Communication involves information being transmitted from one party, referred to as the sender, to another party, known as the receiver. Communication can take on various roles throughout society, but in today’s world, more than ever, communication is helping to define how an individual should act: “Mass communication defines democracy and helps mold the social character of the modern individual as a predictable, if not anticipated, participant in the discourse of a capitalist society” (Hardt, 1). The power of mass communication on its audience is large and seems to be increasing.
The media in today’s world seems to be concerned with much more than just reporting the news, which is bothersome to many. Capitalism is at the forefront of many ideas and viewpoints that are put out in the media, which can have negative effects for all, including the media. Mass communication has taken a major hit over the years due to many people not having faith in the media: “It is a commonplace that mass communication is currently in crisis, since profits are down and public confidence in the media remains low” (Hardt, 2). Not only does the issue of trust play a major role in the crisis that is currently taking place with mass communication, but the idea of people being able to access the news from many other sources, most noticeably the internet, has also played a significant role.
While it has and will continue to be the receiver’s job in the communication process to believe what they want to believe, it is becoming more and more difficult to do so: “Since reality is always what people think it is, the reality of contemporary life emerges from an immersion in the social or cultural practices of mass communication that are tinged by commercial claims or political goals” (Hardt, 3). What seems to be the only reality concerning mass communication is that it will not go away and will continue to be of importance to the entire world in the future, which means people will just have to adjust to the way they take in the news.
Hardt, Hanno. Myths for the Masses: An Essay on Mass Communication. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing, 2004. Book.
Although many people are becoming wiser and more able to discern propaganda and falsehoods found in mass media, many more are still under the spell of the media. For example, fox news still gets an absurd amount of dedicated viewers who believe every word even though, again and again, it has been shown they exaggerate and at times lie. These manipulated viewers have been seen protesting against laws they know almost nothing about and have impacted American politics in many ways even though they are being motivated by lies and distortions eloquently shown in this video:
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