Dialog of Communication

University of North Carolina Asheville
A Senior Thesis Submitted
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Bachelor of Mass Communication
Dialog of Communication: A Study of Mass Media and Effects
By
Erin Dalton
Submitted to
Alan Hantz
Fall 2016

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Introduction:
Society develops from an interaction between people via the exchanging of ideas and
goods. For instance, trade is one of the basic forms of communication because a dialog is
generated from exchanging of ideas and goods. In the contemporary age, media enables an
expansion of this dialog in various styles and platforms. This permits a larger scale of dialog that
circulates through the world, and from the dialog there are three roles highlighted by theorists
previously, like characters in a play: the viewer, who is the consumer, the communicator, who is
the reporter, and the artist, who is the critic. The viewer, classified under the title of ‘consumer’
or ‘audience’, makes up the majority of society. Skilled communicators use artistic techniques to
their benefit, while sourcing information for the public. Finally, the artist can speak to the public
very similarly as the communicator, but utilizes symbols and ‘speaks’ to the larger society’s
emotions. By these means, artists run the risk of their message being misconstrued, or missed
entirely.
“We are told about the world before we see it. We imagine most things before we
experience them,”1
is what the viewer perceives to be real; however, this doesn’t align or
permanent within society. For example, the social set of sexuality and race classification are
presently in the throes of change, and, as a result, impacting individuals’ understanding and
perception of the world around them. Social laws, on the other hand, are more of moral and
ethical codes that members of society are to follow and enforce. Saying something such as
“gravity is real” can be considered a social law because there is evidence supporting the
perception. Regardless of these semblance of unity, what the viewer believes comes down to
(more often than not) what they perceive, which in turn impacts the circulation. Mr. Chester,
who Lippman refers to in Public Opinion, notes an interesting point about the viewer in a
1
Walter Lippman, Public Opinion, Dover Edition (2004), 49.

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modern society: the viewer “is intrinsically insecure because it is based on the notion that all men
will do the same thing for different reasons.”2
A communicator is the term for a representative who enacts the action of communication.
They act as observers and speakers. However, what are they communicating? They speak to an
idea, to inform the public, and of the truth. In the mass media realm, the communicator can take
on multiples forms, and thus allowing to be in several corners of society. For example,
journalists, reporters, film directors, photographers, and advertisers are all specializations of the
communicator. Each of these roles compose what the viewer understands to be media. This in
turn permits the viewers to welcome the communicator into their living rooms and to talk
directly to them of varying interests. As Price, a manager of Nixon’s campaign said, “It’s not
what’s there that counts, it’s what’s projected-- and carrying it one step further...It’s not the man
we have to change, but rather the received impression.”3
For the sake of this paper, the focus will
be retained on the journalist and the advertiser as our main communicators.
Finally, the artist plays a unique role in this equation because they are very similar to the
communicator, yet at times can play the role of the viewer. Their perception stems from the
role’s innate ability to remain outside the realm of the viewer and communicator, while still
demonstrating criticism and commenting on the affairs of society. All through history we can
track such works, but at the turning point of change and technological development, the artist
begins to step out from under the commissioner’s weight. “The serious artist is the only person
able to encounter technology with impunity, just because he is an expert aware of the changes in
2
Ibid., 12.
3
Joe McGinnis, The Selling of the President: The classic account of the packaging of a candidate,
(Penguin Group, 1988), 37.

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sense perception.”4
Modern to Contemporary artists such as Jasper Johns, Warhol, Picasso, and
Cindy Sherman take a new role as artist in society: critics. The artist is similar to the
communicator, but they play a role as the critic of society as well. They see things as both
communicator and viewer, merging two insights to create a greater concept. They can also pass
judgements or issue opinions like a court judge (concepts being the wrongs of society or the
stereotypes). Present artistic notions presented have come about in more recent times with the
beginnings of Fauvism into what we consider to be Contemporary Art. Prior to these Modern and
Postmodern movements, artists were commissioned to document the world around them in
service of monarchies, religious authority, or families of wealth.
The dialog occurring between them is abstract, and composed of the pre, present, and
post interactions that occur either simultaneously or independently between people.
“Communication can be seen as an integral part of a culture and consciousness, as well as a tool
of human activity...”5
We are exposed to it every day in many forms, and with the recent
developments in technology (eg.: social media), this has become even more complex. Each
create their versions of reality via shared or individual perceptions that go into a grander
composition. This includes informing, commenting, criticism, and reaction/expression.
Analytically speaking, this is when the roles of society can intermingle as each tries to define and
create a specific version of a definition or statement. Each member of the roles stated have
responsibilities to uphold to the other. When there is a gap or shift in the communication process,
it can shift the whole tone of the dialog. Such shifts can be tracked through the overall evolution
of mass communications via the viewer’s trust in the media. Through outlets like the media,
society is, in some degree, enriched through the circulating of ideas and opinions. Since the
4
Marshall McLahun, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, (Gingko Press, 2003), 31.
5
Denis McQuail, Sociology of Mass Communication, (Annual Reviews, 1985). 95.

