Page 48 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Promise of Democracy

use of psychological expertise to establish ideological consent –
played a decisive role in the processing of culture for the benefit of
a stable and predictable political system.
For instance, the development of radio broadcasting in the United
States, with its centralizing function of networks (later extended to
television), contributed immeasurably to the development of a
national taste culture, not only with the production and marketing
of entertainment genres, but also with the dissemination of news
and information.These efforts were reinforced with the later inven-
tion of mobile technologies – such as the automobile radio or
transistor radios and portable television sets – which increased the
accessibility (and captivity) of audiences across the nation.
Questions of what is news or what it is important for society to
know came to be decided by broadcasting organizations, mass-
circulation newspapers, and magazines and their respective opera-
tors. They are reinforced by an emerging visual culture, beginning
in the 1920s and defined by picture magazines and Hollywood
movies.Technological progress, such as rotary presses, telephones, or
FM radio and television, or the introduction of color in the process
of mass communication, translated efficiently and effectively into
commercially viable means of communication, which served to
enlarge and reinforce a modern consumer culture in support of
mass markets. Invaluable for the creation of consumer demand, mass
communication increased the traffic in entertainment and informa-
tion without major changes in style or content between these
genres.
The concomitant centralization of production and dissemination
– less variety and fewer sources and channels of distribution – raised
questions about the function of mass communication in (political)
attempts to implement social control through uniformity of content
and presentation across all major forms of media. These questions
have become particularly acute since the number of owners of
media outlets has been decreasing in the United States, while the
proliferation of broadcast channels and newspapers or magazines is
still quite remarkable. Thus, it has become easier to exert influence
on a steadily decreasing number of proprietors or their agents. In
addition, diversification has created an ownership by outside busi-
ness interests, whose political ambitions may well lie elsewhere,

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