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PDFsam Merge

The document discusses the role of mass media as tools for disseminating information and entertainment, highlighting the evolution from traditional forms like press and cinema to new digital and social media. It outlines the functions of mass media, including surveillance, entertainment, advertising, and development communication, while also addressing the challenges of access and the influence of cultural contexts. Additionally, it reviews various theories of the press, including authoritarian, libertarian, and social responsibility theories, emphasizing the complexities of media ownership, control, and the need for diverse representation in communication.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
19 views32 pages

PDFsam Merge

The document discusses the role of mass media as tools for disseminating information and entertainment, highlighting the evolution from traditional forms like press and cinema to new digital and social media. It outlines the functions of mass media, including surveillance, entertainment, advertising, and development communication, while also addressing the challenges of access and the influence of cultural contexts. Additionally, it reviews various theories of the press, including authoritarian, libertarian, and social responsibility theories, emphasizing the complexities of media ownership, control, and the need for diverse representation in communication.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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2

Mass Media and Journalism: Speaking


Truth to Power

In essence, the mass media are the tools or technologies that facilitate
dissemination of information and entertainment to a vast number of
receivers. They are the tools of large-scale manufacture and distribution of
information and related messages. These tools ‘mediate’ the messages; they
are not the messages themselves. However, Marshall McLuhan, the media
prophet, liked to proclaim that ‘the medium is the message’, though the title
of one his books suggests rather that ‘the medium is the massage’.1 So,
while the media are technologies, they are also messages and massages.
They can also be looked at as industries, more specifically as cultural or
entertainment industries, as critical theorists tend to do. For Manuel
Castells, author of the trilogy on The Information Age and a number of
other scholarly works on ‘the network society’, it’s the ‘network’ that is the
message.2
While the press, cinema, radio, television and cable can easily be
recognized as ‘mass media’, it requires some stretching of the established
meaning of the term to include recent digital technologies (sometimes
termed the ‘new media’ or ‘social media’ or ‘new social media’) such as
pagers, iPods, cellular phones, satellites, computers, the internet and the
World Wide Web as ‘mass media’. More correctly, these new media may be
termed ‘interactive digital communication media’ for they are production
and transmission technologies disseminating messages far and wide to
many receivers, as much as interactive technologies (based on platforms
and applications) which involve feedback, exchange and extensive personal
participation on a global scale. These ‘new social media’ (such as social
network sites, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok) appear
to have ‘de-massified’ the mass media.
‘A mass medium’ says Wilbur Schramm,3 ‘is essentially a working group
organized round some device for circulating the same message, at about the
same time, to large numbers of people’. Such a definition excludes the folk
media, group media and interpersonal communication such as word-of-
mouth publicity or education and preaching, where communication is not
‘mediated’ by a ‘device’. Further, the pejorative term ‘mass’ (a way of
looking down at people as ‘masses’) suggests that the modern media are
‘experienced’ not by individuals and groups in terms of their own cultures
but as part of the ‘mass’ and as ‘mass culture’. The term ‘mass’ also
suggests that people’s interaction with the media is homogeneous, inactive
and unquestioning. In Communication Studies today, however, the term
‘mass media’ has come to be a useful collective phrase, though it slurs over
the many distinctions among the various media.
As generally interpreted the ‘mass’ media are the press, cinema, radio and
television. But books, magazines, pamphlets and direct mail literature and
posters also need to be included in the label. They are so termed because
their reach extends to vast heterogeneous masses of the population living in
a wide and extensive area of a country. The means they employ to
communicate messages to the masses are technological: printing machines,
records, cameras, fax machines, cable, modems, computers and satellites.
Their communications are thus interposed and ‘mediated’; they are not as
direct or face-to-face as in interpersonal exchanges.
The organs of the mass media are thus technological means of
transmitting messages to large numbers of people. But they are much more
than that. As they require a very expensive infrastructure (particularly the
cinema, radio, television, video, cable, computers and satellites), they have
to be run by institutions like the government or well-financed private
commercial firms. Further, they require a group of people (‘media
professionals’) to organize and administer, to produce, distribute, transmit
and constantly maintain in working order the whole set up of, say, a studio,
a newsroom, a transmitting centre or a publishing house.
Yet another feature of the mass media is that they are founded on the idea
of mass production and mass distribution—the marks of an industrial
society. Copies of newspapers and magazines, for instance, are printed in
thousands (some national and regional dailies in India have a circulation of
over a million copies) and are reprinted and distributed in several cities
across the country. But to enjoy a mass audience, the media have to cater to
a taste that is not very ‘cultured’ or sophisticated. What the mass media
therefore reflect and propagate is a popular culture. The culture made
popular by mainstream films and film music in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and a
host of Indian languages is a case in point. With the rapid expansion of
television, video, the internet and mobile telephony in cities and towns,
popular culture is likely to take on new forms; the ‘myths’ of our culture
will find expression in ever new ways.
But access to the mass media in India is still restricted because of poverty,
low literacy levels and little familiarity with Hindi and English, the major
languages used in the various media; moreover, reach is limited to
populations living in metros and large cities and the better-off sections in
rural India.4 The folk medi, in contrast, have a wider audience; they are
media close to the hearts and minds of the people and suited to a poor
country and help facilitate identification and participation. It is no wonder
then that the mass media incorporate various popular elements of the folk
media. And that folk media, in their turn, incorporate elements (such as
music and dance) of the mass media.
Functions of the Mass Media
Modern mass media serve functions very similar to those fulfilled by
traditional media in some ancient societies and in some developing
countries today. Western media theorists5 generally identify three major
functions; surveillance of the environment, interpretation of the information
and prescription for conduct and the transmission of heritage. The
developmental and liberation or empowerment functions or even the
ritualistic or celebratory functions of the media rarely find mention in Euro-
American media theory. South American media theorists have contributed
to our understanding of media for ‘liberation’ while African and Asian
scholars have explored the relevance of media to ‘national development’.
Information
Surveillance of the environment relates to information or ‘news’ about
happenings in society. The mass media carry out this function by keeping us
posted about the latest news in our own region and around the world. In
rural societies, however, the word-of-mouth method is still the most
credible means of spreading news. But the mass media cannot or should not
stop at watching the horizon for us, through news bulletins or through
advertisements of opportunities. They need and often do help us ‘to
correlate our response to the challenges and opportunities which appear on
the horizon and to reach consensus on social actions’.6 In rural India, the
panchayat meetings help village elders to decide on the challenges and the
opportunities. The mass media help us to keep the culture and heritage of
our society alive, to transmit it to others and even perhaps create new or
hybrid cultures. This is what the media should ideally do, but often don’t.
Folk media serve a similar purpose in developing countries.
Entertainment
Another is the vital function of entertainment. Entertainment has been a
legitimate function of the traditional folk media, but the mass media
provide it on a prolific scale. They help to pass the time and to relax with
family and friends.
Anthropologists of culture and communication discern a symbolic
function of the media: the media provide a ‘shared symbolic environment’.
Victor Turner, for instance, believed that the media provide a ‘liminal’
ritualistic experience. George Gerbner7 saw television as the central symbol
of American culture today. Horace Newcomb8 and other ‘culturalists’ (such
as James Carey9 and Robert White10) perceive the media as providing a
ritualistic and ‘communal’ experience. Besides, the mass media often lead
us to re-work and re-define our ‘self-identities’ as well as our ‘collective
identities’.11
Advertising
An equally vital function is that of the mass media helping to sell goods and
services through sponsorships and commercials. The commercial function
has indeed been served well, perhaps too well, especially in the United
States, where the networks would have to close down if the support from
commercials were to dry up. At the same time, it would be suicidal to let
this function dominate the mass media at the expense of the other four
functions. India too promotes the commercial function and though it has
restricted its representatives from taking over the programming of radio and
television, the influence is still strong; Indian cinema thrives on ‘media
partners’ and various types of sponsors. This is equally true of the press and
its dependence on advertising for much of its revenue.
Development
In the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, the mass
media, which include traditional media, have a different function to
perform. In a word, development communication i.e., communication that
focuses on local knowledge, the information needs of the poor and the
oppressed and their socio-economic and cultural interests, in the attempt to
bring about sustainable development and social change.

