The media is largely dominated with money-making corporations and elitists who potentially use their position to manipulate their ideologies upon media consumers. However, the growing popularity of user-generated content platforms has resulted in the increase of public opinion, allowing audiences to actively use the media. Using News Corp, owned by Rupert Murdoch, this essay will begin to question whether press barons such as Murdoch exercise the majority of their power in determining the ideology transmitted through the media, or rather, the audience are aware that this is happening, and use social media accounts in order to exert their own views.
According to Thompson (1990), the production and exchange of symbolic forms has always been a …show more content…
With the influence of the media in our everyday lives, this misleading image of reality could produce ‘false consciousness’ amongst audiences. This works in the best interest of the powerful elites (Storey, 2001). However, the media is not the only part of society that should avoid the tendency to think of symbolic forms in relation to the power of the modern state and our everyday social situations; we are constantly reflecting and re-evaluating the social relations around us through actions, symbols and words. Through the media we are able to be aware of our surroundings and make our own opinions as we are influenced by other institutions such as the family, education and …show more content…
& Zillmann, D. 2002). As much as are influenced by the media, we become producers of our social systems, not just products; we base our own political views from our social relationships and surroundings as well as the media. Previous effects theories such as the Hypodermic needle theory have suggested that audiences were passive. The idea is that messages are ‘injected’ to the audience in order to manipulate the way they are thinking.
More up-to-date theories such as Blumler and Katz’s ‘Uses and Gratifications’ model (1974) emphasises what media consumers choose to do with media products with their ‘user-power’ (Branston, G. & Stafford, R. 2002). It suggests that there are four reasons why people consume certain texts, these are: for diversion, for escapism, for surveillance and for comparison on relationships and personal life. This theory is likely to be more attractive as we are more likely to want to identify as active, empowered users of media, than as ‘passive dupes’ of a media corporation
According to Thompson (1990), the production and exchange of symbolic forms has always been a …show more content…
With the influence of the media in our everyday lives, this misleading image of reality could produce ‘false consciousness’ amongst audiences. This works in the best interest of the powerful elites (Storey, 2001). However, the media is not the only part of society that should avoid the tendency to think of symbolic forms in relation to the power of the modern state and our everyday social situations; we are constantly reflecting and re-evaluating the social relations around us through actions, symbols and words. Through the media we are able to be aware of our surroundings and make our own opinions as we are influenced by other institutions such as the family, education and …show more content…
& Zillmann, D. 2002). As much as are influenced by the media, we become producers of our social systems, not just products; we base our own political views from our social relationships and surroundings as well as the media. Previous effects theories such as the Hypodermic needle theory have suggested that audiences were passive. The idea is that messages are ‘injected’ to the audience in order to manipulate the way they are thinking.
More up-to-date theories such as Blumler and Katz’s ‘Uses and Gratifications’ model (1974) emphasises what media consumers choose to do with media products with their ‘user-power’ (Branston, G. & Stafford, R. 2002). It suggests that there are four reasons why people consume certain texts, these are: for diversion, for escapism, for surveillance and for comparison on relationships and personal life. This theory is likely to be more attractive as we are more likely to want to identify as active, empowered users of media, than as ‘passive dupes’ of a media corporation