When you talk about media, you'll also talk about the media's influence on us as the public. The media always has certain agenda embedded in each coverage. Experts came up with the term Agenda Setting Function Theory to explain this characteristic of media. Agenda setting here refers to the media's ability to make people think about certain issues through repeated news coverage. The more certain issue is being repeated, the more important it is. But it might not be true in reality. It's just the way how media 'prime' the audience's mind. The media 'direct' people on what is important for them to think about and what not. The media agenda alters the importance of an issue to the public.
Let's take recent news reports for example. These reports on NTU student who stabbed his professor and committed suicide afterward (http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_345314.html --> notice the links to other articles on the same issue) has been floating around in Singapore media services. The coverages on this issue has been going on for quite some time. The media kept repeating about this issue be it on newspapers or television. Thus, it made people 'talk' more about this issue than others such as Lin Yisheng court case (http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_345510.html).
Let's take recent news reports for example. These reports on NTU student who stabbed his professor and committed suicide afterward (http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_345314.html --> notice the links to other articles on the same issue) has been floating around in Singapore media services. The coverages on this issue has been going on for quite some time. The media kept repeating about this issue be it on newspapers or television. Thus, it made people 'talk' more about this issue than others such as Lin Yisheng court case (http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_345510.html).But how great is the influence of those agendas on the people at the receiving end? One thing is certain, people don't always follow the media's agenda. But it doesn't mean that the media doesn't have any influence. The media influence is dependent on the public's own experiences in regards to the issue raised by the media. That is what the experts called, Obtrusive Effect and Unobtrusive Effect.
Obtrusive Effect describes how the existence of direct experiences on an issue will lessen the influence of media. If you experience something directly, you wouldn't believe whatever the media said about the same issue. Sometimes you might even contradict what the media said since you have some well-built understanding on the matter. For instance, friends of the deceased Indonesian student, David Hartanto Widjaja, would not totally believe what had been reported in the news since they knew the deceased in person. The same thing also happened with the professor's colleagues. They would not believe the speculations about the professor being guilty of provoking and was the cause of David Hartanto Widjaja's tragic death.
Meanwhile, onlookers who don't have a clue on what was happening would be influenced greatly by what the media reported. Take me for example. I didn't know anything about NTU and its students, much less about this fellow Indonesian student, David. So, when the news about his death came about in Singapore's media, I believed what had been reported. The reports itself became my 'base' or standard for evaluating this issue. That is what Unobtrusive effect theory is talking about. It explains how the lack of direct experience and understanding on an issue will increase the impact of media agenda.To sum this article off, regardless of what the media agenda is, what determines the degree of influence is the public's personal experiences on the issues raised. The more you understand about certain issue, the less you will be influenced by the media stance. And the lesser your understanding, the greater the impact of the media agenda.
P.S. Added a link to an article about the NTU incident for you to think about. Might shed a new light on how to judge whether the mainstream media articles were biased or not. --> http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/03/stabbing-incident-in-ntu-is-it-really-an-attack/
7 comments:
Interesting example that you've brought up. Ever since we have learnt about media effects, I've found it necessary to take everything with a pinch of salt instead of fully trusting the reports provided by the media. This is made all the more true when you consider the fact that the local papers are notorious for its low ranking worldwide in terms of press-freedom.
I often wonder, with all the news reports on various instances of violent acts out there, whether people can get desensitized to such issues due to overly frequent exposure by the media. Out of curiosity, what were your feelings when you first came to know about this particular incident ?
Yes, you're right. Local media's freedom is too restricted. And they have the tendency to 'beautify' things... Like on this issue, they made it seems like everything is the deceased fault alone. They don't expose the professor's account on the issue and it made me kind of suspicious whether what they reported is credible or not. But when the reports first came out and I haven't get in touch with the media services from my own country, I swallowed everything down. Only after I read some articles from Indonesian newspapers, I started to doubt and make my own speculations.
Well, when I first heard about this issue, I sympathized with the deceased but I'm not that shocked. Because, as you have pointed out, all the reports on violence have injected a certain amount of immunity to these kind of news. Furthermore, pressure put on student nowadays are getting heavier. So, a student stabbing his professor? It's a pity but it's not unexpected...How about you? What's your feelings then? Care to elaborate?
Wow, a very academic post that illustrates very well what was taught in class and applied into practice.
Like it or not, the media HAS to do what it does in beautifying the news for us. The media does play a part in maintaining social order, one way or another. Can you imagine if the newspapers publish dissenting articles against the government among other things? I'd imagine there would be non-stop riots and such that it will destabilise the economy of this small island country.
But then again, our economy is already screwed up. And its a good thing that there are no riots. Yet.
Yes, I think so too. What we know is what and how the media depicts and encodes the messages for us.
Everything I know from the case is through the news reports...but are there any details that are false? This is like how the paparazzi reports the latest gossip about stars. Many of the stories are just baseless speculation, but many people still choose to believe in them.
It is wiser not only to take in the information, but also analyse it and see it in another perspective.
I was pretty much indifferent when I heard the news. Then again, I'm pretty much indifferent to everything that goes on around me, haha. When something happens, I pretty much think 'Ok, som something like that happened' unless I'm involved somehow.
I very love your example because this is the most real example for media effect. And I think that the media effect not just for local only but for global. I have a lot of friends still talk about this topic and I very agree with Elena opinion where the media just expose or “blame” the Indonesian student and the media didn’t expose about the professor so make me feel that the media is unfair and to subjective.
Again, nothing in this world is ever fair. We are supposed to have our rights to listen to the truth. But in reality, our ears are always 'babysat'. In family level, as a child, the information we get is beautified by our parents. In the country level, as a citizen, our ears are half-covered by the government hand.
I agree with Farhan's comment about the media has to beautify the information in order to maintain harmony in a country, such as preventing riot, etc. But sometimes, in cases like the NTU stabbing, people NEED to hear the truth. It is only fair, fair and fair for both Singapore's citizen and Indonesia's citizen to hear the 'real' thing, not the beautified information that seemed to take side.
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