FUNCTION
OF THE MASS MEDIA – THE CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY
The following diagram conceptualizes the process of the construction of knowledge in which the generator by means of questions asked (with some significant ones unasked), produces knowledge that reflects a particular world view, ethic and aesthetic, which is then disseminated via various media, with the emphasis here on the role of the mass media.
CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE
RECIPIENT
Basically, the ideas about the purpose of the media in society center around information, correlation, continuity, entertainment and mobilization as well as the function of mediation (cultural, social and political), which has both negative and positive connotations. Mediation is an attempt to epitomize the nature of the mass media in terms of the content disseminated, as well as the medium used to transmit that message with its particular technology. It refers to the way in which the media come between the 'audience and the original material' on which their content and message is based so that their version is mere representation, a construction of signs, which is not real but artificial (Burton; 1990:180). Essentially it refers to the way in which the media 'connects' us to reality, which includes the following:
- a window on experience to
extend one's own vision in a personal way which may itself be mediated or
biased;
- an interpreter, which offers an explanation to make sense of
fragmentary representations of events;
- a platform or
carrier of information which is either factual or opinionated;
- an interactive link, which relates communicators and recipients by,
means of different kinds of feedback;
‑ a
signpost i.e. giving instruction and
guidance;
- a filter, i.e. selecting
out parts of experience for special attention while simultaneously shutting out
other parts of experience (either deliberately, systematically or not) (also
referred to as agenda setting);
- a mirror which reflects to
society an image of itself with some distortion which is what the public
demands to see about itself or what is believed to be unacceptable and
therefore needs attention;
‑ a screen
or barrier which conceals truth for the sake of escapism or propaganda
(McQuail; 1987:53).
O'Shaughnessy
compounds this by suggesting that television 'constructs a view of the world
but naturalizes that view' and makes it normal by hiding its own means of
construction, i.e. the editing, the selection, the lighting, and
camerawork. It assumes naturally given
values in its 'mode of address' to its viewers and claims that it is the
business of entertaining which is supposedly value-free! (1990:97). The
messages making up the ideology may appear to be naturalized but the ideology
is still there (Burton; 1990:180). The media's own definition of its role is
ambivalent, viz. it vacillates between a socially responsible role in the sense
of being a 'watch-dog' with its own set of values which are believed to be
necessary for the survival of a group and its culture, while simultaneously
propagating 'socially acceptable' ideas as norms (in terms of their acceptance
by the consensus of society!), that may however, be immoral and essentially
detrimental (even fatal) to the survival of that particular group and its
culture. Agenda-setting implies that those issues that are believed to be
worthy of attention and comment are exposed. The version to be viewed or read
is further edited so that the media's own perception of the issue is given.
Repetition to the masses signifies the significance of an issue. It is possible
that those issues that are inherently serious may be laughed at, mocked or
downplayed. Entertainment may mean systematic trivialization and/or conscious
control. The mass media serve as opinion leaders and opinion makers. Postman's
idea of 'amusing ourselves to death' is relevant as well as his definition of
teaching as essentially a 'subversive' activity.
It is important to note the confusion about the function of the mass media as a powerful social institution, its potential influence, with reference to its sense of purpose - whether it is informing or entertaining; the consequences of its activities - 'how much' and 'what' its recipients are 'learning'; the requirements and expectations of its consumers in terms of the responsibility of the media towards its recipients. The informational purpose can lead to disinformation (intentional or not) and/or misinformation because of bias in selection or misrepresentation. Infotainment and eductainment are two significant concepts as they connote the dangerous mix of that which is relevant, of life and death importance, with that which is trivial and of little consequence so that the attention of the mass man/woman (which would include the anaesthetized, 'uneducated' Christian) is diverted to that which is pleasing. That which is of actual eternal significance to those 'in exile' becomes increasingly unimportant, so that the coming of the Redeemer could be as a thief in the night!
"In sum, youth-oriented popular entertainment constitutes regularly contested ground - contested between generations and contested internally. On the one hand, new media promise freedom, but on the other hand, they contain their own covert system of control that helps to conform youth to a new socio-economic system" (Schultze; 1991:17).
The
idea of conformity suggests connotations of 'mass' with significant
implications.
