The media nowadays plays an important role in the economic, social, political and cultural center [605234]

Introduction

The media nowadays plays an important role in the economic, social, political and cultural center
of a country, the importance of this role being directly proportional to the degree of development
of a country. Every day, millions of people are looking in newspapers and other media sources of
information and entertainment. Still, these means of communication are often controlled by
various tycoons, who were accused of manipulating sources of information – and pu blic opinion –
for its own purposes.
The paper was motivated by the need to investigate a tense report between logic
predominant commercial media and people. It addresses the aim of providing educational, media
and political awareness, raising awareness and awareness, people with concerns and
responsibilities to create the conditions of a partnership from the perspective of the permanent
society – achieved through all forms of education (formal school, non – formal, extra, informal –
including through the m edia, family).
Research has been projected from the need to find out how the media participate in
informal education and raise awareness of the joint responsibility of producers in this field,
journalists, media management, and family, school, cultural in stitutions, about to the quality of
this education, which children and young people receive. Because young people have a great
plasticity in the formation of aspirations and options, skills, and at the age of 15 -16 they
experience cultural and social choic es, form their preferences, passions, beliefs, many of the
media products are destined for them produce significant influences in their lives.
Children often cannot figure out the condition they have received, even considering that they
manifest themselves independently, freely, originally, young people impregnated by the "media
culture", apply fashion, language, style promoted by this culture. It is therefore necessary for
them to know what influences they receive, to critically evaluate them, to be able t o opt for
personal development and positive affirmation. Media representatives and many theorists believe
that education is not a goal, an assumed function of the media. That is why in program or
editorial policy, in the content of programs articles, educa tion is eluded and most often replaced
with entertainment. On the other hand, it is invoked the poor education of the audience, proven
by audience watching news, movies in which violence is at the forefront, as well as shows where
vulgarity, low cultural l evel abound.

The newspapers were the first means of informing the large audience. They appeared in
the eighteenth century and the nineteenth century's most respected one, The Times in Britain,
exercised a strong influence on the educated middle class shapi ng the “public opinion”. Later, an
improved education system and other advances have created the first audience of the print media.
Newspapers that satisfy readers have appeared in the US in 1870 and 20 years later in Britain.
Instead of pages crammed with texts, they had big headlines, short articles and many
illustrations. It contained cases of sensation, shocking events, campaigns and disclosures of
exposures, wickedness and moral defects, especially among the rich, powerful and modern – to
keep the audi ence. Although often controlled by wealthy individuals, this new means release
popular considerations regarding the views of an “ordinary man”.
The public opinion is strongly influenced while some conditions have permanent and
temporary circumstances. In addition to the above there are ideas that characterized popular
culture in a region at a time. Other circumstances may be relatively permanent as race, religion,
geographical location, economic status and educational level. They can influence the opinion of
an individual or a group in many topics. In addition, they can intervene in the impact of a current
event, the opinion of influential or authoritative figures.
A serious process of systematic monitoring public attitudes started in the twentieth
century . But occasionally surveys were done even before 1930s; these were not generally made
systematic or scientific. They were performed on unrepresentative samples or methods that did
not include subjects accurately in a category. Polls have developed remarka bly in the 1930s
when educational or political organizations have begun to develop methods that allow a rigorous
selection of subjects and systematize effective data accumulated from a wide area of subjects. By
today’s standards, those polls were primiti ve, but they were somewhat useful. Among the
pioneers of surveying public in America was Humbert Gallup or Elmo Roper. By way of
presenting information quality and presentation of it, mass – media in Europe and the US media
market in the world is unique by patterns release. USA Europe remains a serious competitor in
the media field. Analysts believe that Europe is a challenge for the United States only as a union
of states and not every European country separately. Somehow, the balance tipped in favor of th e
European press media Britain, where tradition and combines the classical image of the press
succeeded modernism and reliable technologies for transmitting information. And this, even
though in the UK there is no press law, nor document titled Constitutio n does not exist. There is

however a set of legal rules and principles, based on which the state operates. This set of rules
and legal principles include obviously some rights and obligations of the press, but they are
distributed chaotically and are not g athered in one press law. It noted that both the United States
and Europe, the press is divided in quality press and tabloids or gutter press, so as well, is also
referred to by readers. How strange it may seem, but statistics show that preferences of both
sides of the Atlantic are in favor of the yellow press, whose circulation are millions of copies
every day. The same cannot be said, unfortunately, about the quality press, whose circulation is
only a few hundred thousand daily and is continuously decreas ing. The following example
demonstrates the sad truth. London newspaper The Times, which has a tradition of more than
two hundred years media market in the UK, has a daily circulation of just 100,000 copies; whiles
the newspaper The Sun, which was establis hed only in 1964, considered the newspaper with the
worst reputation in the UK, has a daily circulation of 4 million copies. Being daily in the UK and
in the US, it means newspaper edited by 6 -7 times a week. In Moldova, the status of newspaper
publication s appearing two or three times a week. So everyday status is perfectly justified only in
the West. US Mass – Media is considered the freest in the world. Not least, this is due to
constitutional principles stipulated in the supreme law of the state. For ex ample, one of these
principles is talking about the fact that Congress cannot adopt any legislation that would limit
freedom of speech or freedom of the press. As a result, US journalists are known in the world
because of reports based on an enormous since rity and comments critical of state authorities.
Unlike Britain, where newspapers enjoy a considerable popularity, USA, during the
twentieth century, it evidenced by the tendency to decrease the number of dailies and weeklies
and publications edit mostly weekend. The main reason is the lack of profit of the dailies. In
addition to this, newspaper publishers depend to a large extent by advertising that appears in the
papers, so they are sometimes forced to sacrifice terms of the collective editorial in favo r of
commercial interests.
United States do not have a press law, although they have a Constitution. As with the UK,
rights and fewer obligations are distributed in media content throughout the Constitution without
being gathered in a separate law. The Ame rican press has many constitutional provisions but
because, in addition to the country's federal Constitution, each state in the fifties, which are used
in the US has its own constitutional provisions, which also includes special rules for each state
media .

Mass – Media in Europe and the US is not concentrated in state hands but in the hands of
media owners. Usually, they form large corporations press, such as the BBC in Britain and NBC,
CBS or ABC in the United States. The composition of these companies en ters radio, television,
not only in the countries of origin but also in many countries abroad. For example, BBC (British
Broadcasting Company), Media Company in the UK, comprises 18 radio stations, in addition to
local stations and approximately as many TV stations, except those from abroad. The company
in question remains on top in the world in the category of the most watched television stations.
BBC has a radio and Moldova, represented by BBC Moldova, which enjoy popularity among
those who support the ri ght-wing political circles in the country. Printed media in Britain belongs
to only a few transnational companies, the state getting involved very little in the daily
publications. But US State monopoly on the transmission signal. The dilemma about the
effectiveness of state participation in the work of publications remains very current.
Despite mass – media representative is concentrated in the hands of individual owners in
the UK, for example, there are some very strict provisions, which restrict people w ishing to buy
a newspaper for the purposes of a business. So those who want to buy a newspaper for business,
whose circulation exceeds 500,000 copies, need permission from the Minister of Trade Limits
are reflected not only on those who buy a newspaper tra de and economic themes. France, though,
has lately lost some of its audience world the attitude offensive took her against globalization
and English as a language of international communication, remains a country with traditions in
the field and, not this attitude, it damages the quality of provision of information. French TV
station, TV5 is broadcast on most continents of the world and is a television media weight and
model for countries in South – Eastern Europe, which continues to seek an identity in mas s –
media. News agencies, Reuters UK, France – Press in France, are world -renowned media outlets.
In addition to quality information that is distributed in most countries of the world, agencies also
represent considerable economic forces home countries.
The institutions with the same profile overseas are Associated Press, which is one of the
oldest press agencies in the world, and United Press International, founded later. Both agencies
in Europe and the United States all operate on the same principles and strive on pre -eminence in
the world news agencies. All agencies listed above have offices in over 100 countries. Yet
American news agency, Associated Press, enjoying the most international awards in various
categories. It holds 47 Pulitzer Prizes, includin g 28 awards of this kind has obtained the photo.

Now this news agency has the most sophisticated digital photography industry and provides
diverse information with more than 1,000 Web sites. British American agency Reuters ceded
primacy, but not in the cat egory of economic information, being here in the first place. An
impaired motor skills competition is the main factor that makes the mass media to develop and
strive for perfection. There is an unwritten law for countries with a market economy. Thus,
compa nies are forced to fight hard to get success in that it professes, and, in most cases, the end
justifies how the desired result.
European and American doctrines of press freedom come from a single root – the theory
of basic human rights mentioned in the De claration on Human Rights and the French American
document Bill of rights. In both cases the laws have come a long way from liberal minimalism,
their recognition by society. However, the similarity that exists among law about the market
economy determines, to a greater or lesser similarity between patterns of media rights in Europe
and the US. Polls are accepted as useful tools for business, political organizations, the media and
government, also for academic research. Business surveys for instance are used to test consumer
preferences and discover their opinion about certain products. Survey results help to establish
commercial marketing plan to establish advertising strategy and achieving certain changes to a
product to increase sales. In politics, surveys are often used to obtain information about a voter’s
attitudes on certain ideas or candidates; they also are used to determine the candidate with
chances of gain and to plan specific campaigns. Most often, these polls are used in this area to
determine th e winner of an election long before the results are official.
Newspapers, magazines, radio and television are major users of surveys, especially those
that provide information about the political, economic or social society. Public opinion about
certain ec onomic, social or international aspects are also sometimes considered to be news
worthy. Academic surveys are used mainly in social sciences, to find some data about
delinquency, education, economic progress, political attitudes, etc. From the start there was
controversy over opinion polls. If this is not done professionally it is possible that the
information provided by them to be inaccurate. Surveys must be completed relevant samples,
samples to be clearly defined so that each of the subjects belong to only a sample. Even if the
samples are well defined, problems occur in analyzing the polls, their mode of interpretation.
Construction surveys must be fixed; they should be designed to be clear, to the point of not
influencing in any way the subject. Sele cted samples may vary in size, depending on the

importance of the subject. The entertainment industry is undergoing a transformation due to
increasing demand for digital media and HD programs. In the past, media operators only had to
support traditional va lue chain of production and distribution of media content to reach millions
of viewers.
Thanks to new media, people can now follow and consume digital media content via
multiple devices, anytime and anywhere they want. To thrive and find new opportunities for
income generation, media and entertainment industry must offer more than television, namely
exceptional content presented as some personalized experiences, therefore, any individual who
has access to these devices can be ‘entertained’ any place and an y time and watch news, movies,
videos with modern day divas.

1. British and American Broadcasting Media: Evolution

The appearance of the radio does not occur directly. His invention, from a technological point of
view, cannot be attributed to a single person, but is the consequence of several contributions over
time. From a social point of view, the use that is later given to the radio is not the same as in its
origins. There are a series of inventions linked to wireless telegraph y that will influence the birth
of the radio. During the nineteenth century, signal transmission systems using wires (such as
Morse) were already well known, as well as optical signals produced by light. All these
procedures were under the control of the states. Only at the end of wireless telegraphy, the state
allows it to be given another use apart from the political and military. Trade begins to enjoy this
form of communication due to the need of the bourgeoisie to benefit from this system.
We can consider Faraday and Joseph Harry as precursors of wireless telegraphy. The
first, in 1837, discovers the propagation fields of the electric current; the second, in 1842, the
oscillatory nature of electric discharges. The development of wireless telegraphy can be divided
into three parts: discovery of the Hertzian waves , new contributions to wireless telegraphy and
Marconi. This fact is produced mainly by the contributions of Maxwell and Hertz in the
discovery of the Hertzian waves. In 1864, Maxwell develops the theoretical principle of the
Hertzian waves. That is, it shows how the electric current moves according to the lines of force
discovered by Faraday. Likewise, it presents the concept of Ether , the place where these waves
move: air, space, etc. This theoretical principle has its practical application in 1888 with Hertz,
since it manages to create an electromagnetic field. In addition, it detects and measures
electromagnetic waves (Hertzian waves). It is the concept of length of wave : each wave has
different lengths are studied, measured and understood by Hertz. It concludes that each wave has
different transmission and reception characteristics. When it comes to new contributions to
wireless telegraphy, the contributions of the individuals below were vital.
Branley in 1891 invented cohesion. It is a system that improves the reception of
electromagnetic waves. Discriminate what waves you want to receive and what you do not. That
is, it allows you to choose a frequency. Lodge perfected the tuning of the waves in 1894.
Alexander Popoff invented the reception antenna in 1895, so there is an extension of the
reception field. Marconi is considered the inventor of wireless telegraphy. The inventions of the

previous stages unify them and gives them a use. We can divide the development in three stages
meaning investigation , commercialization , monopoly.
Marconi worked in two countries: his native Italy and in the United Kingdom. In this
phase we must consider two important aspects of Marconi: it belongs to a family of good social
situation, so it will not have economic problems to carry out its investigations. On the other
hand, he knows and follows Hertz. His investigations are born in Italy under the achievements of
Hertz. In this first stage he gets a skillful use of the previous experiments. At this moment, he
gets an initial communication of 1700 meters in wireless telegraphy. He asks for help from the
Italian government, but he denies all official support despite getting to see wireless
communication first.
Despite these achievements, you must seek institutional support. He finds it in the United
Kingdom, who gives him economic and technical help from the British Post, Telegraph and
Telephone Office . On the 2nd of June 1896 he patented his invention, achieving a communication
of 6 km. The following year, that distance increases to 15 km. On the Bristol Channel. This last
distance is made for the first time before public opinion. In 1897 they granted him the patent
definitively. This new form of communication is characterized by wireless telegraphy , cheaper
means , long-range , instant transmission , possibility of establishing communication in places
inaccessible geographically Since its inception, Marconi seeks to take economic advantage of his
invention. The social use that is given at first is far from entertainment. This communication was
used for institutional, state, military and security purposes in general.
When Marconi obtains the patent, commercialization begins. To do so, he created
the Marconi Wireless and Telegraph company in 1897 with a large social capital. He is a
technical director with a 50% stake in the company. Their clients were the states, the navy, the
coastal protection. The material was only handled by company personnel, so the clients had to
hire an employee as well. Little by little, the social use of this system is spreading. From the
military navy to the merchant. Likewise, it offers instant communication to the press, such as
the Daily Express or the New York Herald . Here begin the beginnings of wireless telegraphy to
broadcasting. Countries feel the need to meet and see what is happening with this new
medium. They have the desire to end the monopoly, because, among other reasons, it is a
medium that has no geographical borders due to its own nature. At the end of the 50s,
information is a basic axis of television programming. It is the moment of the spectacularization

