CONTENTS

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: DOES MEDIA VIOLENCE AFFECT CHILDREN?

THE NEWSON REPORT / ILL EFFECTS AND JAMES BULGER

THE COMPUTER GAME VIOLENCE DEBATE

CHAPTER 2: HOW MEDIA ADVERTISING AFFECTS SOCIETY

CONSUMERISM: A NEW RELIGION

THE PERFECT IMAGE

HAS THE MEDIA MADE BRITAIN‟S RECESSION WORSE?

MEDIA COVERAGE OF MADELEINE MCCANN

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abstract This dissertation focuses on looking at the different areas of the media and how it

affects our society. Debate topics I will be looking at are the James Bulger case, effects

of computer game violence on children, the effects of advertising on society,

consumerism, Britain‟s recession and the Madeleine McCann kidnapping. From looking

at a range of different case studies I will be analyzing and discussing the results and

discoveries I have found and hope to draw a conclusion from this.

Introduction Over the last 50 years the media influence has grown exponentially with the advance of

technology, firstly telegraphs, now radio, newspapers, magazines, television and the

most recent to hit our culture, the Internet. We live in a society that depends on

information and communication to keep us moving in the right direction and so we can

do our daily routines like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal

relationships, traveling and anything else that we have to do.

But, the media, in which we love so much, also has much to answer for. It has

been accused countless times for being responsible for problems in our society, such as

„media violence‟, rises in youth crime and „yobbish behaviour‟.

For years there have been on-going debates about if the media is to blame for

the actions of people in today‟s society. The key issue that I will be exploring in this

dissertation and attempt to address is how is today‟s society being affected by the mass

media. I will be looking at such forms of media, ranging from television, film, computer

games, advertising, and newspapers/magazines. I will be looking at violence in the

media, how advertising is affecting and pressuring people into consumerism, fashion

and looking perfect.

As we are always under the influence of the media, I feel that this subject is important

for people to gain a better understanding of how much the media can affect our daily

lives and in some cases dictate our lives. This dissertation might be applied to the issue,

even if in a small way, just to raise issues and discussions about different aspects of the

media. It can address the problem at hand, by providing case studies and opinions on

the subject, from past research. The dissertation may not come to any right or wrong

answer, but it will hopefully give a better insight into some of the issues being discussed

on a daily basis.

My hypothesis is that the media can be an easy part of our culture/society to

blame, as we are consumed in the media day to day, the only natural reaction of

humans is to blame the problem on what we are constantly in contact with.

In the first chapter, I will be looking at media and its effects on children. From

looking at articles and case studies of film and computer game violence and analyzing

them.

In the second chapter, I will be looking at advertising and how its affecting

society. From things such as tabloids, consumerism, celebrity image and the idea of the

„perfect image‟ that people are pressured into looking like.

For the third chapter, I will be going into discussion and analysis. Looking at what

evidence I have discovered and giving my own thoughts and opinions on it.

The final chapter will be a conclusion. I will return to the initial questions, and

summarize the main findings as a series of statements. I will attempt to make a decision

for myself, or the problem may not be resolved.

Mass media can be dated all the way back to the ancient world, mainly in China. The

“Diamond Sutra”, was the first known printed book, which was printed in China in

868AD. Movable clay type was created in 1041 in China, but due to the slow spread of

books/ literacy across China, and its high production costs, especially paper, mass-

media production never really came about until the 1400‟s in Europe. Most of these

prints did not survive, and most prints up around until the 1600‟s, are known to have

been lost or destroyed, although they were produced at quite a high amount.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printed book from a printing press with

movable type in 1453. From then on it changed the way the world created printed

material, but was so expensive, it could hardly be seen as „mass media‟.

With technology advancing at a high rate in the 20th Century, it enabled media to

become more widespread, due to inventions such as printing, record pressing and film

duplication. This meant that books, newspapers and movies could be produced at lower

costs for larger amounts of people to buy. Another significant invention was Radio and

Television. Radio was mainly used experimentally in the early 1900‟s, for use in war and

with Morse code, but didn‟t go commercial until the 1920‟s. Television was being used

experimentally from 1925 and went commercial from the 1930‟s. These two new forms

of media, were massive a breakthrough for the media world. Here, huge audiences

could be reached across the world and from this grew advertising and marketing.

Possibly the most significant form of media was the invention of the Internet. This

impacted greatly on things such as, communication, news, marketing, and advertising.

