Television and Cultural Change

idiot box and Cultural Change Research Paper 1. launching Once ensureed a complete luxury for a family to own, the tv has make up a stable fixture in British and Ameri rout out households eitherplace the past few decades. In recent years, it has become unusual for a family non to own a television set narrow and nowadays it is on the button as uncommon for a family to own just match slight. In Britain, the years spanning from 1955 to 1969 saw an increase from 40 percent to 93 per cent of the universe of communion owning a television set (Silverstone, 1994, p. 67).Television or TV has become a prominent citation for countersign and entertainment for billions of pot around the world. For this, among new(prenominal)wise reasons, the concept of TV and its content has been the subject of much academic discourse and joust. A lot of this discourse focuses on the ways television affects changes in societies demeanor and culture. This is visible via various scholarly commu nities. For example, up until 1982, psychologists had conducted over 2000 studies regarding the fictitious of violence in the circle media.Economists and market researchers defecate performed similar types of verifiable studies regarding imitation and suggestion in advertising (Bollen and Phillips, 1982, p. 802). This paper will integrate findings of similar studies in an aim to examine the way television both mediates and modifys to heathen shifts in societies, particularly in Britain and the United States of America. 2. The Interplay of Institutions, Markets and Audiences Television drama, news, genuine program and the transformation of semipublic redevelopment publicise have every last(predicate) played a huge role in the development of British and American rescript and cultural change.These changes currently present themselves through communications held between institutions, markets, and audiences. For instance, the consideration of an audience as a market sort o f of as the public by all types of institutions is the source for much controversy and debate (Walter, 2000, p. 67). This point will be further touched upon when discussing pubic swear out broadcasting and market-led broadcasting but first we must ambit a habitual understanding of cultural response to television as media. 3. Positive and Negative Response in SocietyThe communications that develop can be positive, in the role of an increase in democratic battle or participation in the community but it can be also be negative, in the case of controversial programming, which can arguably contribute to the loss of a frys innocence and compensate impair ones ability to develop critical cerebration skills. According to Bernard Berelson, a prominent American behavioural scientist, those with the greatest mass media exposure are much more likely to know a candidates stance on various issues (McCombs and Shaw, 1972, p. 77). On the contrary, Kenneth Bollen and David Phillips account a prime example of how news can lead to a negative change in a cabaret. A study that was performed and therefore replicated for a different time period showed that suicides had increased immediately hobby (10 days proceeding) a news base of a suicide in the surrounding region (1982). In order to ensure that changes are salutary and that they contribute to the greater good of people, in this case in Britain and the U. S.A, studies such as this one must be produced and analysed. The study should offer insights, verbalize patterns, and report facts that can be applied in a functional way. As in the aforementioned case, it is evident that those who produce media have a responsibility for what they produce, whether it is fiction or fact. If mentioning a news report can incite someone to act on something as primitive as the contemplation of suicide, it may very well do the same(p) for matters of a different nature 4. Public Service Broadcasting and the salvage MarketWhen telev ision was invented, it altered all preceding media of news and entertainment as well as legion(predicate) of our institutions and forms of social relationships (Williams and Williams, 1992). In the public service broadcasting system, the consensus was that television media should be used for the good of the public and that addition is guaranteed for all citizens (Walter, 2000, p. 67). Instead, private profit and gain enforced by market-led broadcasting, has compromised the intellect of equation in terms of ability to receive information.This dissipation of equality stems from the differences in the general understanding of the roles that broadcasting plays (Walter, 2000, p63). The role that public service broadcasting plays is relevant today level with the new communication technologies of note and satellite as the former provides quality programming which aims to raise cultural standards and provide a forum for democratic discussion and debate piece of music the latter provid es choice merely through exclusion, predicated by the ability of the consumer to net income for the additional services provided (Walter, 2000, p. 4). The Protocol to the Amsterdam Treaty dated June 1997 on public service broadcasting reconciles the system of public service broadcastingis directly related to the democratic, social and cultural needs of each society to preserve media pluralism, and it is in itself the reason why PSB is still relevant today, even for those states who did not sign on this treaty. 