of the news, although it ends up covering everything little by little. He is presenter is almost as
important as the news.
An important element is the creation of a conservation system and, later, of
manipulation. In the 1950s, the specific aspect of television was direct. With the arrival of the
video and its extension, the direct one stops being an axis of the programming. This process
makes television a system for manipulating images. However, direct is preserved in other cases,
such as sports broadcasts. Television from the 1960's is characterized by a constant increase in
quality and technical achievements, as well as an extension of the broadcast times.
From the 1960s there is an interest on the part of the television industries to collect the
tastes of the audiences. This is independent of the legal model of television. First it starts with
the private model and later, with the state. In any case, the latter model was less motivated to
collect this data, since its financing method did not depend on advertising. There is also an
increase in the production of films and television series. In the same way, it enjoys an
informative agility due to the generalization of the video recorder as a system for capturing and
reproducing news. In addition, the old 16 mm cameras are replaced by cameras with VTR
systems. Therefore, televis ion will be moving in certain aspects to the radio as a means where the
immediacy of the news is sought. As a result, television cameras invade the most immediate
reality. The spectacularizing of medium occurs. It's not just about live broadcasts. You must
make them spectacular.
The process and internationalization suffered by television is important. It is a fact that
occurs progressively. It has several motivations:
 Policies and Social: while in the previous era the states sought internal cohesion,
in this period there is an exchange of information of people, especially within the
countries of the two large blocks.
 Economic: a global trade is being generated because of the internationalization of
information.
 Technological: television systems are going to be interconnected. Associations of
different television stations emerge (e.g.: Eurovision). In addition, the technology
of satellites begins to be used, which favors the international flow of television
images.

 Television broadcasting: the satellites are classified in different ways according to
the distribution of the television signal:
 Point to point: satellites that serve as a bridge between a station that emits and
another that receives. Distribution: the signal of a station reaches several receiving
stations
 Direct broadcasting: from a transmitting station one passes directly to a multitude
of individual devices without passing through other receiving stations.
Television becomes international due to the need for programming. The increase in
broadcasting hours, as well as the costs and the need for more and more diversified
programming, means that televisions exchange products or associate to produce. Television has
been specializing in very specific audiences progressively. It has been divers ifying its
distribution and access systems. He has been doing themed, individual, but he has not stopped
being a generalist. Little by little, specialized, thematic televisions emerge. What began with the
radio, has moved to television, cable or satellite or attempts to merge television with the Internet.
In this historical period, in the state television the rupture of the monopolies takes place. In
Spain, it occurs with the emergence of autonomous and private, whose purpose is to obtain
benefits.
The mass media are seen today as playing a key role in enhancing globalization,
facilitating culture exchange and multiple flows of information and image between countries
through international news broadcasts, television programming, new technologies, film and
music. If before the 1990’s mainstream media systems in most countries of the world were
relatively national in scope, since then most communication media have become increasingly
global, extending their reach beyond the nation -state to conquer audiences wor ldwide.
International flows of information have been largely assisted by the development of global
capitalism, new technologies and the increasing commercialization of global television, which
has occurred because of the deregulation policies adopted by va rious countries in Europe and the
US to permit the proliferation of cable and satellite channels. Globalization theorists have
discussed how the cultural dimension of globalization has exercised a profound impact on the
whole globalization process. The rap id expansion of global communications in the twenty -first
century can be traced back to the mechanical advancements of technologies during the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which started mainly with the invention of the telegraph in

1837, and includ ed the growth in postal services, cross -border telephone and radio
communications and the creation of a modern mass circulation press in Europe. It was however
the evolution of technologies capable of transmitting messages via electromagnetic waves that
marked a turning point in advancing the globalization of communications. The emergence of
international news agencies in the nineteenth century, such as Reuters, paved the way for the
beginnings of a global system of codification. Nonetheless, it was not unt il the 1960s, with the
launch of the first geo -stationary communication satellites, that communication by
electromagnetic transmission became fully global, thus making the globalization of
communications a distinctive phenomenon of the twentieth century (T hompson).

1.1. A comparative presentation of Mass -Media

Human beings are people by nature, social beings, which means that the human being does not
know how to be alone and incommunicado, society is constructed by communication and by
itself that a society can exist, because without communication there is no set of rules and
regulations. However, nowadays individuals live immersed in a great amount of activities, they
consume most of the daily time that everyone has, limiting their time of social coexistence ,
therefore, today there are different ways of communication that allow the human being to be in
contact with the world that surrounds him. One way of communication of great importance at
present is the massive one, with its respective tools. The mass medi a allows the masses to be in
contact with the most relevant information for each person.
Communicators, publicists and marketers, use different media to transmit certain
messages, why, what importance do they have in the real world? Communication and
information technologies have gained ground in recent years, formats to handle news and
messages, have been modernized with the aim of revaluing where different media are in society.
These are some of the media that have modified the daily life of people:
 TV. Since the first broadcast in 1927 by the BBC in England, television is
considered the favorite world of developing countries, its low cost and
audiovisual dynamism, the location of it as a very broad generation, here the
spokesmen son public figures who a cquire the popular sympathy that, together

with the programming, ensure a qualification that redeems them in advertising
and sponsorships, their earnings are by far, superior to those of the other media.
 Radio. Its popularity lies in the fact that it repre sents low costs in its production,
its coverage is wide, as well as its immediacy, that is, the second most popular
medium. Historically it played an important role in the news diffusion; its fluid
and free language for informative analysis reluctantly the perspective of the
listener.
 Newspapers. It is the oldest means of public dissemination, its purpose is: inform,
persuade, promote, form opinion, educate and entertain. The press involved
publications such as magazines, pamphlets and bulletins. To give an idea of the
importance of this medium, according to UN data, the German newspaper, Die
Bild Zeitung, has a print run of 4.5 million a day.
 Internet. It is a selective means of low cost, it is said selective because the offer is
varied and must not neces sarily “consume” all the content of the publication, but
it can be extracted what you prefer, its visual format and its contents are brief,
which facilitates its reading and consultation. This means is roundtrip that
feedback of the immediate news, it is a lso a suitable means for independent
journalists or experts, who through personal sites disseminate important content.
Here the measurement scales are statistically more accurate than other means.
It is important to emphasize that no medium is better than another, its design and format
is several. All the massive human resources have the capacity to reach each one of the different
social strata, and thanks to that, our language avoids a fragmentation since the messages are
homosexual children for the whole society. Advertising is different, as well as its contents, each
one is useful to create it. It must be said that each medium receives a large part of the revenue
from government propaganda, benefits that are generally received by small and large companies
that receive it through the web.
The constant search of the man to satisfy each time better his need of communication has
been the impulse that has achieved the establishment in the world of instruments every day more
powerful and fast in the communicativ e process. Only a retrospective is enough to define how
the human being has managed to evolve its forms of communication: From rudimentary methods
such as hieroglyphic writing, through the invention of the alphabet and paper, giving a slight leap

until the arrival of the printing press, and just one more for the appearance of the telephone, the
cinema, the radio and the television. All these instruments have certainly been an advance in the
forms of communication of man and, practically all, have been possi ble thanks to technology,
which in turn has been the instrument whose evolution has determined the advancement of
humanity.
Nowadays, the press, radio, television, telephone and Internet are a persuasive tool that
allow us to keep in continuous communicati on with the different social, political and economic
events both nationally and internationally. The rapidity and drama with which the media for the
masses have been incorporated into our reality, did not give us time to adapt and adapt them.
Before them i t is difficult for us to take a serene attitude: or we cling to a static, pre -industrial
world; or we are completely uprooted, remaining at the mercy of novelties or superficial stimuli,
and ignoring the past. In contemporary societies the importance of th e mass media and of
television is growing. This influences the way people act or think, manages to modify the way
men know and understand the reality that surrounds them. The capacity we have today to get our
messages over long distances instantaneously, t hrough television, radio, telephone, computer or
fax, almost simultaneously transmitting data and information, is so familiar to us that we even
act with indifference to them.
The press is a medium usually published on a daily or weekly basis, whose main c ontent
is news, national, local, sports, economic, events and others. It is one of the most important
media, with a strong influence on public opinion in society. Influence of radio, television and the
internet in basic education – these media have a very special influence on the population,
especially on young people and children, since at present they reach many homes, without
distinction of social classes, race or creed, which affects their behavior within society. This is a
phenomenon, typical of our ti mes, which presents multiple facets of general interest for
individuals, the characteristic of these means is that as they reach many homes there is a lot of
interest in the programming they transmit, so you must have control of the parents in that sense,
to avoid future deviations in the actions of the youth.
They are means that are placed as a social organization, as a socializing culture that has
immersed a study of life, together with needs, aspirations and ways of thinking and acting with
the purpose o f creating a mass of users that responds to the interests of the dominant economic
groups. They can distort reality because they can in some cases be sustained based on actions

that are not allowed in our social codes, but nevertheless they are allowed fo r example on
television and the internet mainly, such as crimes, pornography and violence in general. The time
spent watching television, listening to the radio and accessing the internet among young people
is excessive, and represents a danger because of their presence every day in different channels,
stations and web pages, the latter accessible 24 hours a day, which is why they should be
supervised by parents, since youth tries to copy models that have nothing to do with our values.
Perhaps it would be b etter to reflect on whether these media are currently orientating in a
clear, true and objective way and helping the person to improve or, on the contrary, the messages
that come to us, do not build, but rather transmit a degraded idea of man and his dig nity faced
with this situation, parents should seek solutions because of the negative influence that their
children can receive. Therefore, it is advisable to give criteria to educate their critical capacity
and teach them to distinguish and choose. It is necessary to give quality time to the children, with
several hours. It is important to know what they think and what influences them most. Discern
and observe. Thus, for example, watching movies or entertainment programs together, making
comments and quest ions, you will achieve a climate of trust that will favor knowledge and
communication.
Teenagers, who are very impressionable because of their age, are also very idealistic,
therefore, it will not be very difficult for them to understand the priority of th e person over
things; of ethics about science; of the spirit on the subject. The rise of the media has made
possible the shortening of distances, keeping us linked to the rest of the world. The accelerated
growth of television and the internet have produce d a degradation in society, the loss of ethical
and moral values.
Currently the media have become “judges of the truth”, they are the ones who decide and
dictate fashions, consumption, models of life. They establish what is right and what is wrong and
decide what are the important and transcendent facts of the world. The media are considered
unique bearers of the truth. They influence the education of children and young people and the
formation of public opinion.
Internet is then a new channel of communica tion that stands out, also, because it allows
in its environment the combination of all other media. Internet is a new communication channel,
and it may be the most powerful communication medium known to date. The press, radio,
telephone, internet and tele vision are today an almost essential part of the daily life of modern

man. The press, radio, television and the Internet influence people, modifying their life models,
their choices, their customs, consumption and public opinion.

1.2.Economic, Social, Political and Cultural Role

Today, the media constitute a persuasive tool that allow us to keep in
constant communication with the different social, political and economic developments
both scale national and international. The speed and drama with which th e MCM ( Media for
Mass) have been incorporated into our reality, did not give us time to adapt and adapt. Before
them it is difficult for us to take a serene attitude : or we cling to a static world; or we are
completely uprooted, remaining at the mercy of novelties or superficial stimuli, and ignoring the
past.
In contemporary societies the importance of the mass media are growing. These influence
the way people act or think, they manage to modify the way in which men know and understand
the reality that surrounds them, so our main objective is to analyze the consequences that this
influence has brought to society and to deepen and raise awareness about this problem so as
not to be accomplices of that characteristic of postmodern man who tends to cling to transient,
weak and superficial values that result from all that amalgam of information that he receives on a
daily basis. Also demonstrate how the study of communication processes in general and mass
communication in particular have allowed it to become something more than a simple process of
dissemination of information: it has become an inseparable part of the existing system of social
relations.
Communication is the process by which information is transmitted from one entity to
another. The communication processes are sign- mediated interactions between at least two
agents that share the same repertoire of signs and have common semiotic
rules. Traditionally, communication has been defined as the exchange of feelings, opinions, or
any other type of information through speech, writing or other types of signals . All forms of
communication require a sender, a message and a receiver . In the communicative process, the
information is included by the issuer in a package and channeled to the receiver through the
medium. Once received, the receiver decodes the message and provides a response.

