The term media traces its roots to anatomy and linguistics, and today it still holds different definitions for different contexts. Artists will refer to media to describe different materials or ways to express creatively; in computing, media may refer to the specific means of media storage like hard drives. However, the dominant use of the term media today is in reference to “the” media – media as an entity operating within the realm of communications.

Media has played a significant role in the socialization of ideas and the education of peoples throughout history (Darity, 2008.) Historian Harold Innis regards media as allowing for the creation of “monopolies of knowledge” (Darity, 2008.) Printing technology, printed in the spoken vernacular languages, brought previously inaccessible thoughts and ideas of the elite to the masses. Through print, Europe, for example, underwent numerous intellectual revolutions such as religion or the rise of Capitalist thought and role of Free Markets. Print media became the means in which the unknown knowledge of the time could be disbursed and subsequently become known, even popular. Radio broadcasting in the 20th century unleashed the possibility of those objectives being realized faster due to radio’s broad reach. The rise of the Internet furthered that reach even more. Knowledges could be transferred across the globe, instantaneously; information became accessible to everyone (to those that had access, that is.) Finally, social media and the era of the smartphone has brought on a revolution of role of the media – with both benefits and consequences that we are still coming to terms with. Shoemaker and Reese (2016) posit that one thing we take for granted is that our experience of the world and the knowledge that we accumulate is largely mediated in some form.

Considering the various influences of the media onto the specific content and messages they convey, it’s easy to see how this results in all sorts of media effects on the receiver of those messages, an example being Agenda-Setting Theory. In McCombs & Shaw’s (1972) famous correlational study on comparing what American voters cited as key issues vs the actual content of the mass media, they cite Lang & Lang’s (1966) observation that “they (the media) are constantly presenting objects suggesting what individuals in the mass should think about, know about, have feelings about.” They concluded that “the evidence in this study that voters tend to share the media’s composite definition of what is important strongly suggests an agenda-setting function of the mass media.” (McCombs & Shaw, 1972) When coupled with the theory of public opinion, or spiral of silence, the effects are compounded. A key hypothesis of the theory being “opinions that are held by the perceived majority are more likely to be expressed publicly compared with opinions shared by a perceived minority” (Matthes, et al, 2018.) Furthermore, the theory posits that over time perceived minority views are silenced (Matthes, et al, 2018.)

The media historically have played a large role in the formation and distribution of knowledge while recent studies has shown that they also play a large role in agenda setting and the formation of popular opinion. When you consider the influences upon media – the systems in which it operates or the market forces behind the scenes – one must wonder about whose agenda or ideas are being furthered and for what reason.

Media