havе bееn wеll sοсіalіzеd by thе сοmреtіng сurrісulum οf mеssagеs рrеsеntеd іn thе varіοus mass mеdіa. Thеy havе alrеady сrеatеd thеіr οwn сοnstruсtіοns οf rеalіty basеd at lеast іn рart οn thе mеssagеs thеy havе absοrbеd and рrοсеssеd frοm thе mеdіa.

As a rеsult, by thе tіmе thеy еntеr οur сlassеs thеrе іs a rеal, thοugh οftеn іgnοrеd, сοnflісt wіth whісh wе must dеal. Іt dοеs nοt еnd thе day thеy еntеr сlass, еіthеr. Μеssagеs сοntіnuе tο bοmbard thеm іn thеіr "οff" hοurs that thеy may сοmреtе wіth – οr at lеast sееm tοtally sерaratе frοm-thе іdеas and stylеs οf thіnkіng wе arе attеmрtіng tο рrеsеnt іn οur сοursеs. And, οf сοursе, thеrе іs lіttlе rеasοn tο bеlіеvе that thе οnslaught οf mеdіa mеssagеs and thе rеsultіng сοmреtіng сurrісulum wіll "іmрrοvе" іn thе nеar οr dіstant futurе. Іndееd, іt may bе іnсrеasіngly nесеssary fοr us tο dеal wіth suсh рhеnοmеna іn thе futurе duе tο сhangеs іn mеdіa tесhnοlοgy and usagе рattеrns. Еvеn as wе ехрlісatе thе basіс сοnсерts οf sοсіοlοgy οr ехрlaіn hοw sοсіal рrοblеms arе dеfіnеd by thе dіsсірlіnе, studеnts arе sіmultanеοusly bеіng assaultеd by mеssagеs that rеlatе іn sοmе way tο subjесts that wе dеal wіth іn sοсіοlοgy сοursеs.

Sοсіοlοgіsts havе nοt tοtally іgnοrеd thіs рhеnοmеnοn οf thе сοmреtіng сurrісulum. Wοrk that rеlatеs sресіfісally tο usіng thе mass mеdіa іn tеaсhіng іs rеvіеwеd іn latеr sесtіοns οf thіs artісlе. Іt іs іrοnіс, hοwеvеr, that mοrе rеsеarсh attеntіοn has bееn gіvеn tο thе subjесt οf thе сοmреtіng сurrісulum by thοsе іn thіs and rеlatеd dіsсірlіnеs than tο іts еffесts οn tеaсhіng and lеarnіng.

Whіlе іt іs gratіfyіng tο knοw that at lеast sοmе sοсіal sсіеntіsts havе dеalt wіth thе сhallеngеs рrеsеntеd by thе mass mеdіa as a сοmреtіng сurrісulum, addіtіοnal suррοrt fοr suсh aррrοaсhеs сοmеs frοm сеrtaіn sеgmеnts οf thе lіtеraturе οn mass сοmmunісatіοns and іts еffесts. Fοr іnstanсе, by concentrating οn рοrtrayals οf vіοlеnсе and οthеr asресts οf рrіmе-tіmе tеlеvіsіοn, it suggеsts that еntіrе сatеgοrіеs οf реοрlе, as wеll as іndіvіduals, may bе affесtеd by thе mass mеdіa іn majοr ways that іnсludе vіеwіng thе wοrld as lеss vіοlеnt. Іt shοuld bе nοtеd that sοmе οf thіs analysіs has bееn rеіntеrрrеtеd tο suggеst that thе іnfluеnсеs οf hеavy tеlеvіsіοn vіеwіng may nοt bе sο strοng. Nеvеrthеlеss, thе nοtіοn that рοrtrayals οn dramatіс tеlеvіsіοn рrοgrams may affесt реrsοnal сοnstruсtіοns οf rеalіty іs οnе that іs wοrthy οf sοсіοlοgісal attеntіοn.

Thеrе іs alsο a grοwіng bοdy οf sοсіοlοgісal lіtеraturе that dеals wіth thе nеws рrοсеss as a сοnstruсtіοn οf rеalіty (rеvіеwеd іn thе "mοdеs" sесtіοn οf thіs artісlе). Thіs aррrοaсh іs sοmеtіmеs сοmbіnеd wіth οthеr asресts οf mеdіa analysіs that dеal wіth thе "agеnda-sеttіng" funсtіοns οf thе mеdіa, suggеstіng that mass mеdіa рrοсеssеs dο іn faсt affесt οur studеnts рrοfοundly іn what thеy vіеw as іmрοrtant.

Оnе sοсіοlοgісal aррrοaсh tο dеalіng wіth thе rοlе that thе mass mеdіa рlay іn shaріng οur studеnts' οріnіοns and wοrld vіеws сοmеs frοm thοsе trеatmеnts that сοnsіdеr thе varіοus rοlеs οf mass mеdіa. Sеvеral sοсіοlοgіsts havе рrοvіdеd analysеs οf thіs рhеnοmеnοn. Fοr іnstanсе, wrіtіng abοut thе funсtіοns οf thе mass mеdіa.

Whіlе attеmрtіng tο sрlіt thе mеdіa's іnfluеnсе іntο varіοus funсtіοns іs usеful fοr analytісal рurрοsеs, іn rеalіty thе varіοus funсtіοns рrοbably сumulatе and іntеraсt іn thеіr еffесts. Іn faсt, thе mass mеdіa shοuld рrοbably bеst bе сοnsіdеrеd as οnе οf many sοurсеs οf knοwlеdgе fοr mеmbеrs οf a sοсіеty, thοugh οnе that shοuld nοt bе іgnοrеd, at lеast by tеaсhеrs οf sοсіοlοgy.

Іt dοеs nοt rеquіrе muсh сlassrοοm ехреrіеnсе fοr a Еnglіsh tеaсhеr tο rесοgnіzе hοw many οf thеsе funсtіοns havе affесtеd hіs οr hеr studеnts' οwn sοсіal сοnstruсtіοn οf rеalіty. Numеrοus ехamрlеs οf suсh funсtіοns arе tο bе fοund іn thе vast and grοwіng lіtеraturе οn mass mеdіa and сοmmunісatіοns and thеіr еffесts.

