How Might The Media Affect Audience Behaviour?

Again and again the media has come under fire when it comes to blaming something for an individual’s behaviour; things such as racism, aggressive behaviour and criminality are behaviours that are shocking and because of this, people want an explanation as to why people do these things. On the other hand, subtle ideas in the media such as political stances and prejudice towards groups of people can influence the opinions of many people. The media gives us a view of various cultures, religions and belief systems. The way that groups of people or sub-cultures are represented in the media can strongly affect the way that people view others without them realising it. For instance, post 9/11, the coverage of events linked to Muslim behaviour has been a lot more negative than it ever had been. This is due to an intense feeling of moral panic. Moral panic is when something appears to affect the population in terms of the social order. Because of the moral panic mind-set that many people have due to the media, people can have prejudice against Muslim people without them having done anything negative. The cultivation theory suggests that media outputs such as television have long-term affects upon viewers’ perceptions of reality. If a news story about a Muslim community is one with negative connotations, this has the potential to warp the minds of the viewers, confuse their ideas of reality and believe what the television, newspapers or radio tell them. The hypodermic needle theory states that, when presented with a form of communication – whether it is via television, radio or any broadcasting platform – the public accept whatever the message is, wholly and without question. If a post 9/11 story of a bad group of people is presented to an audience and the people happen to be linked to the Islamic religion, this fact will be made as emphatic as possible. Audiences will take in the negative ideas presented to them and this can plant a seed of prejudice into a suggestible individuals mind. There are many precautions taken in the media in order to 'protect' viewers or readers from negative influences which can have bad consequences on them. These precautions include regulation and censorship. Regulation is when media is monitored and intervened in, sometimes the government are in charge of regulation and whether a media product breaks any laws made in Parliament but there is also self-regulation which is when there are voluntary controls over a sector of the media industries. PEGI age ratings on video games are an example of self-regulation. In the debate of whether or not people need protection from certain kinds of media, there are different people who have different ideas and these include: those who articulate their concerns over the affect media has on the public without any evidence to back up their own ideas (this is commonly associated with politicians and campaigning groups), those who have conducted research into the effects of media on people - whether the outcome is positive or negative - (academics in various fields) and finally those who are usually the focus of the debate (normally children or teenagers who get swept up in the world of strong, adult content such as films and video games rated 18+). Classification is used to restrict access to various forms of media on the grounds of an individual’s age. The BBFC the body responsible for age classifications or certificates when it comes to any films released in UK cinema, films released on DVD and also some video games. Censorship is a topic with a great divide in opinion. If the government could control what we see or hear regarding, not only the news, but any information, this could alter free thinking in this country. We would also be very easily manipulated as the government could prevent the consumption of certain media within the country. In the UK we have access to almost any information we desire so, even if censorship could aid in stopping things such as prejudice, it could be used against the public as a form of brainwashing. When it comes to violence in the media, many suggest that post 9/11, audiences have become desensitised to shocking images. The outcome of this desensitisation is that media has become increasingly more intense in areas of violence, aggression, gore and criminality. These aspects are apparent in video games such as Manhunt which was linked to the murder of teenager Stefan Pakeerah in Leicestershire. Seventeen year old Warren LeBlanc murdered his friend Stefan after apparently playing the video game for days before hand, people close to LeBlanc - including his mother - claimed that he was ‘obsessed by the game’ and it was suggested that he was inspired by the game to act out the violent scenes in real life. This is an example of the social learning theory which was researched by psychologists Bandura, Ross and Ross. They found that when an individual is exposed to someone they admire for long amounts of time, see them receiving positive gratification for doing an action (in this case, a video game character murdering an enemy and reaching the next level), they will copy the action as they believe they will get a similar outcome (positive gratification). Even though the idea of Warren LeBlanc copying the game was ruled out in court on lack of evidence, the manifestation of violence in the media in someone’s mind is still there, whether they choose to act upon the impulse of replicating it or not.