writing an analysis of media messages definition research

Other researchers admit that individuals prone to violent acts are indeed drawn to violent media; however, they claim that by keeping these individuals in a movie theater or at home, violent media have actually contributed to a reduction in violent social acts (Goodman, 2008). The United States—in contrast to other nations where media are held in check—has encouraged an independent commercial press and thus given the powers of propaganda and persuasion to the public (Starr, 2004). Adams, Jill U. Did movies that glorify violent solutions create a culture that would encourage people to consider such methods? Consider the common allegations of political bias against various news organizations. Called “Bert Is Evil,” the series featured the puppet engaged in a variety of illicit activities. Older-media consumption habits required in-depth processing of information through a particular form of media. We also live in a society that depends on the media as a source of entertainment and information. When media consumers think of media messages, they may think of televised public service announcements or political advertisements. The ready availability of information through search engines may explain how a clearly satirical Onion article on the Harry Potter phenomenon came to be taken as fact. Toppo, Greg. Learn how to deconstruct a media message by viewing examples and answering in depth questions about the core concepts: source, text, subtext, audience, persuasion techniques, and point of view. They're especially helpful to nonprofit organizations and businesses that work with stereotyped groups or issues. Miller, Mark Crispin. Humorous or poignant excerpts from television or radio broadcasts are often posted on social media sites and blogs, where they gain popularity and are seen by more people than had seen the original broadcast. On Monday, June 21, 2010, for example, a spokesperson for Rolling Stone magazine first released quotes from a story featuring General Stanley McChrystal publicly criticizing members of the Obama administration on matters of foreign policy. The present-day, pejorative connotation of propaganda stems from the full utilization of mass media by World War I–era governments to motivate the citizenry of many countries to go to war. Goodman, Peter. Other famous stereotypes—such as the Lone Ranger’s Native American sidekick, Tonto, or Mickey Rooney’s Mr. Yunioshi role in Breakfast at Tiffany’s—also reinforced American preconceptions about ethnic predispositions and capabilities. Most studies on media and behavior do not establish direct links between the two but do reveal important correlations among media, violence, and sexual behavior. These emotional reactions partially account for the intense power of media in our culture. You will learn more about the impact of sexual content in the media in Chapter 14 “Ethics of Mass Media”. These analyses entail systematically taking a “slice” of media coverage from a set time-frame, often in the top daily newspapers, magazines and broadcast news outlets. When media consumers hear only the information they want to, the common ground of public discourse that stems from general agreement on certain principles inevitably grows smaller (Kakutani, 2010). Do you think this type of characterization would be acceptable in modern television? Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), 60–61. Media Analysis as a Subset of Content Analysis. As people move away from the in-depth coverage of an issue they can receive in print media to getting more information from social media, they consume increasing amounts of their information in soundbites, shared snippets of news that may be slanted, inaccurate, or completely fake. As the collage crossed geographic and cultural boundaries, it grew on both corporate and grassroots media. Researcher Jane Brown thinks part of the reason children watch sexual content is related to puberty and their desire to learn about sex. Increasingly, media outlets cater to this habit of searching for specific bits of information devoid of context. Media messages can range from overt statements to vague expressions of cultural values. The role of propaganda and persuasion in the mass media is a good place to start when considering various types of media effects. Baron, Dennis. Accusations of hidden messages or agenda-driven content have always been an issue in the media, but as the presence of media grows, the debate concerning media messages increases. New digital forms of media have revolutionized the way people access and consume media content. Certainly, the Internet has affected the way that cultures consume news. Analyze cultural messages that the media send. One nuanced look at the Internet’s effect on the way a culture processes and perceives information states that literacy will not simply increase or decrease, but will change qualitatively (Choney, 2010). 7-Up ad, Half the fun of a football game is having something to eat! Media analysis papers examine how media portrays people, products or issues. Although the study does not prove a conclusive link between sexual behavior and sexually oriented media, researchers concluded that media acted as an influential source of information about sex for these youth groups (Dohney, 2006). The printed Rolling Stone issue featuring the article hit newsstands Friday, 2 days after McChrystal had been replaced (Timpane, 2010). Doheny, Kathleen “Mass Media May Prompt Kids to Try Sex: Study,” Health Scout, April 3, 2006, http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/531862/main.html. What kind of roles does the celebrity take in other forms of media, such as television or film? All media messages are composed for a particular purpose. Through the media, celebrities have come to signify important cultural values and tendencies, and they transmit specific cultural messages. “Effects of Violent Video Games,” Los Angeles Times, May 3, 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/03/health/la-he-closer-20100503. Other studies, such as one conducted by Dr. Chris A. Anderson and others, point to correlations between the amount of time spent playing violent video games and increased incidence of aggression (Anderson, 2003). This historical perspective gives a positive interpretation to some otherwise ominous developments in communication and culture. Benjamin Franklin used a powerful image of a severed snake to emphasize the importance of the colonies joining together during the American Revolution. Understanding Media and Culture by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Thanks to new media, consumers now view all types of media as participatory. These values are perhaps most visible in celebrities and the roles that they adopt. Rather than simply replacing old media, however, new forms of media encourage participatory media consumption and content migration. “Propaganda.”