Everything and anything now could be done with ease; people around the world could

connect and communicate with each other. The world was now the audience. Social

networking sites have developed, video sharing sites, computer games have developed

into now being able to go online and play with people around the world. The Internet

has put no boundaries on the media and how it can reach us, we are totally saturated in

it. (Wikipedia 2010a).

From researching books and online articles, I will be analyzing these case

studies/articles. I have chosen this method because I believe it is the best way to get a

better understanding of real life incidents. This method will produce the best results as

they have already been researched into and have more information to discuss.

Possible limitations on my methods of research could be that some of the

research is bias and that the evidence isn‟t creditable. Assumptions could be that

obviously there will be two sides to every argument. Some incidents could be extreme

and very rare, but might be blown out of proportion, and again seem bias. There of

course is hundreds, if not thousands of cases and articles and it would be impossible to

include all of them. The articles I will choose will be based upon their significance in the

media, as there will be greater information and opinions on the subject.

Chapter 1: Does Media Violence Affect Children?

Children are always under the influence in one-way or another, from whatever they see

or hear from the media. But violence is a popular form of entertainment nowadays, and

with an increasing number of television programmes being shown in prime time that

display some form of violence, people are pointing the finger at the media and blaming it

for the cause in violence in today‟s children and young adults. Research has shown

there is a connection in aggressive behaviour in children from playing violent computer

games, which later on can cause behavioural problems. Studies have also shown a

12% increase in aggressive behaviour after watching violent films and television as well.

Although parents and psychologists have said that children can benefit from the

coordination of playing computer games, others disagree. With an increased number in

crime among youths, society is questioning who is to blame for their actions?

Computer game critics claim that watching violent television is less detrimental

due to the children not physically being involved with the violence. Research has also

shown heavy television viewers put in less effort at school, have poorer literacy skills,

play aggressively with other children, have fewer hobbies/ activities, and are more likely

to be overweight.

There are various theories as to the processes of influence that children get as a

result of being exposed to media violence, short term influences may include; Imitating/

Modeling, whereby the child‟s observations of a TV or computer games character could

be imitated in everyday life. This simple imitation/copycatting is regarded as the reason

to violent behaviour among children and young adults. Instigation/ Arousal, those who

are already in a high emotional or psychological state of mind, are more likely to engage

in aggressive behaviour from watching a violent incident on television, than others are.

Sensitization is the opposite of Imitation/Modeling, whereby the viewer reacts so

strongly to the violence, they are less likely to imitate it. Catharsis implies that fantasy

violence reduces the possibility of the viewer having aggressive behaviour. Another

theory of this is watching violent programmes decreases the levels of arousal; the

likelihood being the viewer is less prone to aggressive behaviour.

The long-term influences include; “Disinhibition”, suggesting that people are aggressive

by nature and that they suppress these feelings, but heavy viewing of media violence

makes them feel that aggression is acceptable. Desensitization is the idea that

prolonged exposure to media violence; viewers will gradually accept the violence as

normal. This can become a routine of everyday living.

There has been much on going debate in this area for a long time, with many

controversial books and reports written, both for and against the affects of media on

children. After researching into various different articles based upon my chosen theme,

this chapter will be looking at analyzing those reports written by other authors, and

looking at their strengths and weaknesses, and also looking whether or not they are

important to the question I am trying to answer; does media violence have an affect on

children in today‟s society?

The Newson Report / Ill Effects and James Bulger

Probably one of the most memorable news events in the British media was the death of

James Bulger, a two-year-old child from Kirkby, Merseyside. He was abducted, tortured

and murdered. The perpetrators were two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon

Venables. Bulger was abducted from the New Strand Shopping Centre, while

accompanying his mother.

Police found his mutilated body was found on a railway line. Thompson and Venables

were charged on 20 February 1993 with the abduction and murder.

In 1994, Professor Elizabeth Newson, Professor of Developmental Psychology at

the University of Nottingham, and also a renowned expert on child development issues,

was the author of the report Video Violence and the Protection of Children.

This report alleged a link between media violence and real life violence, and

gained a huge amount of attention from the media, when it claimed the horror film

Child's Play 3 had influenced the two 10-year-old boys' behavior and led to the Murder

of James Bulger in 1993.

As a result of the controversial Newson report, which is a main contender for the

argument of my dissertation question, I have been looking at Martin Barker and Julian

Petley‟s „Ill Effects – The Media Violence Debate‟.