Conversely, the form of direct interpersonal communication, the source of
communication, that is, the communicator in mass communication is some organized
social group that operates as such. Thus, in mass communication the receiver is an anonymous
mass audience, disseminated through space, time or both. The link between the communicator
and the audience is also different because the message will not be directed to specific
individuals; it is indirect, since the source and the receiver are not in direct physical contact, it is
also unidirectional because the communicator can neither see nor direc tly hear the reactions of
the audience while the communication is taking place. Probably the twentieth century can go
down in history as the era in which scientific research has conditioned external pressures on
its objectives to a greater extent than ever before. The discovery of
electrons, electromagnetic waves , electrical and electronic circuits , served between the end of
the last century and the beginning of this one for the construction and development of
communication instruments, preferably audiovisual.
The twentieth century is, in effect, the age of electronics , the atomic age, the era
of communications . But it is, above all, the scientific -technological era because of the
conditioning of scientific development by technology. The introduction of new
technologies modified the reading , the way of living and understanding reality and the
intervention on it. It is the cultural modification introduced by the new means of mass
commu nication, which will provoke the most disparate reactions, from the most fervent
enthusiasms to the most rigorous condemnations. The entry into the scene of the book ,
magazines, newspapers, posters, film, radio , television and its rapid mass use in a short space of
time, is reason enough to convulse the patterns of the social relationship. The progressive
conformation of the masses or of the audience as a fundamental pillar for the analysis of the
phenomena linked with the introduction of the new communication instruments, was of interest ,
mainly, of social psychologists and sociologists. The masses are only the recipient; the masses
do not communicate through the media. It is the owners of those media who communicate
something. The body of knowledge about new media grew dramatically and became more
popular.
Life in advanced societies is totally mediated. Knowing the means or instruments used in
social mediation can direct them towards positive or negati ve objectives. One of the most
important and influential events in the history of mankind in recent centuries has been technical

development. This development has encompassed all the orders: production , housing, the way
of traveling, rural and urban life, the way of making war , engineering . One aspect of that
process has been the progress of the media . The capacity we have today to get our messages
over long distances instantaneously, through television , radio , telephone , computer or fax ,
simultaneously transmitting data and information, is so familiar to us that we even act with
indifference to them.
The first stage of communication was probably the era of signs and signals that
developed at the beginning of prehistory , prior to language . Especially since the early twentieth
century, newspapers, magazines and books read in the world produced changes in the way of
acting and feeling of men. The effectiveness of the printed letter was overwhelming, and proved
unrivaled until the appearance of other mass media that competed in the information. Through
the computer the technology of communication underwent changes, these have become almost
familiar elements and no doubt that over time will develop with them a new media system.
In the same way that the advent of l anguage opened new doors for people to escape
the limits of circumscribed communication, the arrival of mass communication and its
transformation into complex communication systems allows human beings of our days to
organize on a more global scale. Through its complex web of relations of dependence with
individuals, interpersonal networks , organizations and social systems, the media system has
evolved from the status it had in the decade of the 1930's of the last century to its contemporary
status as fundamental information system for the continuity of society.
The advertising area is an activity that intentionally characterized t he message is made,
seeking the change of attitudes , cognitive traits and behavior of recipients, using various
technological supports. Political propaganda is closely linked to advertising , because after the
two world wars with this type of propaganda, it went on to an advertising euphoria. It is quite
true that the preparation of posters and radio messages, improved considerably. The core element
of advertising is the advertisement, a self -sufficient communication unit that has an essential
feature: its b revity.
Modern means have weakened in us the capacity for amazement. The modern
propaganda is not directed to the reason, but to the emotion as all the forms of hypnotic
suggestion, tries to influence emotionally on the subjects, to subject them then also from the
intellectual point of view. This form of propaganda influences the client by resorting to

all kinds of media, at the same time weakening his capacity for criticism or stimulating his
fantasy about an unforeseen change in the course of his own life. All these methods are
essentially irrational, have nothing to do with the quality of the merchandise and weaken or kill
the critical capacity of the client. MCMs are usually transculturation vehicles. They begin by
entering a society as curious objects and end up being a necessity. The industrial regime with
which these media operate makes them coin standardized signs and symbols and
encourages their passive consumption by the masses. Advertising is no longer limited to
informing about the existence of a specific product, but it is about creating needs. Within modern
commercial techniques , advertising is indispensable as a means of information
about available products or to facilitate contact between sellers and buyers. Advertising can
become harmful when your goal aims to artificially create needs real superflu ous or expensive
the costs of production with exorbitant campaign s that tend to promote competitive items that
have much less differences between them that their promoters are trying to convince the public .
Propaganda is called the set of techniques designed to propagate ideas, doctrines and
opinions to make these conc epts are accepted by people who, as a result, people
and groups convinced to adhere to them. A definition from the U.S. states that propaganda is the
language intended for the masses. It uses words or other symbols to which the radio, the press ,
cinematography and television serve as vehicles. The purpose of the propagandist is to influence
the attitude of the masses in points that are subject to propaganda and that are the object of
opini on.
In the twentieth century, it is claimed that political propaganda appears as a
company organized to influence and direct opinion about the modern mass and its means
of action : the new techniques of information and communication. These concepts are verifiable
in special moments in which the participation of citizens is required , either in the face of an
election of governors or before certain political decisions: an attempt is made to influence public
opinion. In a democratic system propaganda is, generally, an acceptable resource within legal
limits. The propaganda is not merely informative, that is, it is not limited to making known
specific points of a program or the characteristics of a candidate. It is subjective, partial, biased.
In that framework it is possible that it is exaggerated, it is promised too easily and, still , it
lies. But in an open society where everyone has the same chance of reaching the public, the

arguments can be rebutted, and the falsehoods put in evidence. Both try to control the public
opinion and for this they try by all means that only the official word is heard.
Advertising is related to propaganda because it uses similar techniques: one tends to be
inspired by the other. The difference is that a dvertising refers more specifically to the economic:
try to sell a certain product. Propaganda is essentially political, advertising, essentially
commercial. Both will be morally accepted or reprehensible, according to the ends they pursue
and the means th ey use. The periodical press is the most representative medium of the
ancients. The political repercussions attributed to it led at some point to coining the expression
“fourth power ”, to refer to its ability to influence public opinion.
The newspaper shares with media and television the mediation between the knowledge of
reality and the subjects. Most events are known to readers through the newspaper. Reality is
disclosed biased in news. This is the fundamental raw material with which the press works. The
product that makes, the newspaper, is a fairly extensive news relationship that is facilitated daily
thanks to all the technical -organizational device that is available. The news is related to the
verification of facts rather than their interpretation . However, it is not possible to make
chemically pure facts. The same statement that something is a fact, and then a news, already
implies a subjective interpretation of the first spectator, who is the journalist. Not even
the television image or live sound provides reality as it is.
It is probably the medium that has suffered less from the pressures of different types of
social power compared to the large audience it has. This does not imply that the birth and
development of industrial activity in this medium do not represent a potential source of
manipulation. The moving image is a semiotic macro structure by combining several systems of
signs: iconic, kinetic, verbal. The perfect mixture of these systems causes the sensation of reality.
From what one can suppose the connection with people so as not to be a soli tary spectator, even
the ill -defined community, but which conditions reaction behaviors to the message that arrives to
it, the differential nuances between film in video support and film in film support that is
projected on screen are important. Social psy chologists have studied what is meant by the loss of
anonymity and the consequent disinhibition of individuals within mass groups.
The cinema describes the peculiarities of purely visual language and its tremendous
emotional impact due to its capacity for synthesis . It was seen that cinema could help man to
rediscover the world visually, not only the distant world that was not within his reach, but the

everyday world that would reappear clean and direct, without conceptual barriers. It was thought
that with the cinema a new universal language would appear, the language of the image. The
radio returns us to the scope of the news, because it shares with the press and television the
possibi lity of facilitating knowledge about reality through it. Although certain events are, today,
susceptible to a retransformation better by radio than by TV, this in most cases supplies the
inadequacies of that. However, the radio has in its favor the power o f individualization that it
entails. The means of family communication that was the radio has left its place to television, to
go to meet individuals or groups not so institutional.
In relation to cultural and moral values, it occupies an intermediate place between the
pole of reality and the serious, and the opposite, which reflects a more or less
equitable balance between information and entertainment. Because of the speed with which it is
broadcast, the economy of the service and the scope of its broadcast, radio is a valuable element
of information and education . At one time the radio tried something new in communication for
the masses: immediacy. Sometimes we do not know what is happening but what they tell us is
happening. Another novelty was the realism of ra dio that became a new means of
communication and expression: true discoveries of sound worlds. The human voice, music ,
sounds and effects are the basic elements of the radiophonic language. The radio can also be an
agent of culture . The specific characteristics of the radio make it a valuable teaching aid.
Television is a peculiar entertainment of the c omplex period in which we live. In an
insecure world without internal supports. In our world, not only distances have decreased but
communication has increased. The rapid expansion of TV has been possible in the societies of
large middle class, with its hi gh standardization index, its good purchasing power, its greater
spending on advertising, its urban concentration and its consumption of mass produced symbols.
The attraction of the masses is nature psychological and artistic in the sense of art popular with
very specific and different from the conventional characteristics.
Today, popular art, through the media for the masses, has a huge audience, which is more
heterogeneous and diversified than ever. The popular art of our days has industrial
characteristics, it is directed towards the market and its needs, it has its rigidly fixed objectives
(to gain a greater audience, to handle determined stereotypes, to accentuate the conservative
standard) and it uses simple symbols to reach a larger audience. Television as a language has
certa in characteristics that have been imposed by the technical limitations of the medium and the

social conditions that frame the television show. The audiovisual medium teaches information
techniques, motivates, hits emotionally, allows easy identification. Throughout the history of
humanity there is a current of expression and popular communication, whose backbone is the
visual image.
MCMs are also instruments of power. With them it is about dulling the minds and
providing them with slogans. Instead of stimul ating with them the liberation of people, the
conditioning for mental narrowness and slavery is stimulated. With the sensationalist media is
giving life to a narrow and caverning image . The competitive desire has had everything with
the laws of purchase and sale and MCM is used, likewise, to sell ideas and ways of life. The so-
called instructional programs enjoy greater confidence on the part of the spectators. Thus,
a simultaneous school is obtained that multiplies its effects, since TV is still a domestic family
environment. All aspects of reality have a place in the middle. Everything can be conveyed with
an orientation towards all the nuclei of social reproduction that are the family units.
There are features that stand out in the social messages broadcast through television as:
the stimulation of stereotyped opinion s on social issues, because logically you can also achieve
the opposite and more desirable effect of the elimination of stereotypes. It can also stimulate
adverse feelings or acceptance of minority social groups. Given the connection with social
systems of power, national ethnocentrism, Impact of the ends on the opinions can be reduced or
exalted. Therefore, television plays a role of education, training or socializing, taking advantage
in fulfilling this function, because it presents models more similar cultural as they are in reality.
Television is comparable to face -to-face communication because it presents and encourages or
favors an audiovisual style. Throughout history, there were revolutions in communication, each
new medium provided a resource that produced important chan ges in the organization of society
and in the transmission of culture.
The introduction of new technologies modified the reading , the way of living and
understanding reality and the intervention on it. It is the cultural modification introduced by the
mass media, which is going to provoke the most disparate reactions, from the most fervent
enthusiasms to the most rigorous condemnations. The intensity and quality of the use of the
media oscillate enormously, depending in particular on the medial infrastructure of the country
and the social , economic and cultural status of the user. In general, it can be seen that the media

are used with such intensity the more developed the medial structure of the nation and the higher
the cultural level of the user.
The importance of television in the process of socialization of children and young people
and of all members of society is related to the quality of the contents of the educational,
informative and entertainment programs that it tr ansmits and also of the advertising that
influences the consumption habits of the population . The media are an essential part of the
communication processes in modern societies. The mass media install symbolic and invisible
screens that are transformed into gigantic, colorful and moving boards with very varied and
important contents. Television is the electronic teacher of our times. TV is transformed from a
vehicle of facts, into an apparatus to produce facts, that is, a mirror of reality that becomes a
producer of reality. The media are an essential part of the communication processes of modern
societies; they provide interpretations of reality, which are internalized by their au diences.
People can develop subjective and shared constructions of reality based on what they
read, hear or watch. Therefore, their personal and social behavior can be shaped in part by the
interpretations provided by the media regarding social facts and issues, with respect to which
individuals have few alternative sources of information. The process of socialization is
continuous and usually goes unnoticed. Neither the content nor the methods of socialization are
immune to the influence of the media, influence and change can and do take place. The means of
mass, you can admit, are only one aspect of the process, but it would be very surprising indeed if
they did not play a certain role in modeling our attitudes towards life, ourselves and others.
The media in general, have be come the first school, both for the creation
and legitimization of forms of behavior, the vision that man has of himself, society and their
relationships. Examples of blind obedience to the media, is the adoption of languages and
fashions promote d but that do not keep the least sanity. In the same way that the advent of
language opened new doors for people to escape the limits of circumscribed communication, the
arrival of mass communication and its transformation into complex communication system s
allows human beings of our days to organize on a more global scale. Through its complex web of
relations of dependence with individuals, interpersonal networks, organizations and social
systems, the media system has evolved from the status it had in the 1930s to its contemporary
status as fundamental information system for the continuity of society.

In addition to news stories, feature articles, and investigative journalism, sporadic mass
media education and prevention campaigns are launched. These campai gns usually endeavor to
broaden community knowledge of child abuse and neglect, to influence people's attitudes
towards children and young people, and to change behaviors that contribute to, or precipitate, the
problem of child abuse and neglect in our com munities. For several reasons, however, the
effectiveness of these campaigns remains contentious. Primarily, the effectiveness of mass media
in the prevention of child abuse and neglect is debatable. For example, Rayner argues that 'media
campaigns are blo ody expensive' and their impact is difficult to determine. Expensive media
campaigns may be hard to justify in a political climate where limited funds and resources are
provided to address children's needs. Further cites O'Keefe and Reed ( O'Keefe, p. 215. ) to note
that: “At best, the media are “effective at building citizen awareness of an issue” but more
complex attitudinal or behavioral change requires “more direct forms of citizen contact and
intervention”. Others argue, however, that mass media campaig ns and media coverage of the
abuse and neglect of children perform an important and significant role in placing issues such as
child abuse on the public and political agenda. Lindsey maintains that: 'Media has a central role
in mediating information and fo rming public opinion. (Lindsey, p. 163. )
The media casts an eye on events that few of us directly experience and renders remote
happenings observable and meaningful.' The importance assigned to the media today is such that
the tendency to assign it the r ole of a hegemonic institution in the process of socialization is
increasing. This preponderance of the means obeys to multiple reasons, although some are very
obvious as the constant presence of them in all the population and the fact to arrive much earli er
at the children that the school. It should not be forgotten that the media reach the most remote
places in the world, where they do not have access to formal education . These marginal sectors
of culture are also integrated into the characteristics and ways of life of the population, adapting
and integrating constantly to what it requires, as well as a ssimilating to their changes.
Today it is impossible to deny the great importance of the media in a process of
socialization in which they act not with exclusion but in different degrees of combination and
coexistence with others, in a situation of constan t reinforcement. The events that take place in a
society constituted by different social systems, with a specific culture and with a structure
and dynamic that articulate their way of being, are transmitted non -aseptically by the media.