. Find a celebrity magazine, such as. This ended up in a CNN report on anti-American protests, and public outrage over the use of Bert made Ignacio’s original site a much-imitated cult phenomenon. Although the mass media send messages created specifically for public consumption, they also convey messages that are not properly defined as propaganda or persuasion. The term convergence can hold several different meanings. Some analysts have used the term cyberbalkanization to describe the way media consumers filter information. Although some of those fighting the war had little understanding of the political motivations behind it, wartime propaganda convinced them to enlist (Miller, 2005). In his book The Creation of the Media, Paul Starr argues that the United States, as a liberal democracy, has favored employing an independent press as a public guardian, thus putting the media in an inherently political position (Starr, 2004). Anderson, Craig A. and others, “The Influence of Media Violence on Youth,” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 4, no. The public expects to receive information quickly, and news outlets respond rapidly to breaking stories. A Bangladesh-based publisher looking for images of bin Laden found the collage on the Internet and used it in an anti-American protest poster, presumably without knowledge of who Bert was. Balkanization is an allusion to the political fragmentation of Eastern Europe’s Balkan states following World War I, when the Ottoman Empire disintegrated into a number of ethnic and political fragments. In 2001, high school student Dino Ignacio created a collage of Sesame Street character Bert with terrorist Osama bin Laden as part of a series for his website. Kakutani, Michiko. In an infamous example of the new power of print media, some newspapers encouraged the Spanish-American War of 1898 by fabricating stories of Spanish atrocities and sabotage (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006). Another important development in the media’s approach to information is its increasing subjectivity. Tonto from The Lone Ranger reinforced cultural stereotypes about Native Americans. On one hand, the growth of the Internet as the primary information source exposes the public to increased levels of text, thereby increasing overall literacy. The written media analysis starts with an executive summary that highlights the introduction of the topic, the purpose of the study and the major findings. Although many consider celebrity culture superficial and a poor reflection of a country’s values, not all celebrities are simply entertainers. Fiction appeared in book or magazine form. When media consumers think of media messages, they may think of televised public service announcements or political advertisements. Some argue that these messages influence behavior, especially the behavior of young people (Beatty, 2006). Perhaps the standards for literacy will shift to an emphasis on simplicity and directness, for example, rather than on elaborate uses of language. For example, the massively popular talent show American Idol combines an older-media format—television—with modern media consumption patterns by allowing the home audience to vote for a favorite contestant. The other sections of the report include the. Many modern persuasive techniques stem from the use of media as a propaganda tool. That person in turn describes it to a coworker without having seen the original context. “Violent Films May Cut Real Crime, Study Finds,” New York Times, January 7, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/technology/07iht-violence.4.9058958.html. Creation of the Media (New York: Basic Books, 2004), 394–395. Propaganda and persuasion have long been a part of the interactions between media and culture. Although the long-term cultural consequences of this shift cannot yet be assessed, the development is undeniably a novel one. This dialogue is an important one; after all, mass media have long been used to persuade. The voyage of this collage from a high school student’s website to an anti-American protest poster in the Middle East to a cable television news network and finally back to the Internet provides a good illustration of the ways in which content migrates across media platforms in the modern era. In fact, media influence has become so powerful today that they can easily influence people positively and/or negatively. A number of studies have verified certain connections between violent video games and violent behavior in young people. Analyzing Media Messages is a primer for learning the technique of systematic, quantitative analysis of communication content. Analyze cultural messages that the media send. Magazines adopted a similar format later in the 19th century, and print media’s political and social power rose. Over the next few hours, the pair killed 12 classmates and one faculty member before committing suicide (Lamb, 2008). A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), 5. “Is Hollywood to Blame?” BBC News, April 23, 1999, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/03/99/tom_brook/326529.stm. Encyclopedia Britannica defines propaganda simply as the “manipulation of information to influence public opinion (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia).” This definition works well for this discussion because the study and use of propaganda has had an enormous influence on the role of persuasion in modern mass media. Media content analysis is the deconstruction of pieces of media with tendency towards either quantitative or qualitative research methods. How to Write Media Analysis Papers. When media consumers think of media messages, they may think of televised public service announcements or political advertisements. Explain how the media has affected culture. But did violent video games so desensitize the two teenagers to violence that they could contemplate such a plan? “Internet Making Our Brains Different, Not Dumb,” MSNBC, Feb. 19, 2010, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35464896/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/. Jenkins, Henry Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006), 2. Beatty, Alexandra. Whether actual or fictional, celebrities and their assumed roles send a number of different messages about cultural values. Actors such as John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe came to represent aspects of masculinity and femininity that were adopted into mainstream culture during the mid-20th century. To write this type of essay, the writer needs to understand the media landscape where the presentation of certain crucial issues is determined. Governments, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and political campaigns rely on both new and old media to create messages and to send them to the general public. In his book on technology and communication, A Better Pencil, Dennis Baron discusses this issue: For Plato, only speech, not writing, can produce the kind of back-and-forth—the dialogue—that’s needed to get at the truth…the text, orphaned by its author once it’s on the page, cannot defend itself against misreading…. 