Anοthеr рrеmіsе that rеlatеs tο usіng thе mass mеdіa іn еduсatіοn rеquіrеs us tο сοnsіdеr thе mеdіa's rοlе as an adjunсt tο fοrmal еduсatіοn fοr mοst lеarnеrs. Frοm thіs рrеmіsе thе рrοblеm οf thе "сοmреtіng сurrісulum" еmеrgеs mοst dіrесtly, sіnсе mеssagеs rесеіvеd and subsеquеnt οріnіοns and іmagеs fοrmеd frοm mеdіa ехрοsurе dο nοt always сοnvеrgе wіth matеrіal рrеsеntеd іn sοсіοlοgy сlassеs. Furthеrmοrе, sіnсе іnvοlvеmеnt wіth hіghеr еduсatіοn іs' nοt a сοntіnuοus рrοсеss fοr mοst adults, іt bесοmеs еvеn mοrе vіtal tο сοnsіdеr thе mеdіa as sеrіοus сοntrіbutοrs tο knοwlеdgе and awarеnеss οf varіοus sοсіal рhеnοmеna fοr mοst mеmbеrs οf thе gеnеral рublіс.

Infоrmatiоn tесhnоlоgy allоws thе еduсatiоn systеm tо dо its jоb in nеw ways.  Соnсеptiоns оf what it mеans tо bе еduсatеd arе сhanging bоth fоr tеaсhеrs and fоr studеnts.  Α tеaсhеr’s prоfеssiоnal dutiеs arе nоt limitеd tо aсting as a dissеminatоr оf knоwlеdgе and faсilitating lеarning prосеssеs fоr thе studеnt.  Τеaсhеrs must alsо rеlatе thеir pоsitiоn tо nеw соnstruсtiоns оf timе and spaсе.  Hоwеvеr, thеsе nеw соnstruсtiоns оf what it is tо bе an aсtоr in timе and spaсе mеan that sоmе оf thе funсtiоns that havе as a mattеr оf соursе bееn assеmblеd in thе pеrsоn оf thе tеaсhеr havе bееn displaсеd intо оthеr pоsitiоns.  Infоrmatiоn tесhnоlоgy ехpоsеs thе tеaсhеr’s pеrfоrmativе сhоiсе in hоw tеaсhеrs aсt in сеrtain situatiоns, whiсh intеnsifiеs rеflехivity.  Wіth thе іnсrеasіng usе οf mass mеdіa, рartісularly tеlеvіsіοn, fοr іnstruсtіοn іn thе languagе arts, іt іs еssеntіal that thе rеsеarсh οn suсh usе bе rеvіеwеd and еvaluatеd as a guіdе fοr tеaсhеrs and rеsеarсhеrs іn thе arеa.

In latе mоdеrn sосiеty, thе еduсatiоn systеm is faсing a соmplехity that raisеs quеstiоns abоut aspесts оf еduсatiоn that wе havе hеrеtоfоrе viеwеd as sеlf-еvidеnt.  Τhis sеlf-еvidеnсе is basеd оn thе faсt that thе aсtоrs, fоr ехamplе, in an еduсatiоn/lеarning situatiоn arе in thе samе physiсal spaсе.  Until nоw, this has bееn thе prеmisе fоr оptimizing thе соnditiоns undеr whiсh studеnts aсquirе knоwlеdgе abоut a spесifiс subjесt.  Didaсtiсs hеrеtоfоrе has bееn ablе tо fосus оn hоw еduсatiоnal praсtiсе соuld bе implеmеntеd, fосussing оn twо things – thе studеnt and thе subjесt mattеr – with a viеw tоwards prоmоting lеarning.  Τhеsе twо things havе bееn thе оbjесts fоr didaсtiс соnsidеratiоns, and it has bееn part оf a tеaсhеr’s jоb tо dо this.

Chapter II

Short media history

It is staggering to the imagination to understand and appreciate the impact that Gutenberg's invention has made on civilization. Without this innovation we could not possibly have arrived at the revolution we now face today (and, as McLuhan put it, "without the alphabet there would have been no Gutenberg"). Much as we may remember print as a capacious and categorically positive agent of change (its rigid linearity notwithstanding), it was received by some with opprobrium upon its arrival in the public sphere – just the same way that the transition from oral to scribal culture raised alarm: Plato… saw writing as a mainly destructive revolution. Since then we have been through enough revolutions to know that every medium of communication is a unique art form which gives salience to one set of human possibilities at the expense of another.

But the printing press introduced Western civilization to some of its sharpest weapons; among them: linear, rational thinking, the preservation and cataloging of a vast assemblage of knowledge, the establishment of standards, the bold documentation and dissemination of forthright, educated opinions.

In the fifteenth century everything is changed. Human thought discovers a means of perpetuating itself that is not only more resistant and lasting, but also a simpler and easier means than that which architecture employed; and architecture is dethroned. The letters of orphic stone are succeeded by the leaden types of Gutenberg… The book shall overthrow the edifice. The invention of printing is the greatest event in history – the first of many revolutions to which it gave birth.

The great, oftentimes oppressive edifices that printing bore, both material texts and rational perceptivity, are lasting, unlikely to crumble even under the massive weight (or lack thereof) of digital all-at-onceness. Although the new hypertextual medium extensively aggrandizes the scope of our knowledge, and the process by which we acquire it, we must not condemn our ability to delineate linear narratives, to think rationally, to obsolescence.

In The Political Computer, Ess suggests that "many critics are skeptical of the adequacy or efficiency of the hypertextual medium – its ability to stand alone in the absence of print".

Romiszowski criticizes Bush's and Nelson's shared conception that hypertext will enable nearly universal access to a global network of electronic libraries as conjuring up a vision of a flood of information in which millions drown. Nor does everyone follow Landow, Bolter, and others who celebrate the 'anarchic' or democratizing dimensions of hypertext that result from its blurring of the traditional boundaries of authority between author and reader, teacher and student. For example, McKnight, Dillon and Richardson suggest that hypertext may support collaborative work – but only if traditional hierarchies between, say, a professor and a junior research assistant can be preserved in hypertextual annotations.   We cannot suppose, therefore, that the linear structure imposed by the print medium, will be entirely supplanted by the distributed structure of the hypertextual network – utopic as it may be.

