In an ever-increasingly mediated society, mass media has become inseparable with the production of everyday life. Media is now a platform for members of society to connect with global events and other people beyond their own personal experience. For many, the media is a major source of information and “accounts of violence, as presented by the mass media, are the primary medium by which the average person comes to know crime and justice” (Barak, 1994). The following essay will explore the theories of both cultivation analysis, as established by George Gerbner, as well as agenda setting, reputable to Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw. These concepts will demonstrate how the recent Santa Barbara Shooting is a major media event that reflects a familiar narrative through which social reality is shaped and social issues addressed.
Firstly, Cultivation theory suggests that heavy television exposure encourages a world of ideas that is consistent and biased toward reality, or what culture perceives as reality, as depicted in the media. While at first being used and depended on to draw a crowd, violence has since been practiced as an ongoing theme in many different forms of communication. Today, in a world where media content is saturated with violence, Gerbner’s theory explains why this has become such a recognised event. News on crime and violence is being used as a powerful tool for political discourse, strengthening existing sociocultural norms and fuelling the economic power of media conglomerates. Furthermore, media industries also use violence as a reoccurring theme to induce fear amongst society as well as to instil suspicion and distrust within the community. Consequently, school shootings as media events can be seen as familiar nar...
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...lity. In the case of the Columbine Shooting of 1999, the media were able to distance themselves as a contributing factor by directing the blame toward famous gothic musician Marilyn Mason, movies like The Matrix and violent video games such a Doom (Ruddock, 2013). Rodger created his own theme of misogyny and gender inequity as the motive for his actions. In doing so he has limited the media’s ability to deflect their involvement in this event as media usage is part of the crime itself. Despite Rodger’s actions however, it is evident that the media are still able to control some of the themes that are attached to these events. For instance current headlines suggest that mental illness as the primary cause that lead to Rodger’s actions. Mental illness once again blamed for the crime, nice way of saying violent misogyny is an individual problem, not a cultural one.
In the cases of school shootings that took place at Columbine High School, Sandy Hook Elementary, Virginia Tech University and Northern Illinois University, the media highly publicized the fact that the perpetrators were avid video gamers, but why is this important? The media want’s your attention and they are more than willing to say almost anything to get it. They reported that the perpetrators were avid gamers with the implication that there is a well establish connection between the two when there is not. They exploit the fear of parents and concerned citizens by not including relevant corresponding information in order to leave you more interested lea...
Purpose: Marilyn Manson’s purpose for writing the article was to defend himself from charges regarding the Columbine shooting and to criticize the people who not only accused him, but others against violence. In the midst of his cynical comments and criticisms, Manson delivers the message of violence being more publicized paves the way for more problems in the future. He points out several actions of people to of which for the average person, should have been unacceptable. He roots out the media as a source of the spread of violence across the world.
When 2 young men, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went on a shooting spree in Littleton, Colorado, killing 15 people, including themselves, there was a public outcry for censorship of every type of entertainment and changes in gun laws despite Eric Harris’s journal entry titled, “Last Wishes” asking that no one be blamed, other than himself and Klebold, for the massacre (“As You Were”, par. 2). After the 1999 school shooting now simply known as Columbine, a “Newsweek” pole showed that, “about half of all Americans want to see the movie industry, the TV industry, computer game makers, Internet services and gun manufacturers and the NRA make major policy changes to help reduce teen violence” (Alter, par. 1). According to Dave Cullen in his article “Let the Litigation Begin” several lawsuits were filed against the parents of the two boys responsible for the shooting spree claiming that Harris’s and Klebold’s families, “breached their duty of care” by allowing their sons to amass a cache of illegal weapons (Cullen, par. 5). Although the boys’ parents denied such allegations, they settled out of court for $1.6 million (Cullen, par. 5)...
addition the average American child will witness over 200,000 acts of violence on television including 16,000 murders before the age of 18 (DuRant, 445). Polls show that three-quarters of the public find television entertainment too violent. When asked to select measures that would reduce violent crime “a lot”, Americans chose restrictions on television violence more often than gun control. Media shows too much violence that is corrupting the minds children, future leaders of our society. In a study of population data for various countries sh...
The Columbine high school, located in Littleton, Colorado, never expected that two of their older students would turn against them and commit such a crime. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, were “social outcasts” and were fascinated by Goth culture and violent video games. The major question that has been spinning in everyone’s mind since that day is, “Did the video games and media influence them to kill, or did they have a mental illness; born as murders?”