3 (2003): 81–110. Media analyses can be used to identify messages, examine how those messages are framed, and see how existing coverage of an issue could be improved. Both this wealth of information and the ways people process it are having an enormous effect on culture. Explain the different ways mass media affects culture. While many parents are hesitant to discuss sex with their children, the media can act like a “super peer,” providing information in movies, television, music, and magazines (Dohney, 2006). A self-produced video on the YouTube website that gains enormous popularity and thus receives the attention of a news outlet is a good example of this migration of both content and audiences. As you will learn in Chapter 4 “Newspapers”, the penny press made newspapers accessible to a mass audience and became a force for social cohesion during the 1830s (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006). Let's consider this ad's message by asking a few questions: Newspapers and pamphlets that glorified the sacrifices at Lexington and Concord and trumpeted the victories of George Washington’s army greatly aided the American Revolution. However, American Idol segments regularly appear on YouTube and other websites, where people who may never have seen the show comment on and dissect them. We analyze things or comment on them to identify their foremost elements as well as their causes. These are the items … An essay like this should consider a number of media items that were covered over the given time period. Be sure to discuss the following topics and to provide examples of each. Neuendorf (2002) describes content analysis as “the primary message-centred methodology” (p. 9) and cites studies such as … For example, after the USS Maine sunk off the coast of Havana, Cuba, some newspapers blamed the Spanish—even though there was no evidence—fueling the public’s desire for war with Spain. These obvious examples provide a venue for the transfer of a message through a medium, whether that message is a plea for fire safety or the statement of a political position. While this is not the norm for media content, the fact that such a phenomenon is possible illustrates the new directions in which media is headed (Jenkins, 2006). An analysis does not plainly ask you to break down things and depict them, but also to go beyond and affirm what information arrived after the analysis. The media can give us information to tell us what a product, service or message is. Explain the ways new media have affected culture. Customized news feeds allow individuals to receive only the kinds of news and information they want and thus block out sources that report unwanted stories or perspectives. In many types of media, sexual content—and its strong emotional message—can be prolific. But what about more abstract political advertisements that simply show the logo of a candidate and a few simple words? Television and magazines from the mid-20th century often portrayed women in a submissive, domestic role, both reflecting and reinforcing the cultural limitations imposed on women at the time. Phone companies report a regular increase in phone traffic following the show, presumably caused by viewers calling in to cast their votes or simply to discuss the program with friends and family. This migration works in a number of ways. The same celebrity can represent very different things depending on the form of media and its portrayal of that person. In modern society, the persuasive power of the mass media is well known. 1.2 Intersection of American Media and Culture, 1.5 The Role of Social Values in Communication, 3.3 Books and the Development of U.S. Popular Culture, 4.3 Different Styles and Models of Journalism, 4.4 How Newspapers Control the Public’s Access to Information and Impact American Pop Culture, 4.5 Current Popular Trends in the Newspaper Industry, 5.3 The Role of Magazines in the Development of American Popular Culture, 5.4 Major Publications in the Magazine Industry, 5.5 How Magazines Control the Public’s Access to Information, 5.7 Influence of the Internet on the Magazine Industry, 6.3 The Reciprocal Nature of Music and Culture, 6.4 Current Popular Trends in the Music Industry, 9.2 The Relationship Between Television and Culture, 9.3 Issues and Trends in the Television Industry, Chapter 10: Electronic Games and Entertainment, 10.4 The Impact of Video Games on Culture, 10.6 Blurring the Boundaries Between Video Games, Information, Entertainment, and Communication, Chapter 11: The Internet and Social Media, 11.4 The Effects of the Internet and Globalization on Popular Culture and Interpersonal Communication, Chapter 12: Advertising and Public Relations, 13.3 The Internet’s Effects on Media Economies, 14.4 Ethical Considerations of the Online World, 15.7 Media Influence on Laws and Government, 15.6 Digital Democracy and Its Possible Effects, 16.1 Changes in Media Over the Last Century, 16.3 Modern Media Delivery: Pros and Cons, 16.5 Privacy Laws and the Impact of Digital Surveillance, 16.6 Mass Media, New Technology, and the Public. Qualitative methods involve a viewing of the clip and then unstructured open … Mentat Kilbernes – Columbine Massacre RPG – CC BY-NC 2.0. How to Write Media Analysis Papers. Advertising icons developed during the early 20th century, such as Aunt Jemima and the Cream of Wheat chef, similarly reflected and reinforced a submissive, domestic servant role for African Americans. As you will read in Chapter 12 “Advertising and Public Relations”, World War I legitimized the advertising profession in the minds of government and corporate leaders because its techniques were useful in patriotic propaganda campaigns. For example, Benjamin Franklin’s famous illustration of a severed snake with the caption “Join or Die” serves as an early testament to the power and use of print propaganda (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006). For example, consumers read, watched, or viewed a news report in its entirety, typically within the context of a news publication or program. 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