Do You Control Your Media?

When the question, “Do you control your media?” was posed in class, my instinctive answer was “yes.” However, I was forced to reconsider my response as a result of class discussion and reading. I realized that my answer was an automatic “yes” because, not only am I perceived to think this way, but I have never taken the time to ask myself such a question. As I am given the opportunity to control what I access in terms of switching channels, radio stations and Internet links or the ability to simply remove myself from the media influence momentarily, I am made to believe that I have control of my media. However, an interesting concept of the illusion of democracy in the media was brought to my attention through a class presentation. The idea of popular music was raised. Who defines music as being popular? It is believed that the members of society control the popularity of music. Take a step back, and members of society – like me – realize that although we have control over changing the outlet that we use, we do not have control over the nature of the content broadcast by a particular outlet. For instance, although I am able to change the radio station to which I listen, I can not change the content that plays. Therefore, it is media distributors such as radio disc jockeys who control media by deciding what popular music is – that which will draw the greatest number of listeners. As members of society hear a song on a frequent basis due to the selection of a disc jockey, they begin to like it more and more. This notion will cause listeners to tune into radio stations that play the song, allowing them to believe that they hold media control.

The illusion of democracy is similar to the illusion of reality that Schechter refers to in “The Death of Media: And the Fight to Save Democracy.” Schechter describes the current trend of reality-based programming (Schechter 40). While there is an illusion of reality in regard to spontaneous scripting, staging and finales, such elements are configured by show creators and editors in order to create exciting television.

It seems as though with media’s widespread growth, members of society are too fascinated with the continuous evolution to recognize the manipulation that is occurring. Will those slowly becoming aware of it begin to take action? What measures will they take?

Schechter, Danny. The Death of Media: And the Fight to Save Democracy. New Jersey: Melville Publishing House, 2005.