The main issue raised in this book by the authors, is that is it questions the

accuracy of the Newson report and attempts to answer and analyze the real reasons for

media violence, broken down into topics in a series of chapters, written in an essay style

by contributing critics with the same opinions as Barker and Petley.

Ill Effects closely examines Newson‟s report, highlighting its key issues. It points

out that that there was no clear link between the film Child‟s Play 3 and the influence it

had on the two 10 year old boys who committed the crime itself.

„However, it soon became clear that, despite police efforts, there was not a scrap of evidence that the boys had watched the film.‟ (Barker 2001: 13)

Barker and other contributors to the book, point out that Newson's case studies weren‟t

reliable sources, and were more speculative accounts from newspapers rather than

independent first-hand research. One contributor also highlights that the newspapers

were simply attacking the film, mainly because they deal with political issues, which in

almost every case is blown out of proportion or bias in some way or another.

„In the Sun, (26 November 1993) the image was shown consumed by flames and the headline was: „For the Sake of ALL Our Kids…BURN YOUR VIDEO NASTY.‟...‟ (Barker 2001: 49)

He states that the claims made, are mainly those that are represented by the media,

and most of which, cannot be checked for reliability and credibility. Barker criticizes the

media and describes them as ignorant, bias and disguised political campaigns:

„We should have really known. When Elizabeth Newson issued her report, the press, radio and television were lining up to cover it. When we tried to state the opposite case, no one wanted to hear.‟ (Barker 2001: 3)

Moreover, he lists real cases, for example: „An elderly woman commits suicide after watching Schindler‟s List. In a note, she expresses an overwhelming sense of guilt at being a survivor of the Nazi Camps‟. (Barker 2001: 22)

Barker is suggesting that this case for example is no different than other supposed

cases of media causing violence. Barker said that we should not always blindly blame

the media; instead we should be aware of someone's mental state and take other

factors into account before making such claims. For example, in his case he states that

the woman's reaction was induced. Her behaviour could not be blamed by the violence

of the film. There are other social and cultural factors in people‟s acts in which the

media are not the influence. Barker‟s opinion is that there is no such thing called

„violence in the media‟ that either could or could not cause violence, and that we should

rather focus on how other social factors and backgrounds make some people consume

media in specific way.

He also noted the problem with campaigners treating delinquents as normal

people who become influenced by the media. Therefore, he suggests further research

on how these people understand and consume media.

„It treats the delinquents as normal people…We need further research no only into what media preferences delinquents have, but also into how they understand and use them.‟ (Barker 2001: 30)

Ill Effects offers valid arguments against the report of Elizabeth Newson, by providing

real facts and evidence to back his ideas and opinions. He suggests her research was

done improperly and without full evidence. These series of reports are important to the

question I am exploring, as it takes into consideration other factors about individual‟s

backgrounds and environments, and making sure research is done thoroughly. It shows

that every side has two stories.

The Computer Game Violence Debate

Another on –going debate in the same field is computer games and violence. The

computer games industry started off in the 1970‟s, and back then was a small niche

market. As the years went on and modern advancements of technology grew, especially

personal computers, it started to become more popular and widespread across the

world. From the late 1980‟s, companies were developing smaller, cheaper and more

efficient ways to play games, by inventing computer game “consoles” dedicated to just

playing games. These consoles nowadays, such as the Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, offer

ultra realistic graphics and a great form of interactive entertainment, an alternative to

watching television, and as they are affordable, this has driven their success and high

demand from consumers.

It is now one of the largest forms of media and entertainment in the world, and is

increasingly rising with the release of new forms of more powerful and interactive

consoles and games, from massive companies such as the Nintendo, Microsoft and

Sony.

Of course, due to its high demand and popularity, it‟s also brought about much

controversy and mass debate on whether people, mainly children and young adults, are

being affected by violent computer games. Psychologists believe that game players,

particularly children, may become increasingly aggressive and develop a natural

attitude about the use of violence to resolve conflicts. Researchers have also found that

children may become desensitized to violence in the real world around them, less

sensitive to the pain and suffering of others and more willing to tolerate ever-increasing

levels of violence. There are also fears that very young players may begin to believe

that the real world is as mean and dangerous in real life as it appears on the media and

in video games.

Game critics state that games have age rated certificates and that children are the ones

who go looking for violent games. Looking at articles on the Internet, game developers

are defending the games industry, saying they are being „singled out‟.