The rise of the media has made possible the shortening of distances, keeping us linked to
the rest of the world. However, they produce a degradation in society. Currently t he media have
become “judges of the truth”, they are the ones who decide and dictate fashions, consumption,
models of life. They establish what is right and what is wrong and decide what are the important
and transcendent facts of the world. Considered uni que bearers of the truth, mass -media
influences the education of children and young people and the formation of public opinion.
The media play a significant role in forming and influencing people's attitudes and
behavior. Issues Paper 14, Child abuse and t he media (Goddard, C. and Saunders, B.J., p. 26 -30),
drew attention to the essential role of the media in increasing society's awareness of, and
response to, child abuse and neglect. Of note was the part played by news and features that
reported on specifi c child abuse cases, research and intervention strategies. Such media attention
to child abuse has, at times, positively influenced public, professional and political responses to
the circumstances in which children and young people find themselves. Unders tanding media
influences, and how to use the media constructively, may thus be an essential tool for those who
advocate for children, young people, and their families ( Brawley, E. ).

1.3.The Effect Of The Mass Media On Opinion Formation

Studies on mass commun ication confirm that the media have significant effects on society,
although there is little consensus on the nature and scope of such effects. The problem of the
degree of influence of the media on individuals and society has had different answers. As Wol f
observes, “the whole history of communicative research has been determined in several ways by
the oscillation between the attitude that detects in the media a source of dangerous social
influence, and the attitude that mitigates this power, reconstructin g the complexity of the
relationships in which the media act. However, we must recognize that this is a question that
belongs to the broader sector of the most general theories about the media and, as McQuail says,
“Among the investigations on the socio -cultural effects of the media, empirical studies confirm
the link between the media and public opinion (Wolf, p.9.). P ublic opinion so that it has a
consistent base needs information. Is the public sufficiently informed, insufficiently informed or
widely mi sinformed? The study of public opinion must be done in the context of mass
communication and the social effects of the media.

We must not lose sight of the fact that public opinion, as well -reasoned and well –
informed opinion, has always been in the hands of the dominant minority, of cultured and
minority groups gathered in clubs (Chartier ), and with direct access to the media
communication. In public society, public opinion continues to be subject to the public, but it does
not resemble the public of the E nlightenment at all. Now the public is made up of the masses or
majorities, which are docile, receptive, irrational and mediated by the elites and the media
(Chomsky ). This shows us the direct relationship of public opinion with the media. One of the
most outstanding aspects of mass communication and that best defines its functions of socio –
cultural and political control is the typology of transmitted messages, in which information in a
strict sense, that is, news, is of special importance. These influence many facets of our daily life
(McCombs ). And although the content of the information may be “objective”, in general it is
always manipulated by the journalistic or communication and information companies and by the
journalists themselves, inevitably usin g certain elaboration criteria. This is a sociocultural and
political mechanism of great influence and strong symbolic pressure and that is found in both
parts: in the issuers and in the receivers, in the public. The description, commentary and
valuation of any event are always subsumed in the interpretations superimposed by the
issuer. The information thus affects, in some way, opinion. But the receivers usually also
contribute selective attitudes on those problems that interest them. Neither information nor
public opinion are neutral; they always involve interested options, on both sides.
The theory of the social construction of reality, proposed by Berger and Luckmann
(Berger, Peter L.and Thomas Luckmann ), tries to study to what extent the image of the s ocial
world is elaborated under the influence of the media, in the studies on public opinion in the
information society acquires greater importance theories about the social effects of the
media. From any perspective that observes the history of studies o n public opinion, it is evident
the importance that it has had, and still has, the problem of the influence and the effects exerted
by the mass media on the individuals, about groups, about institutions and about the social
system. The problem of the effec ts worsened more with the arrival of television.
The model that has most successfully explained the effects produced by the mass media
and what their relations with public opinion are has been the theory of agenda setting , which is
framed in studies of lon g-term effects. This theory emphasizes the power of the media to draw
attention to certain issues or problems and at the same time create frameworks for the

interpretation of social events. The media, reporting on external reality, present to the public a
list of topics that will be the subject of public opinion. The enormous growth and expansion of
media institutions today constitute a determining element of contemporary society. Its main
objective is to influence public opinion. The sociologist Robert Pa rk attached great importance to
the signaling influence of the news. McCombs reinforces this idea by stating that “Daily news
alerts us of the latest events and changes in that environment that is beyond our immediate
experience. But the press and televisi on reports, even those that are so tight in a tabloid
newspaper or on an Internet website, do much more, in fact, than simply point out the existence
of important facts and issues. The editors and informative directors, with their day -to-day
selection and their display of information, direct our attention and influence our perception of
what are the most important topics of the day. This capacity to influence the relevance of the
issues of the public repertoire is what has been called the setting of the age nda by the media”
(McCombs, p. 24. ).
The selection of the most important news given at the beginning of the news, the news or
news that appear on the front page of the newspapers, the size of the headlines, the length of a
story and the insistence on it o ne day and another day. They point to the determination of the
importance of events and put them at the center of public attention. It is the media that trace the
clues about the importance of the topics of the daily agenda. As for the public, it uses thos e
relevant clues to organize and decide which are the most important issues that attract its
attention. Hence, the agenda of the media becomes the public agenda. In other words, the size of
the headlines, the length of a story and the insistence on it one day and another day, point to the
determination of the importance of events and put them in the spotlight of public opinion. It is
the media that trace the clues about the importance of the topics of the daily agenda. As for the
public, it uses those relev ant clues to organize and decide which are the most important issues
that attract its attention. Hence, the agenda of the media becomes the public agenda. In other
words, the size of the headlines, the length of a story and the insistence on it one day and another
day, point to the determination of the importance of events and put them in the spotlight of
public opinion. It is the media that trace the clues about the importance of the topics of the daily
agenda. As for the public, it uses those relevant clu es to organize and decide which are the most
important issues that attract its attention. Hence, the agenda of the media becomes the public
agenda. In other words, it is the media that trace the clues about the importance of the topics of

the daily agenda. As for the public, it uses those relevant clues to organize and decide which are
the most important issues that attract its attention, in other words, the most important issues of
concern are transformed into more important issues of concern . This is the central thesis
of agenda setting theory ( McCombs, p. 24. ).
This theory states that “because of the action of newspapers, television and other media,
the public is aware or ignores, paying attention or neglect, emphasizes or overlooks, specific
elements of public scenarios. People must include or exclude from their own knowledge what the
media includes or excludes from their own content. The public also tends to assign what includes
an importance that reflects the emphasis attributed by the mass media to ev ents, to the problems,
to people” ( Shaw, E., p. 96 ). The media do not seek primarily to persuade, but to describe and
clarify the external social reality, they present to the public the list of everything around what
public opinion should think and debate. According to Shaw “the fundamental budget of the
agenda setting is that people's understanding of a large part of social reality is modified by the
media. Here, a cognitive dependence of the public on the media is accentuated, both from the
point of vi ew of the “agenda” of the issues, problems and arguments, which are present in the
agenda of the media, as the “order of importance and priority” that these elements are arranged
in the “order of the day”. The agenda setting hypothesis is not a return to the hypodermic theory
(Wolf, p.22 -35.), and therefore, does not defend powerful effects of the media, nor does it
consider the receptors as automatons that give simple answers to the stimuli from the media, but
it does give i mportance to the media when it comes to making the repertoire of the public
agenda.
Insisting on what Lippmann said before, the information provided by the media plays an
important role in the construction of our images of social reality. What influences , therefore, in
the construction of these images is the total set of information that the media give us. There is,
therefore, a relationship between the hypothesis of the agenda setting and the sociology of
knowledge. This, by focusing on the importance a nd role of symbolic and communicative
processes, as presuppositions of sociability, progressively becomes one of the guiding themes in
the current phase of research on these issues; and precisely because of this, in parallel, the studies
on the effects of the media are confused, in certain aspects, with the studies of the processes of
the construction of the social reality. It goes, therefore, from the transmitting model of

communication to the model centered on the process of signification. And it is fro m this point of
view that the media play a role in the construction of social reality and help us to structure the
image of reality, of the social imaginary, in the long term, to organize new elements of such
images, to form new opinions and beliefs.
At the center of the problem of effects is therefore the relationship between the constant
action of the mass media and the set of knowledge about social reality, which gives shape to a
certain culture by intervening in it in a dynamic way. The hypothesis of agenda setting does not
defend that the fundamental objective of the media is to persuade; “the media, by describing and
defining external reality, present to the public a list of everything around what to have an opinion
and discuss. The fundamental assum ption of the agenda setting is that the understanding that
people have of great part of the social reality is modified by the media” ( Shaw, E., p.
103). Cohen points out that the press cannot tell people what to think but is able to tell the
readers themse lves what issues they must think about ( Cohen, p. 103 ). But the media provides
more than a certain number of news. They also provide the categories and levels of significance
in which the recipients can place them in a meaningful way (Shaw: 103). We hav e said before,
that in information societies there is a presence of “packages” of reality that subjects do not
experience or cannot directly experience but are known and lived exclusively in terms of or
through the symbolic and interpretative or selective mediation of the mass media. Most of the
knowledge that individuals have about public issues, most of the issues and problems that attract
our attention, do not come from direct and personal experience, but from the media, which act as
the main source of information. If we take, then, the phrase of Lippmann: “the images that we
have in the head” in a literal sense, the theory of the establishment of the agenda gives a greater
depth to the knowledge of the influence of the media in the formation of the publ ic opinion. But
who or who establish the media agenda? What are the factors that make up the agenda presented
by the media? Most of the issues or issues that attract or concern us are outside of our direct
personal experience and that the main source of such issues or issues is the media. Recall the
thesis of Walter Lippmann exposed in his work Public opinion : “the world of politics with which
we play is out of reach, sight and mind” ( Lippmann ).

2. United States and Great Britain: Structure and Composition

The popular culture of the United States is today the closest thing to a lingua franca universal,
which operates through a federated cultural area by distributing some shared dreams of freedom,
wealth, comfort, innocence and power. The participation of t he United States in the world
unification, heir and sometimes superior in scope to that of the Romans, the Catholic Church and
the Islamism, although without army or god. Thanks to the seduction of the multinationals, the
United States produces the scenari os and symbols of a curious kind of global sensibility, a global
semi culture (Gitlin).
The problem is not so much its presumable internal to convey political slogans or
ideological very precise, but above all the risk of subtraction from other information sources and
the suppression of political nuances in the forms of public opinion management: that is, the risk
of the most absolute uniformity in the production of consent. The involvement of the mass media
as a source of values and instruments that sub stitute personal experience has made them the
object of study for many decades. The investigations that have generated would suppose whole
volumes of bibliographic reviews. Many of them are dedicated to assessing the effects of media,
even to conclude that their influence is limited. But, given its current omnipresence in the life of
any citizen of any social level, its attraction as a subject of study remains irresistible (Giordani).
The perspectives from which the current media system could be addressed are multiple.
However, the liberalization, privatization and concentration of the sector, the changes that have
taken place during the 1980s and the 1990s – raised to their maximum exponent in the last
decade – make us think about the convenience of an ana lysis from the economy politics. The
importance of a study of these characteristics has already been highlighted and put into practice
by many academics.
His reflections are the fundamental theoretical basis of this research. Among them, and as
the main ax is, appears Herbert I. Schiller, the one who has investigated more thoroughly the role
of the United States and its transnational corporations in the international economic system, a
subject that supposes the starting point of the investigation.

