Contemporary Mass Media

Research Paper # 100933

Communication > Journalism
Communication > Mass Media
Computer and Technology > Technology

This paper discusses the issue of contemporary mass media and looks at who defines reality today.

3,412 words () | 11 sources | APA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

In this article the writer examines the influence the mass media exerts on the individual's perception of the world. This is done from the standpoint of social constructionism, a theory heavily influenced by Postmodernist thought. The paper posits that language is our basis for interpreting the world and because language is the product of a social process, the 'reality' we perceive is nothing more than a collective construct. Consequently, the writer maintains that whoever controls the transmission of language and the ideas and information it conveys shapes reality. Today much of this transmission is done by the mass media. The writer concludes that today the role of the mass media and the educational system in socialization is growing as the traditional family structure so instrumental in this process for thousands of years wanes.

From the Paper:

"Whenever we read, listen or watch one of the mass media, in other words, we become part of somebody else's agenda, a means to some outside entity's ends. So, at a profound level, we should be continuingly asking ourselves: do we do so willingly or unwittingly? Yet it is a question many rarely pose and fewer answer. Are we too busy, too complascent, or too indifferent to? Or are we simply too trusting? The aura of autheticity surrounding what we read, hear and see in the mass media may very well be lulling us into an uncritical acceptance of the messages imparted."

Sample of Sources Used:

Belanger, P. & Andrecheck, P. (2005). CBC's Electronic Radio 3: Connecting With the Elusive Youth. Journal of Radio Studies, 12(1), 120-135. Retrieved Saturday, November 25, 2006 from the Communication & Mass Media Complete database.
Derrida, J. (1978). Writing and difference. London: Routledge.
Dickins, T. (2004). Social Constructionism as Cognitive Science. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 34(4), 333-352. Retrieved Saturday, November 25, 2006 from the Academic Search Premier database.
Edley, N. (2001). Unraveling social constructionism. Theory and Psychology, 11 (3), 433-441.
Fleras, A. (2003). Mass Media Communication in Canada. Toronto:Thomson Nelson.