Page 146 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Meaning of Self in Society

the institution and over issues of participation. Since the question
is not about manipulation, but about who manipulates, the owner-
ship of the means of mass communication becomes a major
concern, as does the social responsibility of such ownership vis-à-
vis the ability to communicate, which includes the acquisition of
communicative competence and access to the media forum. The
latter remains an unsettled yet central issue for the success of a
democratic system of communication.
The issue of participation is embedded in the idea of sharing,
which is an ethical dimension of social communication, particularly
in a capitalist society, in which the distribution of wealth and the
control of essential industries based on finite resources, including
the media, pose major problems related to equality, fairness, and
equal opportunity. Sharing remains an appealing idea; indeed, democ-
racy holds a deep attraction for sharing not only material but also
spiritual goods.
Many years ago, Charles Sanders Peirce advocated the use of love
against the advances of greed as he stood up against the symbols of
capitalism in America. Today we know that communities of love
have failed to make a difference, but radical thought still carries the
seed of change. Such thought must find its way into mainstream
media to contribute to the construction of alternatives in politics,
economics, and society in general. It includes the process of mass
communication, which remains connected to the major policy
arenas of society, where it shapes the language – and therefore life
as we know it.
But the right to a democratic form of life – as a constitutional
guarantee – is also the right to communicate, and the right to com-
municate in the twenty-first century must include the use of dia-
logue and the right of access to the means of mass communication.
While the former is a characteristic of human relationships, the
latter is an economic issue of affordability and a legal issue of secur-
ing space and time from the media for the purposes of public par-
ticipation.Yet participation may be difficult to achieve, because mass
communication represents the power of the monologue, sometimes
disguised as dialogue, but in the end always a one-sided engagement
with objects or ideas that makes for an unevenness between insti-
tutional claims on the sphere of communication and individual

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