2.1. Gove rnment Versus Private Control Of Media

In some countries, all or many of the media are owned or controlled by the State. The ownership
of the State and, therefore, the state control over the policies and the content of the means,
reduces to the extent that the tendency toward privatization or a t least toward commercialization
or joint ownership increases. However, there are still many countries where television, radio and
media are owned by the State. Of course, control over the media can go further. Legislation can
prohibit or inhibit the dive rsity of means through which measures ranging from limiting access to
resources, including transmission channels, large fines for the provision of specific situations, to
full censorship. The antecedent of broadcasting is a technical device called a radiotelephone. It
has been known since 1901 that it is characterized by being a wireless telegraphy but of
individual character. From 1920, the terms of radiotelephone and broadcasting will be fully
defined: the first refers to an individual use; the second, to a collective one.
There is a radio model with three great contents: music, advertising and information. For
the first time, the radio medium makes use of one of its characteristics as an argument for
success: immediacy. Thus, the radio will acquire its own characteristics. In the US, private
initiative promotes the development of this medium. The Westinghouse begins to find in this
country new stations, like the WBZ , the WJZ or the KYW , due to the success of its first
station. Therefore , begins a period of expansion of the radio where its greatest development
occurs. At the same time, a new competing company, the RCA (Radio Corporation of America)
emerges. This one has private ownership, but it is under the auspices of the North American
government. It was founded by David Sarnoff. Initially, the stations that this company founded
belonged to the company of Marconi but passed into the hands of Sarnoff. The main business
engine of both the Westinghouse and the RCA was the sale of receiver s. Meanwhile, the ATT is
formed as a telegraphic and telephone union, not as a receiver manufacturing company. Its main
station is WEAR .
The main characteristic of the ATT is that, for the first time, the financing system is the
own advertising that the stations collect. This is a change, since there does not have to be a full
relationship between the station and the company that makes the receivers. Therefore, it is
conformed as the system as we understand it today. With this, the contents are different between
the companies. The ATT will incorporate more publicity. In addition, its programming is going

to be more and more casual, more popular. Historians point out that since the birth of this new
company, the programming of the rest of the channels has been modified, to make that success
more commercial.
Thus, begins an era, from 1920 to 1926, of enormous competition. As this is growing, the
quality in the programming is going to be getting worse, more popular. Currently, the
competition does not have legal regulation. This situation leads to a crisis, the Chaos of Leter ,
which will last until 1927. This crisis will occur due to the interference that arises between the
broadcasters themselves and, even, with state communications. This chaos would see its
resolution in 1927 with the conference held in Washington. From 1926 a consolidation stage in
broadcasting begins. The first major radio station in the country, the NBC (National
Broadcasting Company ), is created. The Westinghouse , the RCA , the ATT and other companies
such as General Electrics come together in a large chain. With this new system, each station
begins to share programming with each other. This model of NBC is the basic of the current one.
The development of broadcasting in Europe will be much slower due to the greater delay in the
implementation of the radio model. While in the US it is the private initiative that drives
development, in Europe, the control of the states will condition their drive. This control will be
carried out through restricted licenses Until 1920 there are no radio broadcasts in England. The
first ones that are made are experimental and do not have any type of content. To date,
hegemony is in the hands of Marconi. At the same time, the vision of the radio phenomenon is
different from the North American model. The licensing of radio licenses is becoming
increasingly restrictive. These licenses are granted by the British Post Office. It is believed that
the radio can interfere dangerously in the state security system if the license is left free. So much
so that every 10 minutes they must cut 3 to avoid any kind of influence. Similarly, advertising is
prohibited.
The first periodic emissions are made in 1922 with the 2MT. They pretend to have a
popular style. They are only broadcast once a week (Tuesday) and are directed to a specific
audience: institutions, hospitals, etc. In May of this same year, with the 2LO of London,
property of Marconi, the emissions already begin to be daily, although the restrictions continue.
The period from 1922 to 1926 is important because the BBC is created. This is a company
formed, initially, by a group of electric companies and manufacturers of private receivers. These
companies are British or subsidiaries of North American companies, such as General Electric or

Western Electric). The license is issued by the British Post Office, being the only issue for the
whole country. The BBC programming has a soberer style than the North American model.
Despite being such a weird model, it does succeed. Due to the increase in receiver
licenses, more than 35,000 devices are passed to more than two million in England alone. In
France, there is a coexistence of a private exploitation model together with a public control
system. A new form of advertising exchange between the radio and the press is produced. Later,
the television will pick up this model. This stage can be described as an expansion and
development of the radio medium. Within this, we find technological advances, in content, in
uses more informa tion and entertainment and with the development of own expressive resources.
We can make a clear distinction between the North American and European cases. In America,
technological advances work with the different possibilities of the different
frequencie s. Armstrong invents the FM, although it still does not apply but its possibilities are
known: stereo sound quality, although very sensitive to distances and obstacles. The purchase
and industrialization of the FM is linked to Sarmoff, who buys the patent. Sound studios begin to
be used. Before the retransmissions were made from non-conditioned venues, such as cinemas or
theaters, so the characteristics of these were not adequate to the new medium. With these new
recites, an improvement of the different sound sources and the control capacity of these sources
according to their intensity and direction is achieved. Thus, the sound is much clearer. At the
same time, the size of the equipment is reduced, which facilitates both its transfer and its
use. Also, the mixing table is created, allowing to obtain different sound sources. From now on,
programs and sounds can be kept in a kind of soft disk. With this system, the programs are much
more elaborate, even to be able to be issued in deferred. This way of saving the sounds allows
the radio chains to establish a homogeneous programming in all their stations. Soon, this system
will be replaced by the tape.
There are changes motivated by legal intervention on the radio. Until 1927, the radio
licenses come to compete in such a way that there is a chaos in the emissions. The law regulates
all this by means of legal dispositions (Radio ACT ) in 1927, pretending to finish with the Chaos
of the Ether and to assure the ordering of the radiophonic spectrum by means of a rational plan of
distribution of the frequencies. Because of this, many stations disappear, since there are not
enough commercial frequencies for all. At the same time, an organization that oversees the
maintenance of this arrangement, the Federal Radio Commiss ion, is created . This is the basis of

an organization that is currently continuing: The Federal Communication Commission (FCC),
which is responsible for rationally distributing and regulating the frequencies.
In 1928 the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) was born. His style is more casual
than NBC. How many with 16 stations and its founder is William Poley. This popular style is
due to the competition with the rest of the stations, betting more and more on
entertainment. There is also a grouping of broadca sters, the Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS)
in the same year. This group tries to obtain resources for the creation and collective purchase of
common programs. Due to all this, the relationship of the radio with the other media will change,
especially with the press. By offering this means of information more immediately, the press
cannot compete. All this struggle has an economic root. Due to the crisis of 29, the number of
advertisers decreases. Revenues destined to advertising diminish so advertisers prefer the new
medium to advertise their products.
In retaliation, the press prohibits the major American news agencies
(United Press and American Press ) from offering news to the radio. Thus, the CBS created its
own information agency in 1933. Then, other stations do it. In this way, at the end of 1934, an
agreement was signed between the press and the radio to give news. The development of Own
Expressive Resources begins to create an expressive language of its own. Initially he was more
intere sted in going further than in content. Technological advances allow you to develop your
own language. The radiophonic language is specific, because it is not found in another medium,
and refined. It is a combination of voice, music, noise and sound effects . The news programs
tend to have a journalistic style typical of the medium: immediate, direct and with the possibility
of immediate response and response. Thus, the press must do a deeper journalism and opinion. It
goes from the traditional press to the illustrated one. Entertainment programs are usually
broadcast live. Certain concerts and variety shows are very popular. The deferred brings new
ways. With the studies, the mixer and the storage, the manipulation of sounds is possible, thus
creating a pecul iar language. In addition, they allow to make forecasts in the programming. The
genres of fiction and drama are increasingly stronger. On in the 30th October 1938, The War of
the Worlds , by Orson Welles, was broadcasted and enjoyed great success. HG Wells asked
military experts who claimed that the world is being invaded by Martians. The program was
successful due to the pre-war environment of the moment. It was the first time that this type of
program was broadcast. From a linguistic point of view, they evolve to such an extent that they

become essential in programming, even in public financing stations. The NBC is characterized
for having educational programs of great hearing. With the musical content something similar
happens. The public is awaiting retransmissions. To this, they get to popularize the various
musical options. The very narrow characteristics of the music are broken. For example, classical
music is no longer just for the wealthiest classes.
Europe differs from America. However, they do have something in common: the
evolution of content. Anyway, both information and training and fiction are not going to be so
important, since in the Old Continent public ownership, not private ownership predominates.
The BBC , until 1926, was a private corporati on with strong state control. But this year, there is
an important legal change: it becomes a public law corporation. Although the control of the state
is greater, the structure of the corporation remains the same. In any case, changes occur at
different levels:
 Financial: on the one hand, a fee is collected for each person for owning a
receiving device. On the other hand, through the Radio Times magazine produced
by the BBC itself.
 Technicians: the BBC becomes the best European network. Both the broadcast
and the reception are excellent. In addition, these extended throughout the British
Empire. In this, historians highlight the work of Marconi, due to his studies of
short -range waves.
 Professionals: the staff of the chain is one of the largest in Europe. Its staff
oscillates in the 5000 workers. Thus, a second channel is soon created that
accommodates local and regional information.
 Contents: here, historians highlight several important facts of the BBC : they
consider the journalists of the BBC as the most objective in a very confusing
period; the training contents form a basic plan in its programming. Up to 10000
educational centers tune into the BBC ; the musical retransmissions give a basic
pillar, especially the so-called cult music ; elaboration of dramatic programs based
on literary works.
In France there is a cohesion between private and public -owned broadcasters, although it
is the former that have the greatest participation. The struggle between the press and the radio is
very clear here, especially against public radio, because there are newspapers that refuse to

change their traditional style. In the USSR, the radio has a centralized and specialized model. It
grows very quickly but with many difficulties, especially of an economic nature, due to the First
World War, as well as social, since it was used by the Soviet as a propaganda system. In 1922,
the Moscow station is one of the most powerful. As for the contents, they are essentially
educational and formative with great ideological nuance. In Germany, the pioneer was Bredow
with the first stations made in 1913. The first commercial station works in Berlin in 1923.
Progressively, public control is greater. Thus, in 1939 the listening of foreign stations is
prohibited. In the rest of the count ries, the radio evolved thanks to amateur radio associations.
During World War II, the radio has its own characteristics such as very exaggerated
growth in most cases, it becomes a mass medium and every day, the radio contents suffer
modifications: the variety is reduced to information and propaganda; it will be used as a weapon
of war. The Radio after World War II is characterized by a stagnation in its activity. In any case,
there is a certain growth of radio as a medium and a confrontation in some countr ies with the
new medium: television. The radio grows, but not in an excessive way. It is present in all
homes. It has reached an autonomous language. In many countries a new radio system is
introduced, because the previous one was destroyed by the war.
A war between the US and the USSR remains dormant. As a result, there is a spectacular
increase in emissions abroad. Similarly, there is a refinement of technology and changes in
content. An example of this is the American case, which strengthens an outside radio owned by
the government and with high ideological content. Of all the radio stations linked to the Cold
War, La Voz de América stands out. Part of a concrete war action: the bombing of Japan to
Pearl Harbor. It began its expansion around the world starting in 1942. At the end of the 40s, it
already had about 100 stations around the world. Its programming is very centralized, since all
the programs are born in Washington. In addition, it can be somewhat boring due to its strong
idealistic component . The Soviet model is symmetrical to the previous one. In the USSR special
stations are created capable of interfering with foreign emissions. Its programming was much
more varied, since it contained music, information and literature. Different chains are created
with a certain differentiation in the contents.
Apparently, on the radio there is a certain relaxation in the contents because of the
Geneva treaties of 1961. In the US, local radios appear because of the segmentation in the tastes
of the public. In principle they will have an ownership of institution. They begin to have an

alternative programming to commercial radios. In 1961 the FM starts to be used, which allows a
stereo broadcast. Thus, radio stations specialized in different types of music emer ge, which
drives the youth subculture and the record companies. A new type of radio also appears, the
transistor. It replaces the old receivers with others with many electronic circuits in a smaller
space, which is cheaper, portable and, consequently, sociable. It is no longer an element of
family reunion but is individualized. It produces, thus a segmentation of the audiences. It
expands to physical spaces where it did not arrive before: the car, the field.
A fundamental change factor in radio is the appe arance and extension of television. In the
USA it appears after World War II, in Spain, in 1956. When it arrives here, it is already a mass
medium. There are important changes in the radio because of the appearance of television, after
1950, the radio segmented and specialized. From these moments, it is aimed at specific groups of
the population with their own needs. In the USA there will be four types of radios: the big
private chains: they have a generalist vocation , the local radios: they are managed by the
municipalities , official government radio stations , stations linked or managed by
institutions (e.g.: University). Progressively, the generalist stations will suffer a specialization. In
any case, they do not disappear, but complement one another.
In the mid-1960s, radio segmentation became more specialized (for example, stations that
offer different types of country music appear). While these groups appear, TV becomes the mass
media par excellence, since it does not have content specialization. Thus, even the large radio
commercial chains begin a specialization by means of the chain image : the general profile of a
chain depends on the chain, depending on the audience it is addressed to. All these changes will
also occur in other countries. The big gene ric programs are going to happen of means. It will
enhance the immediacy, information and specialized music, favoring, even, the participation and
intervention of the listener. Little by little, the radio becomes a medium that allows different
levels of attention: it allows a deep concentration or a lower one (accompaniment). You pass
from high attention level to low level. In Europe, the reconstruction of the radio after WWII is
going to facilitate a greater intervention of the states. A very different process to the American
one takes place, since the governments are going to control the models and the programs. In
England a certain specialization is going to be produced more quickly, although always under
state control. In 1946 the third channel of the BBC is created . Until 1967, local emissions are not
allowed, although they are monitored by municipalities.

The programming of the BBC follows very similar lines to the existing ones of World
War II, due mainly to a certain delay in the introduction of the TV in the European countries. Its
basis is information (emphasizes its objective attitude in the Cold War), although it will also
enhance educational content. So, at the end of the 1950s, the BBC was implanted in more than
300,000 educational centers. This programming will be completed with classical or cultured
music. Until 1972, radios with commercial character are not allowed. In France, any type of
private radio disappears, and public radio stations will be maintained. The French public entity
was create d in 1949. Although there are commercial and private stations, they are in the
periphery (e.g. Radio Luxembourg ). The German case is, since part of the state control. In any
case, other types of public broadcasters linked to the German Landers are signific ant. Their
objective is territorial and social cohesion. In Italy, broadcasting began again in 1946 under state
control.
The characteristics of the radio in Eastern Europe is common to all countries: State
control and state monopoly over different broadcas ting systems: radio development is much
slower than in the rest of European countries. The contents are linked to information, education
and music. Also, it is possible to emphasize the sport. It is something new, but not alien to the
role of sport in totalitarian societies, as it is a showcase of achievements of a country. East
Germany was the one with the most balanced and varied broadcasting system. One would say
that the Yugoslav programming was the most open to the world. In Central America the
develop ment of the radio is delayed until the arrival of the receiving devices with transmission
technology. The usual thing is that most of the countries maintained a double concurrence of
public system (with exclusively educational content) and private. Curren tly, television is a
means of communication that covers different technologies from each other. It is very broad,
with very diverse models and technologies. Anyway, they all have something in particular: the
possibility of the human being to see and hear from a distance (far vision ). In its origins, the
situation was not very different; moreover, television was called communication models not only
diverse, but also antagonistic in some cases. Until World War II does not impose a majority and
generalist model of what is called television . At the beginning, television was called to models
and systems that have nothing to do with what is proper (for example, in the 10s television is
called what is later called telephotography ).

