User talk:Bajm4group6

Edited copy

ILLUSTRATING MASS SOCIETY THEORY WITH EXAMPLES

Mass Society theory is a belief that mass media is responsible for breakdown of social order. The elites in the society felt they were losing grip of power they wielded over the ġas a result of modernization. An example Hearst Yellow Journalism was cited as a promoter of unethical practices to “pollute” the mind of the semi-literate.

we cannot discuss about mass society theory without mentioning cultivation analysis theory. this theory argues that television (and other media) plays an extremely important role in how people view their world. According to Cultivation Analysis, in modern culture, most people get much of their information in a mediated fashion rather than through direct experience. Thus, mediated sources can shape people’s sense of reality. This is especially the case with regard to violence, according to the theory. Cultivation Analysis posits that heavy television viewing cultivates a sense of the world that is more violent and scarier than is actually warranted.

Many nations have gone to war as a result of the information they got from the media. Ghana is not left out of this ugly practice of sensational Journalism. Branlilanger (1983) says leaders in education and religion resented media’s power to attract readers using content they considered highly objectionable, vulgar, and even sinful. Mass Society Theory espoused several assumptions and I will illustrate 3 of them.

Firstly, the theory says media has the power to subvert essential norms and values and thus undermined the social order. They felt the solution lied in bringing media under elite control. One phenomenon which has gripped our by neck is politics of insults in our media today. The elites including the President were victims. A caller had the effrontery to compare his president to a chimpanzee on radio. Nana Akufo Addo is daily branded in the media as “wee” smoker without any proof. In African setting, when neighbour is grieving over a lost, that neighbour is not mocked publicly. But a discussant on radio also had the effrontery to insult Former President Rawlings as the one who set his own house ablaze. The elites are beginning to fear the level our people are taking the press freedom to. The elite ask: where has respect for the elderly has gone? They fear our social norms and values have been crashed by modern mass media and something has to be done. It is not therefore a surprise to hear Dr Vladimir Antwi Danso call for return of Criminal Libel Law to check the excesses before the country, as he put it, plunged into war. He blamed the insanity in the media on politicians and journalist. His call fits in the domain of Mass Society Theory which advocates some measure of control of media.

The second assumption of the Mass Society Theory states that media have the power to reach out directly influence the minds of average people so that their thinking is transformed. Ghanaians witnessed the power of radio during the last general election in 2008. Radio Gold and Oman F.M spewed spurious messages at different times to NDC and NPP supporters respectively; accusing the other party was in bed with Electoral Commission (EC) to rig the election. The EC headquarters was besieged and had it not been the prompt response from security forces, different story would have been written today. This is the fear of our elites.

Thirdly, the theory assumes that once media transform people’s thinking, all sorts of bad long-term consequences result-not only bringing ruin to individual lives but also creating social problems on a vast scale (Marcuse, 1941). Today, armed robbery is rife on our highways. The Chronicle also reported this week that a boy in Tema in connivance with a vice principal of private JHS swindled a British philanthropist via internet. The boy posed as brilliant but needy student with scanned letter signed by the vice principal. Meanwhile, the boy is not a student anywhere. It is called “sakawa” But the, the question that arises in the wake of these crimes is, are the perpetrators of crime practicing what the watch or hear in the media or the media report only what goes on in the society? This is a Chicken-hen debate, which one is older?

In all these, who suffers? It is the individuals and society. This is the thrust in the message of Mass Society theory. Bajm4group6 (talk) 10:05, 2 October 2015 (UTC)