Family environment and the press are two major influences resulting in the recent tragic school shootings. As much as society continues to focus the killing rampages on factors such as television and music, what children are exposed to in reality contributes to the violence. The most recent school shooting in Michigan involved a six-year-old first grader who killed a classmate with a .22 caliber pistol. The news coverage had vanished after two or three days, and I was left wondering what had happened. Considering the fact that the media wore the Columbine incident out, I wanted to know why they did not pay more attention to this school shooting. As evidence did arrive, it was discovered that the child lived in a household where cocaine, heroin, and many other illegal drugs were commonplace. Also in this “home” guns were easily accessible to the child. Children growing up in this type of environment certainly are likely to be held accountable for future violence. Even though I am against the news media presenting too much school violence, Americans should have been deeply disturbed by this shooting because of the child’s young age. The Michigan shooting should have enlightened Americans to the dilemma we face in this country. Two weeks after the Columbine High School shooting, information on the mass murder was still being broadcast on television. The press was feeding young viewers ideas on how to kill their classmates. News was reported how the teenage murderers acquired information regarding building bombs, obtaining guns, smuggling guns into the school, and proceeding to kill their classmates. A mentally unstable teenager could simply watch these news reports and write a book entitled, “How to Slay Your Classmates”. This onslaught was ridiculous and the news coverage should not have been permitted to continue for countless weeks. Society has determined three reasons on which to blame the shootings. First, the nation blamed it on television’s violent programs. Following that, Americans gave the music recording companies the evil eye as well as attacking the gun manufacturers. All of these reasons involve material objects that are unable to think for themselves. Televisions and CD players do not control themselves, people control them. Finally, boundaries controlling the television programs children view should be set by the parents. The same explanation applies to firearms. How can it be a gun’s fault that a person killed another human being?
“People are so unaware...well, Ignorance is bliss I guess… that would explain my depression.” (Klebold, Dylan). With that sentence, I divulged myself into the most horrendous, sad journal I have ever read, hoping to gain some insight into a disturbed young man’s mind. On April 20th, 1999, Dylan Klebold accompanied his friend, Eric Harris, in one of the most publicized and shocking school shootings of the modern day--The Columbine Massacre. With their sawed-off shotguns and godlike dispositions, the boys exacted their revenge not only on their peers, but on themselves. As the nightmare collapsed, and thirteen people lay dead, the questions began. How could two boys so young commit this crime? What forced them to be this way? For the Klebold family, one question remained: How had Dylan become involved in one of the crimes of the century?
Jackson Katz shows how violence in the media perpetuates, reinforces, and promotes violence in society. He points to how violence is gendered and that the media and society ignores the fact that men are almost always the perpetrators of violence. Katz explores how the media and society create masculinity. The title is a pun that refers to the masculine "guise" that guys put on to prove their manhood.
Media headlines play a huge role in how a person reading or listening to a report will view the suspect and the victim, The media will often do this because of the race of the suspect or killer. “Demonstrating the power that news outlets wield in portraying victims based on images they select” (Wing). The media can portray victims and suspects however they want and
We are never going to be able to predict what, who, or how every individual human being is going to react to any given situation; yet, we still ask these questions. After the Columbine Massacre in 1999, many people blamed the actions of the two young killers on the violence that is portrayed in entertainment, specifically in the music of Marilyn Manson, whom the two boys idolized. Of course, it was later proven that Manson had nothing to do with the tragic events of that day, and in response to the blame that was placed on him, Manson wrote an article that was published in Rolling Stone Magazine. The article talks about why Manson thinks that society is entirely backwards, which is because we put killers on the covers magazines and on the front pages of newspapers.
The media, both in the mainstream and alternative sources, determine how the community views crime and how it represents the victims of crime, criminals and law enforcement officials. Media organisations have arguably become the main source of news, entertainment, recreation, and product information in society. For many people, media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, social media and television broadcasts inform viewers about events that affect their everyday lives. This essay will explore the many variations of how crime is misrepresented in society through mass media organisations. Over the years, research has shown an increase in crime is largely over-represented in media coverage, compared to actual crime rates in society.
The cultivation theory suggests that “the cultivation of attitudes is based on attitudes already present in our society and that the media take those attitudes which are already present and re-present them bundled in a different packaging to their audiences” (Griffin, p.366). The Truman Show is an excellent example of the cultivation theory as it gives us an interesting insight into the effects that the media has on society. It is no secret that the media has altered our way of living. From the fears they can instill from the news we watch, to the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the sports we watch and even our political opinions are all influenced in some way shape or form by the media.
Reading 1: Genre Bowling for Columbine is an interactive/participatory style documentary directed by Michael Moore. Michael Moore heavily emphasises multiple shooting events, in particular the mass shooting at Columbine High School, to present to us the idea that ordinary Americans are getting out of control with their use of weapons. He also promotes the concept of the American government’s actions having contributed to the current attitudes towards weapons. Michael Moore effectively uses the common techniques of the Interactive/Participatory style which are interviews, montages, and soundtracks. He also is very manipulative in how he uses these techniques as what is conveyed to us is not necessarily what is happening within America and how
... point blame) toward the violence on television (fictional) rather than the real violence being shown on news programs or documentaries. “Another argument is that the very idea of media agenda setting is the result of conservative ideology and paranoia” (Freeman, 4).
...om humble and non-violent to harsh and violent. It can also may lead to a person awareness of one’s environment and taking responsibility for one's actions which is what the world requires(Rosengren, 2000). Society is able to transition from the past to the future through real-time information on the present (Hiebert & Gibbons, 2000). Society therefore becomes a living organization, complete with a feedback loop provided by the media, well equipped to sense oncoming danger and learn from its mistakes in readiness for tomorrow (Preiss, 2007). However, caution needs to be put in place to prevent the youth and children from participating in actions they do not have a clue on but do them on the justifications of the actions watched over the media (Wells & Hakanen, 1997). Mass media will remain beautiful but when precautionary measures are not in place, it becomes ugly.