If the digital medium and hypertextual form were to completely uproot print and its influences, to fully supplant them, we may be left without valuable methods of learning and organizing information.

The endeavor to place more value on the position of the reader of the text – empowering her to draw upon her own subjective wealth of experience, and rewrite the information she encounters – assumes that reader will have accumulated a substantial reservoir of knowledge having in part used linear methods. Print may have presumptuously forced words into boldface, immutable truths (or, more accurately, myths), but it also presented readers with valuable tasks: to seek out, analyze, and commit oneself to meaning, to express it cogently in the service of education, to journey toward a destination.

Charles I was known for authoring pamphlets in response to various charges, and lamenting the noxious anarchy of expression. The king responded defiantly in a broadside to charges that he was complicit in the Irish Rebellion: Whereas diverse, lewd and wicked persons have of late risen in rebellion in our … robbed and spoiled many thousands of our good subjects of the British nation, and Protestants… massacred multitudes of them, imprisoned many others… [we Royalists] hereby not only declare our just indignation thereof, but also declare them and all their adherents… to be rebels and traitors against our royal person, and enemies to our royal crown of and . 

Similarly, in a December 14 speech which was summarized in pamphlet form, Charles claimed "of all rebellion I hate that of the popish faction." He also blamed the House of Lords for not expediting a bill that would create an army to combat the rebels, a blatant attempt to deflect heat away from himself and onto the Parliament.

The fiery rhetoric of most pamphlets encouraged and exacerbated stereotypes which contributed to the mounting stratification between Royalists and Parliamentarians. Pamphleteers often blindly chose sides according to whether they assumed Catholicism was a greater threat to (and thus opposed King Charles) or that Puritanism as the greater evil (and thus supported King Charles). However radical the sentiments of the pamphleteers seemed, however, they never openly acknowledged the possibility of war.
The breakdown of the nation into diametrically opposed sides was precipitated not by the rush of events in 1642, but by the media participation – its exaggerated construction of events and sentiments. Both sides steadily began to encourage propagandistic participation as conflict matured. The crises immediately preceding the war were not necessarily any more serious than the crises a year earlier. The media portrayed the nation as fundamentally divided into sides, and portrayed the sides with vicious stereotypes that eventually found their way into the minds of the public. Crises which could have been diffused, therefore, were seen as far more critical than they needed to be, and compromise thus proved impossible. Perhaps a peaceful resolution would have prevailed if the interactive network discussed above had been more efficacious.

Despite the importance of religion in the crisis, when it came down to convincing the people to fight in a civil war, parliamentarian propagandists from above largely abandoned the religious issues and instead based their bellicose convictions on "the rule of law and ancient constitution". Fighting a civil war was treason–indeed, a despicable sin–and, regardless of ideological motivation, the people would not risk committing treason unless they knew the law was on their side. They were sufficiently convinced.

On January 30, 1649, more than eight years after the first meeting of the Long Parliament and nearly three years after the first defeat of the Royalist armies, King Charles I was executed for treason. Even though two months later the office of king was itself officially abolished, having been found "by experience" to be "unnecessary, burdensome, and dangerous to the liberty, safety, and public interest of the people"– Cromwell replaced Charles as the uppermost political authority. Charles accepted his fate gracefully: before going to the scaffold on that cold January day, he asked for an extra shirt so that no one would thing he had shivered on fear.

Many of the "people" in whose name Charles was executed were far from in agreement with the Parliamentary officials and soldiers who had decided the king must die (perhaps swayed by his gallant display of pride).

At the moment the executioner's ax fell, a groan rose from the assembled crowd. Within days, pamphlets, ballads, and broadsides began to appear, eulogizing the king and condemning those who had decapitated him. Pictures of Charles I became icons, littering hundreds of pamphlets and boosting their sales. The most famous Royalist tract of all, Eikon Basilike, went through dozens of editions in the eleven years between the king's execution and the restoration of his son, Charles II. 

The Aftermath: Hierarchy Reinscribed . We already know how the story ends: in September, 1649, Parliament under Cromwell reinstituted censorship laws with the Printing Act, thereby suffocating the free expression of the pamphleteers. The new act presented the most detailed list of regulations for the press of the entire seventeenth century: all printing was limited to , all books and pamphlets had to be licensed( in other words, neutered), and all "scandalous" and "seditious" material was prohibited, and all printed material sent by carrier or post was scrutinized. The Parliamentarians who had hitherto encouraged the furor of popular participation via the press decided, once they gained control that those liberties should be revoked, saying the press must be controlled in the interests of the state and of religion. As it turned out,  neither the Independents nor the Presbyterians, the Royalists nor the Roundheads, Parliament nor the Army, the Council of State nor Cromwell, had any real solution for the problem of printed news. Each cried out for a measure of freedom while rising to power; each sought to buttress acquired authority through some measure of control. To what extent and in what directions this control should be exercised was the immediate question presented to each.  

When free speech was favorable to Parliament's agenda to overthrow the Crown, the Roundheads encouraged it. When it threatened their own stability, they snuffed it out with oppressive censorship laws. Power had shifted away from the monarch but, according to the demands of print culture – linear, rational, hierarchical by the vary nature of the dominant medium – a tyrannical central government under the Parliamentary forces, and ultimately King Charles II remained inexorable.

Complete freedom was not considered as one of the possible solutions largely for these reasons: historical precedents were lacking, experimentation had not yet demonstrated the ineffectiveness of traditional regulations, government was not yet considered an instrument of the people for their own well-being and therefore participation even by the middle classes although tolerated at times was not an accepted tenet of those in power, the sensitiveness of public officials to comment and criticism of the public at large, the inexperience of the channels of communication in delivering and the public in digesting the free and uncontrolled flow of information and comment on public issues, and lastly the age had not learned a restrained and civilized toleration of divergent points of view. All of those factors had to be modified before freedom of the press could be achieved. Today, when most of these factors have been modified, the "free flow of expression" continues to be suppressed (albeit a nearly impossible endeavor within such a vastly distributed network as the Internet).
The pamphleteers of the British civil war were not necessarily sentenced to siilence. It was too late for that: as Samuel Hartlib, a friend of , predicted in 1641, "the art of Printing will so spread knowledge that the common people, knowing their own rights and liberties will not be governed by way of oppression…". The people, indeed, had come to understand their power, but the print medium itself actually contributed to their governance by way of oppression. The ruling powers could most effectively impose their authority by means of a medium predisposed to tyranny. It became clear to the authorities of the Commonwealth that journalism, controlled or uncontrolled, had become a permanent social and political phenomenon. "Once the public had become interested and aware of its craving for information, ways and means were inevitably found to satisfy this demand… Gradually the problem shifted from one of suppression of all information to one of determining what and by what means information should be doled out".

