Mass media is one of the most important and influential aspects of modern society.
I recently began taking a mass media course here at St. Xavier, and ever since then, I have been questioning the trust I place in various mass media outlets and the news they provide me.
We are constantly bombarded with information from numerous sources.
We read the paper, we watch the news on TV, we search the latest stories and gossip on the internet and we even have news updates sent to us constantly via our smartphones.
So exactly how does one sift through and interpret all this information?
To what extent can we believe what we are hearing and seeing from these mass media channels?
To successfully examine this issue and answer these questions we must really evaluate what news is and how mass media outlets gather information and present it to us. When an event occurs, mass media channels including news stations, newspapers, radio stations and internet news sources gather as much information as they can from various sources.
These sources can include anyone that can offer insight or thinks they know at least a portion of what is going on.
Mass media outlets then piece together the information, organize it, evaluate it, and when they think they have a complete story (or as much as they need) they present it to their audience in the way in which they think it will appeal to the most people.
In other words, they’re taking a guess at what their target audience wants to hear most. Even if they’re wrong, what we end up hearing or seeing is a product of their decision.
Likewise, that final product is often a very watered down version of the actual event in order to make the information accessible to the maximum amount of people.
This is referred to as the least common denominator.
So essentially what’s happening here is this, these mass media channels are gathering information, evaluating it, and coming to conclusions for you. This is called gatekeeping.
They’re calling the shots in terms of which sources are heard from, what information is included in the story, what gets left out, and how the story is ultimately presented.
It is also important to remember that there is a very good possibility that every mass media outlet you encounter is going to slant the story in a different way.
It may not always be obvious to the viewers, but every channel is going to have a slightly different version of the news or they might present it in a different light. And to add to that, it’s often dramatized.
In an article for The Guardian, Rolf Dobelli explains “We are not rational enough to be exposed to the press.
Watching an airplane crash on television is going to change your attitude toward that risk, regardless of its real probability.”
Because the goal of mass media is not only to inform but also to entertain, media outlets attempt to appeal to our emotions, making us perceive things as more threatening or dangerous than they actually are.
So at this point in the article you must be thinking how ironic it is for a writer for the newspaper to warn her readers about the dangers of mass media. Afterall, as a weekly contributor to the Xavierite, I am a gatekeeper.
However, I write this article not to scare readers away from mass media, but rather to encourage them to use it in a way which allows them to receive the most benefits.
Afterall, a world without gatekeeping would lead to a complete information overload.
We should be gathering as much information as we can from as many sources as we can (and mass media allow us to do that), while remaining mindful that this information is being presented to us by someone else with a specific intention and we should evaluate it and organize it ourselves and come to our own conclusions.
Sorting through and criticizing the information we receive from the media is by no means an easy task, but being aware of the gatekeeping ability of mass media channels and thinking critically about what you hear and see is half the battle and doing so helps you get the most out of mass media while not falling victim to its traps.
Bridget Goedke
Viewpoints Editor
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