Play and Other Uses/Functions of the Media While


these may be the five functions of the mass media, it
does not necessarily follow that audiences go to them
for the same reasons. In his book The Play Theory of
Mass Communication, William Stephenson argues
that fun is both the greatest impact and the greatest
public service of the mass media. Audiences use
them as a form of play or in terms of Indian
experience, lila.
So, for a good number of the audience, the mass media may be marvellous
time-fillers, like listening to the radio while cooking or while driving or
reading a book during a long train journey. Further, some people use the
media to fulfil psychological and social needs. They perhaps get vicarious
enjoyment out of sex and violence in the media and use the media to get
topics for conversation at work or to solve their own problems. Still others
might seek information, merely to be well-informed or perhaps to learn how
higher-status people dress and live. Or, they might watch advertisements on
TV not so much to know more about a product as to assure themselves that
they have bought the best product! These are the variety of ‘uses and
gratifications’ of the media.
So whatever functions the media pundits say the mass media have, the
people will continue to use them in the way they (the people, not the
pundits) like. It is in this sense that, according to ‘reception theory’,
audiences are ‘active’ rather than ‘passive’ users of the mass media. It is
members of the audience, after all, who have to actively interpret and make
sense of the media in terms of their own needs and to respond to them in
terms of their own interests and experiences. Therein lies the real power of
media audiences.

