Do people play a passive or active role as consumers of media? While I believe it is possible that Americans are apathetic and cynical in regards their activity within the public sphere, there are others who are using media content to their own persuasive advantage. First we have the “dark and gloomy” forecast from McChesney “The global media system plays a much more explicit role in generating a passive, depoliticized populace that prefers personal consumption to social understanding and activity, a mass much more likely to take orders than make waves” (McChesney 209). This author argues that media today is more “escapist entertainment” to an alternate reality than promoting any political or social agenda. And in their consolidation, Western media giants have hindered our range of viewing options. Additionally, we should be concerned with not only who is producing the media, but what content they broadcast. According to Cottle and Rai, how the news channels frame events can shape our view as an informed citizen.
I’d like to offer an extreme example of how people react to media broadcasts: the current Taliban propaganda in Afghanistan, promising a better future for all Afganis, and specifically women. We may not be paying attention to world news, but someone out there certainly is: in response to the According to US intelligence, the new attitude towards women is “an attempt to mitigate the bad publicity from a recent Time magazine cover story containing a haunting photo and an article featuring a woman whose face was reportedly mauled by Taliban members. ‘That really stuck it to them,’ he said. ‘Now they're softening their tone regarding women’." The Taliban is using the media to reach people who have no other access to news content, bringing radio and print newspapers to rural areas to try and win people over that their rule would be better than the current government. Knowing that people are reacting to the propaganda campaign from the Taliban was actually effective is certainly an example of active engagement in response to the media, although US forces are working their hardest to counter these claims. In any case, this is a prime case study in the idea that when you have only one main point of view being broadcast, you’re probably going to listen.
Find even more information from Time magazine, or read the entire October 1 Washington Post article here.
Your question if people play a passive or active role as consumers of media is very relevant. It is very interesting the contrast between the western passive’s people under the global media influence and the Taliban activism and propaganda.
ReplyDeleteProbably the explanation of such a difference we can find in the book of Gabriel Almond called The American People and Foreign Policy. He says that the general public does not care about foreign policy except when is a conflict or an international crisis. That means that probably is similar the passive role or people as consumers of media in both countries, United States and Afghanistan.
What make the difference in playing an active or passive role is not the public opinion attitude itself in Afghanistan or US, but the fact that the afghan people is facing a war and a crisis in their territory and the Americans not.