Mass Media’s Social Aspects

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Is mass media becoming social media? This question is becoming more prominent in today’s technological era. Our culture is constantly changing; therefore, the media is constantly changing in relation to our culture (Jenkins). Traditional mass media is defined as one-dimensional. The newer social media is defined as two-dimensional, or multi-dimensional. The concept of “Convergence Culture” claims that “old” and “new” media are on a collision course and becoming one in today’s society (Wasson). All types of media are considered to be forms of mass communication. The term “mass media” is always changing and being redefined by society and technology. In order for mass communication to be established, an audience is needed (Napoli). This connection of a “mass” to an audience introduces the social elements of the mass media. Today’s technological era has molded traditional mass media to take on social aspects through the three platforms of Internet, news industry, and magazines. Even though these platforms are deviated from mass media, they all have new social aspects that question whether mass media is becoming social media (Luders).

Internet has become one of most widespread tools used in every day life through many different kinds of applications. Throughout the world, there are 1.8 billion people that use the Internet on a daily basis (World Internet Usage Statistics News and World Population Stats). The Internet is a form of mass media, but it is considered to be a form a social media. Can the Internet only be one of the two? Or, are the two combining in to one? The Internet is considered to be a mass media, because it is available worldwide and is constantly updated. However, it is also considered to a social media, because of the establishment of social networking sites, E-mail, blogs, chatrooms, and instant messaging. Interactivity is the common characteristic among these Internet programs. These applications break the line of mass media’s one-dimensional aspect and cross over to the two-dimensional aspect of the Internet. This two-dimensional or multi-dimensional communication among a mass of people accounts for the biggest argument for the Internet being a social media. As more users join the Internet, the interactivity of the Internet increases. This is the definition of social media (Ruiz). If the Internet is both mass media and social media, then are mass media and social media the same thing?

The news industry has an important place in the history of the world. It is still used in today’s society in a variety of forms. From the word of mouth to the distribution of pamphlets and flyers in the 1800s, to the publishing of local and worldwide newspapers, the new industry has a long history of being a mass media. There are three kinds of news: printed, broadcasted, and electronic. The news industry is still considered a mass media because it can be a one-way communication platform for the world. News is also considered a mass media because it is mass produced and easily available to a mass of people. With today’s advanced technologies, the news industry has evolved into a major social media. In the forms of print, broadcast, and electronic, news has become an interactive communication. Due to the rise of the Internet, news companies have successfully merged from print to electronic news.

The news industry is in a constant state of changing to fit the current society’s needs and wants. The news industry is turning to the more interactive kind of communication by creating websites. According to the Newspaper Audience Database, the number of unique visitors to web news increased twenty-one percent from January 2005 to December 2005. Internet websites allow the capability of users to comment on stories, send letters to the editors, submit their own news, publish forums and discussions, and share the stories through social networking sites, E-mail, or blogs. In each of these cases, the interactivity increases between the news companies and the viewers. Tanjev Schultz conducted a study with New York Times journalists and the online users of the news website. The study was an in-depth look at how news is discussed through commenting, blogging, and forums (Schultz). Another capability of the Internet aspect of news is the ability to customize homepages to show live news feed. Internet users can be considered “the boss” of their news sources. Marika Luders, a research scientist of technology, commented, “The personalization of news sources is the news renovation to the media.” This extreme interactivity between the news and the people highlights the social aspect of the news industry. If the news industry is both mass media and social media, then are mass media and social media the same thing?

Magazines are published periodicals pertaining to a certain subject or theme that are distributed to a certain audience. According to Philip Napoli’s definition of a “mass communication,” an audience is needed in order to make news a “mass”. This definition directly applies to the magazine’s purpose in today’s society. There are magazines published for every kind of audience: fashion, sports, health, world news, nature, or gossip. Magazines are considered to be a mass media because of the one-way communication through its publishing, its distribution to wide audiences, and its easy availability to readers. Since the beginning of media convergence, the interactivity of magazines with the readers has grown in to a much more social relationship. Magazines are considered to be social media through the interactive communication, polls, quizzes, user submitted stories and pictures, letters to the editor, and “how-to” advice articles. With the addition of a paralleled website of the magazine that provides updated stories and new activities for the readers, an even deeper social aspect is promoted by the magazine companies. If magazines are both mass media and social media, then are mass media and social media the same thing?

In the United States, there is a constantly changing relationship between the media and the culture of the people. Henry Jenkins, who is a media analyst, views the entire culture as living in a public sphere, which is a place for free network control and unlimited resources in the media. He considers the user as the controller and “the boss” of the free network control and unlimited resources. Trends are showing a declining popularity in mass media, and an increasing support for the more social and interactive media (Nilson). With the correspondence of the University of Southern California, Ketchum Global Media Network and Global Research Network performed a study conducted from 2006 to 2008 that calculated online users’ consumer usage of online media. The use of the social aspects of the Internet increased in this time, but the traditional mass media aspects decreased. The use of search engines and E-mail newsletters both declined 2% from 2006 to 2008. Cable TV news sites decreased from 38% to 31% in two years. Social Networking Sites’ usage increased from 17% to 26%, and the use of blogs increased from 13% to 24%. The overall result from this study was the popularity of mass media applications of the Internet decreased, while the popularity of social media applications of the Internet increased (Smith). The new social aspects of mass media are being integrated into our society through a variety of applications.