Theories of the Press/Media


Western theories of the mass media (particularly of the news media) were
first propounded by Fred Siebert, Theodore Peterson and Wilbur Schramm
in their book Four Theories of the Press.12 These theories have now come
to be termed ‘normative’ in the sense that they ‘mainly express ideas of how
the media ought to or can be expected to, operate under a prevailing set of
conditions and values’.13 So, strictly speaking they are hypotheses rather
than theories. These ‘theories’ were first enunciated in the United States
during the height of the Cold War against communism and the Soviet
Union. They were thus part of American propaganda and only loosely based
on actual practices in the media. They idealized the American practices
which are touted as being democratic and socially responsible and derided
Soviet and Communist practices as being ‘dictatorial’ and ‘authoritarian’.
They did not take into account the ‘public service’ models of print and
electronic media widely accepted in Western Europe and in many countries
of Asia and Africa.14,15
The ‘original’ four theories of the press/media are: authoritarian theory,
libertarian theory, social responsibility theory and Soviet media theory.
Each of them suits particular political and economic circumstances and
focuses not so much on the relationship between the press and readers as on
the relationships between the press and government. The major concern is
with ownership and control rather than with different perspectives of
journalism or the people’s right to information. Siebert, Peterson and
Schramm limit their analysis to ‘four’ theories; three more need to be added
to the original four to take account of circumstances in the developing
countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The last three could be termed
‘Developmental or Alternative Theories’ of the media.
Authoritarian Theory
According to this theory the mass media, though not under the direct
control of the state and the ruling classes, must do their bidding. The press
and other media are expected to respect authority, to be always subordinate
to established power and authority and therefore should avoid offending the
majority or dominant moral, political and economic values. Journalists lack
independence and freedom; their reports have to be submitted for advance
censorship. This censorship is justified on the ground that the state must
always take precedence over an individual’s right to freedom of expression.
Such censorship is more rigidly enforced in times of war and during
‘internal’ and ‘external’ emergencies. It needs to be noted that both
dictatorial and democratic regimes resort to such authoritarian control of the
media. The strictness with which the Official Secrets Act is enforced in
Britain and in India is a case in point.
Libertarian or Free Press Theory
The basis of this ‘free press’ theory goes back to 17th century England
when the printing press made it possible to print several copies of a book or
pamphlet at a comparatively low price. In contrast with the authoritarian
theory, libertarianism is founded on the fundamental right of an individual
to freedom of expression. Western liberal democracies swear by this belief.
The First Amendment in the American constitution is an embodiment of this
theory; it flows from the individual’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness. The individual, not the state or society, is supreme and popular
will (vox populi) is granted precedence over the power of the state. The
argument is that ‘truth’ can be arrived at only through the free expression of
diverse points of view, no matter how erroneous. The great apologists of
this theory were John Milton, the epic poet (in his Aeropagitica) and John
Stuart Mill (in his essay, On Liberty). A free press is seen as essential to a
free society and the dignity of the individual. Moreover, the freedom to
publish is often linked to the right to property and the free market system.
In practice, however, the theory provides the prerogative of free speech
only to the rich and the powerful elites of a society. The marginalized
groups do not have access to and indeed, cannot afford the means or the
tools of free expression. What happens on the ground is that media
merchants and media monopolies (e.g., the big newspaper chains, the
television companies) exploit that freedom to expand their empires. Market
forces rather than public good mould the kind of information to be
purveyed. The theory thus protects media owners rather than the rights of
editors and journalists or of the public. What the theory offers, in sum, is
‘power without social responsibility’.
Social Responsibility Theory
This theory can be said to have been derived from the Hutchins Report
(entitled ‘A Free and Responsible Press: A General Report on Mass
Communication: Newspapers, Radio, Motion Magazines and Books’). The
Hutchins Commission on Freedom of the Press (1947) was established and
financed by Henry Luce of Time magazine at a time in the history of
American journalism when press barons like Luce sensed that government
regulations on ‘yellow journalism’ were around the corner. Moreover, the
years following the Second World War witnessed the rise of the Democratic
Party in the United States, the restraints on business under the New Deal
and the strengthening of the trade union movement. The American press
(which was known to be largely pro-Republican) feared that the federal
government would issue legislation to regulate the ‘freedom of the press’,
despite the First Amendment.
Robert Hutchins, the chairman of the Commission, was the Chancellor of
The University of Chicago at the time and he was assisted by 12 others who
were experts in different fields. The Report appeared in two volumes: the
first on newspapers, the second on the other media.
The Commission found that the free market approach to press freedom
had not met the informational and social needs of the less well-off classes;
in fact, it had increased the power of a single class. There was little
expression of diverse views; the emergence of radio, film and television
also suggested that some public control and some means of accountability
had become necessary. Thus, the theory had its roots in the view that the
media had certain obligations to society—to serve its needs, rather than that
of the free market. Hence the need for high professional standards; of truth,
accuracy, objectivity and balance. Self-regulation and also state regulations
were imperative. Public interest was a greater value than unregulated
freedom of expression. Thus news offensive to religious and ethnic
minorities or news likely to lead to social violence needed to be
underplayed. The Hutchins Report led to the establishment of Press
Councils, the drawing up of codes of ethics, anti-monopoly legislation and
to press subsidies to small newspapers. State and public intervention in the
exercise of free expression was therefore considered legitimate under
