Page 136 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Meaning of Self in Society

After all, mass communication does contain the potential for
redefining the notion of objectivity to become culturally deter-
mined, discursively defined, and inclusive of multiple, even contra-
dictory, ideological positions.The recovery of the social or political
potential of society includes the legitimation of creative possibilities
in a collaborative atmosphere of constructing working realities that
are conscious of the media reality.

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The network of mass communication that surrounds and interacts
with society like a web of signs and symbols is best described
by references to “flow” and “intertextuality,” which suggest the
filmic, self-referential quality of an individual’s experience of media
exposure.
The idea of “flow” is used in this context to describe the actual
movement of signs, or items, along a temporal or spatial dimension
involving all means of mass communication, from print to broad-
cast media, and embracing notions of programming or layout. This
understanding of media content (information and entertainment) as
“flow” also includes commercial messages – that is, the classified
advertisement or the broadcast commercial – in a grand narrative
that weaves fact and fiction into the reality of everyday life. Dis-
tinctions of genres or categories of conventions, from melodrama to
op-ed material, disappear.They are replaced by selected impressions
of media activities that cut across a traditional, media-induced com-
partmentalization of contents and constitute the cultural resource
for the real-life practices of people; they also inform the social,
political, or economic knowledge, opinions, and attitudes of people.
The flow of mass communication in its size and diversity, however,
also reflects the vigor and quality of a culture, its profoundness or
simplicity, as well as its preoccupations with issues and events. It is
an advertisement of its strengths and weaknesses, but also an open
invitation to share its offerings through a process of immersion in
series of sequences that feature multiple encounters with versions
of reality in a permanent flow of verbal and visual cues.

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