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viewer has the ability to comment back to the communicator. The most important commonality
between all three is that they cannot operate without the other.
The Viewer:
To start a conversation, one must have a thought or a desire that leads to a motivation to
communicate. A child from an early age understands this as they cry not yet knowing how to
speak. Gradually over time, through experience and observation, they learn how to start the
dialog with a word. The words form into statements and their role can evolve, they take part in
constructing and defining of the society they will live in.
McLuhan wrote, “The whole of society, so to speak, is founded upon a single fact;
everything springs from a simple principle.”6
This single principle that everything springs from
is the anchoring point to what is real. Real, by its dictionary definition, is something that actually
exists as a thing or occurring in fact, not imagination or supposed. For example, a vast majority
agrees gravity is real due to the scientific evidence and its constant presence in daily life. The
statement of gravity’s weighted existence, therefore, becomes the single hinging principle
society understands. It becomes the kind of statement that the lowest denominator of a group can
understand. Everything else seems to follow. If it were so simple to define reality, why can’t
everyone seem to absolutely agree on what society should be like?
The answer rests along the thin, complex line metaphorically drawn between everyone:
perception, “The web changes the dialog where factual content, opinion, and conversations often
can’t be clearly separated.”7
Anyone can construct a version of reality. It is also a factor of life in
which everyone can create, refute, and play into. A known fact of the communication realm is
that everyone forms their own opinions and understandings of the world since birth. Societally-
6
McLuhan, Understanding Media, 26.
7
Manovich, The Practice of Everyday (media) Life: From Mass Consumption to Mass Cultural Production,
326.

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speaking, the larger population accepts various definitions of what is real because overarching
beliefs, systems, and stereotypes. “The subtlest and most pervasive of all influences are those
which create and maintain the repertoire of stereotypes. We are told about the world before we
see it. We imagine most things before we experience them,”8
theorist Walter Lippman said.
Some of the viewer’s mindset and perception comes from childhood into adulthood lessons, such
as economic class, race, upbringing, and gender. The difference formed between people allow
for opposing views to grow creating a diverse public. Each individual adds a layer, and each
layer may blend or clash. This ability to construct not only encourages miscommunication, but
also makes the viewer important to the cycle.
The viewer plays a complex role into the circulation of communication. They serve as the
backbone of the societal cycle because they want something, whether it is information, product,
or validation. The viewer additionally plays the commentator in which they talk back to the
communicator and artist. This feedback generates criticism and tension that leads to a spectrum
from gradual to stark shifts within the cycle. The vierwer’s focus remains on their wants and
needs, which in turn the communicator and artist feed into. As an illustration of the cycle. the
journalist eagerly hunts down a story to provide to their readers, searching and observing the
happening of the world. When they have a story, they write it up for diverse reasons, chief
amongst them informing, entertainment, and promotion. Depending on the journalist and their
editor, the particular stories written may have an agenda or is tailored to a certain audience e.g.
liberal or conservative, which is ethically questionable. To clarify, the act of setting an agenda
loses a degree of objectivity required by the journalist to uphold, such as CNN and FoxNews.
Following the understanding of communication and consumption, there is the matter of
the audience to address; who is viewing, why they are viewing, and how it might impact them.
8
Lippman, Public Opinion, 49.

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The journalist, as discussed, provides information and fact. This particular exchange often occurs
simultaneously. As the journalist writes, the viewer consumes, reacts, and searches for more. The
information consumed almost immediately begins to be integrated into their perception of
reality. Now if the message is tailored to fit their views the viewer loses a window chance of
being well-informed. Flip side the viewer finds validation and more subtle content of information
through the pieces an artist creates. In particular, validation comes from the unique experience of
when the viewer connects with a piece, and it evokes some emotional response.
Technological advances take it one step further: the viewer can become the
communicator. This breaking of boundaries is often called citizen journalism, or blogging.
Seeing that social media outlets allow the viewer to comment, and 24-hour news saturates
society, it can change tones of how the public addresses an issue and what issues should hold
their focus. While the viewer is looking to be informed or entertained in terms of formal
journalism, there needs to exist a line between information and entertainment. This line has
become steadily blurred as viewers become overwhelmed, and the news industries are looking
for the sensual “if it bleeds it reads” kind of content. Thus, the dialog evolves to become more of
a circular exchange than a one-way track, “We must stop talking to Americans as special interest
groups and start talking to special interest groups as Americans.”9
As the viewer is impacted by
technology, the communicator utilizes it. The medium becomes secondary despite the effects it
can have on the message. Social Media and citizen journalism have allowed for the circulation to
shift to more of a push and pull between the viewer and the communicator, “…if in the 1990s the
web was mostly a publishing medium, in the 200s it has increasingly become a communication
9
McGinniss, The Selling of the President, 143.