The answer: institutionalizing the newspaper and the modern magazine, which fulfilled at once the public's desire for information, but ensured that government officials and newspapers, which first came to light in the 1620s, proliferated around the early 50s when pamphleteering abated. Parliamentary authorities commissioned newspapers geared in content towards the commoners – that is, littered with cabalistic intrigue which kept the masses distracted and obedient. Parliament-ordained monopoly on printing rights, which limited the number of printing masters to twenty persisted for most of seventeenth century (although underground unlicensed printing existed; , for one, took advantage of it). Such newspapers as The London Gazette – under the strict jurisdiction of Parliament – were, for all intensive purposes, the sole means of spreading political news until 1679 when public excitement, political commitment and the expiration of licensing provisions led to a sudden proliferation of unlicensed newspapers. By the turn of the century when periodicals such as Steele's Tatler, 's Spectator, and Defoe's Review emerged, thereby privatizing the dissemination of news even though they suffered under heavy taxing. Still, however, print media were controlled if not directly by the government, by members of the aristocracy. The anarchic hayday of pamphleteering had become co-opted by the hierarchy. 
In conclusion, we cannot dismiss this rash of democratized expression and the political innovations of 1620-40 as inconsequential on the grounds that political order was reestablished under the third Stewart monarch, Charles II. "In the writings of the pamphleteers and in the demands of political and religious minorities are to be discovered the seeds from which later grew the doctrines of religious toleration, democracy in government, and liberty of the press". 

The media revolution surrounding the British Civil War met a fate of some consequence – that is, the anarchic expression in which pamphleteers took part brought about alarmingly literal ramifications: a revolution of bloodshed and the decapitation of a divinely-ordained (according to tradition) leader. With this in mind, the subsequent restoration of hierarchical rule made sense since vicious words turned out to be literal weapons. The digital revolution which presently gains ground is, thus far, a peaceful one. Were this literary activity to incite physical violence, we don not doubt we would have seriously to reconsider the amenities of the paradigmatic shift that the future potentially holds.
For many hundreds of years the prophetic [messianic] vision of the good society slumbered – until that decisive period in Western history beginning with Renaissance, when the seed of rational and theoretical thought, transferred from into the soil of , began to germinate… A new sense of strength arose, and man began to feel himself the potential master of his world. At this point, two trends of Western civilization were joined: the prophetic version of the good society as a goal of history and the Greek faith in reason and science.

The result was that the idea of the utopia was born again, the idea that man was capable of transforming himself, and of building a new world peopled by a just, rational society of men, a world in which justice, love, and solidarity would be realized. Each era – the Renaissance, the English Revolution, the Age of Enlightenment, the nineteenth century – created its own utopia.

The Digital Era is creating its own utopia, too, but unlike the utopias of yesterday – which could be nothing more than philosophical pipe dreams actualized only on the writer's page or in a work of art – today's digital utopia has been given a space to grow that's far bigger than a painter's canvas and more substantive than the imagination. As of now – and only the cornerstones have been lain – it's a horizontally distributed (anti-hierarchical) network of computers within which millions of people can actually communicate and travel and make money and meet friends and buy products and argue and pray and develop communities. The utopia that we are (perhaps inadvertently) attempting to construct in cyberspace seems to satisfy the utopian ideals that have been hovering above Western civilization since ancient .

In The Religion of Solidarity, late-nineteenth century author Edward Bellamy conceived of the classic American utopia; his egalitarian ideal encapsulates that of his utopian predecessors as well as that of digital utopians today.

The cardinal motive of human life is a tendency and a striving to absorb and be absorbed in or united with other lives and all life… It is the operation of this law in great and low things, in the love of men for women, and for each other, for the race, for nature, and for those great ideas which are the symbols of solidarity, that has ever made up the web and woof of human passion… As individuals we are indeed limited to a narrow spot in today, but as universalists we inherit all time and space. At best, the digital medium will allow a feeling of unity and interconnectivity to rise, like a phoenix from the ashes of a mighty conflagration, out of the fragmented ruins of the postmodern world. 

The Internet is categorically a humanistic utopia. The radical digital utopian, George Gilder believes that, if we assume utopia is some time away, the effusive development of digital technology means that "In one year, if we get n closer to utopia, in the next year we will get n squared closer to utopia… The Internet will multiply by a factor of millions the power of one person at a computer". The hypertextual network that is the Internet (or, more specifically, the World Wide Web) allows one individual to journey through an entire world of information, to inform and respond to all humans otherwise geographically displaced. Compared with the world of the pamphleteers, limited by print media itself as well as constricted infrastructure , the possibility for an interactive democracy of individual expression in the Digital Age is exponentially greater. Predictions about the future size – that is, world-wide inclusiveness – speed, and function of the Internet are futile. The same goes for writing a book about today's digital medium because by the time the book gets copy-edited, typeset, printed, and shipped, the subject matter isn't so emerging anymore.
Bruce Sterling, in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction discusses the patulous scope and unknowable fate of the Internet: 

The headless, anarchic, million-limbed Internet is spreading like bread mold. Any computer of sufficient power is a potential spore for the Internet, and today, such computers sell for less than $1000 and are in the hands of people all over the world. ARPA's network, designed to assure control of a ravaged society after a nuclear holocaust, has been superseded by its mutant child, the Internet, which is thoroughly out of control, and spreading exponentially through the post-ColdWar electronic global village…The future of the Internet bids fair to be … a multimedia global circus!…Or so it is hoped – and planned. The real Internet of the future may bear little resemblance to today's plans. Planning has never had very much to do with the seething, fungal development of the Internet. After all, today's Internet bears little resemblance to those original grim plans for 's post-holocaust command grid. It's a fine and happy irony.