David Braben, in an interview with BBC News, said „We do tend to be the people who get the blame first at the moment. And that is a tragedy - because this industry is one of the most interesting media.‟ (BBC News. a 2007)

Chief Executive of Blitz Games, Philip Oliver, also added that parents need to be

educated on game certificates and not just ignore them:

„They aren't paying attention to the certificates. That is partly because they don't understand them and have a distorted image of games - that either they are harmless or totally evil.‟ (BBC News. b 2007)

Only on rare, isolated occasions, has there been extreme violence from suspected

computer game players, such as a murder, which then cannot be proven if the game

was to blame for the incident.

„On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold launched an assault on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, murdering 13 and wounding 23 before turning the guns on themselves. Although nothing is for certain as to why these boys did what they did, we do know that Harris and Klebold both enjoyed playing the bloody, shoot-'em-up video game Doom.‟ (Shin 2003)

From this incident, there still is no proof that the game violence the two boys

experienced had caused these murders.

„More and more children suffer from and are being treated for anger management than ever before. Now, one can't help but to wonder if these violent video games are even playing a slight part in the current statistics. I believe they do.‟ (Shin 2003)

Recent studies have shown that children are increasingly becoming more „multimedia‟

orientated, and now own more media devices. Children are now becoming surrounded

in these multimedia devices, so there is no question that they must be having some kind

of affect on them.

„It found that children‟s bedrooms were increasingly becoming “multi-media centres”, with those aged 12 to 15 having at least six media devices in their rooms, including the internet, MP3 players, digital cameras and mobile phones.‟ (Martin 2008)

From these articles, it shows that some children are being affected by computer games,

although, most of them are isolated incidents and do not happen on a regular basis.

What‟s interesting is that these stories seem to be blown out of proportion ironically by

the media itself.

Chapter 2: How Media Advertising Affects Society

Advertising is a form of communication, which is intended to persuade or inform its

audience, in the attempt to make them take action. Modern advertising developed with

the rise of mass production in the late 19th and 20th Century. In can come in different

forms of media to put across the message. Traditional forms include newspapers,

magazines, television, radio, mail; with modern forms or „new media‟ such as websites

and text messages.

Virtually anything nowadays can be used for advertising, from bus stops,

billboards, posters, flyers, sides of buses and even banners attached to aero planes.

Any space that can hold some form of identifiable brand or logo is part of advertising

media. But the most effective and popular ways of advertising is television, radio, press,

online/internet, billboard and even celebrity advertising.

Commercial television is seen as the most effective form of advertising, hence

why companies are charged so highly for their commercials to be put on air. It is said

that the annual Super Bowl football game in the U.S, is the most prominent advertising

event on television. As of 2009, the cost for a company to have its advert in this event is

around $2.6 million.

(msnbc 2006)

„… At the same time the consumer receives a flood of information through commercial advertising. An average American, it is estimated, sees 150,000 advertisements on television in his or her lifetime. And advertising is increasing worldwide, faster than population or incomes. Global advertising spending, by the most conservative reckoning, is now $435 billion.‟

(United Nations Development, Global Issues 2008)

Radio advertising, is also a popular form, as most people listen to the radio sometime

during the day. Like television, companies can buy „airtime‟ to have their advertisements

hosted. Press advertising involves using a form of printed medium, such as newspaper

or magazines. This form of advertising is very effective and widespread, due to the

amount of people who read them. They can display news and gossip as well as small

sections of the pages purchased from companies for their advertisements to be

displayed.

With the recent boom of the Internet over the past decade, advertising has already

taken over online, they often include web banners, and spam email, but with the recent

increase of popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, social network

advertising is now on the rise. Celebrity branding is also a form of advertising, using

their status of fame and power to help gain recognition. (Wikipedia 2010b)

All of these forms of advertising are saturating society with brands and logo‟s,

and are contributing to the way society thinks.

Consumerism: A New Religion

„Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate‟ (Lebow, V.)

Ever since mass media became mass media, companies have naturally used these

means of communications to try and reach a large number of people, to let them know

about their products. There is no real problem with this, as sharing ideas and concepts

is how we naturally develop our thoughts and ideas. However, as the years have

progressed, the sophistication and development of advertising methods and techniques

have advanced, enticing and shaping and even creating consumerism and needs where

there has been none before.