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medium.”10
On one hand, templates like social media are beneficial to the communicator in
understanding what the public wants more clearly. On the other hand, it breaches into the role of
the communicator, changing the relation between the two, and creates tension.
In the contemporary cycle, the viewer has become somewhat detached. This could be a
result of information being readily available and overwhelming; as a result, a tension develops.
This tension exists as both abstract and physical as it is formed through the interaction between
the viewer, the communicator, and the artist. The strongest point of this tension in the realm of
the viewer comes from the development of pseudo-environments to the extent that (in theory)
they are hunting and consuming news that only fits to said environment. Any information
contrasting the viewers’ beliefs and perception become lies or questionably fabricated in the
extremes. In some way or another reality can almost be completely personalized, and the theory
of the pseudo-environment becomes the norm. As Daniel Boorstin was quoted saying, “We have
become so accustomed to our illusions that we mistake them for reality. We demand them.”11
This becomes an issue because theoretically speaking it means no one is truly informed, and
journalism loses its objectivity. Then the viewer is not at fault, but the media, to a degree, feeds
into this, “...as an enemy of active intellectual endeavor but that the media, while they may not
actually be the message, inevitably reshapes content to fit a form that subordinates both the
spoken and the written word to visual images.”12
By doing so, there can be a literal verbal
change in communication that affects the mindset and effort of all parties involved. Susan
Jacoby’s example is the political use of “folks”. In mass media, the viewer does (or can) lose
their individuality, both in a willing sense (being united), or unknowingly because they’re of this
10
Lev Manovich, The Practice of Everyday (media) Life: From Mass Consumption to Mass Cultural
Production, (…), 320.
11
12
Susan Jacoby, The Age of American Unreason, (Pantheon Books, New York 2008). 11.

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struggle for inclusion and personal environment. Consider Donald Trump’s campaign and his
primary slogan, “Make America Great Again”. It is simple and direct. More importantly, it is
abstract enough that everyone can put their beliefs into it and say that is what it means to be
great. The dilemma in using this phrase is not because the term is too common, but the setting in
which it is being used. Saying “folks” in a political setting potentially takes away the
individuality of the people, therefore, importance of the groups and diversity that make up the
society. She even goes on to write, “political speech is always ahead of the curve, especially
because today’s media possess the power to amplify and spread error with an efficiency.”13
Since the 60’s, the relation between the viewer and the communicator have been in a
constant state of tension and shifts. Tension marks the interaction and exchange between the two,
and the shift marks a change in behavior and tone. For example, the introduction of investigative
journalism during Watergate was a shift, while the events of 9/11 was another. One shifted the
tone to trusting the media, and the other lost the same trust. Here is the weighted point: if the
dialog shifts, who is media talking to and what are they saying?
The Communicator:
The basic purpose of the communicators is to inform. They are capable of moving in and
out of the pseudo-environment. The communicator, therefore, develops the skill set to analyze
and observe society through different events and the people presenting them. A communicator
can be the journalist, new anchors, advertisers, film makers, photographers, and PR
representatives of campaigns and groups. Each role fulfills the goal to inform in different, and to
uphold some element of honesty or truth. Where the journalist hunts for their story, the advertiser
observes to better know how to sell to their audience. Although an advertiser may seem to spin
the truth by being dramatic or theatrical; however, by law they are required to not sell false
13
Jacoby, The Age of Unreason, 6.

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advertisement or skew their numbers. A film maker may work purely in fiction or the opposite in
documentaries, but this is known beforehand. While the journalist is tasked to inform the public
through an objectivity, transparent lenses in which there is no fabrication. The communicator, as
listed, is the verb. They are ones who are talking or pushing an idea or story forward into the
public. At the same time, they are interacting with the public by observing, talking, recording,
and capturing the various facets of the community or nation they live in. It is then the medium
that becomes their conduit to reach a larger public. This is called mass media, “Communication
can be seen as an integral part of a culture and consciousness, as well as a tool of human
activity.”14
The realm of mass media is comprised of various platforms enabling an expansive means
to communicate. Each form, known as “the medium”, has an impact to how, when, and where
the message is perceived. The evolution of mass media starts with the printing press, a
revolutionary way to spread words, and continues with the internet, a complex void of code
shooting across the world. Falling in-between is television, radio, movies, and social media, but
no medium lacks the ability to hold weight or impact, “If the TV tube fires the right ammunition
at the right people, it is good.”15
This marks the physical evolution of mass media; however,
there is a more tactical layer of mass media. This raises question that many mass communication
theorist have asked: what impact does media have on society? If media, and therefore the
communicator, are only to inform then they have selective impact based on how the viewer is
consuming them. It allows the power to be in the hands of viewer, and the communicator is
plainly answering to their desires and need for information. The counter to this seemingly neutral
stance is that the media prioritizes what the public should care about. This is known as agenda
14
McQuail, Sociology of Mass Communication, 97.
15
McLuhan, Understand Media: The Extensions of Man, 23.

