APPLICATION OF MASS COMM THEORIES IN PHILLIPINE SETTING (MEDA 101)

Example # 1:

I remember my friend, Joy, told me once about the things she is scared of. One of those is about those scary “killer-look-alike” co-passengers staring at her on jeepneys. “Basta naay lalake na nawong og kriminal sa jeep na akong masakyan, magpalayo jud ko ayy...Feeling nako anytime kay pwede ko niya dunggabon pareha gud anang makita nimu sa TV”, she said. For her, the typical killer is a male who have rugged face and beard. She based that assumption unto what she has seen on TV, teleseryes for example. She actually feels guilty towards her judgments, but she couldn’t help it. She really feels like she’s in trouble when she sees “killer-look-alike” guys on jeepneys.

Even I, myself is worried when I encounter a guy or a group of guys on street at night. I’ve also seen it on TV that when a girl is walking in a dark corner of the street, there’s this group of guys who follows her and then rape her, sometimes even kill her. That’s why at times, when I walk myself home alone late at night, I picked up stones, big enough to crack his head off, and hide it on my bag, just in case somebody will threw his self to me and rape me. As much as possible, I keep myself away from strangers (on streets) because I’m afraid they might hurt me or something. It’s better to think of the precautions first.


Explanation:

The two occurrences mentioned earlier can be explained by George Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory. “Gerbner claims that heavy television users develop an exaggerated belief in a mean and scary world.” (Griffin, 2006) Cultivation theory suggests that over exposure to television "cultivates" viewers' perceptions of reality. According to Gerbner and Gross, television is a medium of the socialization of most people into standardized roles and behaviors. He believes that television has become the main source of storytelling in today's society. It gives a “coherent picture of what exists, what is important, what is related to what and what is right.” (Griffin, 2006)

Cultivation theory suggests that over exposure to television "cultivates" viewers' perceptions of reality. It is hypothesized that heavy viewers are exposed to more violence and therefore affected by the Mean World Syndrome, an idea that the world is worse than it actually is. According to Gerbner, the overuse of television is creating a homogeneous and fearful populace idea to the minds of the viewers. However, TV violence does have an impact even on light TV viewers because the impact on heavy viewers creates an impact on the entire culture.
Gerbener defined violence as “the simplest and cheapest dramatic means to demonstrate who wins in the game of life and the rules of by which the game is played.” (Griffin, 2006) And he regards tv violence as the means of convincing the people that there is ‘a jungle out there.’

There are four indicated attitudes caused by television overexposure. There are: 1) chances of involvement with violence, 2) fear of walking alone at night, 3) perceived activity of police and 4) general mistrust of people. The two occurrences mentioned earlier fall on the category 4. I and Joy are simply exaggerating things because of what we’ve seen on television. We became very suspicious with strangers, even to ordinary people, because of the idea that “they might do something unwanted to us just like what we’ve seen on TV.”


Example # 2:

I spent some of my childhood years in my grandma’s place. It was a barrio of Malita called Palaypay. There’s no electricity and our neighbors are distant. Only radio, run by a battery, is our means of entertainment at that time. Once, the news about the cult, Satanic, was aired on the AM news. It says that the Satanic’s aim is to kidnap children, kill them and offer them to their master. They were scattered in Davao del Sur and other areas of Mindanao for their mission. They also reported how those Satanics performed their ritual. My lola went furious and said that they must bring me to Poblacion the next day to keep me safe. The barangay captain gave everybody a warning to be vigilant always. Days, weeks and months passed, we never heard of a real incident about Satanics.
Explanation:


The Hypodermic Model or Magic Bullet Theory can best describe the example # 2. This model holds that mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on their audiences. It directly penetrates the human system. The idea of shooting or injecting a message to group of people for a desired reaction is what best describe this model. Here, the audiences became passive because of what they’ve seen or heard. In the example, the news is from the radio. I made my grandma panicked. Of course, who would not fear that news. Your son and daughter, or your niece and nephews, or your grandson and grand daughter can be a victim. With that news, one can never be able to think whether it’s true or not. Your first move will be how can we avoid those Satanics.

REFERENCES:

Griffin, Em. (2006). A First Look at Communication Theory. (6th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

WEB SOURCES:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultivation_theory

http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6486/Cultivation-Theory-and-Media-Effects.html - Cultivation Analysis2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypodermic_needle_model

http://www.cw.utwente.nl/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Hypod ermic_Needle_Theory.doc/