Media Conglomerates and Agenda Setting

Media conglomerates- a media group or media institution is a company that owns a large number in various mass media such as TV, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet.

Agenda setting- a theory that explains how the media can influence public opinion by ranking stories according to the media's perception of importance thereby creating a public agenda. Although, this theory was written in the context of political communication. The theory is still relevant to this position.

Now, my question to you is, Is there a positive correlation between the media conglomerates and agenda setting?

Yes, there is a very strong correlation between the two.

Think about it, if News Corporation (owner of all Fox TV channels/stations, Speed channel, National Geographic channels, 27 Fox local stations, FSN, Star, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Companies, 20th Century Fox film, about 20 websites, and almost 50 different published groups) only ran Republican Party campaign ads then News Corp.'s audience would only hear a very one-sided message, not giving the Democratic Party any advertising air time or much a chance.

This is one of the problems that stares us, the audience, in the eye every time we watch TV.

The agenda setting research, by Dr. Donald Shaw and Maxwell McCombs, states that the media does indeed persuade our judgment, especially during election time.

We must beware of the media's influence on our daily decision making process.

Pay attention to media conglomerates and their desire to control the message that is sent to the people.

Be sure to check out the Media Conglomerates and Agenda Setting Revisited Blog posted on February 16, 2012, or click here http://postmanscause.blogspot.com/2012/02/media-conglormates-and-agenda-setting.html

Examples of Media Conglomerates and "Who Owns What" can be found here http://www.cjr.org/resources/

Research by McCombs and Shaw on Agenda-Setting Theory can be found here http://www.realhomepages.com/wecapps/comm510/agendasetting72.pdf.

Quotes From the Book, Amusing Ourselves to Death.

"We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity an...d history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right."

"For in the end, he was trying to tell us what afflicted the people in 'Brave New World' was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking.

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Cartoon:

http://www.recombinantrecords.net/docs/2009-05-Amusing-Ourselves-to-Death.html

[opinion]: the Media's Influence on Us and Our Children

Me, being a 24 year-old women, I feel as though I have seen a thing or two. Growing up, I was always allowed to watch TV, but TV wasn't what surrounded my fun and enjoyment during my childhood. I remember the days when I would play outside from when the sun came out to when the street lights turned on. Being "grounded" meant not being able to go outside and play.

Well, nowadays, I fear that kids don't play enough outside, kids are too immune to finding their enjoyment in watching TV or playing video games, furthermore, our kids aren't having their parents as role model instead its Hollywood actor #1.  This is only the beginning of the media's influence of us and our children.

The youth is whom is really in danger. With all the craze about reality tv shows, our youth have no good role models. I was watching an episode of Jersey Shore on MTV.  For heavens sake, I saw girls making-out with girls for 5-7 minutes of air-time, and guys creeping at every girl they saw in an effort to "hook-up" for the evening, or a minute, how ever long they last. As I watched this show, I thought how thankful I was to have Tiffani Amber Thiessen or Jonathan Tyler Thomas as a role model, not Mike the Situation or Snooki. Also coming from MTV, is the show Teen Mom. How many 16 year-old females are running around trying to find a baby's daddy to become the next sixteen-and-pregnant star?

Now I ask, how does the media influence our youth? Not only do the TV shows provide terrible influential opportunities but other forms of media employ the same idea. Think of magazine covers or commercial advertisement. The pounds of make up that women wear, or the air brushed abs that the men share. Is this our idea of what we want, or how we must look? We have to beware of the media's influence of us and our youth. I refuse to see a Pauly D want-a-be in the White House in the year 2020.

I became aware of  these ideas after reading the book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman. This book has a powerful and time-appropriate argument  that, in my opinion, everyone in our nation should read, especially the youth.

This problem is one of the many problems in an imaged based culture. Think about the days when  our culture was based on print or even word. These were the days when reading to learn knowledge was a status symbol, or when understanding the words of a presidential speech was expected by everyone. We, as a nation, have come a long way from the days of learning and understanding.

There are many more valid ideas in Postman's book. This is why I am actively campaigning for this book to be read by every high school student in America.  Just by reading this book, I became so inspired by the words of Postman's argument that I formed a cause surrounded by the book. Imagine how many other students he can inspire.

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The Cause

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Meredith L. Morgoch and I am a senior at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

Neil Postman’s book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, has inspired me to form a cause whereby this book would be placed nationwide as a high school reading requirement. I recognize the academic freedom that school districts have to choose their own requirements. However, I believe that these obstacles can be overcome and that we should encourage schools to consider this text for their curriculum.

If this book were a national high school reading requirement, the students of our nation would understand the cause-and-effect of the problem, and furthermore work toward a solution by creating a more democratic public. This book encourages its readers to challenge the recent changing world of communication, education, and politics.

My plan for the cause is to correspond with major political figures as well as local politicians to encourage them to make Postman’s book a reading requirement. As well as to have the book be read locally so it can grow to a national level.



Questions, comments, and advice are highly appreciated!