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setting. Theorists Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw called this “agenda setting” in 1972.
Assuming that in our 24-hour news cycle and constant bombardment of commercials permits this
theory to be of some truth, “does this mean that people’s identities and imaginations are now
even more firmly colonized by commercial media?”16
To a degree, mass media does have this
range of impact, especially in the field of advertisement and fashion. However, the theory also
removes the viewer’s influence. Therefore, what must first be established is the amount of
influence the communicator has over the public. The communicator has a fair amount of
influence because they are one of the sources for the viewer to see, hear, and understand the
world around them; which is accomplished through the various stories told on different
mediums.
Communication does not stop at the viewer, or the moment it has left the hands of
communicator. What follows the publication of a story or an idea is a cycle of the information
that steadily changes or halts entirely. In a way, communication operates as one big game of
telephone. The journalist goes out to get the story, picks up quotations, write, and passes it on to
the editor. They then edit it, send it back, read it again, and when it fits, they publish the account.
Then it goes to the reader (or the consumer) who reads, shares, and adds comments to it. Given
the platforms modern society has now (such as social media), this cycle can occur quicker and at
a cost of objectivity: how does the communicator keep up with a society moving a mile a minute
where the viewer can more easily disagree, ignore, and construct their reality? Basically, how
does mass media evolve to fit the demands of a technological advance society?
Ethically, a journalist’s responsibility is to document and inform the public of events and
facts that allow them to form an opinion of their own. This makes communicators and mass
16
Manovich, The Practice of Everyday (media) Life: From Mass Consumption to Mass Cultural
Production, 321.

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media not inherently evil. The journalist’s produces the truth through their stories and quotations.
However, if the journalist is bias they compromise this ethical responsibility and the viewer is no
longer properly informed. The issue with this is not only the lack of an informed public in
which, “Our democracy is based upon the concept of an enlightened and informed public”17
but
the dialog between the two becomes sensualized and the tone changes entirely. Seeing as the
communicator, such as the reporter or director, can have influence over someone’s environment
and upbringing because of how accessible they are and the terminology communicate with
already-present stereotypes or opinions can be reaffirmed, “mass media are examined not so
much as definers of “reality”, but as dynamic sites of struggle over representation, and complex
spaces in which subjectivities are constructed and identities are contested.”18
So if the dialog
becomes more sensual and the tone more paranoid the stereotypes can emphasized despite the
chance of them being wrong. For example, the issue of terrorism and the association of the word
with a large group people; or a race being poor or slotted as inclined to destruction. Both are
incorrect, or at the least lack proper coverage and through investigation. To some degree,
scholars such as Susan Jacoby believe this to be a decline in the media’s integrity, and in
intelligence being produced and shared in society, “as an enemy of active intellectual endeavor
but that the media, while they may not actually be the message, inevitably reshape content to fit a
form that subordinates both the spoken and the written word to visual images.”19
Through this growth and change in tactics and tone comes tension. It began in the 60’s,
with the coverage of Civil Rights, and continued with President Nixon’s campaign and election.
The time of the Civil Rights movement spurred a lot of unrest across the nation. Something
17
Nugent Wedding, Advertising, Mass Communication, and Tax Deduction, (Journal of Marketing, Vol.
24, No. 4, 1960), 22.
18
Debra Spitulnik, Anthropology and Mass Media (Annual Reviews, 1993), 296.
19
Jacoby, The Age of Unreason, 11.

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media could not ignore as they quickly latched onto the big events hitting the front page, like in
the southern cities of Birmingham, Ala. and Jackson, Miss. There are records of several images
documenting the strife, but it would not so much be the written word that promoted coverage, but
television. Broadcasting would be the instrument to allow the movement to reach beyond the
South, and expand into different groups that normally may have not heard it soon enough. As
such it is hard to say that the media failed to properly push the issues of the Civil Rights
Movement because the notes of failed coverage are subtle. Instead the attention was refocused
onto the growing conflict of the Vietnam war. The media did not engineer this shift of focus, but
were following what the leaders, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X, were beginning to talk
about. Their discussion turned towards the disportionate amount of black men in service over
sea, and this allowed the topics of Civil Rights at home to gradually plateau. As a result the
plateau of mass media and the cycle gradually begin to center their attention more towards
sensual coverage and entertainment because everyone is over-saturated and tired of violence,
“Conventional journalism could no more reveal this war than conventional firepower could win
it.”20
A side effect to the plateau consequently leads to the lack of information the public finds
themselves rediscovering, in such as imperfect coverage of the statistical differences between
blacks and whites, the disproportionate amount of convicts in accordance to race, police brutality
in accordance to race, and just more human interest stories.
The campaign managers for Nixon were able to “sell” an unlikely candidate enough to
make him seem likable, “a genesis. We’re moving into a period where a man is going to be
merchandised on television more and more.”21
They were aware of how television was impacting
the public, and how to compose a shot and staging of the audience without absolutely
20
Marc Weingarten, The Gang Who Couldn’t Write Straight, (Crown, 2005), 163.
21