Mass
‑ an ambivalent concept
The concept mass with
reference particularly to the mass media and its consumers has both positive
and negative connotations. It reflects both the idea of mass production,
technological development as well as the large audience that can be reached. An
important nuance is the idea of an 'amorphous collectivity in which the
components are hard to distinguish from each other', as well as the possible
loss of individuality in the mass as aggregate (McQuail; 1987:29). In the
context of 'mob' or 'unruly group', there are negative nuances of ignorance, a
lack of culture and even of rationality (McQuail; 1987:29). In the socialist
tradition there is a positive aspect of strength and solidarity when the masses
work together, and quantity suggests mass support, movement and mass action
(McQuail; 1987:29). The mass society theory has been built around this concept
of mass and proposes that the media is the cause of and maintainer of mass
society and rests on the idea that the media offer a view of the world as well
as an aid to 'psychic survival under difficult conditions' (McQuail; 1987:63).
The implications of the mass or popular culture on mass man and the reality of
passivity and mediocrity on the Christian are important.
MADE IN THE IMAGE OF... the essences of popular
culture
The term popular culture is
an elusive one to define. According to Rosenberg and White, it is the 'typical
content produced and disseminated by mass media' (as quoted by McQuail;
1987:35). Television is the most dominant medium and its marriage with rock 'n
roll in the music video are significant forces that in both style and content,
reflect the spirit of the age, which therefore need to be understood in terms
of influence on thinking and feeling (Myers; 1989:xvi, xiii). It is difficult
to assess 'popular culture' because it is not only so deeply rooted in our
culture, but there is a desire to deny the 'validity of our own pleasures in
these forms (OShaughmessy; 1990:91). Historically, entertainment has been seen
as 'easy, pleasurable, hedonistic and democratic' in comparison to the more
serious, elitist high culture (O'Shaughnessy; 1990:91). McQuail attempts to
define mass culture by comparing it with high culture and folk culture and
conclude:
1. Mass culture was facilitated by the
mass media;
2. The media have tended to 'colonize'
high and folk culture for content and forms;
3. The mass media are
implicated in the production of mass culture and provide the channels for distributing
it;
4. Culture
is an important element in the conception of a good society and a desirable way
of life;
5. Mass culture is
mass-produced for a mass market in which technology is used in a planned and
organized way;
6. Whereas high culture is
'ambiguous, disturbing and timeless' and folk culture is 'unselfconscious' in
meaning and purpose and although it may persist in time, it
is
not universal, mass culture is
'superficial, unambiguous, pleasing, universal but perishable';
7. The purpose of high culture
is to provide intellectual satisfaction, to enlarge and deepen experience
whereas mass culture is to provide immediate
gratification
and a diversion (1987; 37).
8. Fiske suggests that
popular culture unlike folk culture is 'evanescent and ephemeral' and is
constantly searching for novel evidences and ever-changing
resources
from which its culture can be produced (1989:171). An important distinction
here is that of high versus popular versus folk culture. However, it is important
to note that each is different and that one is not necessarily the criterion
for judging any one of the others. High culture may not provide criteria for
evaluation of the other categories because of its supposed superiority
(Seerveld; 1992:). Within each of these categories, that which is of quality
should be sought out as a means of understanding God, man, society and others.
Popenoe suggests that
popular culture offers an alternate life with its own life style, which is in
competition (because of its own appeal) with that of the traditional social
institutions, including education and religion, thereby putting pressure on the
child to be a citizen of both cultures (a type of schizophrenia), having
contrary ideas but with no inner commitment to either (1980:385). The idea of popularity
can either be an indication of its positive or negative value 'depending on the
'alignment to "the people"
(O'Sullivan; 1983:174). Therefore the question arises, are the products of the
media 'good' because they are popular, or 'bad' (i.e. 'more means worse')
because they're popular? (Ibid.; 1983:174). The ambiguity of this concept has
two aspects, firstly, the extent to which the popular culture is imposed on the
people (by the mass media or state) or 'derived' from their own taste,
experience and habits, and secondly,
the expression of the powerless as an alternative way of doing or seeing to
that of the dominant or official culture (Ibid.; 1983:175). The popular culture provides many
opportunities for enjoying the best of human experience but simultaneously
presents itself as an obstacle to enjoying the very best because it is trivial,
pervasive, and is the substance of modem life which is often a sad reflection
of that which could have been (Myers; 1989:xiii).