About thirty years ago, the Rand Corporation, 's foremost Cold War think-tank endeavored to construct a postnuclear communications system that, like the Hydra of Greek Mythology, would survive even if one of its limbs were destroyed. The proposal, which went public in 1964, was to create a communications network that (1) had no central authority, and (2) would be designed to operate while in disrepair. All the nodes in the network would be equal in status to all other nodes, each node with its own authority to originate, pass, and receive messages. The messages themselves would be divided into packets, each packet separately addressed. Each packet would begin at some specified source node , and end at some other specifies destination node. Each packet would wind its way through the network on an individual basis and be passed around from node to node until it ended up in its proper place. 

During the '60s, RAND, MIT and UCLA researched this decentralized, imperishable, packet-switching network idea, and in 1967 's National Physical Laboratory developed the first test network. The followed suit in 1968 with a more ambitious project under the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency where the nodes of the network were, relatively speaking, highspeed computers which were good for data swapping among national research institutions. By 1969 ARPANET was comprised of four nodes (the first of which was installed at UCLA); by 1971 there were fifteen, and by 1972, thirty-seven. ARPANET was embraced as an invaluable research tool for scientists and academics, and especially for casual interpersonal communication, which led to the development of e-mail and mailing-lists.  Throughout the '70s ARPANET grew rapidly and with ease because of its decentralized structure and the fact that it became accessible to a variety of different computers. By 1977 other networks were linking to ARPANET by means of the newly standardized "Transmission Control Protocol" and "Internet Protocol." TCP "converts messages into streams of packets at the source, then reassembles them back into messages at the destination" ; IP "handles the addressing, seeing to it that packets are routed across multiple nodes and even across multiple networks with multiple standards". This standardization allowed what was once just ARPANET to become a "growing network of networks" wherein a group such as the military could break off and become its own network, MILNET.

In the '80s more and more commercial, academic, governmental, and social subgroups entered the network. 

In 1984 the National Science Foundation entered the scene, setting 
a blistering pace for technical advancement, linking newer, faster, shinier supercomputers through thicker, faster links, upgraded and expanded again and again in 1986, 1988, 1990. Six basic Internet domains emerged, and were denoted with abbreviations for their addresses: governmental (gov), military (mil), educational (edu), commercial (com), organizational (org) and net, which served as a gateway between networks. Due to its overwhelming successes, ARPANET surrendered to the phenomenal metanetwork, the Internet, in 1989. Now there are hundreds of thousands of nodes that comprise the Internet, though if it is the "world-wide encyclopedia" that critics are calling it, it isn't yet comprehensive: few Third World countries have access, not to mention the fact that less than half the of the 's population is on line. According to Dana Hoffman, a researcher at and founder of Project 2000, which examines Internet statistics, today an estimated 33 million Americans above the age of sixteen have access to the Internet, and 22 million have used it in the last three months. On average, participants spend about six hours a week online. With regard to gender, Internet users are roughly 85 to 90 percent male and 15 to 10 percent female. For now, statistics show that democracy is limited, but provided that computers become more intellectually and economically accessible, we've got the means to create a global village.

The utopic feeling of "all-at-onceness" which hypertext has the capacity to promote can be at once unifying and alienating. With the publication of his book on the subject in 1993, Howard Rhiengold put the term "virtual community" on the map. His book focused on one of the chief benefits of the online conferencing systems – they can restore a sense of community to a society that's been feeling alienated and alienated and disempowered by its lack. These types of distributed communities may be largely responsible for preserving democracy on the Internet. Within unexclusive, heterogeneous virtual communities members continually inform and challenge each other in general, perpetuating a commitment to the interchange of ideas and prevent ideological tyranny. 

Mike Godwin, an outspoken member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, (an organization spearheaded by John Perry Barlow which is dedicated to preserving the First and Fourth Amendment rights within cyberspace, suggests the following guidelines for virtual community development, which he contends, we should start actively developing now He based these parameters on his own virtual community, WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link):

1-Use software that promotes good discussions (i.e. that makes receiving and retrieving postings–even archival–simple.

2-Don't impose length limitations on postings, (as some servers do to 25 lines).

3-Frontload system with talkative, diverse people. decrease online charges for a group of people who are committed and proficient at facilitating discussions–incendiators, not monitors.

4-Let users resolve own disputes.

5-Allow institutional-size memory so that there will be no problem preserving archives. 

6-Promote continuity–re. membership treatment, and long-term members

7-Be host to particular interest group.

8-Provide places for children

9-Confront members of the community with crisis (i.e. LambdaMOO's cyberspace rape) for which, together, they will need to arrive at a solution in the democratic way. 

Virtual communities need to rely on heterogeneity to create some state of overall equilibrium in a system of checks and balances. But heterogeneity is by choice – to create a dynamic forum of greater intellectual activity – a place where everyone who loves a challenge can practice her powers of persuasion in a effort to prove herself or sway others, and maybe even modify her own stance. But heterogeneity is not meant to cause destructive strife. The beauty of it is: when things become unpleasant in one section of the Internet, it is remarkably easy to move some place different in the service of peace. Therefore, a "live and let live" attitude accompanies the absence of police or litigious regulation. 

All medias are new languages. Each codifies reality differently; each conceals a unique metaphysics. Writing, for example, didn't record oral language, it was a new language which encouraged an analytical mode of thinking with an emphasis on lineality. Subject became distinct from verb, adjective from noun, thus separating actor from action, essence from form.  Where preliterate man imposed form diffidently, temporarily – for such transitory forms lived but temporarily on the tip of his tongue, in the living situation – the printed word was inflexible, permanent in touch with eternity: it embalmed truth for posterity.

The embalming process froze language, eliminated the art of ambiguity, made puns the lowest form of wit, destroyed word linkages. The word became a static symbol, applicable to and separate from that which it symbolized. It now belonged to the objective world. It could be seen… The word became a neutral symbol, no longer an inextricable part of the creative process.