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compromising media integrity. This marked a turning point for political campaigns and the way
media could project its subjects. Underlining this moment was the Vietnam War and Civil Rights
Movement that were stirring tension and energy, and mass media was therefore flourishing with
it. Out of this comes investigative journalism led by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein,
photojournalism showing the human and horrific sides of war and protest, laws changing to
protect freedom of expression and other rights, and new journalism led by Wolfe, Thompson,
Didion, and Capote challenging the traditional forms of journalism to be more for the experience
and humanity of society. All of this led to, “Entertainment rather than information is the aim of
its producers, and the hope of its consumers.”22
With so much change happening, media platforms had to change their tactics and
language in which they spoke to the viewer and artist. As a result, the change has been a steady
shift away from objectivity to subjectivity. The majority of journalists are too focused on the
sensual or a particular viewpoint (or outcome) in which they lack the investigative drive to
explore both sides. Instead, media is focusing on the emotions, knee-jerk reactions, and
(presently) riots. The journalism by Woodward and Bernstein, documentations of the war by
photographers and new journalists would reestablish faith from the public into the media,
striking a balance between the two. The transition to please the viewer grows with the evolution
of mass media incorporating social media and the internet. The internet opens new gateways of
communication that is not only quicker, but universal. Then there was another tipping point: the
crisis of 9/11. Media and the audience became driven by subjectivity and emotions, which in turn
led to the collapse of faith in the media by journalists like Judith Miller. Violence rises with the
abstract concept of terrorism only paralleled by communism, and social injustices begin to
resurface.
22
Weingarten, The Gang Who Couldn’t Write Straight, 5.

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An ironic note to observe is entertainers such as John Oliver or Steven Colbert are more
informed, or are attempting to inform the public more than your traditional journalist. That is to
say the traditional communicators, in theory, are so focused on pleasing their “chosen audiences”
that they forget to fulfill certain requirements. Entertainers of late hour new shows seemingly
have more freedom. They are not required to adhere to the same guidelines as the reporter
necessarily that effectively de-legitimizes them as factual news sources, thereby giving them the
freedom to spin the facts more creatively, “Style becomes substance. The medium is the massage
and the masseur gets the votes.”23
There are a lot of effects with no solutions.
The Artist:
The intriguing factor of art comes from how universal and paradoxical the medium can
be. The practice is purely a composition of experiences, cultural, expression, personal
perception, and the audience’s perception; and yet art retains this credibility that the
communicator can never have. To a degree, this credibility was established through the roots art
has dug into society since the beginning of mankind. Art has been around since the beginning, as
depicted in the cave paintings, and since then are to be commission-based. As a medium and
practice it has often been a method of documentation, promotion, and expression, “To sum up,
pictographic and hieroglyphic writing as used in Babylonian, Mayan, and Chinese cultures
represents an extension of the visual sense for storing and expediting access to human
experience.”24
As the mass media has evolved, art has also changed over the years. Such a
statement appears to be apparent given the collection of art movements there have been.
Although this is true, the main change has been accessibility. Art has been a luxury for royals,
patrons, and the upper class as a mark of sophistication and intelligence. It was credible under
23
24
McLuhan, Understanding the Media, 124.

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the title of Fine Arts (with a capital “A”). For the purpose of this paper, Fine Arts defines the
more traditional forms of art, such as the Renaissance, Impressionist, etc. A section of the art
world that filters out artist with their requirements and demand for great skill 25
, and such a
judge of work and maker comes down to a matter of perception. Furthermore, when referring to
mass art, it includes art mass-produced and works of the Modern and Postmodern Art Era. With
all this said, it would be the dawn of the internet that permitted art to become more accessible,
“By contrast, American Pop’s contemporaneous merging of elite and mass culture.”26
Technology that expanded the realm of mass media and changed the tone of the communicator
allowed the social critic to become more noticeable. Therefore, artists play a critical role in the
contemporary cycle as the social critic.
The artist, as previously mentioned, provides an outlet and view the viewer may not be
accustomed to that will result in a reaction. Similar to the communicator, one of the tasks of the
artist is to communicate an idea or a story. They also have an awareness to the events and people
of society as the communicator does. How is the artist different from the communicator? Artists
see both the viewer and the communicator, and have more room as to what techniques and
subjects they will cover. The artist can be more bias than the journalist is permitted to be. As
Wyndham Lewis said, “The artists is always engaged in writing a detailed history of the future
because he is the only person aware of the nature of the present.”27
They can be more drastic and
crude, or more graceful and humorous. Through these lenses, the artist presents a mirroring
image to what is real with subtle (or not so subtle) differences.
25
This is also an inclusionary term because someone with great skill may still be considered a mass
artist.
26
David Hopkins, After Modern Art: 1945-2000 (Oxford University Press, New York, 2000). 110.
27
McLuhan, Understanding the Media, 96.