certain circumstances.
Soviet Media Theory
This theory is derived from Lenin’s application of Marx and Engels’ dictum
in The German Ideology that ‘the ideas of the ruling class are in every
epoch the ruling ideas’. The media are thus a means of ‘mental production’
of the ideology, in other words. Hence the need for their control by the
working class, that is, through the Communist Party, so that the interests of
the working class rather than those of the ruling or elite class are projected.
In a Socialist society, therefore, the media should be used as tools to
‘socialize’ the people; the primary functions of the media are to educate,
inform, motivate and mobilize citizens and to support ‘progressive’
movements everywhere. What is expected is ‘objective’ (or ‘scientific’)
presentation of society. Censorship and restriction on the media are
legitimate for the media are accountable to the state, to the public and to the
Party. The public is encouraged to provide feedback, as it is only in this way
that the media will be able to serve the public interest.
The Right to Privacy
The right to privacy, a fundamental and legal right, is enshrined in Article
21 of the constitution which says ‘No person shall be deprived of his life or
personal liberty, except according to procedure established by law’. The
expression ‘personal liberty’, according to Justice P. N. Bhagwati (in the
Menaka Gandhi case, 1978), ‘is of the widest amplitude and it covers a
variety of rights which go to constitute the personal liberty of man’.
Personal liberty gives dignity to the individual, providing him the freedom
to live his own life and to do his own thing. It is the necessary means to
creativity, growth, autonomy, relaxation and mental health. That explains
why the dignity of the individual is ensured in the preamble of our
constitution. That privacy is a ‘fundamental right’ under the Indian
constitution was reiterated by a nine-bench Supreme Court judgement on
August 24, 2017.
Besides the constitution, the Law of Torts assures the right to privacy of
the individual. This is a branch of law based on various decisions of judges
on aspects of civil wrongs which are not provided for by statutory laws but
which constitute the first principles of law relating to civil wrongs.
Further, privacy is protected by laws relating to defamation, under the
Indian Penal Code. Defamation is making known through words spoken or
written or through signs or visible representations (e.g., a painting, a
photograph, a cartoon and illustration), an imputation which is intended to
harm the reputation of a person. The exposure of the private love lives of
film stars in film periodicals can thus be challenged under the law.
However, it must be pointed out that persons who are in public life cannot
claim privacy to the same extent as ordinary citizens. Sometimes, a case can
be made out for the view that such exposures have been done ‘in good
faith’ and in the public interest or for the ‘public good’. Thus, exposures of
political scandals by reporters are not always defamatory. But care has to be
taken that the reports or photographs published are not obscene, do not
offend morality or decency and above all, do not affect ‘public order’.
Further, the reports need to be substantially correct. So it is not defamatory
to comment on or criticize the conduct of a public figure in the discharge of
his or her public duties.
There is, then a conflict between the right to publish and the right to
privacy. Yet both are equally precious in a free society. While commercial
exploitation of the private lives of public figures and of lesser fry, can help
step up sales of publications, a balance has to be struck between the two
rights. Journalists, therefore, have to tread warily lest they be hauled up by
the law for infringement of privacy. They have to act in ‘good faith’ and in
‘the public interest’; they must not forget that they have no legal basis to
keep their sources of information to themselves. Sources have to be
disclosed when asked for, either by the police or by the courts of law. In
most cases, however, the law respects the confidentiality of the journalists’
sources unless public interest and justice are involved.
In addition to the right to publish reports on events and individuals
keeping in mind the public interest, a journalist is privileged to publish ‘a
substantially true report of either House of Parliament or the Legislative
Assembly’. This ‘privilege’ was withdrawn during the internal emergency,
but was reinstated by the 44th Amendment Act, 1978.
Press Codes and Ethics
Codes of ethics for journalists began to be formulated since the early 1920s.
Today, more than 60 countries around the world have drawn up and are
enforcing such codes. Of course, they vary in form and scope from one
country or region to another. In some countries, the codes have been
voluntarily drawn up and are imposed by professional bodies of journalists;
in others, they are imposed by the governments in power. Several states
enforce such codes which speak of such high-minded principles as
objectivity, impartiality, truthfulness and freedom of information.
The MacBride Report states that all journalists have responsibilities to
their own convictions, but equally important are their responsibilities to the
public. The Report spells out journalists’ responsibilities:
1. Contractual responsibility in relation to their media and their internal
organization.
2. A social responsibility entailing obligations towards public opinion and
society as a whole.
3. Responsibility or liability deriving from the obligation to comply with
the law.
4. Responsibility towards the international community, relating to respect
for human values.
Media Ethics
However, ‘the scope of professional ethics is much wider than the texts of
legal codes. For, in attempting to achieve a just balance between freedom
and responsibility, the ethical aspects of this dichotomy depend not only on
conscious decisions by a journalist, but also on practices in the media and
the general social environment.’102
The MacBride Report says that the adoption of codes of ethics at national
and in some cases, at the regional level is desirable, provided that such
codes are prepared and adopted by the profession itself, without
government interference. It recommends that codes of ethics aim at the
following objectives:
1. to protect the consumer readers, listeners, viewers or the public in
general;
2. to protect and inspire the working journalist, broadcaster or others
directly concerned with the gathering, writing, processing and
presenting of news and opinions;
3. to guide editors and others who take full legal responsibility for what is
published and broadcast;
4. to define the responsibilities of proprietors, shareholders and
governments who are in a position of absolute control over any
particular form of mass media communications activity;
5. to deal with issues of advertisers and others who buy into the services
of the media.103