5. Understanding and Critiquing in the raws Programming If one should ever listen in on a families after dinner party conversation, one could a great deal hear a parent commanding his or her offspring to Turn that junk off or questioning them as to Why dont you watch something educational instead? and other comments of similar nature. The non-junk and educational content they are often referring to is factual programming such as the news. However, even with something as o bjective as the news there are still a few elements that one should consider when determining its quality and contribution to the viewing audience, as the point of jobber between the people, events and politics. The objectivity of a news report should always be considered, just as the bias in a study or an experiment is considered in scientific communities.Many networks, even those provided through PSB, often have agendas and side with a political group. Furthermore, news stations are often pressured to deliver information that will grasp the attention of the viewer foremost, with the acquisition of a quality report being a secondary goal. Considering factors such as the frequency and threshold of reported events can help in ones appraisal. To exemplify the former, one can reflect on a news program dealing with the economic status of the country.If it focuses on temporary events that will not re-occur and do not help get to a picture of the economy as a whole, it is not a quality report. As for threshold, for instance, after the murder of John Lennon, events, which would normally not be considered newsworthy, received more coverage than they should have collect to the publics demand for therapy (Hartley, 1992, p. 76). A rule of thumb for news reporters is that corky news is good news (Hartley, 1992, pg. 76). However, as mentioned in a former section of this report, empirical evidence shows that this is definitely not he case for the audience, considering the outcome suicide reports have on the subjected audiences behavioral changes. 6. Conclusions 6. 1. The Effects of Television on Society Television has many supporters and critics alike. Some argue that it brings people closer and some maintain that it can cause a turning point in a community or even in a family. The way that one comes to these conclusions is by drawing questions such as the following. Do those who are not entitled to as much information due to economic reasons going to feel excluded a nd unworthy?Does media, such as television, contribute to a decrease of peoples participation in politics, the social environment and conventional leisure programs? Does locally produced programming strengthen the local community? These questions, among many others , should be answered in a proper analysis of televisions effect on people. Because those who are raised within a society develop and contribute that societys culture more, it is vital to establish attention to its younger population. 6. 2. The Effects of Television on Young PeopleYoung people, in particular, have very malleable minds and are greatly bear on by the things they see on television. In Sonia Silverstones Young People and the New Media, this phenomenon is thoroughly examined (1994). In this article, Silverstone reports of a British team of researchers who posed these types of questions in the form of survey questionnaire and interviews. The subjects ranged in age, gender and social and educational background s in hopes of correlating media usage and effect across different segments of population.Findings showed that although television is considered an adequate source of information, it is also used to fill in the boring gaps of a childs life. Television has the ability to shape a childs emotions and it has effects on family life (Silverstone, 1994, p. 64, p. 68). 6. 3. The Effects of Television on the municipal Space A crucial position in which TV has affected society can be viewed from within the domestic space. The television set has visibly transformed domestic arrangements over the years.In prior times, only the sozzled homes had a set in the family room. In more recent years, television has overtaken individual space as well, allowing for less family communication, a pattern which is now repeating itself with personal computers. Domestic time was also affected as television-viewing time has gradually increased over the years, once again allowing for less family time and communic ation. An outstanding statistic shows that at one point, Europes highest television viewing times belonged to the British population aged 9-16 (Silverstone, 1994, p. 69).In the same year, every age group from 10-16 years old reportedly preferred to watch TV alone as opposed to with friends, siblings, parents or anyone else (Livingstone, 1994). 6. 4. Representation of truthfulness Our perceptions of reality have been transformed by contemporary celebrity culture via television. The role played by television is that of reinforcement for both the state (which, today can be any figure appearing on a network) and the citizen (the audience). The validation that is provided serves as a means of centralised opinions and styles of behaviour (Williams and Williams, 1992).This is why anxieties about dumbing down are in fact legitimate. allow us take an actor who believes that which is not presented in his character on his daytime drama. The audience who views this actor/ actress may adopt to a notion, perception or belief portrayed by the character, in turn confirmatory the actor/ actress himself of a new belief system, one that he/ she had not previously considered. Should this belief system be one, deemed by professional opinions and the general public, of bad taste, it would mean that this is not quality television, and it does not produce a good quality of change for the general public as a culture.