Suchergebnisse

Franco Ferrarotti's book, The End of Conversation: The Impact of Mass Media on Modern Society (see IRPS No. 38/87c00823), is contrasted briefly with works by David L. Altheide, Robert P. Snow, Joshua Meyrowitz, & others (eg, Altheide's Media Power [see IRPS No. 30/85c00539]), who agree that the major effect of the mass media on our lives is not their content per se, but rather, their logic, styles, & formats, which influence other domains of everyday life. Ferrarotti argues that the impact of the logic & form of the mass media has changed the spatial-temporal logic that underscored earlier communication patterns -- eg, those involved with conversation -- & the future of Western civilization is in jeopardy because of it. His critiques of TV & other visual media stress, ironically, that it is the sound of these media that has influenced our "ear" & that cultures are now more attuned to how things sound. It is concluded that social interaction & social order are joined through communication forms as product & producer of everyday life. AA

As communications technologies increase humankind's ability to send more messages across greater distance at even faster speeds, the opportunities multiply for transnational information sharing. The threats to the fair & free use of mass media increase as well. The trend toward concentration of ownership of mass media in the United States & other free countries continues, but it does not seriously inhibit the choice of United States citizens. Some Third World countries which have one-party systems & government-owned news media are slowly relaxing restrictions on domestic journalism. Developing nations have valid reasons to criticize Western coverage of their societies. Such objections need not be met by hampering free flow of information, as press control states like the USSR contend, but by broadening & diversifying the flow of ideas. Modified HA.

Like other landmark historic events, the war on the territory of the former Yugoslavia has been explained by three types of theories: mythological, scientific, & commonsensical, the latter making use of certain pseudoscientific arguments. The author claims that the theory blaming the media in all six republics of the former Yugoslavia for the outbreak of the war belongs to the latter type. The empirical data gathered on the eve of the war show that ethnic tolerance was highest in the republics later struck by the war: Bosnia & Herzegovina & Croatia. The author provides an alternative explanation of the role of the media in paving the way for the war. Only in Serbia did mass media, in the circumstances of the prevailing authoritarian orientation of the population before the war, aid the aggressive nationalist leadership in political mobilization, which aroused in the Serbian people a feeling of imperilment & a sense of omnipotence. After the outbreak of the war in Croatia & Bosnia & Herzegovina, the media have been only one of the elements in an ever-expanding spiral of hatred & violence. 2 Tables, 10 References. Adapted from the source document.

Like other landmark historic events, the war on the territory of the former Yugoslavia has been explained by three types of theories: mythological, scientific, & commonsensical, the latter making use of certain pseudoscientific arguments. The author claims that the theory blaming the media in all six republics of the former Yugoslavia for the outbreak of the war belongs to the latter type. The empirical data gathered on the eve of the war show that ethnic tolerance was highest in the republics later struck by the war: Bosnia & Herzegovina & Croatia. The author provides an alternative explanation of the role of the media in paving the way for the war. Only in Serbia did mass media, in the circumstances of the prevailing authoritarian orientation of the population before the war, aid the aggressive nationalist leadership in political mobilization, which aroused in the Serbian people a feeling of imperilment & a sense of omnipotence. After the outbreak of the war in Croatia & Bosnia & Herzegovina, the media have been only one of the elements in an ever-expanding spiral of hatred & violence. 2 Tables, 10 References. Adapted from the source document.

Mass media (MM) have been described as all-pervasive cultural institutions which both reflect & project society's values. They are shown to have played a role throughout history, whenever new developments have threatened established values, & often are singled out as important facilitators & accelerators of social change. As such, it is not surprising that various charges have been leveled against the MM for their purported role in the recent & significant escalation of psychoactive drug use & abuse. Some critics have attempted to relate the act of viewing or experiencing the MM to problems of drug use; others have focused their charges on, & label as villains, the contents of the media, as in advertising, TV entertainment, & popular song lyrics. Some of these accusations are examined, & the issues & the evidence in the current controversy over the role of MM in the use & abuse of psychoactive drugs are explored. HA.