With the technological advances of our current era, mass media has taken on social aspects. The three platforms, Internet, news industry, and magazines, have specifically evolved into more interactive and social businesses that attract a wider audience. Is mass media becoming social media? Tom Nilson, a blogger for the Relationship Economy website, believes this is a “cage fight” between the two kinds of media that will continue to have many rounds in the future. The fight may never be settled, and a winner may never be declared (Nilson). Mass media’s purpose is to reach mass audiences, while the purpose of social media is to create interactivity with the users. These two medias are converging to create a more sociable communication across the world. Mass media has taken on social aspects, which will continue to change and fit to our culture’s needs throughout the future.

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Works Cited

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New

York: New York UP, 2006.

Luders, Marika. "Conceptualizing Personal Media." New Media & Society, 10.5 (2008): 683- 702.

Napoli, Philip M. "Revisiting 'Mass Communication' and the 'Work' of the Audience in the New Media Environment." Media, Culture & Society, 32.3 (2010): 505.

Nilson, Tom. "Mass Media vs. Social Media: 'The Cage Match'" A Relationship Economy....The intersection of technology and Human Relations. Web Blog Post. July 2009. 19 July 2010 .

"Readers flock to online newspaper sites - CyberJournalist.net - Online News Association - Research and Studies." CyberJournalist.net. 25 July 2010 .

Ruiz, Victor R. “Social Media vs. Mass Media.” Web Blog post. Feb 2010. 19 July 2010 .

Smith, Steve. "Analysis: Mass Media, Magazine Influence Continue Declines :: MinOnline." MinOnline :: Media, Publishing and Magazine News, Media Jobs & Publishing Jobs, Media Industry Events. 24 July 2010 .

Schultz, Tanjev. "Mass Media and the Concept of Interactivity: An Exploratory Study of Online Forums and Reader Email." Media, Culture & Society, 22.2 (2000): 205.

Wasson, Haidee. “Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide/Beyond the Multiplex; Cinema, New Technologies, and the Home.” Film Quarterly, 62.4 (2009): 84-85.

"World Internet Usage Statistics News and World Population Stats." Internet Usage World Stats - Internet and Population Statistics. 24 July 2010 .

Links for blog graphics:

Internet Picture

News Industry Picture

Magazine Picture

The Elements of an Argument

The article,“Why Are Bloggers Still Sitting at the Kids’ Table? The Popularity of Online News and the Federal Shield Law,” was posted on March 1, 2010 by Andrew Moshirnia. The author frequently writes about citizen journalism and the laws of journalism. He is a second year law student at Harvard Law School. Through the techniques of support from outside sources, Toulmin’s framework, Aristotle’s three appeals, and avoiding the bandwagon fallacy, the author effectively presents his argument. He supports that the Federal Shield Laws should also apply to amateur news reporters and independent bloggers.

Andrew Morshirnia begins his article by quoting a recent report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project concerning the rise of the Internet as a news platform. This reference to an authoritative outside source contributes to the logos and ethos appeals. Logically, Morshirnia states the facts through the quotation from this organization. Ethically, he is providing the basis of his argument with a respected source of information. By mentioning the latest news regarding the Internet evolving into a news platform, Moshirnia establishes his credibility as a writer by letting the reader know that his facts came from a reliable source.

The author’s entire argument can be based on Stephen Toulmin’s framework (Chapter 14e). Each paragraph is constructed to have one claim, which is defined as one arguable statement. This structure helps the reader follow the author’s argument in a precise way without confusion. Qualifiers, limiting statements to the claim, are used to clarify his points of argument. According to Toulmin, a claim is only as good as the reasons and evidence attached to it. Moshirnia supports every claim in his article with support from an outside source. The author presents warrants, or assumptions, that connect the claims with the reasons and evidence. These warrants are strategically placed after strong claims, which help the author convince the reader of his argument. Toulmin’s framework can be applied to this author’s argument. Morshirnia used this basic set up, which is allows the reader to effectively follow his argument.

The ethos, pathos, and logos appeals throughout this article allow the author to present his argument in a variety of ways to the reader. Moshirnia presents an ethos argument by quoting the House and Senate’s statements regarding the Shield Laws. The House and Senate are both reputable sources, therefore providing the reader with reasons to believe the factual evidence. Also, to establish his authority as a writer, Andrew Morshirnia includes information at the end of his blog that he is currently a Harvard Law Student. With this notation, the writer expands his credentials in the eyes of the reader because of his association with a premier Ivy League school. The reader assumes that he is qualified and has the education level to express opinions about the law. Ultimately, this notation creates respect for the author.

The pathos appeal is presented in his argument when the author tries to make the reader feel empathy for amateur and independent writers. Andrew Moshirnia writes “The argument against extending a shield law to bloggers seems to be rooted in silly notions of traditionalism: the law should apply only to salaried newspapermen because only those individuals are our trusted news gatherers.” This statement allows the reader to understand the unreasonable claim of the opposing side of this issue. By using the pathos appeal, Moshirnia causes the reader to emotionally respond and choose a side in the current debate.

