Media How Mass Communication Influences Us and What Does This Have to Do with Guns?

Media Effects Agenda Setting: When the mass media pay attention to particular events or issues, they determine, or set the agenda for, the major topics of discussion for individuals or society. They don’t tell us what to think, but they tell us what to think about.

Media Effects – Cont’d Cultivation: Heavy viewing of television leads individuals to perceive reality in ways that are consistent with the portrayals they see on television. The more time an audience spends watching TV, the more likely the audience’s view will be “cultivated” by the images and portrayals seen on TV.

Media Effects This now includes consumption of social media to a lesser degree.

What is Framing? Think of the messages that you get from media. What part of them to do see/hear? What is happening in this photo?

Framing Here is another angle: This famous photograph was on the cover of many news- papers. What seems to be happening here?

Media Framing Watch this video and see what actually happened after the Stanley Cup playoffs in Vancouver, BC, a few years ago. How has your perception changed? This is media framing. When you only see or hear part of a story, you form an opinion based on how the event is “framed” for you.

Television News What makes good news? Pictures. What type of news lends itself to pictures? Crime – why? Crime news is quick, gets our attention, and has lots to see. Issues such as school budget meetings, legislative hearings are too complicated, perhaps too complex and would require too much explanation.

Television Compared to Other Media TV time is finite. You cannot expand past the 20 or so minutes of each half hour of programming. Everyone sees the same program, there are no variations. Newspapers can add pages or sections. You can pick and choose what you read, and no two people read the same paper. Internet media is almost unlimited. You choose what to click on, so you customize your news

Media’s Influence Nearly everyone remembers Columbine High School. Why? Because it was on our news and in our news for days, weeks and months. School shootings are often compared to Columbine. When the Columbine shooting took place, media immediately called it the “worst school killing in history.” True or False?

Andrew Kehoe

Bath, Michigan, 1927 Andrew Kehoe blew up the consolidated school in Bath, Michigan (a town 10 miles NE of Lansing) on May 18, 1927, killing 44 people, most of them students. The story was on the front page of the NY Times for two days and then disappeared. Why don’t we know about it?

Likelihood of Victimization How likely are you to be the victim of a violent crime in a given year? Less than 1% Who worries the most about being a violent crime victim? Who is the most likely to be a violent crime victim?

Why Do Americans Want Guns? Protection/Fear of victimization Recreation Insecurity Social pressures (all my friends have guns) Marketing