THE MASS MEDIA

 Also referred to as mass communication may be defined as a special kind of social communication characterized
by a unique audience communication experience and communicator
 The audience is usually large, heterogeneous, and anonymous
 The term “media” comes from Latin meaning “middle” suggesting that media serve as communications
 Mass media occur as communications technology (first newspaper, then radio, and television) spread information
on a mass scale

 Communication experience is usually public, rapid, and transient.

 Media content is for the public rather than private (one-on-one) of important events that occur
either "live or shortly thereafter".
 The communicator is often just one person talking to others through electronic media that a person
works within a complex organization with policies that govern what is broadcast.
 A cross-cultural view of broadcasting reveals that the members of society dictate what is news, how
it is presented and interpretations are given.

The mass media have an enormous effect on our attitudes and behavior. Television, introduced in
1939 soon became the dominant medium. The global snapshot on television ownership from a
global perspective done in 2002 reveals that 98 % of the US households have at least one set
followed by Canada (85%) Japan (80%) Austria (62%) and Italy (60%)

The researchers revealed that the average household has at least one set turned on for seven hours
each day and people spend almost half of their free time watching television (Neilsen, 1997; Seplow
& storm, 1998).

 For a variety of reasons, television (like other media) provokes plenty of criticism. Some liberal critics
argue that television shows mirror our society’s patterns of social inequality and rarely challenge the
status quo.

 On the other side of the fence, conservative critics charge that the television and film industries are
dominated by a liberal elite “cultural elite”. In recent years, they claim “politically correct” media
have advanced liberal causes including feminism and gay rights (litcher Rothman & Rothman,1986;
woodward 1992; Prindle & Endershy , 1993; Rothman,& Rothman 2003.)

 A final issue concerns violence and the mass media In. 1996, the American Medical Association
(AMA) declared violence in the mass media a hazard to the country’s health.

Most countries implement a rating system for programs. But larger questions remain: Does viewing
violent programming hurt people as much as critics say it does? More importantly, why do the mass
media contain so much violence (and sex) in the first place? In sum television and other media have
enriched our lives with entertaining and educational programming. The media also increase to
diverse culture and provoke discussion of current issues. Finally, our spheres of life beyond family,
school, peer group, and the media also play a part in social learning. For most people in urban areas
and global cities, these include religious organizations, the workplace, the military, and social clubs.
 IMPORTANCE OF MASS MEDIA

 Mass media are important because they reflect and create cultural values and interests.

 Media attention to the Senate impeachment trial court of Chief Justice Corona and ouster of Chief
Justice Lourdes Sereno and China’s intrusion to the Philippine’s Sea suggest a deep cultural interest
in, and value for human dignity and territorial area of responsibility.

 Media are important from yet another vantage point. McLuhan (1963 cited by Knox, 2006)
emphasized that “The medium is the message.’ By this, he meant that the way in which content is
delivered is in, itself, a message about the culture we live in.

FUNCTIONS OF MASS MEDIA

 WARNING
 COMPANIONSHIP
 STATUS CONFERRAL
 AGENDA-SETTING
 REALITY CONSTRUCTION
 SURVEILLANCE
 SOCIALIZATION AND EDUCATION
 PROPAGANDA
 MAINSTREAMING
 ENTERTAINMENT
 ADVERTISING

MEDIA ETHICS

Professional communicators recognize the value of fundamental standards of ethical behavior. In

Addition, media audiences have come to expect certain fundamental ethical standards. Among
these are accuracy, objectively balance, representation, and truth.

 Accuracy
 Objectively
 Fairness and Balance
 Truth
 Integrity of sources
 Avoiding conflicts of interest
 ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

 A Doctor who practices illegal abortion would be violating a code of ethics. The doctor could lose the
right to practice
 A lawyer who deliberately misleads a client would be guilty of violating a code of ethics. The lawyer
could be disbarred and kept from practicing law.
 A certified public accountant (CPA) who knowingly signs a statement mispresenting a company’s
financial position would be violating a code of ethics. The CPA could lose the right to practice
 A journalist who accepts stolen documents and poses as a police investigator to get private
telephone records might be violating a code of ethics. The journalist could win a journalism award

The doctor, the lawyer, and the accountant all have mandatory codes of ethics, prescribed and enforced by their
professions. Journalism as a profession has been slow to establish a mandatory and enforced code because of a fear that
might some way infringe upon the freedom of the press guaranteed by the constitution. In other professions, enforcing a
code means the profession must have the power to keep people from practicing unless they have a membership or a
license to practice. That also means that the profession must have the power to suspend a license and to keep members
from practicing if they violate the code of the profession. This is mandated by our view own Professional Regulations
Commission (PRC). For some professions, the state or country requires a license to practice. If as a condition of keeping
that license, people may not express certain ideas; that is a form of censorship. Because journalists are not licensed by
states, it is difficult to determine who is a journalist. In fact, the Supreme court (in the United States) Has said it does not
want to define a journalist. Therefore, the government does not keep anyone from practicing journalism, although
individual news organizations have established and enforced codes of ethics that have restricted journalists from
practicing journalism in their organizations. For example, some journalists who have plagiarized have been suspended or
fired from their news organizations.

THREE ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

 DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS
 TELEOLOGICAL ETHICS
 SITUATION ETHICS

JOHN MERRILL’S DEONTELICS Other relativists are not as extreme. Some ethicists shy away from absolutions and say that
one must consider both the act and the consequences of the act. Journalist scholar and ethicist John Merrill calls such
ethics as deontelics a word he coined combining deontological and teleogical ethics. To act responsibility journalist must
consider more than just the ethics of act and be aware that some of acts are of their very nature unethical

LOVE OF NEIGHBOR. Joseph Fletcher, Author of situation ethics-based his philosophy on a love of neighbor as articulated
in the Golden Rule and the maxim,” you shall love your neighbors as yourself. He presents this ethics from a Christian
perspective with roots in Judaic teaching, but one need not profess Christianity to share the conviction that all principles
are relative to one absolute love of neighbor. Indeed, many religious, as well as secular humanisms, hold human values as
the highest good