Theory of Mass Communication Essay Discussion
I’m working on a communications case study and need support to help me learn.
Gatekeeping, Media Logic & Media Dependency
After you have completed FOUR readings for the week, answer the two questions about agenda setting and agenda building theory. The answer should be academic in media and communication.
You need to read all the readings and cite them appropriately. Use at least 1 source in each question (at least 2 sources total). No outside source allowed. APA format.
This week introduction:
The three closely related theories we examine this week—gatekeeping, media dependency and media logic—share some important commonalities.
First, all three of these theories are multidisciplinary in their approach, borrowing from mass communication, but also from theories of sociology and social psychology. As a result of these influences, these theories describe the way information is shared and processed with an acknowledgment of the social systems in which dissemination happens, and with an understanding that the unique experiences of the audience influence whether messages resonate.
Second, all three of these theories emphasize, albeit to varying extents, the role messengers and the media play in withholding, reshaping or filtering messages. They also acknowledge the impact of these processes on the meaning-making that happens when messages are communicated.
Gatekeeping theory, for example, maintains that information is filtered when disseminated, and thus the person or institution responsible for dissemination plays the role of the “gatekeeper.” Clearly, we can see the relationship to mediated mass communication. News media organizations or social media influencers, for instance, play a gatekeeping role by choosing what information is and is not disseminated. In that way, gatekeeping is closely related to agenda-setting and framing theories, though the nuanced differences are important to note.
Media logic builds on gatekeeping theory (and vice versa) by emphasizing the ways in which the processes of content production and dissemination influence meaning-making. To understand this dynamic, think about the ways in which your local nightly news package stories into segments, and how those segments are arranged within the full broadcast. That television production crews package the news in such formulaic ways informs the meaning that viewers can take from these broadcasts.
Finally, media dependency theory maintains that media and their audiences cannot be understood absent the broader social context in which they exist. In some ways, this theory describes a very broad notion about our consumption of news—those of us who place high value on cable news media, for example, are more likely to be influenced by cable news media. But at a more granular level, it describes the ways in which societal structures, media and audiences all influence one another. Think, for example, about our need to turn to the news in times of crisis, such as during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In these instances, we depend on the media to say more and more about the situation, even if we no longer derive any educational value from the prolonged coverage. As such, we might be more likely to perceive these situations differently from others who experience less media dependency, or differently than we might in less serious situations.
Differences Between the Scientific Management School & Human Behavior School Essay
Theory of Mass Communication Essay Discussion
I’m working on a communications case study and need support to help me learn.
Gatekeeping, Media Logic & Media Dependency
After you have completed FOUR readings for the week, answer the two questions about agenda setting and agenda building theory. The answer should be academic in media and communication.
You need to read all the readings and cite them appropriately. Use at least 1 source in each question (at least 2 sources total). No outside source allowed. APA format.
This week introduction:
The three closely related theories we examine this week—gatekeeping, media dependency and media logic—share some important commonalities.
First, all three of these theories are multidisciplinary in their approach, borrowing from mass communication, but also from theories of sociology and social psychology. As a result of these influences, these theories describe the way information is shared and processed with an acknowledgment of the social systems in which dissemination happens, and with an understanding that the unique experiences of the audience influence whether messages resonate.
Second, all three of these theories emphasize, albeit to varying extents, the role messengers and the media play in withholding, reshaping or filtering messages. They also acknowledge the impact of these processes on the meaning-making that happens when messages are communicated.
Gatekeeping theory, for example, maintains that information is filtered when disseminated, and thus the person or institution responsible for dissemination plays the role of the “gatekeeper.” Clearly, we can see the relationship to mediated mass communication. News media organizations or social media influencers, for instance, play a gatekeeping role by choosing what information is and is not disseminated. In that way, gatekeeping is closely related to agenda-setting and framing theories, though the nuanced differences are important to note.
Media logic builds on gatekeeping theory (and vice versa) by emphasizing the ways in which the processes of content production and dissemination influence meaning-making. To understand this dynamic, think about the ways in which your local nightly news package stories into segments, and how those segments are arranged within the full broadcast
That television production crews package the news in such formulaic ways informs the meaning that viewers can take from these broadcasts.
Finally, media dependency theory maintains that media and their audiences cannot be understood absent the broader social context in which they exist. In some ways, this theory describes a very broad notion about our consumption of news—those of us who place high value on cable news media, for example, are more likely to be influenced by cable news media.
But at a more granular level, it describes the ways in which societal structures, media and audiences all influence one another. Think, for example, about our need to turn to the news in times of crisis, such as during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In these instances, we depend on the media to say more and more about the situation, even if we no longer derive any educational value from the prolonged coverage. As such, we might be more likely to perceive these situations differently from others who experience less media dependency, or differently than we might in less serious situations.
Differences Between the Scientific Management School & Human Behavior School Essay