Media

1
Medias impact on public policy implications
for civil society
2
The Players

• the public

• the media

• policy people

3
The Players

• media different platforms, premier outlets
• public general public, specific civil society
  and other interest groups, individuals.
• policy people the makers and the implementers.
• Qtn who drives the process?

4
1. Liberal democratic model
MEDIA COVERAGE
PUBLIC OPINION
GOVT RESPONDS
5
2. Muckraker model
PUBLIC OPINION
MEDIA COVERAGE
GOVT RESPONDS
6
3. Bypassing Civil Society
GOVT RESPONDS
MEDIA COVERAGE
PUBLIC OPINION
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4. Manipulation model
MEDIA COVERAGE
GOVT INITIATES
PUBLIC OPINION
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Summing up

• Policy people both infer Public Opinion from
  media, and they use media to promote their
  policies.
• Often it is a collaboration of media and
  politicians that leads to policy changes.
• But civil society also has a real role to play in
  the public sphere, as in the first model.
• In practice, many situations combine aspects of
  all four models.
• Media is assumed to be a factor in all of them.

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Other issues 1

• Usually, enthusiastic, one-sided and simplistic
  treatment in the media rapid policy change
  complexity and debate leads to slower policy
  action.
• Effect on politicians policy often is a
  transition
• mobilisation -gt action -gt
• maintenance -gt fade
• (as the media intensity declines).

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Other issues 2

• Some media platforms are more influential than
  others eg. the impact of TV is said to be
  greater on dramatic and short-term events. But
  often TV takes its cue from print.
• Intermedia agenda-setting power. For example,
  some titles are more influential than others in
  setting whats the story.
• Note power of international media and cultural
  imperialism.

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Effects theory Public Opinion

•              Knowledge and information
•              Beliefs (about reality)
•              Values (about goodness)
•              Norms (about behaviour)
•   gt attitudes, which in turn gt contextualise
  and colour specific opinions on specific issues.
•  
• Thus, Public Opinion a set of attitudes that
  are based on knowledge, beliefs, values, norms.

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  Influence Theory 1

• 1. Very Indirect effects (Tertiary-level
  effects)
• Media creates new publics, causes changes in
  politics, alters peoples time allocation.
• A media dense environment will have greater
  effect in this area, even on identities
• Obviously much less the case in most of Africa.
• Density also has implications for the other kinds
  of effects
• but, effects often go far wider than audiences

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Influence Theory 2a

• 2. Most Direct effects (Primary effects)
• Works on short-term attitudes and opinions
•  A. Stimulus-response (S-R) theory
• This is an overly-powerful view. But true that
  S-R exists in affective responses fear, tears,
  identification, anger, laughter, arousal.
  Suicides, fashions, riots.
• Less-powerful view S-R is recognised as being
  modified by psycho variables, socio variables, 2
  step diffusion.
• This weaker effects view has some validity too.

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Influence Theory 2b

• 2. Most Direct effects (Primary effects) cntd
•  B. Uses and gratifications theory
• Audiences act on media make PO. But
• People do change through media exposure,
• Messages are not open-ended,
• There are unobvious effects (consumerism),
• Reinforcement, rather than change, effect.
• Still UG valid cos audiences not purely passive

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Influence Theory 3

• 3. Direct, but deeper, effects or influence
  (Secondary effects)
•  Works on beliefs, values, norms, worldviews
• (the foundation on which attitudes and opinions
  are formed).
• More longterm, relatively powerful
• Agenda-setting effects
• Paradigmatic effects.

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Influence Theory 3a

• 3. Direct, but deeper, effects or influence
  (Secondary effects)
•  A. Agenda-setting effects
• Defines what is NB.
• Affects not what you think, but what you
  think about.
• Plays to advantage of specific forces.

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Influence Theory 3b

• 3. Direct, but deeper, effects or influence
  (Secondary effects)
• B. Paradigmatic effects
• How you think about the agenda
• i.e. framing what has been primed.
•                                                   
           
• This effect defines reality and norms.
• What is normal, praiseworthy, acceptable. And
  deviant, disgusting, unacceptable.

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Influence summing up

• What theories weve covered
• Stimulus-response effects
• Modified S-R
• Uses and gratifications
• Agenda-setting
• Paradigms

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Hegemony integrated theory

• Refers to the power of dominant forces in making
  media effects
• a. Hegemonic decoding this is a reinforcing
  influence that operates at the secondary level.
  You accept the medias agenda, the paradigm and
  the attitude-opinion effects.
• b. Negotiated decoding You accept the
  paradigm, maybe even agenda, you stop at the
  attitudinal stuff.
• Why? Situated and Mediated meaning levels
• c. Oppositional decoding a weak effects
  approach. Implies a resistance orientation.

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  Media creating PO

• Very notion itself of Public Opinion can be
  argued to be an effect of media coverage.
• A construct that masks real power that of
  media, their owners and their sources (such as
  government or public relations companies).
•  
• Self-fulfilling policy people who influence so
  much media coverage gain their own
  understanding of Public Opinion from the
  self-same media.

21
  Policy impact

• Civil society has a major role re media
• Affecting the circuit of policy making, via media
  and bypassing media, and upon media (affecting
  its interests operations).
• On influencing the decoding by audiences the
  setting of media agendas and framing
• On influencing audience decoding via work on
  knowledge, attitudes, and practices.

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  The end

• Media, public, policy people
• a dynamic triangle!!