Media and Information-Related Models and Theories

Media and Information-Related Models and Theories

  • The Medium is the Message - Marshall McLuhan

  • The medium itself affects the way we understand the world. McLuhan believed that people should observe not only the media itself but the “ways in which each new medium disrupts traditions and reshapes social life.”

  • Marshall McLuhan’s Tetrad of Media Effects

    • Enhances – What does the media technology enhance? What does it amplify or intensify?

      • Iphones - What are the things that it enhanced? [Convenient Communication] 

    • Reverses – How does the technology reverse? How do these effects flip when the technology is pushed to its limits? 

    • Retrieve – What does the media technology retrieve? What does it recover that was previously lost? 

      • Vintage Cameras – not as accessible but before but because of applications existing in cellular phones, it is still retrieved and accessed by the public

    • Obsolescence – What does the media technology make obsolete? What does it replace or reduce? 

      • Because phones provide convenience, we forget the “traditional” way of ?? basta

  • Market Model

    • This model treats media like all other goods and services. As long as competitive conditions exist, businesses pursuing profits will meet people’s needs. Advocates of this model generally call for private, unregulated ownership of media. It is the consumers in the marketplace who will ultimately force companies to behave in a way that best serves the public

      • ABS-CBN - sell talents, tv series, movies, music, etc.

  • Public Sphere Model by Jȕrgen Habermas

    • The notion of a public space in which members of society can freely exchange news, information, and opinions — a place where individuals meet and exchange views on matters of common concern in public, on the basis of inequality and inclusivity

      • ABS-CBN - provides views, kapamilya, in the service of the filipino

  • Agenda-setting Theory by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Lewis Shaw

    • Mass media determines the issues that concern the public rather than the public’s views. The issues that receive the most attention from mass media become the issues that the public discusses, debates, and demands on. 

      • News are always high-interest stories.

      • Media has a huge responsibility in pin-pointing issues that should be cared about by the government.

  • Propaganda Model by Edward S. Herman and Noah Chomsky

    • The mass media serve as a system for communicating messages and symbols to the general populace. It is their function to amuse, entertain, and inform, and inculcate individuals with the values, beliefs, and codes of behavior that will integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society. 

      • Removes the capability of persons to think for themselves.

  • Uses and Gratifications Theory

    • This theory examines the role of the audience in making decisions and setting goals when they consume media products. It explains how people use the media for their own needs and get satisfied when their needs are fulfilled — information, identity, entertainment, social integration, and recreation. 

  • Cultivation Theory by George Gerbner

    • Media cultivates in its audiences a way of sensing and seeing the world, thereby shaping their opinions, views and behavior. The more time people spend on media, the more likely they are to perceive the real world in ways that align with the most common and recurring messages are representations depicted on media.

      • What you grew up watching will be your world view.

  • Selective Filter Model aka 3 Modes of Reading

    • According to the reception analysis mode, there are three major types of ‘reading’ by the audiences:

      • dominant - you accept the media completely

      • opposition - you don’t accept the media

      • negotiated - balances their truth with the truth presented by the media; don’t fully accept and fully decline

  • Spiral of Silence Theory

    • Those who hold a minority opinion silence themselves to prevent social isolation–this explains mass media’s role in forming and maintaining dominant opinions.

    • If the media propagates a particular opinion, then that opinion will effectively silence opposing opinions through an illusion of consensus.

  • Symbolic Interactionism Theory

    • The self is derived from and develops through human interaction. This means how you act toward someone or something is based on your meaning for a person or thing. To effectively communicate, people use symbols with shared cultural meanings.

    • This theory helps media researchers better understand the field because of the media’s important role in creating and propagating shared symbols.