A Code of Ethics for Indian Journalists Attempts to


draw up a code of ethics for journalists in India have
so far drawn a blank. Neither the Press Council nor
the All India Editors’ Conference has come up with a
code acceptable to the whole profession.
In 1966, the Press Council did circulate a list of guidelines to over 10,000
newspapers and journals for their observations, but the feedback was not
promising enough. In January 1976, a committee of 17 editors presented a
Code of Ethics and Editors’ Charter to parliament, but it was suspect,
evolved as it was during the emergency regime. It gave a rather tall order in
stating that the press must present a truthful, comprehensive and reliable
account of the events in a context which gives them meaning, project a
representative picture of constituent groups in society, regard itself as a
forum for comment and criticism and discharge its social responsibilities by
clarifying the goals and values of society. The All-India Small and Medium
Newspapers’ Association had drawn up a Code of Ethics in 1975; however,
it was not approved of by the general body. The Second Press Commission
(1982) maintained that it would not be desirable to draw up a Code of
Ethics for newspapers. It supported the Press Council’s stand that a code
should be built up case by case over a period of time.104
The Press Council of India was established to ‘preserve the freedom of the
press and to maintain and improve the standards of newspapers and news
agencies’. The Council is enjoined to ‘build up’ a Code of Conduct for
newspapers, news agencies and journalists in accordance with high
professional standards. A compendium of broad principles evolved by the
Press Council through its adjudications/principles was first published in
1983-84. In October 1992, the Council published ‘an updated but succinct
compilation of the principles of journalistic ethics sorted out from the
adjudications of the Council and the guidelines issued by it in their wake’.
(The Guide to Journalistic Ethics was further revised and updated in 1995
by Justice P. B. Sawant).
The consensus, however, appears to be that the press should be trusted to
regulate itself and where it invades privacy or distorts facts or fosters
communalism or fanaticism, the Press Council has powers enough to pull
up the offending papers and magazines. One of the penalties suggested is
the withdrawal of government advertisements; the other is withdrawal of
accreditation to journalists. However, the Press Council has been reluctant
to impose any such penalties.
Media Laws
Besides the restrictions imposed on the press by the constitution, there exist
various other laws which further curtail press freedom and the right of the
citizen to information, as well as the right to freedom of speech and
expression. They are all in force in the interest of public order and the
sovereignty and security of the state.
1. The Indian Penal Code, 1860, which makes it an offence (a) to incite
enmity between different classes of citizens, (b) to spread any rumours
or reports likely to incite members of the Armed Forces to mutiny or
failure of duty, (c) to cause alarm to any section of the public whereby
there is an inducement to commit an offence against the state or against
public peace, (d) to incite one class or community against another, (e)
to utter words or to make visible representations with intent to wound
religious feelings or beliefs of another person or of any class of
citizens.
2. The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, which empowers the state to intercept,
detain or not to transmit any message, in the interest of public safety,
public order, the sovereignty and integrity and security of the state.
Press messages intended to be published in India by correspondents
accredited to the central government or a state government can be
intercepted or detained only during a public emergency.
3. Indian Post Office Act, 1898, which gives the state or its representative
the right to intercept, detain or not to send any indecent or obscene
publications or representations.
4. The Police (Incitement to Disaffection) Act, 1922, which provides for a
penalty for spreading disaffection among the police and for related
offences.
5. Official Secrets Act, 1923, which prohibits obtaining, collecting,
recording or publishing of secret government documents or
photographs or sketches or models. It is this Act which prevents Indian
journalists from publishing inside information about the government.
6. The Security and Public Safety Acts of the various states. These deal
with penalties for inciting commission of ‘subversive’ acts.
7. The Drugs and Magic Remedies (objectionable Advertisement) Act,
1954, which, in the interests of public health, bans advertisements of
magic cures of sexual ailments and the like.
8. Section 11 of the Customs Act, 1962, which gives government the
power to ban import and export of goods in the interests of security,
public order and decency and morality.
9. The Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, which empowers the state to
forfeit copies of a publication that offends Indian penal code provisions
relating to public order or security of the state.
10. The Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1956, disallows
publication and circulation of any literature likely to encourage anti-
social tendencies among children.
11. Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, relates to the willful disobedience of
judicial orders and the like and to any publication which interferes with
or undermines the administration of justice. For example, a journalist is
guilty of contempt of court if he or she publishes a report on a case held
in camera (in the private chamber of the judge).
12. The Copyright Act, 1957 (as amended up to August 1984), which
protects the original works of writers, artists, musicians, dramatists,
film and video producers and other creative persons from being pirated.
13. The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986.
14. The National Security Act, 1980.
15. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Press Ownership and India’s Media
Conglomerates The Indian press has been a
private commercial enterprise from the days
of its pioneers, Buckingham and Hicky. The
trend towards individual ownership and later
concentration of ownership was already
discernible in pre-Independence India. Today,
individuals own the largest number of
newspapers with a circulation of more than a
third of the total circulation. Joint stock
companies, many of them industrial and
commercial ventures, constitute another third
of the share of circulation. It is to be noted
that government publications are few in
comparison and have a mere two per cent of
the circulation. Most of these government
publications would be by government
departments at the centre or in the states.
Finally, there is a small number of
newspapers brought out by cooperatives,
religious and political groups or by
journalists themselves.
Concentration of ownership or monopolies in the sphere of newspaper and
magazine publishing takes the form of industrial houses bringing out
multiple-audience publications such as morning and evening papers and
dailies for the general reader, specialist dailies for businessmen and
professionals, as well as women’s magazines, children’s periodicals,
business weeklies, science journals and even comics. The Times of India
group (Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.) is the largest publishing house
bringing out regularly all these types of publications, but the group cannot
be said to have a monopoly.
▲ This page from a Gutenberg Bible shows the exquisite care the printer used in creating his works. The artwork
in the margins is hand painted, but the text is mechanically printed.