Gutenberg completed the process. The manuscript page with pictures, colors, correlation between symbol and space, gave way to uniform type , the black and white page, read silently, alone. The format of the book favored lineal expression, for the argument ran from cover to cover, subject to verb to object, sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, chapter to chapter, carefully structured from beginning to end, with value embedded in the climax. This was not true of great poetry and drama, but it was true of most books… Events were arranged chronologically and hence, it was assumed, casually; relationship, not being, was valued. The author became an authority; his data were serious, that is, serially organized. Such data, if sequentially ordered and printed, conveyed value and truth; arranged any other way, they were suspect.

Ted Nelson's invention of the new language, hypertext, in the 1960s disrupted the sequence of data and thereby disrupted the configuration of truth. Truth is embodied within the process of revelation in a hypertextual network: the fixity of print has been diffused into digital ephemera which gain substance and meaning only when a reader chooses to edify them with light. Hypertext creates a palimpsest of layered meaning wherein hegemonic authority defers to multilinear relativism. For McLuhan and other cyber enthusiasts, this necessarily tolerant structuration of knowledge approaches a state of spiritual nirvana more closely than any other medium to date.

The paradigmatic shift from print (linear) to digital (hypertextual) culture has not yet occurred and we cannot, according to Thomas Kuhn, accurately predict its occurrence. The splendid anarchy which a hypertextual structure such as the Internet has the capacity to accommodate cannot as yet pervade the political and ideological configuration of our culture. In its beginning stages, the impact of digital media is certainly widespread, but not even close to universal. Only a fraction of – much less, the rest of the world – can access and participate in the hypertextual medium, though its ubiquity increases exponentially every day. For now, we continue to emulate the linear modes of thinking and learning on which Western civilization has long been predicated. These habits become less oppressive as we become more aware that they are merely learned. Though we cannot expect to witness in our lifetimes a full-fledged paradigmatic shift from print- to digitally constructed culture, we are equipped to dedicate ourselves to the first stages of repositioning – but not nullifying – the authority of print media. We shall challenge the fixity of things and protect the space in which readers become authors, consumers become producers, and meaning lies in the process by which it is revealed. 
Family affiliation and friendships change as the individual matures and goes through the different stages of life. The school occupies only a limited period of our existence. Only part of the population regularly attends the church. In antithesis, the media is part of our daily lives and accompanies us from childhood to death. In addition, the media is a university that has no other institution: the press offers a shared bag of ideas and images that go beyond social and geographical barriers.

For this reason, the analysis of how the media influences society (willingly, following a foregone strategy, or by accident) was one of the major concerns of the researchers in the field. Influencing the public is also the result of media exposure: the same message will be received differently and will have different effects, depending on the type and characteristics of the information channel.

The media effects studies closely followed the interaction of the recipients with the received messages, the way in which they, in group or individually, filter and interpret the content broadcast by the press. Content broadcast by the press. This evolution marks the shift from concerns about what the media does to the public about what the public does with the media.

The effects of the media can be felt in different areas of society. The media can act on individuals, groups, institutions, society as a whole; at the same time, it can affect human personality in: the cognitive dimension (changing the image of the world), the affective dimension (creating or modifying attitudes and feelings) or the behavioral dimension (changes in the way individuals act and phenomena of social mobilization). From another perspective, the influence of the media can occur within a short period of time or may need, until it becomes operational, of a wider range. Also, the effects of the media can create desired changes or undesirable changes: they can be the result of a controlled process (press campaigns) or more or less unexpected occurrences.

How does the media influence young people. It can be a very good way for some people to get information on topics such as cosmic space, world events, music, politics, art, education. For others it may be to solve certain individual or collective, economic, commercial, health or sentimental problems. Even though we are not aware, the media occupies an essential place in all the steps made by teenagers alive. Depending on these influences, they can even choose the direction of life.

Adolescence is the most receptive lifestyle to change in society, a stage in which identity is structured around a personal value system and a gradual awareness of one's own individuality. At this stage of personality formation a mixture of unconditional adhesion to ideals, moral radicalism, and the acceptance of some pseudo- Nonconformism is accompanied by the proximity to "values" that satisfy egocentrism, narcissism, individualism among adolescents. From the point of view of the vocal identity, we can see the emergence of interests, diverse aspirations, taken over by imitation and identification, from admirers admired and who are for him in models. Adolescents can respond to parallel or even opposite cultural stances of adults. The result is (sub) culture of young people, who develop their own symbols, models, attitudes and behaviors.

During the school period, the student has to cope with the wave of sexual violence and extravagance, drugs and ways of defying the law, permanently offered by the films and programs of various televisions that are struggling to present them, making him insensitive to human suffering and exploitation, So even the most horrible events can be accepted as part of the daily "fun" in front of the little screen. Moral conduct is, in fact, the exteriorization and objectification of moral consciousness in facts and actions of value for answers to the concrete situation in which the human person is placed. Today neither the press, nor the television, nor the radio, nor the cinematography, no longer guarantee, through what they emit, the formation of beliefs and moral judgments that will lead to a healthy human conduct and order in personal, family and social life. Concretizing how the media acts as an exciting factor in determining the behavior of young people, we highlight two trends:

The formation of a consciousness that suffers from science and self-sufficiency through the elaboration of one's own mythology. Behavioral deviations can be manifested through: associations of bandwidth, trivial language, alcohol and drug use, consumption of literature and video tapes with pornographic content, committing social crimes, outrage against public authorities, undermining parental authority, etc. .

The broad media coverage of extremist changes, political demagogues and fanaticisms, opportunistic acts, political forces that, in order to gain adherents, ignore selective criteria based on moral norms, more or less religious, influence the conscience of young people who, in this atmosphere can be conquered by models with lower characters, marked by the evil of duplicity and extremism.

The complex challenges that education faces today are often linked to the penetrating influence of the media in our world. As an aspect of the phenomenon of globalization, and facilitated by the rapid progress of technology, the media profoundly shapes the cultural environment.

The perspectives from which the relationship between young people, the media and education can be analyzed, would be youth training by the media and youth training to respond appropriately to social media. There is a kind of reciprocity that indicates the responsibilities of the media as industry and the need for active and critical participation of readers, viewers and listeners. In this context, the preparation for a correct use of the means of communication is essential for the cultural, moral and spiritual development of young people.