Popular culture is a broad
concept for thinking about the ideological meaning and pleasures of popular
television programmes (O'Shaughnessy; 1990:88). Essentially popular culture has
its own way of making sense of the world and therefore offers its own way of
understanding society. The cultural critics argue that because of its
orientation towards pleasure and entertainment, the popular culture addresses
everyone regardless of age, class, gender so that it must be viewed as a
'crucial site' in which ideologies are produced, hegemony is established and
consciousness is constructed (O'Shauglmessy; 1990:90). Popular culture is
actually contradictory in its effects: it wins the support of the people while
'maintaining the power of the dominant groups and the oppression of the
people'. Ironically therefore, it serves to gratify the people while
contributing to their enslavement. The negative view claims it is the new
'opiate of the people' which keeps the masses 'moronically content with their
lot and their oppression', whereas the positive view sees it as a form of the
people's own cultural values that are separate and more authentic than that of
the high culture and which may serve as a means of challenging the status quo
(O'Shaughnessy; 1990:90,91). For television to be acceptable (to the recipient
or to the disseminator?) it should connect with the actual experience of people
in terms of both their real and fantasy lives so that we can each recognizes
dreams, our desires and ourselves. The way in which television programs
negotiate social issues are actually inherently contradictory as they generally
include several sets of meanings so that for example, a comedy may be read as
socially disruptive, anarchic and subversive (O'Shaughnessy, 1990:94,96).
Essentially many of the television programs actually support the dominant group
because they neglect to question the power of the group so that ideology works
by 'masking, displacing and naturalizing' social problems and contradictions.
There can be no popular
dominant culture because popular culture is formed as a reaction to the forces
of domination (Fiske; 1989:44). Therefore an important aspect to note is that
of the 'interplay of forces' in the 'constant struggle between the power-bloc
and the people' so that the cultural context of popular culture items must be
analyzed in that context. The practices of popular culture 'constitute everyday
life' and that these clashes of social interests are motivated by pleasure,
i.e. of producing one's own meaning of 'social experience' and avoiding the 'social
discipline of the power-bloc' (Fiske; 1989:47). Fiske uses the example of jeans
and shows how that 'whole jeans' connote 'shared meanings of contemporary
America' so that fashionable jeans have to be disfigured in order that
distancing one's self from these values occurs (1989:4).
The
following are believed to be essential characteristics of the popular culture:
1. Consumption
and instant gratification so that the consumers have become passive and have
developed a taste which may spoil one's taste for something
better:
"Popular culture has the power to set the pace, the agenda, the priorities for much of our social and our spiritual existence, without our explicit consent. It requires a great effort not to be mastered by it" (Myers; 1989:xiv).
Schultze
remarks on consumption:
"As things now stand, both the entertainment industry and many local authority figures treat youth as mere objects or receptors to be molded by good and bad consumption" (1991:10);
2. Expectation of everything to be immediate and therefore brief and
superficial. Time is no obstacle and timelessness (classic) is not valued;
3. Contradictory, so that e.g. jeans can be simultaneously an
expression of both domination and subordination, of resistance and of power,
4. Is part of power relations and focuses on the popular tactics by
which these forces are coped with, evaded or resisted;
5. Is potentially creative and finds in the vitality of the people,
evidence of the possibility of social change and the motivation to drive it. It
must be relevant to
the
immediate situation of the people. Relevance unlike aesthetics is time- and
place-bound. Relevance requires relativity, which means that it denies 'closure,
absolutes and universals'. One of the pleasures of popular culture lies in the
'perceiving and exploiting these points of pertinence' and in selecting from
the range of the commodities of the culture industries, those items that enable
one to make popular sense out of popular experience (Fiske; 1989:135). Popular
discrimination is determined by realistic hedonism and skeptical materialism
(Fiske; 1989:141). It is a culture, which develops from within as it is made by
the people;
6. Is found to be
meaningful through the activities of buying and displaying products and images
so that the mall offers a sense of supposed community as well
as identity;
7. Is characterized by its fluidity;
8. Is engaged in
entertainment which is not merely intended for fun or pleasure, but has the
purpose of developing 'dedicated customers by offering... the keys
to
knowing oneself and becoming popular' (Schultze; 1991:8);
9. Tends to the excessive
which invites its denigrators to attack it as 'vulgar', 'melodramatic,
'obvious', 'superficial', 'sensational'. The popularity of sensational
publications is evidence of
the extent of dissatisfaction in a society especially felt by those who feel
powerless to change their situation. They provide a strange statement
(characterized by abnormality), on contemporary norms and provide a macabre
fantasy from which to escape the drabness of everyday life (Fiske; 1989:116).
