The media plays a massive role in society during the current era. It is the people’s primary source of information and is used to relay information to the general public. It acts as a watchdog by ensuring leaders elected to their positions are accountable, transparent, and working within their mandate. Therefore, it communicates the leaders’ manifesto and policies, equipping the public with knowledge to come up with important decisions. It allows for freedom of expression through various social media platforms and has made it easy to have an accessible communication and information flow. As such, media and communication have essential roles in society.
To fully comprehend how the media and communication world operates, this paper will explore at least two theories from different schools of thought that get likened to the press and communication fraternity. Then, the paper will analyze the theories and provide how the idea applies to media and communication. It will also conclude by showing why it is imperative to look at these theories and elaborate on the media and communication world.
The first theory is the Marxist theory which the Frankfurt school of thought adopts. Its foremost proponent was Karl Marx, who believed that just like we got alienated from our labor during production, the people part with their artwork or pieces that signify their culture (Henning, 2017). According to him, culture today is affected by sameness propagated through films, radios, magazines, and other forms of media.
According to Marx, private property should be done away with and get turned into common property accessible to everyone in society (Henning, 2017). Personal property is the source of unfair division in the community leading to two classes, the proletarians as the majority and the bourgeois as the minority. In this case, the minority has ownership rights to the property, and he has reserved the means of production (Henning, 2017). Therefore, the majority, who are the laborers, must work for the minority to ensure production. Therefore, just as the proletarians departed from their labor, the people are made to believe that they choose what they consume through these media and film platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Instagram, or Twitter.
Further, Marxism theory analyses urbanization and industrialization in the community. Still, it endeavors to also touch on non-political aspects such as art, music, literature, and other cultural forms, which can get classified as human enterprises (Fuchs & Mosco, 2015). Communication is part of these human enterprises, so it is vital to analyze communication through the Marxist school of thought (Fuchs & Mosco, 2015). Furthermore, the media is a commodity used to circulate ideologies and theories. Therefore, considering the Marxist view, one can relate the Marxist form of production in media and how it affects society.
The second way to theorize media and communication is by classifying it as private and public. Private communication occurs between two or more people but does not involve the public or anyone not meant to be in the conversation. For example, it could be between spouses or partners, a child and their parent, an employee and their employer, among other forms of relationship. On the other hand, public communication is communication that is subscribed to the general public and involves larger masses or flow of instructions and information, for example, a government sensitizing its people on payment of taxes.
The public engages in the form of communication called communicative rationally, which is according to Herbamas (Mills & Barlow, 2014). They can produce opinions and decisions which are informed by their knowledge and types of languages. They access this knowledge through the media, which plays a role in conveying the information. The press still plays a critical role in society by showcasing daily political happenings, the accountability, and the transparency of the authorities. It also showcases government functions and ensures that through its existence, it acts as a mediator of sorts and offers a forum for public discussion and participation.
Through the media like newspapers and magazines, there is an occurrence of communicative rationality that provides an environment for the public sphere to bloom. Herbamas believes that the public sphere must have a characteristic that can only get fueled through media and communication (Mills & Barlow, 2014). Freedom to speak, release of the association through the meeting, and assembling to share ideas are some characteristics. Other characteristics entail freedom of information that yields an informed public and access to information mandatory to all citizens.
Through the public sphere theory, the general public is more involved through public participation as the media gives access to information relevant to forming opinions. They can check those in authority and ensure that they are acting within and fulfilling their mandate. The media promotes the freedom of expression, freedom of association, and access to information which also provides that at least in every private communication, there is an element of the public sphere involved in the conversation.
In conclusion, these theories bring to life the role of the media and communication with the people. It also shows how it got integrated into our existence. By learning the role of the media, people get to know better ways of using it. Moreover, by analyzing their various approaches, one can see that media and communication work in all spheres of our lives. These aspects include industrialization, urbanization, politics, and even economic relations.
References
Fuchs, C., & Mosco, V. (2015). Marx and the political economy of the media. Brill.
Henning, C. (2017). Theories of culture in the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory. In The Palgrave Handbook of critical theory (pp. 255-278). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
Mills, B., & Barlow, D. M. (2014). Reading media theory: Thinkers, approaches and contexts (pp. 300-312). Routledge.