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“Since the 1950s art has moved steadily away from abstraction toward representation.”28
This begins to explain the move from Fine Arts demands to Contemporary Art.29
Representation
in a modern society (needless to say) is expansive, each group demanding some form of
recognition or attention. As a result, the art encompasses the subject matter in which they are
capturing and brings in the viewer. “In many works of art, the artists conveys a theme by
investing a subject with emotional significance or implying a moral value.”30
The artist and their
work begin to set a new tone in which art is representing people: the act of being active. As
previously mentioned, art has always been the critic and historian of the same coin, and yet in
Contemporary art, the artist and their work are more notably present in the cycle as critics. The
use of many different styles reflects the globalization of culture and overwhelming amount of
information available. So, rather than developing a new style, artists are reacting to the old ones
that the Information Age has brought back. For instance, Contemporary artists are developing
their own styles through responding to the technological changes, and mimicking styles from
several previous art movements, “...artists are opting to appropriate or recycle existing images
rather than compose their own.”31
Through the use of modern day technology, art was able to
move away from painting to installations, mass production, LED lights, and television. Their
voice becomes more integrated into how the public is speaking and absorbing their content.
As mass media developed, art became an influence by art. Advertisers realized what techniques
they could use that have been present in artistic compositions for centuries. In a sense, they
became more aware to aesthetics of the viewer, or the particular focus group they are appealing
28
Marc H. Miller, Television’s Impact of Contemporary Art, (Aperture Foundation Inc., Princeton
University Art Museum, 1987), 67.
29
To clarify, Fine Arts is still a level and practice within the art world, but for this paper the focus resides
on the work of Contemporary artist, whose works are often categorized under themes.
30
Christiane Weidemann, Petra Larass, Meanie Klier, 50 Women Artists: You Should Know, (Prestel
Publishing, New York 2008), 3.
31
Miller, Television’s Impact of Contemporary Art, 68.

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to, in addition to social issues or trends that might push their product forward. This form of the
communicator gained an attention to value; “Reason pushes the viewer back, it assaults him, it
demands that he agree or disagree, impression can envelop him, invite him in without making an
intellectual demand.”32
Therefore, a large connection between the artist and the communicator
tends to run through the exchanging of stylistic forms of communication between the two
practices. So while the communicator borrows from the artist, the artist in turn is aware of the
techniques of the communicator. Such a notion remains consistently noted in the use of
technology, stereotypes, social-political narratives, and the use of text. Language that has been
physically spelled out rather than merely depicted has developed into a trend in contemporary
works of art. In some instances, artists directly borrow for ads, such as Barbara Kruger’s I Shop,
therefore I am (Fig. 1). For some others the use of those kinds of techniques, specifically text, is
used as a backdrop to emphasize or clarify the narrative. Therefore, the art gains another layer of
complexity juxtaposed with simplicity that would be demonstrated by consumption. The viewer
can understand words more quickly than a visual depiction, while the image is rich in symbols
and cues to only magnify the narrative further. In some ways the message becomes more direct
and yet in others it becomes more complex.
Contemporary artist Jenny Holzer is another primary example to employing the use of
text as her primary style. The words she uses are formed in short sentences that are projected
onto surfaces (usually buildings), and they scroll by. In other exhibits, she shows the lines in
strips of LED lighting following a narrow screen around the room or on the ceiling. The lines of
text are often poetic, comprising into a message line by line. The visual effect of the words
scrolling by creates a moving narrative that shows how a story or concept can be lasting but
never permeant. Time affects everything including our own words, which have the reputation of
32

19
being solid and everlasting (Fig. 2). Although the physical words do not linger, the message and
stereotypes do. Holzer said in regards to her work, “I like my pieces to be very short, and other
times I want them to be sustained.”33
Additionally, this act of flow challenges our understanding
or perception of language. That language, especially the written word, stands to be one of our
main forms of communication; however, how the message is read and understood depends on the
viewer. The viewer’s own background, experiences, education, and so forth affect how much of
an impact the lines might have. As a result, the piece become dynamic and interactive beyond its
movement. Holzer’s work called “Inflammatory Essays” (Fig. 3) displays this dynamic. In an
episode of PBS’s Art 21 she says, “I want people to focus on the content of the writing, and not
who wrote it.” Holzer has been exhibited all around the world with pieces in New York to
Berlin.
American painter Kehinde Wiley, another contemporary artist, creates work that speaks
to the complexities of identity and representation. His work are large scale oil paintings done in
the old European style that royal patrons would have done for their own portraits, with flat print
juxtaposed over the composition, like the Fleur-de-lis. They are rich in color showing hyper-
realistic renderings of his subjects. In this case, it is the subject that produces the most interest.
His models are members of the African American community captured in modern day clothing,
which contrasts the traditional, Renaissance-like posing. Looking at Prince Tommaso Francesco
of Savoy-Carignano (Fig. 4), the viewer is confronted with a stoic figure upon a majestic white
horse, overlaid (like Napoleon or a prince of Venice) with an elegant gold design. The
representation and posing as strength, success and power has been a privilege saved for the white
male throughout history. Wiley’s work changes the dialog and presents the black community in
strength, giving a glimpse into their lives. The privileged view being only white and male has
33
PBS “Art 21”