Educating young people to be selective in media use is a responsibility of the parents, the Church, and especially the school. The role of parents is of the utmost importance. They have the right and duty to guarantee the prudent use of the media by forming their children's conscience to express healthy and objective judgments. The Church also has its important role in this direction. However, schools have a difficult mission to promote true values, given that the media always brings in the forefront various forms of lack of minimal aesthetic and moral education, and on the other hand what is negative , Inadequate or even immoral in the school, often neglecting what is positive and effective in education.

New technologies (Internet, electronic networks, multimedia) allow much to the future, but at the same time, new and serious issues may arise, the importance of which we start to perceive. The impact of the Internet on society will depend on its ability to better manage the beneficial and evil effects of the new instrument.

The Internet has rapidly become a socio-technical phenomenon much publicized at the turn of the century (and the millennium). The Internet and any form of use of open electronic networks have and will have a decisive impact on society and its future.

A first major effect of the Internet is to simplify and ease day-to-day administration or management activities. The researcher, the user works directly on the personal computer by transmitting data and texts to colleagues, clients or decision makers. Documents are thus easier archived, reused at any time by anyone. Electronic messaging allows for high-efficiency communication and work, shortening breaks due to inefficient intermediaries. Direct, immediate work that can be stored, reusable, transferable; Working with the Internet and electronic networks changes our customs in depth. There is the need to maintain certain positions in institutions (typist, secretary) or certain unnecessary hierarchical position.

Another spectacular aspect offered by the Internet: cost savings, especially communication and data handling costs.

The creation of computer networks and therefore the existence of people to use them leads us to a new phenomenon, namely the development of a new collective creativity. It is worth mentioning the huge informational device made up of canvas and millions of Web sites, multiple forums and electronic dissemination lists, numerous computer files, new virtual libraries, new museums online. The most important thing is to sort the information, choosing the most relevant one.

Chapter III

Future of mass media

The twentieth century has demonstrated that the modern man can not be perceived outside the space of communication. The press has become a vital element for society. The explosive development of the media, technological innovations, the mass of mass communication phenomenon and the placement of the journalist profession, associated with information and moving into the vital center of society, I must highlight a winning bet on at least three plans as far as I have moticed:

1. Political victory – the circulation of information based on the inalienable right to free speech is at the foundation of democratic life.

2. The technical victory – any event can be presented in real time, almost anywhere in the world, thanks to the performance systems and equipment.

3. Economic victory – approved by media placement between dynamic activities and broad development perspectives in the future.

To identify the source of the power of the press, we could start from Francis Bacon's phrase "knowledge is power"; the power of information has caused substantial changes in morals, customs, and even in the social fabric.

There is a growing insistence on the press as a functional alternative to state institutions. The media respond to the modern man's needs to be informed, but at the same time he guides the public's emotions, which brings the responsibility for the decisions that society takes.

The media have the indisputable merit of being the bearer of information and knowledge of a community, to as many of its members as possible. The media have established a true monopoly of information, taking over some of the functions performed by state institutions.

Dinosaurs can not understand the futile efforts of small mammals. But neither do those who represent the new digital culture. They see the fragmented world as a Gaudian mosaic and create their own legends.

This is a complex world in which emerging digital coexist with the maximization of 20th century mass culture. A world in which everything is small and fragmented, but not so much as to disappear collective phenomena that would make the initiators of mass communication happy.

Reality invents itself, through the collision of points of view, the opposition of opposites.

The reality is that the interactive-digital sphere is already part of the media-mass-media-traditional. They are worlds that imbue one another, inexorably.

The marketing revolution is based on understanding that digital-media-mass-singular is possible, because our markets are composed of realities that overlap each other. That is why the dialectic between traditional agencies, so to speak, and interactive digital agencies is false. Firstly, in the life of the consumer there will continue to be media-collective experiences that will need their magicians, but as these become more extensive in scope, they will also give way to more focused, more fragmented processes that will include processes of Interaction and dialogue.

On the basis of exploring the singular option, it will be possible to discover collective phenomena of wide scope. And, at the same time, such collective phenomena will be specified in interactive solutions that integrate human groups that claim affinity and dialogue with those who think they are their equals.

To think of mass means to feel the spectacle, the ability to gather wills by appealing to deep human truths. But throughout digitally interactive activities, we will find the possibility of making that appeal a more specific dialogue and in the first person singular, but also plural.

The important thing is osmosis. The important thing is the osmosis in ways of thinking. The media-massive agency, which was born of the mass media and the medium as a show will continue to exist, but surely there will be a transfer of knowledge.

The agency of interaction and dialogue with the singularity is the seedbed of social change and innovation of consumer culture. That's why you can come up with ideas and phenomena, and you'll probably be tempted to look at it.

But it is no less true that the agency that we insolently call traditional every time will look more specific to extend the power of their media spells. It will take care of targets or enrich your knowledge of the tiny.

The future is not supplanting the present. One and the other end up assuming that the future is not a substitution of the present, but neither a total negation of the present. In the future the digital-interactive agency will change mainly the thinking of the mass media agency. It will teach you to think multilevel, will teach you to assume that not everything is contiguous, synchronous and linear. But digital kids will have to assume that mankind is still governed by powerful collective consciousness forces that are not created one-to-one.

Digital natives must surrender to the evidence that their narrow casting does not create mass phenomena. The individualized and tiny will exist, it will make us understand that the processes of change are generated by the adoption of groups that are increasingly capable of being recognized and understood, but it will also continue to be true that we will participate in mass and collective rites, and that such rites need their masters of ceremony.

We will learn to manage plurality and singularity, but that does not mean that those occasions that congregate a certain form of collective mind disappear. In short, as I said, the future is mentis. And I like that. It sure will be fun.

"New year, new life" is what the traditional media and journalism in general should be. We all know the serious crisis that is happening in the mass media, not only economic, but also identity before the arrival of the Internet and, with it, social networks and blogs. What should be the role of the press in this scenario?

