Sociology of Mass Media

Sociology of mass media – Advertising and democracy are connected. People are required by their political system to hold individual opinions. In addition, people look at the mass media for information on political matters. Therefore, they looked for information from the news, political debates, and political advertising so that they could evaluate their leaders and vote on public policy. – In covering a political campaign, the media choose which issues or topics to emphasize, thereby setting the campaign’s agenda.

Therefore, the media create an agenda setting; the ability to affect cognitive change among individuals by telling people what to think about, not what to think. This would then influence Quebec voters’ decisions. – Political Advertising and campaign coverage would have an impact on Quebec voters in influencing their decisions by including these into their campaigns: •Patriotism: The ad stresses the candidate’s love of and service to his/her country. •Gender: The ad presents the candidate as appropriately “manly” (or feminine) to make viewers trust him/her. Facts and Figures: The ad uses facts and statistics to support the candidate’s policies. •Issues: Reporters need to push for details on positions and ask tough questions on major issues, not accepting generalities. They need to bounce one candidate’s position off other candidates to create an intelligent discussion forum from which voters can make informed choices •Depth: On talk-show appearances, reporters need to offer something more than what voters can see and hear for themselves.

Analysis and depth add a fresh dimension that is not redundant to what the audience already knows. •Inside coverage: reporters need to cover the machinery of the campaigns: who runs things and how, what history do they bring to a campaign. – Voters would be influenced by these presented campaign coverage and would use these to make a decisive vote.