2. Media- used to communicate to the general public.
Internet-A global computer network providing a
variety of information and communication
facilities, consisting of interconnected networks
using standardized communication protocols.
3. Mass media
refers broadly to the set of media
organizations and activities, together with their
own formal/ informal rules of operation and
sometimes legal and policy requirements set by
the society.
4. The Media is a social institution in the respect
that it contributes numerous amounts of ways
for people to interact according to their interest.
Traditional social institutions such as
government, school and family once served the
role of providing individuals with the knowledge
and communicative tools needed to successfully
integrate into society.
5. Individuals are increasingly looking to the media
for direction in rules of behaviour and societal
values, while being provided with a sense of
membership through the programmes we watch or
media trends we follow.
Western media, being predominantly privately
owned, seeks solely for profit, often by producing
content of no benefit to society, but instead to
attract audiences and generate revenue.
6. In the pursuit of increased profits, the media
have expanded dramatically into virtually all
arenas of public and private life, bringing with
them the commercial imperative that drives the
industry.
7. The main activity is the production and
distribution of symbolic content
The media operates in the public sphere and
are regulated accordingly
Participation as sender/receiver voluntary
Organization is both professional and
bureaucratic in form
The media is both free and powerless.
8. The media increases social cohesion by
presenting a more or less standardized common
view of culture through mass communication.
The mass media provides a collective experience
for members of a society.
The internet has become for many the public
commons, a place where they can come together
and talk.
9. Print Media
Broadcast Media
Film Media
Music Media
New Media
Editor's Notes
The Media as a Social Institution Introduction This Study Session will introduce the concept of mass media and provide justification on why media serves as a social institution. Attempt will also be made to describe the types of media and also examine the views of different sociological perspectives on the media as a social institution.
For example, the choice of which television programs you watch. The next day or that night, you may discuss the episode with someone else you know who watches it as well, or even choose to post on a discussion board that is dedicated to the program. Where you shop or what you buy are also other media-advertised activities that bring people together who share common interest.
This is no longer the case. With the emergence of mass media towards the end of the 20th century through televised programming, movies and radio, and accelerated further with the booming growth of the Internet in recent decades; mass media is now becoming the dominant social institution, catering for the needs of society and educating its citizens. In a fast-moving and mobile modern society, mass media provides a medium easily accessed through technology, making the traditional social institutions of family, church, government or school redundant in their former roles. -
3. Order and stability is provided by the media through scheduled programming, affecting how people arrange their daily routines and ultimately affecting cultural lifestyle through what we wear, listen to, say and do day to day. The Internet, a vast source of instantaneous information, now fulfills an educational role in society, catering an individual’s personal preferences and ideals.
4. With this model of media increasingly being used as societies moral guidance and support, we need to ensure that it is monitored and critically examined, so as to ensure the messages and knowledge gained from it is meaningful and of benefit to society. -
5. Mass media is used to trap viewers by different companies in a way that they do not have any means to escape. The media industry is always doing their best to find new and ingenious ways to load more and more advertising into the daily media diets of resistant consumers.
Print Media The history of modern media begins with the print. This media has a technology of movable type, has bound pages, multiple copies, such as; books and newspapers Daily newspapers present news stories written by reporters, who are supervised by editors. Editors assign some stories, but most are reporter’s ideas. After the stories are written by reporters, editors decide where andwhen the stories will appear in the newspaper. Some stories may not be printed until days or weeks after they are written, but eventually they will be printed. Some of the advantages of newspapers are; they are published every day and need a lot of stories to fill the pages, they are best equipped to handle complex issues that require research and investigation, they also more space, money and resources to free a reporter for days to tackle an issue and they have more variety than any other medium. Magazines and other related publications are a way to read a very specific audience with a story. They are typically organized around an interest group such as business, healthcare, or higher education. Some of their advantages are; the stories tend to be more feature-like and longer than on newspapers, the shelf life is longer for magazines as they are typically printed only weekly or monthly and with specific audiences it is easier to get messages across.
This includes radio and television, unlike other previous communication technology, radio and television are primarily designed for transmission and reception as abstract processes, with little or no definition of preceding content. Some of the features of the broadcast media are; it has a very large output, large range and reach, audio-visual content, complex technology and organization, public character and extensive regulation, national and international character and diverse content forms. In television, fewer stories are told in fewer words, as even complex issues often must be compressed to ninety seconds or less of explanation. Reporters, editors and producers all work together to create stories that would be aired on television. A broader range of audience is reached right to their living rooms, stories make a visual impact that is usually strong and can linger in the minds of the audience and also information is current and timely.
FILM MEDIA-This was a new means of presentation and distribution of an older tradition of entertainment, offering stories, spectacles, music, drama, humour and technical tricks for popular consumption. It was partly a response to the invention of leisure – time out of work and an answer to the enjoyment of free time. It has the following features; audio-visual technology, public performance, extensive appeal, predominantly narrative fiction and international character and public regulation.
Music Media The social significance of music, though has received only little attention, its relationship to social events has always been recognized and occasionally celebrated or feared. Some of the features of this type of media are; multiple technologies of recording and dissemination, low degree of regulation, it has a younger audience, high degree of internationalization, organizational fragmentation and diversity of reception possibilities.
5 New Media This type of media combines telecommunications and informatics and has emerged as the latest communication revolution which will replace broadcast TV. The main features by contrast with the “old media” as described are decentralization. Examples of the new media are; computer video games, video recordings of all kinds and virtual reality. The features of the new media are; it has a computer – based technology, hybrid flexible character, interactive potential, private and public functions, low degree of regulation and interconnectedness.