Page 140 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Meaning of Self in Society

practices – and a major social or cultural function. In fact, a reve-
lation of that which is “real” is the outstanding attraction of media
fare.

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The process of mass communication is also a process of authenti-
cation, which orders or categorizes, describes, and displays a day’s
events – or the course of a life – in a wide variety of verbal and
visual narratives. As such, mass communication serves the construc-
tion of a dominant version of history that is based on the ruling
ideas in society. In fact, the media are typically recorders of past
events: they chronicle experiences, and they produce sets of cir-
cumstances that are merged in the making of an instant historical
record.The rush to history is inherent in the process of mass com-
munication, which is increasingly defined by notions of speed.Thus,
where historians customarily reject premature constructions of
history, the media are busily engaged in the fabrication of histori-
cal narratives; the latter attempt to make sense of complex and
immediate social or political developments, either in a competitive
spirit or in an effort to ensure social stability.
Indeed, the media – and the presence of television in particular
– offer a sense of social or political stability through a constant flow
of information; it is the fact of being there reliably that is other-
wise sought in family values or religious practices. The latter also
provide a historical dimension (in the form of customs or tradi-
tions), which is recreated by mass communication with its self-
referential presence in subjective, dynamic, and relational narratives
about the world, which help determine the form and content of
historical consciousness. Furthermore, this process is often encased
in commercial sponsorship – not unlike the way in which adver-
tising embraces media narratives – when institutions of mass com-
munication, such as museums (the Smithsonian, for instance), rely
on corporate support to define the essence of American social or
cultural history.
Social or political history is always biographical in the sense of
having touched the lifeworld of individuals; it becomes self-serving

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