Corporate competition around the world has massively increased, and so has the need

to gain consumers from advertising. Companies are pumping millions, even billions of

pounds/dollars into advertising in order to win us over and influence us into buying their

product or service.

„The influence of advertising on magazines reached a point where editors began selecting articles not only on the basis of their expected interest for readers but for their influence on advertisements. Serious articles were not always the best support for ads.‟ (Ben H. Bagdikian, Global Issues 2008)

Consumerism now days could almost be seen as a type of religion. It is defining us as

people, how we should live our lives and what we should look like. A person must

consistently be in a state of mind whereby anxiety forces them to feel the need to keep

up with fashion and trends, buying into the latest products and technology, the need to

be envied by other consumers. The consumerism rates in this country and the world are

extremely alarming. According to an online article by The Guardian, there are more

credit cards than people in the UK, with personals debts that have risen to £3.2bn in

2008.

„Religions are characterized by some vision of a good life, by their rituals and by a particular language. Consumerism seems to be developing all three apace.‟ (Robinson 2008)

Consumerism seems to be a problem in today‟s society, with people spending more and

more on things they don‟t need and can‟t afford to buy anyway. People‟s lifestyles are

being dictated by fashion and trends, and trying to look beautiful.

The Perfect Image

But there are more worrying affects that the effects of consumerism is having on people,

than just outstanding debts. By the use of celebrity advertising, from the front covers of

magazine with air brushed models, the media is portraying an image of perfection, as a

result, society is being pressured into thinking that it must follow this lifestyle and image

in order to be accepted by society. Computer software could be seen to be part of the

blame with the idea of the beautiful image. With the creation of software such as

Photoshop, images can be enhanced with just a few clicks of the mouse. Air brushed

models with perfect skin tones and high lights can even be made to look thinner and

more appealing.

From early on, children are being conditioned to think that their image matters.

From the increased amount of children watching television, children are developing a

superficial way of thinking, from being told to lose weight and to look beautiful. Super

models in magazines are continuing to get thinner, and mainly woman are being

pressured into wanting to look slimmer.

„There are an estimated 60,000 people in Britain with eating disorders. Nine out of ten are female.‟ (BBC News 2000)

Some doctors and mental health experts insist that one of the causes of anorexia is the

fashion industry, thin models, and a desire to be on the catwalk. Others, such as fashion

designers and models, say the main cause of anorexia isn't the fashion industry – it's a

psychological problem that isn't related to the fashion world.

Sufferers constantly believe that they are overweight, starving themselves and not

eating for days. The continual exposure in magazines, on television and in the

newspapers of the notion of losing weight will make you happier from using the

advertised diet plan; society is still buying into this idea. The industry‟s drive to make

more money coupled with popular cultures definition

of an ideal body is producing advertisement after advertisement on trying to convince

us, this is how we should look.

An article online was written about the controversy of an Italian advertising campaign,

which featured photos of an emaciated, anorexic young woman, with the slogan "No

Anorexia”. Italian Health Minister and the European Affairs Minister saw this advert as

an effective way to discourage women to be anorexic. Isabelle Caro, who is the model

featured in the advert, expressed her opinion on the matter:

„I thought this could be a chance to use my suffering to get a message across, and finally put an image on what thinness represents and the danger it leads to – which is death.‟ (Pawlik-Kienlen 2007)

The article states that different people viewed the advert with different opinions in mind;

one being that young girls and woman could feel compelled to compete for thinness. An

important section of the article is its discussion on what causes anorexia, mainly down

to the psychological state of the woman. An important point raised, is the environmental

factors.

„Environmental factors include exposure to thin, gorgeous models – who are often impossibly thin and gorgeous. Through movies, TV, magazine ads and billboards, the media creates impossible standards of perfection, which many young girls and women try to achieve.‟ (Pawlik-Kienlen 2007)

Each article believes that the media is to blame for the superficial attitude of today‟s

society that we are constantly in view of the promotion of beauty and image; you have

to look beautiful in order to be accepted by society.

Has The Media Made Britain‟s Recession Worse?

There is no denying that Britain‟s economy is in a bad state. It roughly started in

June/July in 2008 and has been the worst recession since the 1930‟s, with an estimated

2.5 million people unemployed, and figures are still rising. There have been a number of

debates on whether Britain‟s recession has been made worse due to the media‟s

influence. After looking at news articles, people are suggesting that the news and

tabloids are spreading fear amongst the public, making the issues sound worse than

they are, therefore stopping us from spending. The fact is that people are holding onto

their money, as they are frightened they are going to loose their jobs, but the reality is

that if no one spends money then as a result people will loose their jobs.

