Mass Media and Everyday Life Supplemental Notes

 

Across generational gaps – between parents and children or between professors born in the 20th century and students raised in the 21st century – do we agree that the mass media influence society in progressive ways?

A careful reading of Shirley Biagi’s first chapter underscores one central and constant fact; the mass media have experienced rapid changes within the last 20 years. Each one of them [newspapers, magazines radio, and television especially] has had to take on a new character and conduct business in different ways. In that space of time and by implication, the interactions between the mass media and society have taken on new dimensions. The following questions about the traditional media enable us to assess their status in contemporary times.

How many of us still read, buy or subscribe to hard copies of newspapers and magazines? There is ample evidence that newspaper and magazine readers either migrated to other news sources, or have opted to consume news and other information via online platforms. Our multidirectional migrations have drastically reduced newspapers and magazines’ circulation. As a result, advertisers who previously subsidized print forms of media followed our eyeballs’ migration to the locations from where we now access news. When advertisers’ subsidies left the print media, many newspapers died. Surviving ones drastically cut overhead. They continue to explore ways in which they can remain relevant to migrant readers. Students of print journalism in our midst know this first hand. Internships at newspapers have mostly disappeared and so have many of the entry level jobs that fresh graduates go after.

Do you have a favorite radio station, as your parents and grandparents did when they were your age? Where do you go to gain access to the kinds of information that radio used to provide? Perhaps the better question is this: are you interested in the caliber of services that traditional radio provided? Some of my students tell me that Pandora offers the type of “radio” that they are interested in. Pandora enables them to personalize and customize access to favorite musicians. These students unapologetically shared their disinterest in so much talk and/or the interruptions of advertising. Others swear by Rhapsody. Yet others yoked to Spotify. The central cord across the board of these alternatives to traditional radio is music of the listener’s choice.

Many moons ago, I was interrupted while watching TV by an advertisement paid for by Hulu. The message was simple: “come TV with us”! Though I rarely paid attention to advertising, the critical observer in me kicked into gear and I sat up in my chair. What does that “come TV with us” mean? Is that proper use of the English language? When did TV convert from a noun to an adjective? Using a laptop that sat nearby, I took a quick trip to the advertised website to assess the offer. Hulu promised access to shows plus movies anytime, anywhere. The site offered something for everyone from adults to kids. I began to consider the advantages of cutting ties with my cable company and how much I might shave off my monthly bills.

The realization hit me. We now have that capability to migrate away from traditional newspapers, find another way to customize radio and now TV. We live in the age of personalization and customization. In this new dispensation, citizens may no longer read the same newspapers, listen to the same radio or watch the same TV as was the case just a few years ago. This age of personalization and customization, spell decentralization. Centralization was a key feature of how mass communication functioned. As a class focused on studying Media and Society, we should therefore ponder: what does mass communication mean when audiences can personalize and customize messages? What is mass communication when there is no mass audience? In what ways have these developments shifted our engagements with other levels of communication, that is the interpersonal and the intrapersonal? How do we hold conversations on public affairs when some of us choose not to expose themselves to traditional news and current affairs? How does one American who is stuck on a conservative medium converse with an acquaintance who is engrossed in a liberal outlet?

Do the opportunities for personalization and customization equal positive progress? I look forward to reading your thoughts on the issues examined in this supplemental note.

Questions to Ponder

• Do you still read, buy or subscribe to hard copies of newspapers and magazines?
• Do you have a favorite radio station, as your parents and grandparents did when they were your age?
• Are you interested in the caliber of services that traditional radio provided?
• Pandora, Rhapsody, and Spotify – do they mean anything to you?
• Can there be mass communication in the absence of a mass audience?

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Reference

Shirley Biagi (2017). Mass Media and Everyday Life. Media/Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media, 12th edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.