20
been an issue for centuries, still saturating our media with the use of stereotypes and what lenses
the communicator chooses, “...the insertions of black men into the world of aristocratic portrait
serve to unmask the Eurocentrism and class privilege.”34
Wiley comments on this through his
series News Republic. Additionally, the positioning of the figure comments and bluntly addresses
the definition of masculinity presented in fashion and posing that the viewer is accustomed to..
While in other works where women are his models, Shantavia Beale II (Fig. 5) illustrates them in
beauty and grace, but also mystery.
In either case, these two artists speak to or critique a piece of society. Sometimes media
fails to properly address these pieces, but it also permits a group to be included or represented.
Art has constantly played the role to counterbalance the communicator critic, and presently, art’s
ability as the social critic becomes more apparent, “the creative artist himself may be a valuable
focus for the study of social and cultural change because he is often remarkably sensitive to
tensions in the social order.”35
The artist takes the dialog and tools of the contemporary media to
formulate a message the people may be more accustomed to. This plays a dual role within the
work, such as Holzer. By using LED lights, she is not only incorporating modern day
technology, but is also making the message clear and crisp for the viewer to perceive. There are
no hidden layers or meanings aside from how the viewer interprets it and the site. On the other
hand, the artist revives old techniques that break the everyday consumption of media and visual
images by bringing forth something old and new at the same time. Wiley presents this with his
work using old techniques to raise issues or concepts society has worked with for centuries. Both
are reaching out to the viewer to communicate or relate to, and also to inspire thought. Art has a
34
Jean Robertson, Craig McDaniel, Themes of contemporary art: third edition: visual art after 1980,
(Oxford University Press, New York 2013), 57.
35
J.W Getzels, M. Csikszentmihalyi, On the Roles, Values, and Performance of Future Artists: A
Conceptual and Empirical Exploration, 516.

21
unique quality to evoke thought and emotion, allowing it to be a conduit for beliefs and ideas,
“The human mind is endlessly and persistently creative. The pictures fade or combine, are
sharpened here, condensed there, as we make them more completely our own.”36
It’s a dynamic
that only the artist has seemed to master.
Methodology:
News, images, comments, social media, and art saturate every corner of daily life. The
news well-established as 24/7 broadcasting, reports on the incidents ranging from community to
the presidential election. Social media outlets, like Facebook, host information and opinions. All
the while artists are making pieces criticizing or representing what they see. There comes a point
where one has to wonder about how it all connects. This paper has answered this question
through the analysis of three roles within the circulation of communication in a media-rich
society. In order to understand the cycle of contemporary communication, the researcher must
step outside the roles as both the communicator and viewer. To be able to observe all the pieces
and tones of speech occurring, there must be an unbiased view, and incorporation of all factors.
Furthermore, the cycle being discussed works as one unit that dictates that all three roles cannot
function without the other. The viewer, communicator, and artist are wide-ranging positions in
which this paper has exhibited a glimpse into.
For this particular research paper, content analysis of mass communication theories and a
brief survey was taken. The primary theorists chosen were Walter Lippman, Marshall McLuhan,
and Susan Jacoby; however, other scholarly articles were analyzed as to create a more well-
rounded view. The questions they raise are: what effect does media have? Who are the parts? If
there is a circulation, how does it flow? What impact do they have on each other? By reading
books like Understanding Media, Public Opinion, Selling of the President, After Modern Art:
36
Lippman, Public Opinion, 87.

22
1945-2000, Anthropology and Mass Media, etc. there develops a theme. As result, there is a path
that can be tracked and mapped out, especially if the researcher remains aware to current events.
The unique quality of this topic is how current it is. As this paper is being written and read,
events of contemporary life keep circulating, in turn providing more data and trends to track.
During the same time period of content analysis, the survey was sent through different
social media sites, such as Facebook and Tumblr, for an anonymous pool. Through these sites
the survey was shared by the various members. There were only five questions on the survey
pertaining to the effects and trust in the media, and the role of the artists. The survey was created
through SurveyMonkey on October 26, 2016 and then shared on the same day. 67 participants
were documented with the last response on November 1, 2016. Hosting the survey in these social
media sites permitted a less exclusive audience due to the nature of the topic.
The questions from the survey contained the following:
1. Does the media impact your personal environment?
2. How much of an impact do you think media has on society?
3. Is the communicator an artist, and the artist a communicator?
4. Who speaks more truth: the journalist or the artist?
5. Which one do you value more: news or art?
Results:
As research progressed the circulation of media and information began to show a trend
that I have called “the tension”. This “tension” describes the steady changes within the media
since the 60’s. In the discussion of the communicator I mentioned it began with the Civil Rights
movement into Nixon’s election.

23
The Civil Rights movement in relation to the field of communication changed how a
movement might be seen and heard. This was done by broadcasting the speeches and protests to
every member of society with a television, in addition to the newspapers picking up headlines.
Art also steps into the circulation by documenting the events as publications in photojournalism,
“What do these people see? We don’t know. And it doesn’t matter. It is an Event: something
worth seeing-- and therefore worth photographing,”37
and activist artists. To further the cause
(and an example of the viewer becoming a communicator) leaders, like Martin Luther King Jr.,
began styling their speeches for broadcasting. Communicators, such as journalists, gradually
changed focus as the leaders of the movement pointed to another topic: the Vietnam War. This
redirection marks another moment of time when the viewer stepped up into the realm of the
communicator and the tone of the circulation shifted.
Following this would be Nixon’s election, and eventually, the Watergate scandal.
Nixon’s campaign strategy arguably changed the field of political campaigning. This was done
from their use of television, “He’ll be talking to the camera, not to Bud. He wants to go into the
living room.”38
There was an art and intentional timing as they made an unlikable candidate
likable. They knew how to use media as a tool until Woodward and Bernstein began asking
questions that led to them pursuing the story of the Watergate Scandal. These articles showed
another side of journalism bringing the ethical value for truth to the forefront once more.
Additionally, the styles of New Journalism bloomed forth, giving the public a stronger taste of
the experience and emotional facets of life. This kind of journalism would slowly bleed into
media as a whole as the communicator would try to keep up with the demands of their viewers.
Gradually news stories became more sensualized, and the viewer became more critical in
37
Susan Sontag, On Photography, (Picador, New York 1977), 11.
38
McGinniss, Selling of the President, 153.