„Did you know that the food store Iceland has bought 51 former Woolworths stores and is planning to create 2,500 jobs? Possibly not, because the media coverage that this fantastic piece of news received is completely disproportionate with coverage given to the doom and gloom stories.‟ (Hurst 2009)

According to reports, society as well as the media has been aware of the slow down of

the Economy for several years, public spending rising, inflation rates dropping, the

housing market crashing, but people have continued regardless of the early signs.

„If people took that much notice of headlines they would have sold their homes en masse three or four years ago when so many of us started warning that property prices were heading for a slump.‟ (Conway 2009)

However, the online news article written by the Telegraph, contrasts to the idea of the

media making the recession sound worse, as it claims that they should have said

something earlier.

„But we were guilty of a more fundamental failing – one about which most of the financial press has remained shamefully silent. We should have made more noise about the risks of a crisis before it erupted.‟ (Conway 2009)

From researching into these articles, it seems that the majority of opinions believe that

the media/press are the reason as to why the recession has spiraled out of control. The

idea is that we should carry on as normal, and not let the media scare us into not

spending our money. The media seems to only want to cover bad news, and this gains

more attention than good news.

Media Coverage of Madeleine McCann

In 2007, the biggest story of the year hit the media, with the disappearance of a 3-year-

old girl, Madeleine McCann, whilst on holiday with her parents and siblings in Portugal.

To this day, she still has not been found and there has been much speculation as to

what happened to her. I will be looking at what sort of impact the media has had on this

investigation and the effects on society and why it‟s had so much coverage.

The attention from the media was huge, splashed across tabloids everywhere, all

across Britain, Europe and even in parts of North Africa, but there was lots of criticism

saying that the media attention was excessive and more for entertainment purposes as

oppose to helping the case. Looking at an interesting article, there are different opinions

on whether the media influence has helped the investigation.

From the public interest gained due to the amount of coverage, many online campaigns

have been created, such as “www.findmadeleine.com” in order to help find the child.

The website has received over 100 millions hits, making it the fastest growing website

ever. Millions of pounds in reward money have been put forward and Funds have been

raised to help finance the on-going investigation.

On the other hand, others opinions are that it is damaging to the case. Beatrix

Campbell, a commentator for The Independent newspaper said:

„The bigger the story has become, the less likely it seems that she will ever be found alive and well.‟ (Campbell 2007)

Due to the reward money being offered, Scams were set up with fake websites,

collecting money from the public, the police are being given false tip-offs as to

Madeleine‟s whereabouts, which is disrupting the investigation. There is also the

chance now that the kidnapper has been scared into hiding from the amount of publicity.

One interesting effect that the media is having on people is that the tabloids were

jumping at any opportunity to name possible suspects.

„The lack of developments has led the media to leap on any possible suspects, demonising people who could well be innocent‟ (Temko 2007)

Newspapers such as the Daily Mail and the Daily Star published public apologies and

paid £100,000‟s in compensation. The McCann family asked the media to stop

speculating about their daughter‟s whereabouts.

From the articles written, there are positive and negative opinions on the press

coverage of the McCann Kidnapping. Some believe the amount of media attention

helped to raise money for the investigation, and that more people are aware of the

situation. On the other hand it was seen as a way to pounce on any suspects, even

without concrete evidence. The amount of attention was seen as more entertainment

than actually news reporting.

Conclusion

Overall, from the key issues and articles I have researched into, I have discovered that

the majority of them all believe that the mass media in general does have an influence

on people and society.

One of the key issues and most debated topics concerning the media is how it affects

children. I found some results saying that on average children aged 2-8 years old,

consume at least 5 ½ hours of media per day, which includes at least 2 ½ hours of

television and that children older than aged 8 spend even more time consuming the

media. There has to be some degree of influence from the media.