North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy Stock Photo


Industrialization had another effect as well. As workers left their sunrise-to-sunset jobs in
agriculture, the crafts, and trades to work in the newly industrialized factories, not only did they
have more leisure time, but they also had more money to spend on their leisure. Farmers,
fishermen, and tile makers had to put their profits back into their jobs. But factory workers took
their money home; it was spendable. Combine leisure time and expendable cash with the spread
of literacy, and the result is a large and growing audience for printed information and
entertainment. By the mid-19th century, a mass audience and the means to reach it existed.

Media Literacy
Television influences our culture in innumerable ways. One of its effects, according to many
people, is that it has encouraged violence in our society. For example, American television
viewers overwhelmingly say there is too much violence on television. Yet, almost without
exception, the local television news program that has the largest proportion of violence in its
nightly newscast is the ratings leader. “If it bleeds, it leads” has become the motto for much of
local television news. It leads because people watch.
So, although many of us are quick to condemn improper media performance or to identify and
lament its harmful effects, we rarely question our own role in the mass communication process.
We overlook it because we participate in mass communication naturally, almost without
conscious effort. We possess high-level interpretive and comprehension skills that make even the
most sophisticated television show, movie, or magazine story understandable and enjoyable. We
are able, through a lifetime of interaction with the media, to read media texts.
Media literacy is a skill we take for granted, but like all skills, it can be improved. And if we
consider how important the mass media are in creating and maintaining the culture that helps
define us and our lives, it is a skill that must be improved.
Hunter College media professor Stuart Ewen (2000) emphasized this point in comparing media
literacy with traditional literacy. “Historically,” he wrote, “links between literacy and democracy
are inseparable from the notion of an informed populace, conversant with the issues that touch
upon their lives, enabled with tools that allow them to participate actively in public deliberation
and social change” (p. 448). To Ewen, and others committed to media literacy, media literacy
represents no less than the means to full participation in the culture.
Page 21
Elements of Media Literacy
Media scholar Art Silverblatt (2008) identifies seven fundamental elements of media literacy. To
these, we will add an eighth. Media literacy includes these characteristics:

1. A critical thinking skill enabling audience members to develop independent judgments about
media content. Thinking critically about the content we consume is the very essence of
media literacy. Why do we watch what we watch, read what we read, listen to what we listen
to? Is that story you saw on Twitter real? If we cannot answer these questions, we have taken
no responsibility for ourselves or our choices. As such, we have taken no responsibility for
the outcome of those choices.
2. An understanding of the process of mass communication. If we know the components of the
mass communication process and how they relate to one another, we can form expectations
of how they can serve us. How do the various media industries operate? What are their
obligations to us? What are the obligations of the audience? How do different media limit or
enhance messages? Which forms of feedback are most effective, and why?
3. An awareness of the impact of media on the individual and society. Writing and the printing
press helped change the world and the people in it. Mass media do the same. If we ignore the
impact of media on our lives, we run the risk of being caught up and carried along by that
change rather than controlling or leading it.
4. Strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages. To consume media messages
thoughtfully, we need a foundation on which to base thought and reflection. If we make
meaning, we must possess the tools with which to make it (for example, understanding the
intent and impact of film and video conventions, such as camera angles and lighting, or the
strategy behind the placement of images on a newspaper’s website). Otherwise, meaning is
made for us; the interpretation of media content will then rest with its creator, not with us.
5. An understanding of media content as a text that provides insight into our culture and our
lives. How do we know a culture and its people, attitudes, values, concerns, and myths? We
know them through communication. For modern cultures like ours, media messages
increasingly dominate that communication, shaping our understanding of and insight into
our culture.
6. The ability to enjoy, understand, and appreciate media content. Media literacy does not
mean living the life of a grump, liking nothing in the media, or always being suspicious of
harmful effects and cultural degradation. We take high school and college classes to enhance
our understanding and appreciation of novels; we can do the same for media texts. Learning
to enjoy, understand, and appreciate media content includes the ability to use multiple
points of access—to approach media content from a variety of directions and derive from it
many levels of meaning. Thus, we control meaning making for our own enjoyment or
appreciation. For example, we can enjoy the hit show The Handmaid’s Tale on Hulu as an
action-laden adventure full of intrigue, danger, and romance, perfect for binge watching. But
as TV buffs we might see it as a feminist manifesto, a story of an oppressed woman taking
on a powerful man. Or we might read it as a cautionary tale for what might happen in
America if women lose the right to control their bodies. Maybe it’s a history lesson
disguised as dystopian fiction, reminding us that women have always had to fight for their
rightful place in society. Or maybe it’s just a fun way to spend a cozy night, entertained by
the same streaming video industry that so delights us with other prestige programming, such
as The Mandalorian, 13 Reasons Why, and Fleabag.
7. Development of effective and responsible production skills. Traditional literacy assumes that
people who can read can also write. Media literacy also makes this assumption. Our
definition of literacy (of either type) calls not only for effective and efficient comprehension
of content but also for its effective and efficient use. Therefore, media-literate individuals
should develop production skills that enable them to create useful media messages. If you
have ever tried to make a narrative home video—one that tells a story—you know that
producing content is much more difficult than consuming it. If you have ever posted to
Snapchat or Instagram or uploaded a video to TikTok, you are indeed a media content
producer; why not be a good media content producer?
8. An understanding of the ethical and moral obligations of media practitioners. To Page 22
make informed judgments about the performance of the media, we also must be
aware of the competing pressures on practitioners as they do their jobs. We must understand
the media’s official and unofficial rules of operation. In other words, we must know,
respectively, their legal and ethical obligations. Return, for a moment, to the question of
televised violence. It is legal for a station to air graphic violence. But is it ethical? If it is
unethical, what power, if any, do we have to demand its removal from our screens?
Dilemmas such as this are discussed at length in Chapter 14.
▶ Family Guy has all the things you would expect from a television situation comedy—an inept dad, a precocious
daughter, a slacker son, a loving wife, and zany situations. Yet it also offers an intellectual, philosopher dog and an
evil-genius, scheming baby. Why do you think the producers have gone to the trouble to populate this show with the
usual trappings of a sitcom but then add other, bizarre elements? And what’s going on in The Handmaid’s Tale? Is it
an action-laden adventure full of intrigue, danger, and romance? A feminist manifesto? A history lesson disguised as
dystopian fiction. Or maybe it’s just a fun way to spend a cozy night binge watching.