There was an obsession with being able to put images on the radio. In the 1920s, it
referred to video telephone systems, which did not have any commercial vision. In its
beginnings, there are opposite technologies of television (mechanics against electronics) and
different reception systems: individual or domestic, as is the case of the USA, or collective
reception, as in Nazi Germany. Many of these technologies have differentiated and have their
own name. Television opted for a certain social use: American and British, developed after
World War II. In any case, it is necessary to make some classifications linked to the current
television system from different points of view: legal-political , technological , financial , access to
the reception , geographic coverage , programming and content s Television was not an invention
of a single person or a certain corporation but is due to very diverse contributions. Most of these
begin in the nineteenth century. If a date must be set, historians point out on the 28th of January
1926, when the British John L. Baird makes the first public demonstration of the television
system. Although there is this author (who many point out as a curious and romantic person at
work), there are other contributions that are forged throughout history. However, some put
Galileo's telescope as the first for the development of the new medium. At least, we can point out
that during the nineteenth century there is a desire to see further, as it happens in the fantastic
literature of the time. This is the case of G. Du Maurrier , who made for Punch magazine a
drawing in which a couple saw on a wall how their daughter played tennis in Zeiran. The same
goes for Robida, who in 1882 draws a series of paintings where moving images are seen on the
walls of the living rooms of the hous es. Meanwhile, there will be a series of scientific advances
that will enable the first emission in 1926. Among them, they stand out: The
chemist Berzelius discovers Selenium and its conductive capacities.
In 1839, Becquerel discovers photoelectricity, that is, converting light into electrical
impulses. Joseph May, in 1873, realizes the practical application of photoelectricity from Kerr
cells (he manages to establish a circuit through cells that transforms light into electrical
impulses). Paul Nipkow paten ts in 1884 the electric telescope . It consists of a disk explorer of
images by perforations distributed in spiral.
At the end of the nineteenth century, there is a system capable of transmitting images
from a distance. This one is perfected by Baird. This is the basis for the principle of what is
mechanical television. If Braid is associated with mechanical television, Karl Braun is associated
in 1879 with electrical television. Patents the cathode ray tube, getting to dominate the beam of

electrons beam and get a horizontal and vertical sweep. His assistant, Max Diekmann, operates
the system by cathode ray tube. It obtains an emission in 1906 by means of the combination of
the Nipkow disc, the cells of Kerr, the telegraphic threads and the tube of Braun. But in any case,
it does not get an image in motion, but a fixed one. The electric television system was carried out
by Cambell Swinton (remote electric vision ) and Boris Rosing. Although they did not know each
other, they knew that the mechanical uptake of the image had to be replaced by a cathode ray
tube. All this is pre-television experience. What happened before occurs between the mid-
nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth. From this moment, one enters the
experimental phase of the medium, where J. Baird stands out.
This one gathers the previous experiments of both mechanical and electronic
television. Consider that it is easier to develop the first television model. The first image that he
manages to transmit dates from 1923. It is a fixed image of little definition of his assistant. In
later years, he moved to London to obtain financing while he was demonstrating to specialized
audiences. Works in a self-taught way, if no type of support by any company. In 1925, in one of
his demon strations, so much light is needed that there is no man to resist it. Finally, he manages
to start up his mechanical television system. In any case, he does not have enough vision to
switch to the electronic television system that is being developed in Ame rica and Germany at the
same time. At the end of the 1930s there is a constant struggle between the two systems. The
battle is won by the electronic, due to the greater definition and possibilities that it offered. In
this phase there is a parallel develop ment between mechanical and electronic television. The first
is earlier in time and gets the first regular broadcasts. However, it has a lower definition than the
second system.
In the mid-1920s, a definition of 48 lines is achieved in television, mechanic s; in 1926,
one of 1950. Although it continues to increase its definition, it cannot compete with the
electronic system. Initially, the technical system limited the contents of television. If only images
can be taken indoors, only fixed objects can appear on the screen. In 1930, the BBC managed to
broadcast a play. Radio companies are the ones that launch the television content. It begins to
create a television model like the radio model. It emerged symmetrically, although in the
beginning, it was not the only model. Companies like the Marconi Broadcaster in the US are
going to launch to electronic television and the search for high definition. In the beginning,
another type of companies linked to telephony. Like the AAT or the BELL , they included

telephone services like videophone. For these companies, this was television, but it was a model
that lasted very little.
As of 1936, Germany starts up a television system that calls distribution of the cinema at
a distance . It is slightly different. The political regime and the vision of society have to do with
the television system. Television becomes a model of collective reception in theaters and is not
broadcast by waves, but by cable. The quality was greater. In these rooms, smaller than the
cinematographic, the spectators saw a hundred, in addition to propaganda, documentaries and
news. Telephonic and German television models are going to be overrun by the other and they
will disappear. The transition to the electronic system occurs. The mechanical system, in which
the image capture is based on the Nipco disk, is going to be replaced by the electronic one, which
uses electronic cameras that decompose the luminosity of reality into electronic signals that are
then recomposed in the television set. This is electro nic, formed by luminous points. Despite the
efforts of the inventor of mechanical television, at the end of the 1930's he will not be able to
compete technically with the quality of the electronic system. In some cases, these systems
coexist.
As of 1936, the BBC inaugurates the television system of regular stations. The audience,
in those times, is very scarce. They are linked to official centers, to personalities and, in some
cases, to individual recipients that are put on sale from the mid 1930's. There is no unified
production of televisions. In the same way, the attempt to establish general television norms and
the creation of a universal receiver fails. Each company built its receivers according to its own
rules. It was common to find round -shaped telev isions. The television model is becoming clear:
symmetrical to the radio. In the US, regular emissions begin in 1941. These evolve. There are
genres that begin to occupy television programs. Filmed films and documentaries continued, in
addition to flat television elements, such as live news at specific times. Another genre is the
dramatic television. For the first time, the first fictions on television are broadcast regularly, live,
with mixers that combine the different images of all the cameras. Fully televised images there is
not. There are only photographs and movies, because the recording medium does not reach the
end of the 1950s with the VTR. With the development of the war, the television industries suffer
a break. In many cases, the stations are destroyed, and their technicians occupy other
departments. The regular broadcasts stop. The war effort prevents the development of television.

Television programming was composed of filming not strictly fiction. There was
also Talk-Show in the studio, as well as varied performances. Everything is broadcast live, as,
also happens with the retransmissions of external events (sports, galas, concerts). The live show
demonstrates the technical power of a station. This level competition is broken in the mid
1950s. In the US it will begin to see films on television (Teleplace). The first time was in 1954
with ABC . There is an agreement with the film industry: not all films will be shown on television
and films will be released every so often with advertising breaks.
In the mid-1950s, an industry that develops a film production designed for television will
also emerge. It differs from that of the cinema in its low budget, they are more intimate studies,
they are located on the television grid at certain times, a few different plans (the first and the
media abound). These productions start from the film industry itself, although then a television
appropriation develops. Another genre that develops is the television news. Initially, on
television, as of 1946, there is many documentaries, especially current affairs, with a
cinematographic reference; they are news. These will also be seen on television.
In some cases, they will be converted into monographic programs, dedicated exclusively
to the dissemination of these conte nts. In 1946 they appear on the BBC and in 1947 -1948
on NBC and on CBS . In any case, there is no daily or exclusively television information
program. The first chain that launches a newscast is going to be the BBC in 1948. In the same
year, CBS does. They were broadcast in the evening -night. Initially, they were not very
successful. They had a very limited duration and were very monotonous (talking bust that read
some news). They were also a weekly summary, not a daily one.
In the mid-1950s, the duration is longer: 15 minutes and then 20 on the CBS. At the same
time, elements are added that make up the news and complete the news such as maps, drawings,
graphics and footage.

2.2. Types of channels (especially on Cable -news, entertainment, sports, lifestyle -cooking,
outdoors, hobbies)

In the United States, an average citizen sees about 35 hours of television a week. and the
average Brit over 25. If you do not want to end up like that, you're addicted to television and
you want to get rid of that habit, or i f you're celebrating the week of turning off your
television the key is to open to those steps that follow, see less and less television until you stop

watching it completely. Try to stop watching TV for one day a week. Be sure to replace that time
with another activity that is the same or more satisfying. In other words, do not replace television
with a task you hate. This can be a noble task like cleaning the fireplace, picking up leaves, or
bathing the cat, but it is better to leave those tasks when yo u have already removed the television
from your life.
Right now, the best way to detoxify from television is to replace it with another activity
you enjoy, but one that is more constructive or interesting, like reading a book, practicing being a
god of the guitar or playing with your children. Eventually, it increases the number of days per
week when you do not watch television, until there is none left. When one of your favorite shows
goes off the air or you stop enjoying it, do not replace it with anot her one. Instead, use that free
time to do something else, like call your friends, practice a hobby, read or exercise. Eventually,
you will reduce the programs that you see a few. When you start watching TV, decide how much
time you want to spend there, an d set the timer to go off when the time is up. This prevents you
from staying for a long time, or at least reminds you, forcing you to turn on the television again
if you want to keep watching. If you have an old television that does not have this option, or if
you do not know how to use it, get a kitchen timer. They are cheap, easy to use, and useful for
other things in the house.
Paying attention to your habit, without rushing to get rid of it, can help you realize how
much time you waste watching televis ion. In fact, the very act of reminding you how much time
you spend watching television (and what you see) can help you reduce your habit. As you write
“12:30 a.m. I saw that repeat of Friends that I've seen twice” you may realize the loss of time it
is, and turn it off, while normally you would only keep watching because you lose track of time.
Compare the time you watch TV with the time you need to reach your unattained goals. This is a
good motivation exercise.
Once you have kept the diary for at least a week, you will know how long television takes
your life. Now it's time to ask how you can use that time more productively. If you spend 20
hours a week glued to the TV, think how much you could achieve if you spent that time on
something else! Make a li st of goals, or things that you always complain about but never have
time to do. Get rid of and hide the televisions. The growth in time spent in front of the television
is linked to the increase of televisions at home.

Reduce the number of televisions and reduce the time you watch. You may find
resistance if you live with other people who are addicted to it, especially children, but do you
really need more than one television? Do you really need one? If you leave one in the house, at
least put it in s ome uncomfortable place, like in your garage, without a comfortable chair in
which to laze. Another reason why people watch more television is because there are more
channels. Degrade the package of your cable or satellite. Another option, if your provid er offers
it, is to program your television so that it only shows you channels that do not attract you, or that
if they attract you, unless they feed your brain. Stay with the news, science and history channels.
Stay away from entertainment, comedy and sp orts. Set up your television so you cannot
access the “bad” channels unless you have a password and give the password only to someone
you trust. Having to ask permission is a good way to filter the time you watch TV. Although
recording devices such as DVR and TiVo are associated with an increase in the time that people
watch television, you can also use them with the opposite effect. Use a rule that you can only
watch recorded programs. Then put a limit on how many programs you can record. This will
force you to be more selective with what you see.

2.3. Monopolies and Media Conglomerates

Media conglomerates become leading economic players in the digital age. Accumulate
inaccessible differentials to smaller organizations: financial ballast insured by banks and
investment funds, high technologies, managerial knowhow, research and development of cutting
edge products, industrial capacity, technical innovations, global distribution schemes and
globalized advertising campaigns. It is the interpenetration of technological devices, of planning
and business models that introduce circumstances and synergistic factors between the players,
benefiting from concentration.
Important positions are held in companies, strategic agreements and joint ventures, which
allow companies to work together in different and complementary parts of the production and
logistics processes. By opting for strategies of collaboration and partial decentralization with
division of responsibilities, corporations seek to increase their profi ts, either by cutting costs and
spreading losses, or by minimizing risks, especially those derived from economic instability and
the shrinking of the useful life of the merchandise. The projects require financial contributions

and good logistics to facilit ate the circulation and the gains of scale in the foreign places,
considering adaptations to local production costs and factors, as well as the imperative need to
balance the relationships between work.
In this context, the participation of smaller compani es in cutting -edge businesses is
reduced. For small and medium -sized businesses, market niches or the provision of specialized
supplies and services remain, if it is more advantageous for large companies to outsource
production or acquire goods whose manuf acture is expensive. In both cases, they gravitate
around the economy of scale of the corporations and they need to demonstrate productivity,
agility and creativity to survive. To preserve the monopoly system and its profit in permanent
expansion, the corporations resort to two main maneuvers, according to David Harvey. The first
of these is the broad centralization of capital, exercising financial power in search of economy of
scale and leadership in the market. The second is to protect, at any price, the technological
advantages through patents, licensing laws and intellectual property rights (Harvey ).
The concentration of production processes and global distribution and marketing schemes
around a handful of business groups aims to ensure the greatest possible control over the chain of
manufacturing, processing, marketing and distribution of products and services, considerably
expanding profitability and monopolistic conditions. The contraction of the competition reaches
its maximum level when the protagoni sts of the same sector opt for mergers, to recover the
profitability lost in conjunctures of economic crisis. The business synergies transcend the
original sectors of each group and extend to potentially profitable activities, involving innovative
knowledg e in technologies and advanced techniques, strategic planning other obvious business
advantages: it increases the power of commercial negotiation with suppliers, decreases expenses,
distributes debts and adds assets. The profits are reinvested in various activities with the aim of
undermining former supremacy and, if possible, establishing new monopolies.
The success of the corporate media system is also linked to the expansion of technologies
that favor remote command and the circulatory speed of capital. Productivity and
competitiveness depend on the ability of economic agents to apply, with unprecedented speed,
the data and knowledge obtained, in a synchronized manner and in a global scale. The strategic
information in digital circuits becomes a commodity like any other, subject to the law of supply
and demand, at the same time converted into a precious basic input for the generation of
competitive dividends. With the use of technological tools, large companies accumulate volume