From researching the James Bulger case, the Elizabeth Newson report was

basically trying to blame the horror movie “Child‟s Play 3” for influencing the two 10 year

old boys to kidnap and murder James Bulger. However, I have discovered, like

everything in life, there are two sides to every story. Martin Barker and Julian Petley‟s

“Ill Effects: The Media/ Violence Debate” speaks out against Newson‟s theory/report

and in my opinion proves it to be wrong, stating that her evidence was not sufficient and

not creditable enough to back up her theories. Overall, there was no proof that the

killer‟s had even watched the movie and that the media was ignorant of opposing

opinions and had leapt onto any excuse for a reason to blame someone. Barker‟s main

theory was that we should look at other external factors, mainly environmental and

mental health, before we completely blame one aspect.

Another debatable topic I have looked at is whether computer game violence

affects people. I have discovered that most incidents that involve violence and a

suspected computer game, which could have had an influence on it, are very rare, and

are seen to be blown out of proportion by the media for again blaming the incident on

anything. The main argument against the influence of violent games are that the parents

simply are not aware or ignoring the age certificates, usually down to just the lack of

understanding computer games. The fact still remains that every game still has the

recommended age certificate on the front, just as DVD‟s do and shouldn‟t be treated

differently just because it‟s a different form of entertainment.

Possibly a topic where society isn‟t as aware, as it should be, is how media

advertising affects and influences us. From my studies, I have discovered that

advertising is one of the most invested forms of communication for a company trying to

sell products or services. There are so many forms of advertising, literally anything

these days is and can be used for advertising, and in some cases, the stranger and

more unique forms, the more attention and successful it can be. As a result of our

society being saturated in advertising from the media, the articles I have researched into

show that we are a society of consumers that we feel the need to buy things we don‟t

need, and as a result of our spending habits, personal debts of the UK are several

billion pounds, with there being more credit cards than people, this figure does not

surprise me.

The more shocking discoveries of my research on consumerism and the effects

of advertising is the image of perfection and beauty in order to be accepted by society.

This is pressuring people, particularly women, to look as beautiful as the celebrities and

models they are surrounded by in their daily lives. Although the figures say that 60,000

people in Britain suffer from eating disorders, it is relatively low compared to the size of

the entire population, and there is no evidence to suggest that all of these cases are

because of the media, as Martin Barker said, it could be down to other personal factors.

As for the speculation of the media making Britain‟s recession worse, the authors of the

articles that have written about this believe that the media focuses their attention on

mainly the bad news about the economy and that minimal coverage is given to the good

news about the economy and that the stories are blown out of proportion, therefore

scaring people into not spending money. However, other opinions on the matter are that

the media didn‟t high light the signs from an early enough stage and that they left it too

late.

From researching the media‟s input on the Madeleine McCann, it showed that

from the early stages they were helping with the case by how widespread it became.

But after a while the tabloids were almost smothering the case, to the point where the

McCann family asked them not to do so, like it was almost entertainment. They were

jumping at any opportunity to name suspects with out proper evidence. As a result this

would have a traumatic effect on the suspects who were innocent, but still being labeled

as the kidnapper.

The limitations with researching into this area are that it is such a highly debated

subject; there are too many articles and opinions to consider and it would be impossible

to take them all into account. As far as I can see from my research, the general opinion

is that there is an influence from the media and has different impacts on different

situations.

From all of these issues I have researched, and from my own experiences, it has

led me to believe that the media definitely has a huge impact on today‟s society and is

probably one of the biggest influences on how we think, but only in certain

circumstances.

Firstly, I think that violence in computer games and films don‟t really affect adults,

and if they do only a small scale, from feeling short-term emotions. I believe that there

has to be a deeper problem, emotionally and mentally, within the person for it to trigger

aggression or violence due to environment they live in or certain family issues. On the

other hand, I feel that it can affect children, due to their fragile minds naturally learning

about the world and their lack of understanding.

I myself am a big fan of computer games and the only types of games I enjoy

playing are shooting games, because with these types of games and fantasy type ones,

they are the only means of escape into a reality that you wouldn‟t be able to in real life

and that they say violence is seen as a form of entertainment, this is the reason I

believe people enjoy it so much. The media seems the just want to blame anything it

can just to sell a story when it comes to cases like these.

Unfortunately, it seems to me that nowadays the tabloids are only interested in

covering bad news, just to sell newspapers, as they prey on people‟s fear and anxieties

to make bad situations worse and the news they do cover has no substance and lack of

evidence. Most media coverage is on politics or politicians; I believe both the media and

politics are big businesses, each feeding off the other.

Overall, I believe that we are living in a “mediacracy”, whereby we are instructed

how to live and how to be the perfect citizens, what we should and should not look like,

from all the advertisements and images of perfection we are littered in, like a form of

brainwashing. We are too saturated in media to even notice its affects on us.