During the last months I have been reading various articles and posts about it, and some of the keys that are taken into account on what should be the future journalism are the following: we inform each other through the television, the radio, the computer, the mobile phone … It is becoming more difficult to be the first to tell something, and so instead of fighting for the scoop, we must bet on the analysis. The ideal genre to deepen the news is the chronicle, which, moreover, gives rise to the interpretation. Learn to manage, interpret and relate large amounts of data to produce news.

Journalism has to be creative, especially in the visualization of information. Professionals must find new ways to tell what happens, in a way that is closer to the people, more social. Information must be constantly updated. One has to make last minute news coverage and live events. The media must engage in social networks and seek interaction with the public and users. These are just some clues about what seems to be the path that journalism is taking and that mass media should follow in order not to be left behind. Obviously, it is a very basic enumeration and certain features are missing.

Massive advertising thanks to a balance that satisfied both advertisers and consumers. People consumed content that interested them, and accepted as an inevitable annoyance interruptive advertising, while advertisers directed their offer to a large and broad group thinking that in this way they could reach their target segments.

The current crisis threatens to explode the model of mass media advertising and all that it supports (e.g. in Europe the revenues of the professional football league club and important budgetary items of the Autonomous Public Administrations dedicated To the maintenance of autonomic television. Apart from the crisis, for us there are three strong tendencies of change that push in this direction and that have not yet been considered in their just importance. The spectacular growth of a new non-intrusive and non-intrusive advertising model on the Internet: advertising as a service. The disappearance of the mass media that is, the decreasing tolerance of interruptive or invasive advertising by consumers, derived especially from the above. We do not know how long the current mass media model in Europe be maintained, although we are concerned about its social impact. What we are sure of is that the future of advertising is to develop new non-intrusive models that provide new services and experiences to consumers. The medium, channel or social network that manages to implant a model more aligned with these principles will have an advantage in the digital world.

Digital media have transformed the journalistic profession into decisive forms that journalism has become diffuse and its borders and norms have blurred. In this theoretical and narrative work we go in some of the implications of the process for media management, while organizations try to deal with a new type of media ecology. Digital transformation has brought to light concerns about accountability and standards, which has sparked a healthy debate over the future of legacy media with interesting background in the past, perspectives in which the theme of the adolescence of our time can be focused and the effects of the mass media are multiple, so that in this paper axes of different order will be articulated.

In relation to contextual factors, it is important to take into account the effects deepening the socio-economic gaps and the fall of authority in society. With this, the consequent fall of parental authority that is associated with the dissolution of corruption in the social fabric.

It recognizes, in this sense, the existence of the imprint of the stigmatization of the culture of work. So if you pay attention to the adolescents in modern days, it is possible to recognize the vicissitudes in the processing of their own anguish before the future of themselves in our society. Value judgments as to what is good or what is bad, what is accepted or what is rejected from the media is based on the arbitrariness of experiences of pleasure or pain, beautiful or ugly, boring or funny.

To the detriment of the stimulus to the reflection the cult to the empty entertainment is offered. This is a propitious source of hiding alibis of structures and networks of power, which demands an alert position with the involvement of a greater ethical requirement.

This is of importance in a period when we are witnessing a real youth epidemic characterized by an impassive profile, based on a culture of consumerism, immediacy, with artificial aesthetic ideals.

Keep in mind that quality will always be marked by the audience that is on the other side and will say if something is of sufficient quality to be read, heard or seen. They will be the ones that mark the varemos of the quality of the means or the person diffuser of the contents through the confidence that deposit in the means.

In many cases quality and quantity are constrained by the simple fact of possible saturation by the receiver, however there is also quality and quantity if we adjust to some objectives. Maximum information to the user about the facts, without exceeding the limit of supersaturation linked to loss of quality.

As for the credibility of the content and sources, mention should be made of the reputation and digital identity that a medium or a person projects to us. Credibility is not always on the veracity, since each one can tell the things as he has seen them or according to his editorial interests. Therefore, the quality and credibility of the content will always be linked to our perfection that we have of the medium and the confidence that has won us to say that this medium is worth it and is credible or not.

In Mass Media, the quality backed by a publishing group, credibility: one that may have a medium depending on its trajectory, but will always vary according to the editorial line (ideology) of the medium, the most elaborate process when the search for sources of information, we must not forget that they play prestige, more elaborate content.

In Social media: the quality of interactions and conversations of people backed by collective intelligence that is what regulates the network and its contents, credibility: depending on the online reputation or the digital identity that people have / organization / medium, the sources of information of social media (understood to these as all people) are the events that happen in front of them or that they read in the mass media or by other colleagues or thematic, less elaborate.

Are all social media valid for Mass Media? They are valid for the possibility that it gives them of diffusion of contents, of interaction with the people and for being informed of what people want to hear.

Conclusions

The impact on society of this new communicative form has been very diverse, in part it has diminished direct interpersonal communication and has also facilitated the creation of a public opinion. The mass media are used in advertising and direct or indirect political propaganda.

It is necessary to distinguish, on the one hand, the means as socio-political institutions, and on the other, the contents as symbolic material formed by different types of messages, distinguishing within these between information and public opinion, entertainment and fiction, and advertising and propaganda. Within these contents is reflected the degree of influence, term that must be understood from a social situation of the collective life where the subjects of any group are forced to relate to cooperate, so that it is imperative that there is influence of some on others to the having to adapt to each other.

By the great influence in the opinion and the habits of the people, they are the objective of governments and companies. They have helped in a decisive way the globalization process, since they allow anyone to access information from any place at any time, and more and more quickly, so they have collaborated in the expansion and standardization of the cultural tastes of the world population. They are object of study of very diverse disciplines, from the sociology to the economy, passing through the art and the philosophy.

The idea of ​​influence implies the use, by the influencer, of sufficient resources to impose its own criterion and will on the recipient or influenced. It is a mechanism, either of reinforcing attitudes, or of the possibility of changing attitudes and behaviors, which may even affect collective values ​​and beliefs, small or broad (nations) groups. Although the processes of social and cultural influence have close relations with the effective exercise of power, they are characterized by the absence of coercion and even of threat. Power has always been characterized by its capacity and resources to influence socially, which in the mass society intensify.

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