of information essential for strategic decisions, such as research, tables, reports and historical
purchases that delineate customer profiles, consumer wishes and even the possible risks of loss
of consumers. The lucratively achieved by transnational news agencies is not at all
accidental. They collect, select and provide, at the weight of gold, an uninterrupted amount of
specialized information, which serves for instruction in immediate interventions of traders,
brokers and analysts. When there are more turbulences in the globalized economy, more
specialists resort to quotations terminals and agency analyzes.
The technological development facilitated the daily accompaniment of the market, since
the instant disclosure of the quotes favors a rapid perception of the trends. In addition,
computerized systems monitor financial flows and try to avoid price distortion. According to
financial consultant Marcelo D’Agostino, the technological career ‘‘ended up triggering the
automation of negotiations, with the need to adopt increasingly comple x business execution
strategies. The objective tries to identify, in the shortest possible time, the market trends and
avoid that the negotiation strategies are detected by the other participants” (D'Agosto ). With the
sophistication of management infrastru ctures, accompaniment and intervention in real time, no
longer requires proximity between the places of planning, production and consumption. On the
contrary, there is an intimate relationship between the deterioration of production and the
instances of control of the entire business flow, by digital means.
To adapt to geographically dispersed markets, organizations began to command their
ventures based on an intelligence center –the holding – in charge of establishing priorities,
guidelines, innovation plans and profitability parameters for subsidiaries and subsidiaries. The
holding stands out as a planning and decision center to which local, national and regional
strategies are sent. It organizes and supervises the institution from top to bottom, in fragme nts
and nodes of a network constituted by common strategic axes and flexible intermediary
hierarchies. Technologies are irreplaceable for the exercise of remote command, since they
enable the coordination and decentralization of decision -making processes, as well as the
articulation between the operating procedures of subsidiaries, subsidiaries.
The corporate system exploits, with operational flexibility and techno -productive skills, a
range of businesses and services that are converged and synergized by digitalization. The
execution of this objective implies the reorganization of relations between global and regional
public groups, national and local, through marketing actions that favor a more heterogeneous

supply of products, in line with stratified and deterioration dynamics of consumption. The
exacerbated competitiveness forces the business giants to promote hybridizations with
characteristic traits of countries and regions, with the purpose of adjusting to the demands of
specific clients. But it is necessary to insist that these possible mixtures with local, regional and
national peculiarities, we have, then, a concentration of power without operational
centralization. However, let us not forget that this flexibility is relative, since subsidiaries and
subsidiaries remain within the radius of eventual reorientations of the parent company. The
holding supports a corporate network formed by complementary elements, but maintains, thanks
to computerization, the ascendancy over the whole, resorting to mechanis ms of accompaniment
of production goals, costs, marketing and income.
The scenario described underlines the dominance of markets by media conglomerates and
deepens asymmetries between the hegemonic centers (in which the mega -companies are
exponents) and the peripheries, which highlights the typical imbalances of the exclusive and
unequal development that characterize the capitalist mode of production in the technological
scenario. As that configuration crystallizes, the field of maneuver for a balanced and stable
development of communication systems is reduced and structural imbalances are aggravated in a
strategic area of social life. That is why the urgency for us to reclaim diversity where today's
extreme media concentration is in force. Antitrust laws and public policies that recognize
communication as a human right are fundamental, which implies discussing and adopting
democratic mechanisms of regulation, promotion of independent audiovisual production,
promotion of social and community media, increase of social uses and of digital networks and
universal access and usufruct technologies.
Why is concentration of media ownership so routinely condemned? It has been axiomatic
since the emergence of a press that is not irredeemably allied to the interests o f the State or to
party political factions that plurality of media ownership is an essential element of a healthy
democracy. The fewer owners or gatekeepers, goes the argument, the fewer the number of voices
and the more damaging the consequences for diver sity of expression. Not only will fewer
interests be represented but there will be fewer opportunities for elites to be held properly to
account: less opportunity to “tell truth to power”. Scholars traditionally root their arguments in
enlightenment philos ophy. Hume, for example, emphasized the connection between distrust of
government and the freedom of the press, which provided a bulwark against the arbitrary

exercise of power (Holmes, p. 21 -65.). To this watchdog or critical function of the press has bee n
added both the informative function and the representative function: furnishing citizens with the
information they need to participate knowledgeably in a democracy; and providing a two -way
communicative mechanism which conveys the collective or competing wishes of electorates to
elite groups and vice versa (Meiklejohn).
Traditionally, again in the spirit of post -enlightenment thinking, these arguments have
focused mostly on institutions of government: in the context of media ownership, interpretation s
of democracy have thus been couched in terms of fostering a clash of ideas and providing
opportunities for conflicting world views or competing policy initiatives. Influenced partly by
the oppressive power of the state and military apparatus during the e ighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, and more recently by the brutal extinction of freely constructed debate in authoritarian
regimes which emerged in Germany and Italy as well as South American, African and Middle
Eastern countries, the emphasis in debates around media concentration has been firmly on the
need to promote diversity and prevent autocratic control of communicative spaces (Keane). Most
recently, the seemingly unfettered media control of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has
served as a w arning of the dangers of undue media concentration. In the United States,
arguments have tended to focus more on the corporate world -view being expounded by a tiny
group of oligopolistic industrialists, whose efforts at global dominance have been accelerat ed by
their cozy relationship with succeeding administrations.
In describing the five “global -dimension” conglomerates which dominate the American
media landscape Bakdikian (Bagdikian, p. 4.) declares that “[n]o imperial ruler in history had
multiple medi a channels that included television and satellite channels that can permeate entire
societies with controlled sights and sounds”. McChesney (McChesney, p.2) takes the argument
further by stating that the media have become a significant anti -democratic forc e in the US (and
beyond) by stifling civic and political involvement, and that the wealthier and more powerful the
corporate media giants have become, the poorer the prospects for participatory democracy’. As
well as more generalized charges of commodifica tion and corporatization of public media
spaces, American critical scholars have over the years produced several stories about some of the
consequences of oligopoly and centralization, such as a Clear Channel ‘local’ radio station
missing a major nuclear d umping story because its journalism had been delocalized
(McChesney, p.2). These generally descriptive approaches have been eloquently encapsulated

within a more analytical and critical framework by Edwin C. Baker who propounded three main
reasons for oppo sing ownership concentration. First, is the argument for a more democratic
distribution of communicative power. This does not rest on empirical verification because
“whether ownership dispersal actually leads to such content or viewpoint diversity turns ou t to be
a complex and contextual matter” (Baker, p.2).
Baker refers to an important decision by the US Federal Communications Commission
in 1975 when it argued, in rejecting an application for combined ownership of a local newspaper
and TV station, that “it is unrealistic to expect true diversity from a commonly owned station –
newspaper combination”. The US Court of Appeals observed, in concurring with the decision,
that “diversity and its effects are elusive concepts, not easily defined let alone measure d without
making qualitative judgements objectionable on both policy and first Amendment grounds”. The
principle here is one of egalitarianism and fairness, as with democratic systems of voting,
whether one can adduce supporting empirical evidence. The sec ond argument Baker describes as
“democratic safeguards”. This is partly the familiar protection against a single individual or
ideology wielding unchallenged, autocratic power. The drive for higher profit margins places
downward emphasis on operating cost s which, in turn, drives down investment in journalism.
These structural pressures are an inevitable consequence of large, centralized corporations but
are less acute and less visible in non -profit institutions, private foundations or charitable
organizati ons.
Policy makers in the UK have followed the spirit of these diversity arguments for at least
1950 years. Part of the rationale for the establishment of a commercial television network in
1955 was a reaction against the BBC’s monopoly voice in broadcasting, d espite its established
reputation for impartial coverage. According to one liberal economic analysis of the pre –
competition BBC, “criticism of the monopoly was largely based on the threat to freedom of
speech and expression which was thought to be implicit in the monopoly” rather than on
competition as a means of improving programmes (O’Malley, p. 23). And the subsequent
structure of commercial television itself, divided into first 17 and later 15 separate franchises,
was predicated to a large extent on th e desirability of reflecting local and regional diversity.
A crucial consideration of the Pilkington Committee, raised in the House of Commons in
February 1961, was the question of concentrated ownership across different means of
communication and whether there was an implicit threat to democracy for control over

newspapers and television stations to be vested in the same hands. The committee’s report
specifically addressed the potential danger: The threat is thought to reside in the fact that,
because two of the media of mass communication are owned in some measure by the same
people, there is an excessive concentration of power to influence and persuade public opinion;
and that, if these same people are too few or have broadly the same political affiliati ons, there
will be an increasingly one -sided presentation of affairs of public concern. There might, too, be a
failure to present some of these affairs sufficiently or at all. Section 12 of the subsequent
Television Act of 1964 conferred on the ITA the pow er to suspend operation of an ITV franchise
if any newspaper shareholdings “has led or is leading to results which are contrary to the public
interest”. While not in themselves particularly draconian, these provisions were interpreted by
the ITA – and by i ts successor regulator the Independent Broadcasting Authority – as effectively
debarring significant simultaneous press and TV interests.3 Discretion stayed with the regulator
until legislation enshrined in the 1990 Broadcasting Act restricted any interest by a national
newspaper owner to 20% of a terrestrial TV licensee.
In 1995, the then Conservative government published its proposals for a partial
deregulation of media ownership in which it was unequivocal about the importance of avoiding
too much concen tration: a free and diverse media are an indispensable part of the democratic
process. They provide the multiplicity of voices and opinions that informs the public, influences
opinion, and engenders political debate. If one voice becomes too powerful, this process is
placed in jeopardy and democracy is damaged. The ITA’s robust interpretation of this provision
was demonstrated at the end of 1970 when it prevented Rupert Murdoch – by then owner of the
popular national Sun and News of the World newspapers – from effectively taking over the
lucrative London weekend franchise. It was a rare setback for News Corporation. This statement
of principle reflected a commitment within government to protecting a “market -place of ideas”,
which ministers did not believe c ould be secured through wholesale deregulation.
The subsequent 1996 Broadcasting Act therefore allowed for a measure of consolidation
in anticipation of digitalization and new technologies, but deliberately prevented investment in
terrestrial television b y major newspaper proprietors. Five years later, the succeeding Labor
government published its own consultation on media ownership rules in which it again
emphasized the importance of diverse media sources in fostering public debate in a democratic
society : “We want a plurality of voices, giving the citizen access to a variety of view. A healthy

democracy depends on a culture of dissent and argument, which would inevitably be diminished
if there were only a limited number of providers of news”. This, too, w as followed by legislation
which further relaxed restrictions on consolidation within ITV and, for the first time, allowed
major newspaper proprietors to own a terrestrial television channel. Thus, despite a policy
rhetoric which consistently emphasizes pl uralism, the UK has seen an inexorable shift towards a
relaxation of ownership restrictions resulting in greater permitted concentrations. This trend
follows similar experiences not just in the US but throughout Europe (Ward, David), examined
elsewhere the confluence of three identifiable causes of this policy shift: increasing financial
muscle of global corporations, constantly seeking new expansion and investment opportunities;
emergence of a dominant free market ideology which has emphasized liberalizati on and
deregulation while opposing state intervention; and a technological convergence of computer,
screen and print, driven by digitalization, leading policy -makers to question the efficacy of any
cross or intra -media regulation (Barnett).

3. Social Impact Of Broadcasting Media

A radio is important for society, as it is, society for it, sometimes being in the situation, or good
less complicated, being of another type, we help each other to be listening to the radio and
orients us, informs , and can even become a tranquilizer, as their melodies, phrases or comments,
do not sink into any other situation that does not make sense, that we do not have to orient
ourselves to a cataclysm as a child's thoughts: economics, politics , among others, an d this leads
us to have a positive vibration during the day, to live without stress. Not going to happen in the
future, because Internet radio is up, and in a few years, this medium no longer has the same
function for society that has a situation of this t ype difficult to communicate, because the Internet
does not have at hand and not everyone has it, that's a fact.
Technological advances have allowed radio to reach more people: Amplitude and
Modified Frequency have grown significantly in terms of the numbe r and variety of their
stations. Commercial radio in general, does not intend to teach or teach, simply seeks to distract
the listener and its purpose is the commercial gain. The cultural -type stations are intended to
instruct the audience, without the aim being lucrative sea the most preponderant; nevertheless, it
is necessary to clarify that they do not reach the status of educational radio.
Along with the growth in the number of stations, new content has been incorporated into
the programming: political propaganda, news, music and advertising, but also the radio was
placed in the service of the interests of society.

