mass-communication-theory

120 Section 2 The Era of Mass Society and Mass Culture
INSTANT ACCESS
Libertarianism
Strengths Weaknesses
1. Values media freedom
2. Is consistent with U.S. media traditions
3. Values individuals
4. Precludes government control of media
low power FM
radio (LPFM)
Communitybased,noncommercial
stations
broadcasting over
small areas, typically
3 to 7 miles
Balkanize
Dividing a country,
culture, or
society into
antagonistic
subgroups
1. Is overly optimistic about media’s willingness to
meet responsibilities
2. Is overly optimistic about individuals’ ethics and
rationality
3. Ignores need for reasonable control of media
4. Ignores dilemmas posed by conflicting freedoms
(for example, free press versus personal
privacy)
to serve their intended purpose. Very few people watch the access channels, and
few groups use them.
Many observers believe that social responsibility theory will be given new
strength by emerging technologies that allow communities greater power to disseminate
information. The FCC licenses low power FM radio stations (LPFM),
community-based, noncommercial stations broadcasting over small areas, typically
3 to 7 miles. The more than 825 stations currently on-air are operated by community
groups, labor unions, churches, and other nonprofit groups usually absent from
the airwaves. Cable television, though never approaching the reempoweringthe-public
revolution predicted for it in the 1960s, has at least made literally
hundreds of channels available, many of which are dedicated to ethnic and specificinterest
communities. Now, with the near total diffusion of the Internet and World
Wide Web, audience size and ability to make a profit have become unimportant concerns
for literally millions of “voices.” The website for a tribe of Native Americans,
for example, sits electronically side-by-side with those of the most powerful media
organizations. What many theorists fear, however, is that this wealth of voices—
each speaking to its own community—will Balkanize the larger U.S. culture. That
is, rather than all Americans reading and viewing conscientiously produced content
about all the Great Communities that make the United States as wonderfully diverse
and pluralistic as it is, communities will talk only to people residing within their borders.
The values, wants, needs, and ideas of others will be ignored.
They see the passing of the mass market national magazine in the face of television’s
1950s assault on its ad revenues and audiences as the first step in the demise
of their hope for Great Communities. Whereas the entire nation once read
the Saturday Evening Post, individual-taste publics now read Ski, Wired, Mondo
2000, Model Airplane Builder, Ebony, and Organic Farmer. When cable began to
provide scores of alternatives to the big three commercial television networks, they
expressed the same fears. In the early 1970s, ABC, NBC, and CBS commanded
more than 90 percent of the viewing audience. Today, they draw fewer than
60 percent. The Internet has exacerbated this trend, prompting journalist Bree
Nordenson to argue that “shared public knowledge is receding, as is the likelihood
Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.