(top) FOX Image Collection/Getty Images; (bottom) Calla Kessler for The Washington Post/Getty Images

Page 23
Media Literacy Skills
Consuming media content is simple. Push a button and you have images on a television or music
on your car radio. Come up with enough cash and you can see a movie or buy an e-book. Media-
literate consumption, however, requires a number of specific skills.

1. The ability and willingness to make an effort to understand content, to pay attention, and to
filter out noise. As we saw earlier, anything that interferes with successful communication is
called noise, and much of the noise in the mass communication process results from our own
consumption behavior. When we watch television, often we are also doing other things, such
as eating, reading, or checking Instagram. We drive while we listen to the radio. We text
while we read. Obviously, the quality of our meaning making is related to the effort we give
it.
2. An understanding of and respect for the power of media messages. We are surrounded by
mass media from the moment we are born. Just about every one of us can enjoy them. Their
content is either free or relatively inexpensive. Much of the content is banal and a bit silly, so
it is easy to dismiss media content as beneath serious consideration or too simple to have any
influence. We also disregard media’s power through the third-person effect—the common
attitude that others are influenced by media messages but that we are not. That is, we are
media literate enough to understand the influence of mass communication on the attitudes,
behaviors, and values of others but not self-aware or honest enough to see its influence on
our lives.
3. The ability to distinguish emotional from reasoned reactions when responding to content and
to act accordingly. Media content is often designed to touch us at the emotional level. We
enjoy losing ourselves in a good song or in a well-crafted movie or television show; this is
among our great pleasures. But because we react emotionally to these messages does not
mean they don’t have serious meanings and implications for our lives. Television images, for
example, are intentionally shot and broadcast for their emotional impact. Reacting
emotionally is appropriate and proper. But then what? What do these images tell us about the
larger issue at hand? We can use our feelings as a point of departure for meaning making.
We can ask, “Why does this content make me feel this way?”
4. The development of heightened expectations of media content. We all use media to tune out,
waste a little time, and provide background noise. When we decide to watch television, we
are more likely to turn on the set and flip channels until we find something passable than we
are to read the listings to find a specific program to view. When we search for online video,
we often settle for the “10 most shared today,” or we let Netflix’s algorithm choose for us.
When we expect little from the content before us, we tend to give meaning making little
effort and attention.
5. A knowledge of genre conventions and the ability to recognize when they are being mixed.
The term genre refers to the categories of expression within the different media, such as
“evening news,” “documentary,” “horror movie,” or “entertainment magazine.” Each genre
is characterized by certain distinctive, standardized style elements—the conventions of that
genre. The conventions of the evening news, for example, include a short, upbeat
introductory theme and one or two good-looking people sitting at a large, modern desk.
When we hear and see these style elements, we expect the evening news. We can tell a
documentary film from an entertainment movie by its more serious tone and a number of
talking heads. We know by their appearance—the use of color, the types of images, and the
amount of text on the cover—which magazines offer serious reading and which provide
entertainment. Knowledge of these conventions is important because they cue or direct our
meaning making.
6. The ability to think critically about media messages, no matter how credible their sources. It
is crucial that media be credible in a democracy in which the people govern because the
media are central to the governing process. This is why the news media are sometimes
referred to as the fourth branch of government, complementing the executive, judicial, and
legislative branches. This does not mean, however, that we should accept uncritically
everything they report. But media-literate people know not to discount all news media; they
must be careful to avoid the hostile media effect, the idea that people see media coverage of
important topics of interest as less sympathetic to their position, more sympathetic to the
opposing position, and generally hostile to their point of view regardless of the quality of the
coverage (Tsfati & Cohen, 2013). There are indeed very good media sources, just as there
are those not deserving of our consideration. Media literacy, as you’ll read throughout this
text, helps us make that distinction. For example, the Internet has made possible the
widespread of fake news, intentionally and verifiably false news stories designed to be
spread and to deceive. Disguised to appear authentic, its real intention is to sow confusion
and damage political discourse. Fake news is successful because its arresting headlines
easily catch our attention and because confirmation bias, our tendency to accept
information that confirms our beliefs and dismiss information that does not, encourages us to
pass it on with little evaluation. How do we combat fake news?
• First, vet the publisher’s credibility. Does the report meet traditional journalistic Page 24
standards of evidence and corroboration? Has the author published anything else?
What’s the domain name? Check out the “About Us” page for indicators of bias.
• Second, pay attention to quality and timeliness. Is the story current, or is it recycled? Are
there a lot of spelling errors, ALL CAPS, or dramatic punctuation???!!!
• Third, check sources and citations. How did you come upon the article? Who is or is not
quoted? Is there supporting information on other sites? Can you perform reverse searches
for sources and images?
• Finally, ask a pro. There are several good fact-checking sites such as FactCheck.org,
International Fact-Checking Network, PolitiFact, and Snopes (Nagler, 2018).
7. A knowledge of the internal language of various media and the ability to understand its
effects, no matter how complex. Just as each media genre has its own distinctive style and
conventions, each medium also has its own specific internal language. This language is
expressed in production values—the choice of lighting, editing, special effects, music,
camera angle, location on the page, and size and placement of headlines. To be able to read a
media text, you must understand its language. We learn the grammar of this language as
early as childhood—for example, we know that when the television image goes “all woozy,”
the character is dreaming. Let’s consider two versions of the same movie scene. In the first,
a man is driving a car. Cut to a woman lying tied up on a railroad track. What is the
relationship between the man and the woman? Where is he going? With no more
information than these two shots, you know automatically that he cares for her and is on his
way to save her. Now, here is the second version. The man is driving the car. Fade to black.
Fade back up to the woman on the tracks. Now, what is the relationship between the man
and the woman? Where is he going? It is less clear that these two people even have anything
to do with each other. We construct completely different meanings from exactly the same
two scenes because the punctuation (the quick cut/fade) differs. Media texts tend to be more
complicated than these two scenes. The better we can handle their grammar, the more we
can understand and appreciate texts. The more we understand texts, the more we can be
equal partners with media professionals in meaning making.

