Page 54 - Myths for the Masses An Essay on Mass Communication

Mass Communication and the Promise of Democracy

communication and community as the center of a democratic
existence.
However, there are other differences. Mass communication lacks
the dialogical nature of communal conversations, the luxury of time,
and the convenience of short distances to bring the message forward
into the community. Indeed, it deprives the individual of these func-
tions. Instead, mass communication facilitates the translation of such
aspirations by reproducing a sense of participation and communal
belonging with almost religious intensity.
In fact, contemporary media are also postmodern places of
worship as they drift through time and space, containing fragments
of people and events, without memory or historical consciousness.
The popular arts replace religion in the process of mass communi-
cation and confirm Max Weber’s insights into the rise of modern
society, when art supersedes religion. Mass communication facilitates
the ascension of the new gods of mass culture, who rise in quick
succession to preach their sermons, while devoted audiences flock
around them to affirm their status as disciples, or fans, reminiscent
of their behavior as congregations in the lap of their communities.
Dewey once suggested that art is the most effective mode of
communication; mass communication has proven the effectiveness
of the popular arts in the discourse of society. It features television
as a reinforcer of a consumerist ideology that has held the United
States in its grip since the 1950s with situation comedies, game
shows, and soap operas. Commercials still reinforce the vision of a
good life, promote consumer choice as a synonym for freedom, and
rely on the credibility of what Leo Lowenthal calls the idols of con-
sumption, e.g., pop stars and celebrities. Indeed, there seems to be
more trust in the words or deeds of mass-produced celebrities of
film or television – and certainly more admiration for them – than
in political or religious authorities, unless the latter reinvent their
assigned roles in society and become celebrities as well.
In fact, the visual coverage of the subject or event, coupled (in
news reporting) with the personality of the presenter, constitute the
pillars of television’s credibility as a trustworthy source and shape
the definition of truth that dominates the societal discourse. Ex-
cluded from knowing, audiences rely on the accuracy or factuality
of mass communication by what they see (read, or hear) and by the

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