Popular texts may be progressive in that they encourage the 'production of
meanings that work to change or destabilize the social order' but never radical
enough to overthrow that order, because these meanings are formed within the
structures of dominance (Fiske; 1989:133). The youth are early 'enmeshed in
adulthood, with the eroding of 'shame' as privacy becomes public and the fine
line between childhood and adulthood is moved back into childhood (Postman; 1982:85).
Madonna is an 'exemplary popular text' because she is so full of
contradictions:
"... She contains the patriarchal meanings of feminine sexuality and the resisting ones that her sexuality is hers to use as she wishes in ways that do not require masculine approval. Her sexuality offers both patriarchy and ways of resisting it in an anxious, unstable tension. She is so excessive and obvious; she exceeds all the norms of the sexualized female body and exposes their obviousness along with her midriff. Her equalization of her navel is a parody of patriarchy's eroticisation of female body fragments - she is a patriarchal text shot through with skepticism (Fiske; 1989:124);
10. Is marked by repetition
and seriality so that it is perceived as 'easy' and fits in with the routines
of everyday life, offering popular meanings and pleasures.
'Popular pleasures must be
those of the oppressed, they must contain elements of the oppositional, the
evasive, the scandalous, the offensive, the vulgar, the resistant" (Fiske;
1989:127);
11. Emphasizes the
generation gap in which many parents hand over the raising of their children to
'Hollywood', to the cultural elite at a critical time in which the
family is fragmented so that
the youth are driven to these quasi-parents and heroes for support (Schultze;
1991:5,8). The media serves to 'unite' the youth in a 'generational enclave'
while simultaneously disconnecting them from traditional influences and from
the broader culture (high and folk) as well as from reality (Schultze;
1991:47);
12. Rewards youthfulness and
criticizes maturity so that maturation is not necessarily promoted among the
youth and adults pay tribute to the youth culture in
their
own trendy dress, romantic teenage liaisons and plastic surgery (Schultze; 1991:5,6);
13. Distances the youth from
their community and renders the ideal of service ridiculous to the mind of a
consumer (Schultze; 199 1:11);
14. Serves as a model for
Christian culture with some 'cleaning up' of the original versions e.g. of rock
(Schultze; 199 1: 10). Fischer comments:
"Contemporary
Christian music allows hip Christians to roll without straying from the
Rock" (1988:141);
15. Confuses the issue of
whether life should be leisure or work so that a distortion of leisure leads to
the experience of less joy and intimacy with a consequent
need
to satisfy an insatiable appetite (Schultze; 1991:10);
16. Has resulted in an
obsession with images so that how we appear is more important than who we are.
The familiarity with images spoils our relationships with
real people so that we are constantly comparing them with our
expectations of their image instead of appreciating them for their own
uniqueness. It is possible that when the real person begins to break through
the image that disillusionment sets in (Fischer, 1988:44);
However, within popular
culture there is an alternative culture which serves as a commentary on
contemporary society, on its norms and worldview which may however, not be
Christian in perspective, but of importance to the Christian for an
understanding of the various dimensions of these contradictory worldviews that
are so enticing. The consumers of popular culture are in a symbiotic
relationship with the mass media as the media need the youth market and image,
and the youth need the media for guidance and support to replace the loss of
influence of the traditional social institutions. An important aspect to
consider is the power of the media to enculturate.
Media
acculturation
This concept highlights the idea that the media is a
powerful social institution having its own culture, with the following
implications:
1. Essentially the message of the media
cannot assume the characteristics of discourse. The media allow only for the
transmission of brief, entertaining, simplistic, over-generalized,
stereotypical messages with no time for seriousness or detail. Huxley warns
that 'omission and simplification help us to understand' but generally 'to
understand the wrong thing; for our
comprehension may be only of the abbreviator's neatly formulated notions, not
of the vast, ramifying reality from which these notions have been so
arbitrarily abstracted' (1958:7). Even the news must be newsworthy, that is
visual (the emphasis being on the available or simulated images) and sensational.