3.1. The Phenomenon Of Globalization In The Media Market

One of the most controversial issues for several years is the reference to the ben efits and
disadvantages of the phenomenon known as globalization, issue with which somehow all must
do. The controversy starts from its definition, around which there is no consensus given the
range of options that can be incorporated into it. Is it a corr ected and augmented version of the
traditional model of capitalist production transformed by modernity? Does globalization
fundamentally imply financial and capital mobility, of products and merchandise, as well as of
images and information, or does it al so affect our social and institutional arrangements, our

culture, traditions and values? Are you in an embryonic phase or are you living a last historical
stage? All of them are some of the questions raised in the search for that definition.
More than thi rty years ago, Kindleberger pointed the way towards a global paradigm with
the prediction of the imminent development of the nation -state as the primary economic unit.
More recently, the idea emerged that numerous corporations were becoming globalized in t he
sense that, increasingly, they seemed not to want the connection with any nation -state and were
distributing their activities in a flexible way among their international subsidiaries to make the
material, human and financial resources (Hawkins). Certain ly, a multiple global game is
currently being created in which nations do not participate but also corporations and unions,
political, ethical and cultural groups, transnational associations and supranational agencies. The
nation -state has also limited its freedom of action and displacement or diminished its power as a
radically new global system takes shape. From his position, Stuart Hall argues that thanks to
globalization identities are more disconnected from a time, place, history and tradition. All thi s
would lead to a rupture with the old idea of national identity and the appearance of a new plan of
renovations and cosmopolitan possibilities opened by the globalization of culture. According to
Hall, identities would become more political, more plural and more diverse; less stagnant and
unified (Hall, S.,).
Another part of this complex debate is in a current of analysis that suggests that the
objective of globalization could be to concentrate control over the productive forces among a
small group of ec onomically powerful states. Moreover, globalization, seen as a paradigm of
government imposed by a group of dominant corporate and state structures, could result in the
accentuation of local differences and the strengthening of regional "blocks" of politic s and trade.
In this context of gigantic power of transnational corporations, there is not much that can be
closed with the role of nation -states. On the other hand, an increasingly nefarious son, the
attempts on the part of national, regional and global i nstitutions to regulate, the transnational
flows of the media. However, large institutions are mainly represented by national political and
commercial elites, and their established interests, which confirms the suspicion that more than
globalization as a p rocess that subverts uniformly at the national level, such as the states of the
nation as players powerful in the process of building the global. For some, this process of
globalization can even consolidate some states while weakening those that are alread y weak.

The tendency to globalization can also be the cause of a new world order in the meaning
of political borders, national identities and regional and cultural differences appears through the
information distributed by large firms. Seen in this way, th e experiences shared worldwide
through the media transcending over time the differences between citizens of separate nations or
regions. This is a vision shared by Herbert Schiller, one of the most critical voices of the
transnational media, which states t hat: Well -expressed are the objectives of the unrestricted
"moment", global corporate order: open, which can be transgressed; open trade, which allows
them to prevail over the most powerful; open minds, which are at the mercy of the global
currents of the cultural industries (Schiller, H.).
For Anthony Smith, an authority on nationalism, the development of global media does
not necessarily mean that the same content will be shared by all societies. On the contrary, it
considers it probable that national cul tures maintain and increase their presence in the media in
response to globalizing trends. From this point of view, it can be said that the national
information systems retain a strong specialization: each one has been developed over time within
a culture and today they are part of a social system in which all the elements. They are
interdependent.

3.2. Education

McLuhan's exploration of media goes as far back as the creation of the alphabet. The media
which dominate a time ascribe modes of understanding to the culture in which it operates. Each
medium reveal, communicates and instills important aspect of reality, of truth. For example, the
creation of the alphabet generated a reality based on patterned code. It distinguished more
definitively what Ferdina nd de Saussure called the signifier and the signified.
Writing encouraged an analytical mode of thinking with an emphasis on linearity. McLuhan
explains the message of the alphabetic medium: “It is in its power to extend patterns of visual
uniformity and c ontinuity that the 'message' of the alphabet is felt by cultures”. (McLuhan, p.
170).
The media's effects are not restricted to abstruse notions of reality and manners of
perception. Another example of the consequence of media in culture relates to the mo re physical
arena of politics – the arrangement of governing and economic powers. When an alphabet

imposed itself on oral cutter it meant power and authority and control of military structures at a
distance. When combined with papyrus, the alphabet spelled the end of the stationary temple
bureaucracies and the priestly monopolies of knowledge and power. Unlike pre -alphabetic
writing which with its innumerable signs was difficult to master, the alphabet could be learned in
a few hours. The acquisition of so extensive a knowledge and so complex a skill as pre –
alphabetic writing represented, when applied to such unwieldy matters as brick and stone,
insured for the scribal caste a monopoly of priestly power. The easier alphabet and the light,
cheap, transportabl e papyrus together effected the transfer of power from the priestly to the
military class (McLuhan, p. 174). Media are therefore invested with the power to structure the
modus operandi of both the individual and society at large.
A precursor to the Digit al Revolution, the Cubist movement revolted against the rigid,
one-sided uniformity on which print, and realist painting were contingent. Cubism disregarded
the fixed vanishing point – and with it, the inexorable truth of the artist into which the viewer' s
gaze obsequiously disintegrated. Cubist painters took full advantage of their medium – realizing
that a two -dimensional canvas and a set of paints permit far more than a specialized illusion of
the third dimension. Instead, McLuhan explains, "cubism set s up an interplay of planes and
contradictions or dramatic conflict of patterns, lights, textures, that 'drives home the message' by
involvement. By giving the inside and outside, the top, the bottom, back and front and the rest, in
two dimensions, drops t he illusion of perspective in favor of instant sensory awareness of the
whole" (McLuhan, p. 12).
The cubist movement, of course, was limited to a small band of artists, and therefore did
not seize the nation with the ubiquity of mass media. But in today's world, where personal
computers are fast becoming as common to the household as the phone, the masses (of the
Western world) are becoming intimate with the multiplicity of perspectives represented in cubist
painting. The space created by the digital mediu m is hypertextual —that is, it creates a vast
network of interconnected literary, graphic, auditory, and cinematic texts, none of which are
privileged over the others, where interpreted meaning is as multifarious and unfixed as the
perspective of a cubist p ainting. Charles Ess argues that “perhaps the most compelling claim
made for hypertext systems is that they will democratize access to information and thereby
contribute to a greater democratization of society” (Ess, p. 246). I will explore this latter
relationship later, in further detail, but I include these various examples to demonstrate how

different forms of media can promote radically different messages – and therefore radically
different configurations of sensory experience, and, by extension, soci ety. Critic and theologian
Ross Snyder calls media "Architects of the consciousness. The media architects alter our
conceptions of time and space just as did the architects of the past" (Ess, p. 323).

3.3. Presentation Of Children’s Programming

Over the past few decades, hundreds of studies have examined how violent programming on TV
affects children and young people. While a direct “cause and effect” link is difficult to establish,
many studies have suggested that some children may be vulnerable to viole nt images
and messages. Researchers have identified three potential responses to media violence
in children: Television frequently portrays a much more violent world than the real one, and this
can influence kids: children who have seen significant amounts of violence on TV are more
likely to believe that the world is a frightening place. This effect is more powerful when the
violence is portrayed realistically (as in thrillers or police procedurals) or when it is depictions of
actual violence (as in docume ntaries or news programs). There is significant evidence that
exposure to violence in real life (for instance, witnessing violent crime or domestic violence) can
cause young people to see violence as acceptable or unremarkable. There is some evidence to
suggest this may happen, on a smaller scale, because of exposure to media violence. There
seems to be a relationship between violent media and aggression, but it’s not clear whether
violent media can make children more aggressive or whether kids who are a lready more
aggressive are drawn to violent media. It’s also possible that the two reinforce one another, so
that kids who are prone to be aggressive choose more violent media which encourages
their aggressiveness.
Television can affect learning and schoo l performance if it cuts into the time kids need
for activities crucial to healthy mental and physical development: the Canadian Pediatric Society
recommends that school -age children should watch no more than two hours of television per day,
with less than one hour being ideal, and that children should not have access to television in their
bedrooms. This is particularly important with young people, as screen time has been shown to
have a clear negative effect on small children’s cognitive and emotional de velopment. (While
educational TV can be a good option for older children; those under the age of two get no benefit

from it and suffer the same negative effects as those who watch commercial television). Among
older children, excessive screen time has bee n shown to lead to behavioral difficulties, reduced
achievement at school, attention problems, sedentary behaviors and an increased risk of
obesity. Most of children’s free time, especially during the early formative years, should be
spent in activities s uch as playing, reading, exploring nature, learning about music or
participating in sports.
A Scientific American article entitled “Television Addiction Is No Mere Metaphor”
examined why children and adults may find it hard to turn their TVs off. According to
researchers, viewers feel an instant sense of relaxation when they start to watch TV —but that
feeling disappears just as quickly when the box is turned off. While people generally feel more
energized after playing sports or engaging in hobbies, after w atching TV they usually feel
depleted of energy. According to the article “this is the irony of TV: people watch a great deal
longer than they plan to, even though prolonged viewing is less rewarding ( Kubey, Robert and
Mihaly Csikszentmihaly ).”
As well as encouraging a sedentary lifestyle, television can also contribute to childhood
obesity by aggressively marketing junk food to young audiences. According to a 2010 study,
four in five commercials advertising food on Canadian children’s television are for f oods “high
in undesirable nutrients and/or energy ( Kelly, B. ).”

3.4. Financial And Economic Factors

The media did not know (or could not) inform society in time to avoid a tragedy like the one that
this economic crisis has caused. It was the mission o f economic journalism to provide the
population with the necessary data to assess the signs of irrationality that our economy offered
daily. During the expansion of the crisis, he was guilty of failure to report risk practices. And
when it finally erupted, the opposite was committed: excessive denunciation .
At an academic event held on November 5, 2008 at the London School of Economics ,
Queen Elizabeth II of England asked the following question to a distinguished group of
professors of economics: “Why did no one see the crisis coming?” In principle, the issue
directly concerned the academic economists who, with all their theoretical scaffolding, had been

unable —with few honorable exceptions – to pre dict the scope and depth of the crisis. But the
royal question was not only addressed to the academy, but also to the boards of directors of
investment banks, investors, regulators and, of course, journalists. Because, although it is evident
that they did not grant mortgages to people who could not afford them, nor lent money to
unscrupulous property developers, the media did not know (or could not) inform society in time
to avoid a tragedy that unlike in other countries, relatively little has been debated in Spain about
the role of financial journalism during the long period in which the macroeconomic imbalances
that led to the great depression of the 1910s developed.
The media treated the issue equidistantly, warning about the exceptional rise in prices,
but without systematically and rigorously questioning the mantra of the time: the supposed soft
landing of the price of housing at the end of the upward cycle. Until the end of 2007, the media
of our country paid little attention to the connection between the real estate bubble and the
expansion of credit granted by banks, especially savings banks. It gave rise to absurd theories
about the value of land as a determinant of the price of housing, while financial institutions
continued to feed the bubble to sw ell their income accounts. In general, academic research is
conclusive regarding the role of the press in capital markets: the media provide relevant
information that investors immediately incorporate into the prices of financial assets.

Conclusions

From the analysis of opinions expressed by pupils, teachers, parents and experts, certain trends
are emerging regarding the influence of the media on youth and the valorization of the informal
(informal) media potential. Although they do not i ntend to educate, media programs and
broadcasts respond to the needs of the public, according to which they select and internalize the
messages they send. With or without the intention of program producers, media consumption is
likely to create or consolid ate opinions, determine attitudes, influence decisions.
In this context, the fact that the media messages targeting the group of young people
mainly address primary needs, which are related to the pulsation instinctual field and aim to the
very small exten t the cognitive interests that the young people assert, nevertheless constitute a
reality what can bring important prejudices to their psychological development. This type of
offer has the effect of strengthening the lower needs at the expense of the highe r ones; moreover,
it creates false needs whose satisfaction implies increased consumption of such media
byproducts; it is a true vicious circuit that generates, among other things, addictive phenomena.
By exploiting the tendency towards hedonism of young p eople, as well as the pulsating
tensions, especially those in the erotic sphere, especially active at this age, the media products
are easy and fast forms of satisfaction in this field. This is a process of learning behavioral
patterns that are at least qu estionable: young people choose and "consume" those media offerings
they feel as pulsating gratifying, to the detriment of other types of criteria (such as, for example,
intellectual, aesthetic, moral, etc.); the characteristic of such behavior is that it is transferable,
from the strict field of relations with the media, to the broad field of interpersonal relations and,
in general, to life situations that require choices and decisions. Thus, a general conditioning of
choices / rejections is achieved, excl usively depending on the satisfaction / dissatisfaction of
primary impulses.
The presence of violence, obscene language / images, criminal behaviors – especially in
TV programs, but also in newspapers, magazines, electronic games – is often argued by the i dea
that they are part of real life, so we cannot keep it from they per child or young person without
the risk of inadaptation. Such phenomena have always existed, however, they represent the dark
side of social life, with which most individuals face, to a greater or lesser extent, with or without
the media appeal. What is important, however, is the attitude of critically distancing each other in

relation to such realities, which in a normal society are not brought to the forefront. Their
extremely high wei ght in the field of media information remains problematic. Also, vulgarity,
culture, triviality is superfluous because such behaviors would characterize the mass of the
media -consuming population. The "popular culture" that they claim to promote – as a rea ction to
the so -called "high culture," fervently demonized in the last few years in the name of a badly –
understood democracy – is but a form of a marginal subculture – “Neighborhood boys”, playboy
stars, etc. – which, only through “aggressive” promotion an d mimetics, becomes representative
for the whole of the young population. However, "democratization of culture" means culture; a
culture that must contain elements of “high culture," articulated and processed to become
digestible and accessible to the “ave rage man”, widening its expectation and aspirations horizon
and not lowering it on the primate scale.
All media, according to anthropologist Edmund Carter, are new languages. Each codifies
reality differently; each conceals a unique metaphysics. Writing, f or example, didn't record oral
language, it was a new language which encouraged an analytical mode of thinking with an
emphasis on linearity. 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 posterit y.
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 fr om 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 be came 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 onl y 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 yet pervade the political and ideological configuration of our culture. In its
beginning stages, the impact of digital media is certainly wide spread, but not even close to
universal. Only a fraction of America – 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 l inear 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 paradi gmatic 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.