24
consuming what fit their environment. It would not be until the crisis of 9/11 and declaration of
war that the tempo and tone changed. The nation was shaken by the events, and people
demanded answers that, at the time, the media may have not yet had; regardless, the tone
changes and the “tension” begins to climb. The viewer loses some of their faith in journalism due
to a failure to check their sources or spinning the truth, and the pseudo-environment becomes
more defined. All throughout Modern and Postmodern eras, artists step forward with pieces
mocking consumerism, noting the unresolved inequality, and asking what it means to be human.
Since then, there have been subtle evidence to this “tension” further building as the
environment contemporary societal members interact with or create. The effects of media and art
seem so obvious, but unfolding the results to a grander picture that we have drawn a path to
shows more complex routes.
The results of the survey are as followed:
1. Does the media impact your personal environment?
a. Yes: 59.70%
b. No: 5.97%
c. Some: 34.33%
2. How much of an impact do you think media has on society?
a. A lot: 85.07%
b. Relative: 13.43%
c. Very Little: 1.49%
3. Is the communicator an artist, and the artist a communicator?
a. Yes: 44.78%
b. No: 0.00%

25
c. Depends on the circumstances: 55.22%
4. Who speaks more truth: the journalist or the artist?
a. The journalist: 25.37%
b. The artist: 74.63%
5. Which one do you value more: news or art?
a. Art: 85.07%
b. News: 14.93%
Discussion:
Based on these results, there are two immediate points of interest that surface. First, there
is the percentage that believe media has a high impact on society because it illustrates the
viewer’s awareness to the impact as a whole. Yet there is lesser belief that media can have an
influence on the viewer’s own personal environment. In theory, this could be for various reasons,
like media literacy and/or the more precise ability to construct one’s pseudo-environment. If the
viewer is tailoring most everything to fit their view, then it can be assumed that the media would
have less of an impact because it is no longer challenging them or swaying them a different way.
Even though about 59% participants said “yes” and 34% said “some” to the effects of media on
their own environment, there stands an awkward gap between society as a whole and the viewer.
What stood out the most in the results was the difference in trust between the artist and
the journalist. The artist was calculated at 74.63% and the journalist at 25.37%. This contrast
supports the theory that members of society have lost their trust in contemporary media, as noted
after the events of 9/11. Granted, that is one reason for the distrust, but it has been 15 years since
the crisis, which gives rise to other factors to consider. For example, would the tailoring of news
into bias views (eg: Liberal and Conservative) and more fractured, sensualized presentation

26
cause viewers to trust the news less? To a degree, yes if the communicator is biased then they
jeopardize their responsibility to present the truth, which in turn creates a less informed public.
Furthermore, during a time of awareness, along with oversaturation, the public becomes more
critical in what they are hearing, and develops a distaste in the media’s presentation or lack
thereof. A contemporary example of this would be the Standing Rock pipeline protest by the
Native Americans. Then in addition to artists becoming more accessible and apparent in their
stances and belief, the viewer may gain some understanding and validation from the works they
produce. Playing the role of the societal critic or the entertainer grants the artist a degree of
expressive freedom and room to discuss issues media may not cover, or fail to do so.
All of this data, theories, and observations of contemporary media does not come to a
conclusion, but rather a need for awareness to the cycle. As repetitively mentioned, what is
presently happening is a steady growing of tension which is, in theory, leading to another tipping
point. Something that will change the tone and dialog of the public once more. It cannot be
stressed enough that this is where contemporary society has found itself. With the growing
conflicts in regards to gender and racial equality, legal protests, police brutality, and so forth,
there is a demand for choosing sides, resulting in a rise of “Us against Them” as a more apparent
concept. This division not only affects the viewer but spreads into the collection of data and
reporting in the media; and as a consequence the existence of unbiased reporting grows thin.
There is a disconnect between the viewer and the communicator in which the viewer demands
proper representation but rather the media does or does not does this demand justice the viewer
perceives falsity in the content. On the other hand, the media is balancing, keeping their viewers
and representing their groups or events of focus. However, this leads into a loss of objectivity
and viewers. It is important to note that not all viewers and media are this way, but the

27
highlighted or “loud” majority are becoming as such. In response to this, the artist steps forth,
attempting to illustrate a cause they believe in or a group they represent, but also a push for a
need to understand. The artist, in a sense, steps up to fill the role that the communicator has left
open while providing some form of validation and relief.
Further tracking and research into the works of these roles in relation to each other and
their impact on the grander picture is recommended. The downside to this approach was the
number of participants were not to the degree as hoped, which encourages a revision of this
angle and the survey to be sent out again.

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