STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES OF THE MEDIA AGENDA SETTING

The strengths of the Media Agenda-Setting includes the claim that it has predictive power due to the fact that it anticipates that if the masses are frequently exposed to the same media, the probability of them thinking alike of issues or having the same opinion about issues is very high. Again, it has an organizing power. This is to say that most people see the same issues as important. It also help arrange the already known knowledge of the media effects.Moreover, it has explanatory power because it explains why most people go for one particular piece of information.

However, the theory also has its weaknesses which includes the fact the media users may not be as ideal as the theory assumes. People may not be well-informed, deeply engaged in public affairs, thoughtful and skeptical. Instead, they may pay only casual attention to public affairs and remain ignorant of the details. For people who have made up their minds, the effect is weakened. News media cannot create or conceal problems, they may only alter the awareness, priorities and salience people attached to a set of problems. Research has largely been inconclusive in establishing a causal relationship between public salience and media coverage.

POWER OF COMMUNICATION

An American journalist, Daniel Webster said that if all his possessions were taken from me one exception, he'll hope keep his power of communication, for by it, he'd regain all the rest.

I think that he meant something broader than just the surface meaning.
Taking a look at the surface meaning of this statement, I think what he meant was that if he lost everything and was supposed to keep something, he would have loved to keep his speech because he believes that with that he'd be able to get back what he has lost.
Also, he meant to say that his speech was his most priced jewel and that he could give everything up but would not let go of his power of communication.

However, his background as a journalist also influenced that statement. I perceive that he sees communication as a very essential tool in our everyday life, in that, communication is like a mouthpiece to all other things.

"SCAVENGERS"

Have you taken a closer and critical look at our educational system in Ghana recently? It is becoming more of a female- oriented thing. The males are either dropping out of school in search of "quick money" hence following the "sakawa" menace which was coined out of internet fraud associated with rituals.

Unlike before, where our men were the brains behind many organizations and were the "able-bodied" in society, now it is gradually turning into something else. Majority of our men are now selling on our streets(hawking), pushing trucks and carrying filth("scavenging") among other degrading jobs. What is the cause? It is debatable, because one would ask, "what about the women who do the same jobs as the men"?

Now they are leaving the top class for our women to battle with. Women who were initially relegated to the background making them "kitchen-based"? Now every woman is empowering herself so that she doesn't become a burden on to the man as it used to be. A typical example is the number of women who ride in their own cars presently. Make comparison............................

Media Effects and the Hypodermic Needle Theory

The Mass Media has become a part of human life and it is affecting humans so strongly. The media affects our lives both positively and negatively through television and radio content mostly since they are the most frequently used channels to disseminate information to the masses. The effects analyses the behavioural, psychological and social consequences. But this looks at the negative aspect of their influence on the masses. Such exposure could be through all the various forms of giving out information. The effects could be immediate effect which could last for a long time or could vanish in no time. It could also come about as a result of the masses frequent exposure to the news. Moreover, the types of these effects could range from psychological, physiological, cognitive, attitudinal to behavioural. It could be direct or indirect as well.

The Hypodermic Needle Theory which is one of the most famous theories that analyses the relationship between the audience and the media in its simpliest description suggests that the mass media can easily influence a large group of people without any challenge and opposition from those people. This theory did not conform with the idea that the audiences use their intelligence in analysing the messages they receive." It views audience as the passive receptors of virulent viruses produced by the media"-(Starker;Crusades against the Mass Media). However, similar theories keep springing up[ every now and then but this is the most often debated one.

Functions of the Media

Social Functions
create awareness
Educate
Entertain
Informs
Platform for expression
Settle Conflicts
Encourage Initiative
Agenda Setting
Globalization
Mouth Piece
Gatekeeper
Investigate/Analyse/Interpret
Knowledge records
Mobilize
Holds Society together(acts as a sort of cultural glue)
Acts as a community forum

Political Functions
Watchdog- surveillance
Stability
Service to the political system
Links between government and people

Economic Functions
Serves the economic system
Employment
Advertising-Propaganda

Media Programs and its Impact on People

Everyone has a particular program he or she loves and there is a reason they love it. In our Ghanaian society, we tend to follow what goes with the masses.

To begin with, our broadcast media gives us more detailed information with their visual and audio byte. So in a way, we tend to be abreast with our Ghanaian society. Interviewing a few people on their favourite program on Tv and why they view and like it, I gathered several responses of which were varying. Majority of the men said they like anything to do with sports so they make it a point to be at home on every Monday night to view Sports Station whiles the women who were mostly interested in soap operas.


Furthermore, with our radio, the women expressed their interest in "Sister sister", which is programmed on Thursdays by Jessica on citi fm because it talks about women and their relationship problems. Most of our men took a solid stand on sports commentary once again. Majority of the youth I interviewed love newsfile on joy fm because it was educative and entertaining.