The Role of the Media in Society

What media channel did you use today? A newspaper? A magazine? A book? Television? Radio? Movie? Music? The Internet? Chances are you used most of these media outlets. The average American is estimated to spend about 721 minutes per day with media (Statista, 2017). That’s 12 hours! But you may not even be average. Check your screen time on your smartphone and you just might be shocked at how many hours a day you spend reading news feeds, surfing the Internet, snapping photos, posting, commenting, and watching—and that’s just online media usage.

The Media's Functions

Mass media informs, educates, persuades, and entertains us, playing a huge role in our society and our lives. Let’s explore the functions of mass media:

• surveillance,
• gatekeeping,
• interpretation,
• transmission of culture,
• entertainment and companionship, and
• economy linkage.

Surveillance and Gatekeeping

This is primarily the journalism function of the media. Journalists, those who gather and report the news to us, monitor events in our society (weather, sports, politics, business, etc.) on the local, national, and global levels and report back significant findings to distribute through their media channels, making journalists the gatekeepers. Because these journalist have control, bias often comes into play. Then we must consider ownership of media channels. Although there are thousands of channels, about six major companies control the majority of news and entertainment conglomerates in the U.S. An updated list of who owns what can be found at the Columbia Journalism Review.

Interpretation

Have you ever watched a TV talk show like The Daily Show, Hannity, or 60 Minutes? Have you read an editorial or opinion piece in the newspaper? The media provides perspectives, opinions, analysis, and judgement on significant events going in society, explaining what it all means. Due to this explanatory function, the media has political and commercial implications for society.

Transmission of Culture

How do you know what’s in fashion? What words are on trend? How should you raise your children? In its socialization role, the media spreads societal values and social norms from one generation to the next. This role is often more powerful than that of parents, churches, and schools. Media outlets present both ideological and value messages. It’s important to ask not only who’s represented, but also which groups are omitted.

Entertainment and Companionship

How do you spend your leisure time? Chances are you’re reading a novel, streaming Game of Thrones, listening to music on Spotify, laughing at yet another cat video on YouTube, competing in World of Warcraft with friends, following Kim's or Kanye's snapchats, or chilling with Netflix. You may be using media alone or with friends for company. Either way, media is our way to escape and amuse ourselves, giving us social currency in our daily lives and creating parasocial interactions with our favorite celebrities.

Economy Linkage

The media brings audiences and sellers together by providing programs that attract audiences. They then sell these audiences (i.e., you, ages 18–50) to advertisers, who use persuasive techniques to convince you to buy their products and services.

The Media's Impact

Can you imagine a world without the media?

Again, it’s important to understand the massive role media plays in our lives because, as Lippman tells us, it creates those pictures in our heads, including stereotypes.

Let’s go back to the Starbucks decision to close 8,000 stores for nearly three hours on May 29, 2018 in order to conduct racial bias training, a move experts say cost them nearly $12 million (Woodyard, 2018).

As the nation’s multicultural population continues to grow in size and spending power, the way that businesses, the news, television, entertainment, advertising, and other mass media outlets respond to the browning of America will determine their success. Each must serve the diverse interests of the nation’s multicultural society. The way that racial and ethnic identities are represented in American media and included in the marketing and communication efforts of companies is crucial to how these groups are understood in society.