 Print Media  Audio Media  Visual Media  Online Media  Cell Phone  I pod  I Pad  Kindle  Messenger  Cable T.V.  Video Games Skype and Facetime  Face book  Twitter  Instagram  You Tube  Snap Chat  KiK

 Movies  Television  DVDs  Cable  Internet  Sports  Cell Phones  I Pads

 Sound recordings  CD’s  I pods  MP3  Satellite Radio  Radio Stations  Pandora

  Online Chatting  Online Shopping  Social Media  Movies  Games  Newspapers, Magazines  Libraries  Web Camera  School Research  Information  Directions  Banking  Bill Payments  Photography  Art / Animation  Political Campaigns

 Believe that the mass media performs functions that support the stability and smooth operation of society.  World Information  Interpreting Information  Transmitting Cultural Values  School Textbooks  Entertainment

 Believe that the medias purpose is to maintain social order. It persuades people to accept the existing power structure.  It does this by controlling the flow and interpretation of information.  Media is controlled by the power elite and it presents the power elite’s view.

 Encourages the acceptance of the power structure by encouraging a culture of consumerism.  If people are busy increasing their collection of material possessions, they have no time to think about societies inequalities.  Knowledge gap hypothesis, say’s that when new information enters society, wealthy and better educated members acquire it at a faster rate then the poorer and less educated.

 Gap between those with access to new technologies and those without exists and is widening.  Access to the computers and online media is of particular concern.  The groups that lack access include minorities, the children of single mothers, and people with lower incomes.  School give most children access to computers and the internet.

 Children watch an average of 28 to 30 hours per week.  Television depicts a great deal of violence.  Increases potential for aggressive behavior to solve problems.  Viewer are less sensitive to suffering of others.  Makes viewers fearful of the world around them.

 Voting participation is low.  Church attendance is down.  Less family gatherings.  Traditional social networks in neighborhoods, schools and sports are down.  Americans spent as much as 40% of their free time in front of a television.  Internet usage is also on the rise.

 The television, internet, I pod, cell phone and other new forms of technology are occupying more and more of people’s lives.  Some isolation and disengagement from civil and social life may occur.  Others argue that the social networks consist of more than people’s face to face relationships and that the internet provides a different form of life.

 Some say the media has too much power.  They have the power to shape public opinion.  They tend to cover the same stories over and over with the same information and the same opinions.  Some argue that the media tells people what to think about.  Agenda setting is when the media sets the boundaries of public debate by deciding which issues to cover and which it will not.

 Some people argue that with so many news stations people will always be able to find alternative news.  Others suggest that messages from the media do not directly influence or behavior.  Nonetheless, mass media, whatever their real power is, play a large role in American society.