„Go to work, send your kids to school, follow fashion, act normal, walk on the pavements, watch T.V, save for your old age, obey the law. Repeat after me: I am free.‟ (anonymous)

BIBLIOGRAPHY/ NETOGRAPHY Barker, M. & Petley, J (2001) Ill Effects: The Media/Violence Debate, 1st Edition. London. Druckrey, T (1996) Electronic Culture: Technology and the Visual Representation. New York. BBC News (2000) Models link to teenage anorexia http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/769290.stm [last accessed 25/04/2010] BBC News a, b (2007) Industry reacts to games review http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7033888.stm [last accessed 25/04/2010] BBC News (2007) McCann attacks media speculation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6963499.stm [last accessed 25/04/2010] BBC News (2009) Labour recession hopes 'a myth' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8322136.stm [last accessed 25/04/2010] Berry, Andrew (2006) How the Media Effects Society. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/76292/how_the_media_effects_society.html?cat=25 [last accessed 25/04/2010] Belam, Martin (2007) Madeleine McCann and Alex Meschisvili - a culture contrast. http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2007/05/madeleine_and_alex.php [last accessed 25/04/2010] Campbell, B (2007) Beatrix Campbell: Has all this goodwill turned into global blather? http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/beatrix-campbell-has-all-this-goodwill-turned-into-global-blather-451058.html [last accessed 25/04/2010] Conway, Edmund. The Telegraph (2009) Media is partly to blame for the recession? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/edmundconway/4109557/Media-is-partly-to-blame-for-the-recession.html [last accessed 25/04/2010] Global Issues (2008) Corporate Influence in the Media. http://www.globalissues.org/article/158/corporate-influence-in-the-media [last accessed 25/04/2010]

Global Issues (2008) Media and Advertising. http://www.globalissues.org/article/160/media-and-advertising [last accessed 25/04/2010] Temko, Ned. The Guardian (2007) False tip-offs hamper hunt for Madeleine. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/may/20/ukcrime.theobserver [last accessed 25/04/2010] The Guardian (2010) Unemployment and employment statistics. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/unemployment-and-employment-statistics [last accessed 25/04/2010] The Guardian (2010) The road to recession ... and recovery. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/interactive/2009/jan/22/recession [last accessed 25/04/2010] Hurst, David (2009) Has the media made the recession worse? http://www.davidhurst.co.uk/2009/01/12/has-the-media-made-the-recession-worse/ [last accessed 25/04/2010] Lebow, Victor (2009) Journal of Retailing http://hundredgoals.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/journal-of-retailing.pdf [last accessed 25/04/2010] Lott, John (2008) The "Recession" is a Media Myth. http://holycoast.blogspot.com/2008/04/recession-is-media-myth.html [last accessed 25/04/2010] Martin, Nicole (2008)Video games cause violence, most children admit to Ofcom http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1967794/Video-games-cause-violence-most-children-admit-to-Ofcom.html [last accessed 25/04/2010] Media Standards Trust (2007) What impact has media coverage of Madeleine McCann had? http://www.mediastandardstrust.org/projects/debatestandards/debatedetails.aspx?sid=3863 [last accessed 25/04/2010] Msnbc (2006) Does game violence make teens aggressive? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16099971/ [last accessed 25/04/2010] Pawlik-Kienlen, Laurie (2007) Anorexia a Psychological Problem http://psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/anorexia_a_psychological_problem [last accessed 25/04/2010]

J. Perry, Professor Mark (2008) The Recession Media is a Myth. http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/04/recession-is-media-myth.html [last accessed 25/04/2010] B. Robinson, Anthony (2008) Articles of Faith: Consumerism is a greedy society's religion http://www.seattlepi.com/local/350593_faith09.html [last accessed 25/04/2010] Shin, Grace (2003) http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723 [last accessed 25/04/2010] Something Fishy. Eating Disorders and the Media. http://www.something-fishy.org/cultural/themedia.php [last accessed 25/04/2010] The Telegraph (2007) Millions join online campaign to find Maddy. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1552273/Millions-join-online-campaign-to-find-Maddy.html [last accessed 25/04/2010] Wikipedia (2010a) Mass Media http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media [last accessed 25/04/2010] Wikipedia (2010b) Broadcasting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcasting [last accessed 25/04/2010]