▼ The Daily Show with Trevor Noah offers all the conventions we’d expect from the news—background digital
graphics, an anchor behind his desk, and a well-known interviewee. But it also contains conventions we’d expect
from a comedy program—a satirist as host and an unruly, loud audience. Why does this television show mix the
conventions of these two very different genres? Does your knowledge of those conventions add to your enjoyment of
this hit program?

Jason Kempin/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

Page 25

MEDIA LITERACY CHALLENGE


Recognizing Cultural Values

Media-literate people develop an understanding of media content as a text that provides insight
into our culture and our lives, and they have an awareness of the impact of media on the
individual and society. So, challenge your own media literacy skills. You can do this exercise
with a parent or another person older than you, or you can speculate after using the Internet to
view movies and television shows from 20 years ago. Compare your childhood heroes and
heroines with those of someone older. What differences are there between the generations in what
you consider heroic qualities? What are some similarities and differences between the heroic
qualities you and people from an earlier generation identify? Are the good qualities of your
personal heroes something you can find in today’s movies or TV? If so, where on TV or in film
can you find the qualities you consider heroic? Which cultural values, attitudes, and beliefs, if
any, do you think have influenced how heroes and heroines have changed throughout the last few
decades? How have the media helped establish the values you identify as important qualities in
people?

Resources for Review and Discussion

REVIEW POINTS: TYING CONTENT TO LEARNING


OBJECTIVES

Define communication, mass communication, mass media, and culture.


Communication is the process of creating shared meaning.
Mass communication is the process of creating shared meaning between the mass media
and their audiences.
Mass media is the plural of mass medium, a technology that carries messages to a large
number of people.
Culture is the world made meaningful. It resides all around us; it is socially constructed
and maintained through communication. It limits as well as liberates us; it differentiates as
well as unites us. It defines our realities and shapes the ways we think, feel, and act.
Describe the relationships among communication, mass communication, culture, and
those who live in the culture.
Mass media are our culture’s dominant storytellers and the forum in which we debate
cultural meaning.
Evaluate the impact of technology and economics on those relationships.
Technological determinism argues that technology is the predominant agent of social and
cultural change. But it is not technology that drives culture; it is how people use
technology.
With technology, money, too, shapes mass communication. Audiences can be either the
consumer or the product in our mass media system.
List the components of media literacy.
Media literacy, the ability to effectively and efficiently comprehend and use any form of
mediated communication, consists of eight components:
1. A critical thinking skill enabling the development of independent judgments about media
content
2. An understanding of the process of mass communication
3. An awareness of the impact of the media on individuals and society
4. Strategies for analyzing and discussing media messages
5. An awareness of media content as a “text” providing insight into contemporary culture
6. A cultivation of enhanced enjoyment, understanding, and appreciation of media content
7. The development of effective and responsible production skills

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