Media Ecology Essay

"The media control how we understand and connect with the world." To what extent do you agree with this statement? 

The media plays a dominant role in how we understand the world as it provide ideas and concepts that help audiences connect on a global scale. Through the change from older to newer representations, as well as old and new media, we see how the media now influences audience perceptions and challenges or reinforces pre-existing ideologies. In addition to this, through technological advancements, audiences are now connected on a global scale, which can be dangerous since large media conglomerates and tech companies are making decisions based on money and not what is considered 'right'.

People are largely influenced by what media they are consuming, and the presentations of people and ideologies that are incorporated in the media texts being consumed. This links to Gauntlett's identity theory, where he believed that audiences get a sense of their own identity by the media they consume. For example, in the 1960s, with publications such as Women's Realm magazine, women got ideas of what was socially acceptable, such as products to buy as a housewife and what type of person they needed to be. In the past, there was stereotypical, binary gender representations of identity where men were meant to be strong and brave and women were emotional and caring people with little independence. However, now there is much more diverse and complex representations, particularly of gender, and this has come about by the evolution and progression of media, which reinforces Gauntlett's idea that, in simple terms, we are what we consume. Another aspect that influences people's perceptions are the images reproduced by media conglomerates. Hegemony, where a dominant or powerful group controls a large majority of the media being produced, factors in what audiences are exposed to, and as a result what we may understand since the ideologies and perceptions of the producers are being exerted and released with the media they create. Because of this, in some areas, the media that people consume is limited by the media produced. For example, in Western society the media is produced predominantly by middle class white men. We see this trend in modern media as companies such as Walt Disney, one of the largest entertainment companies in the world, has Robert Iger as the CEO who is a white middle class man. As a result of who he is and what he represents, him and other CEOs of large conglomerates are often portraying middle class white men as superior, while other segments of society, such as the working class, females,  and the LGBT+ community are either underrepresented, or portrayed as inferior, as a result of the control that media has over audiences.

Due to technological advancements such as the proliferation of the internet, Web 2.0, social media and online gaming, audiences are connected on a global scale, and can therefore influence and be influenced by each other internationally. In the 21st century, there is both mass production for mass consumption, and mass innovation as more ideas are being shared by more people. Thank to the internet, millions of people can have their say and there is a wealth of information everywhere as well as being shared, for example, videos, blogs and websites. New ideas usually come through conversation, and since the internet has now become a mass communication device accessible to just over 5 billion people around the world, this mass of conversation has led to mass innovation being created. Where before this influx of internet access and activity, the message was the most important thing, now 'the medium is the message' and 'is more important' according to Postman's medium theory. As a result of the power of the internet, and thus infinite information, the power has been given to the people. Audiences can now express themselves with no constraints from controlling media producers, e.g., the UGC. Media platforms, including social media, act as a form of communication and interpretation, and YouTube is one of the most prominent vehicles for this, with its free content and open access as well as attaining 122 million users daily.

In recent years, since the breakout of Covid, the use of technology and media platforms dramatically increased. For example, 4.63 million out of New Zealander's total population of just over 5 million are connected to the internet as of January this year. Unfortunately, due to this widespread use of the internet, there has been several instances where the sharing of perspectives have been banned, partially due to the spread of misinformation. This has been seen with former US President Donald Trump, who was banned from using Facebook and Twitter. People have argued though that this is a breach of freedom of speech while others, who don't necessarily agree with Trump agree with this decision as it is 'harming society'. Multinational conglomerates own platforms which should be platforms of free speech but with this example of deleting what is considered misinformation, these platforms that should be a place for sharing perspectives and ideas become restricted and edited by the people in power.

Furthermore, this ideas of only showing what people want to see is not just seen in America. China has one of the largest audiences and generates the most amount of box office revenue for countries such as the USA (about $7.3 billion US dollars). Because of this, media companies take advantage of this as an easy way to generate more money, and will make and distribute movies that paints China and Chinese people in a positive light in order for their movies to be screened in China, especially since the country is so strict with what movies are allowed to be screened. However in doing this, media companies, and therefore audiences, overlook the negative aspects, and the reality of what it actually true. What we as audiences don't see is how people are being tortured or incriminated just for standing up for themselves and demanding their basic human rights. But because there are all these 'good movies' about China, audiences are almost being brainwashed into believing a lie since there is this large divide between the appearance and reality of these situations.

In addition to media allowing audiences to connect, social media platforms has allowed for political engagement and social activism, allowing people globally to interact and join in on movements, for example the Black Lives Matter movement and protests. After the killing of Black Americans such as George Floyd due to police brutality, protests supporting #BLM were widespread particularly by social media platforms such as Twitter. This helped share breaking news, circulate images and engage with news stories about corresponding protests. These protests spread globally, with massive protests un the UK, Europe, and Canada. The movement included many people of diverse backgrounds, who had previously not felt connected to the cause, including New Zealanders, despite the movement originating in the US.

Media has changed to the point where before, the news was once controlled by institutions, but now modern trends are changing how people are engaging with the news. Since we now get information from an app or online, specifically from social media, "fake news" has become more apparent in recent years. Additionally, people on average only read an article for about 15 seconds, allowing for more news outlets and publicists to create sensational headlines and storylines to get shared more, rather than the truth being told and perceived correctly. This results in misinformation as content is often exaggerated in order to be shareable and likeable. From this, audiences are split up into arguing for and against what should and shouldn't be shared, but there will always be the argument on this and how far is too far, similar to censorship in media. Ultimately, it comes down to the people and conglomerates in power that have the ability to control media, and push their own agendas and ideologies onto audiences on a global scale, and it is largely due to the development and increasing use of the internet that enables this to occur. This mass innovation has led to mass communication globally and now we are seeing the result of this power being used to shape modern audiences in today's society.