From a variety of sources, the author provides factual evidence and statistics to further his argument. The logos appeal is used frequently in this article through the use of evidence. Statistics strengthen the argument by establishing credibility and persuading the reader. The Pew Internet and American Life Project, the House, and the Senate are three institutions that are used by the author. At the end of his article, Moshirnia provides a large paragraph of statistical evidence from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The author writes, “Let the numbers recitation begin!” He uses these numbers to support his argument even further and continue to persuade the reader why the shield law should extend to the independent writer. The statistics strike an important balance between the logos and ethos appeals. With such a strong ending to his argument, Andrew Morshirnia leaves the reader pondering about the paragraph of statistics. This conclusion is very effective in persuading the reader to agree with the author.

By using multiple distinguished sources, Andrew Moshirnia supports both sides of the argument equally. Since the author provides opposing viewpoints regarding the issue from both the House and the Senate, he avoids the bandwagon fallacy (Chapter 14f). A fallacy is a fault in an argument’s structure that may call into question the argument’s evidence or conclusions (Chapter 13d). This fallacy suggests that a great movement is under way and the reader will be a fool or a traitor not to join in. Morhshirnia carefully constructed his argument in order to avoid this fallacy, because a fallacy could discredit his whole argument.

The author uses persuasive methods to win the reader over in accepting his point of view. Multiple sources are used to strengthen his credibility. Toulmin’s framework is used in order to present his argument clearly and logically. The logos appeal is represented through the factual evidence and statistics. Without these facts, there would be no reason to believe Moshirnia, because he would have no outside support of his argument. The ethos appeal is shown through the reliable sources that he uses when providing his statistics. Without a solid ethos appeal, the factual evidence that Moshirnia provides would mean nothing, because there would be no way to prove the legitimateness of the information. Finally, the pathos appeal is important, because it is used to persuade the reader’s emotions to agree with his argument. Without a pathos appeal, the reader could not have any emotional response. The author avoids the bandwagon fallacy by presenting both sides of his argument, which is fair to the reader. Through the use of these many tools and elements, Andrew Morshirnia constructs an effective argument for the reader.

Print Newspaper vs. Internet for News

Online news sources are becoming increasingly prevalent and the print newspapers’ readership is diminishing. The question is which one is causing the other to occur. Are the benefits of online news causing more people to turn away from paper newspapers? Is the diminishing level of readership causing the online news to flourish and thrive? David Fitzsimmons’ editorial cartoon, Newspapers, demonstrates this two-way theory about the changing of today’s media and journalism.

The editorial cartoon illustrates the changing ways of the media. A young paperboy is trying to deliver newspapers, but his bag is empty. His hand is raised pretending to hold a newspaper, but the cartoon has the word “poof” in the air he is grasping. Four major newspaper names are labeled on his delivery bag, suggesting a merger of the four companies. The boy is first yelling, “American newspapers disappearing! Read all about it!” Then, he whispers “online” to the people listening to him. His facial expression shows his anger, because his eyes are squinting as he is yelling the announcement.

The main theme of the cartoon is the diminishing of print newspapers’ readership. The “poof” of the newspaper in the boy’s hand supports the fact that the print newspaper industry is slowing down. Since the newspaper industry is becoming extinct for some areas, the boy has no papers to pass out. Four newspapers, The Daily, Clarion, Bugle, and Sunday, are represented on the boy’s delivery bag. Even with the merger of four major newspapers, the print newspaper industry is diminishing, and support of printed journalism is declining.

One conclusion that could be drawn from this cartoon is Internet news sources are overpowering and taking over the industry of paper newspapers. The boy yells the message about American newspapers disappearing, but then whispers that the people can read about it online. An explanation for his whispering is that he may not want to admit how powerful the Internet is becoming. In the cartoon, the words in the first announcement are all CAPITALIZED and substantial in size. The words in the second announcement are much smaller and harder to read. The most significant feature in the cartoon that immediately catches the reader’s eyes is the big “poof” in the boy’s hand. “Poof” is defined as the suddenness something disappears. This implies that the Internet has suddenly flourished and replaced the need for print newspapers. According to the statistics of “The New Information Ecology," fifty percent of Americans get their news and information on a typical day from print local newspapers(Slide 16). Seventeen percent of Americans get their news and information from print national newspapers(Slide 16). These statistical values have been diminishing due to the increasing use of the Internet. Sixty-one percent of Americans get their news and information from the Internet (Slide 16). Online news (Slide 31) is portable, participatory, and personalized; these are three reasons why the use of the Internet is becoming more universal.

David Fitzsimmons expresses his interpretation of the changing of media and journalism through his cartoon. The cause and effect relationship between print newspapers’ readership diminishing and Internet news sources growing is still unknown. Whether the diminishing readership of print newspapers is causing the Internet’s flourishing, or the Internet’s flourishing is causing the diminishing readership of print newspapers, the fact is today’s media is undergoing a big change.