What is the media?

To understand what exactly the media is, it is first important to define the term “media. “A group” – When referring to the mass media as a “group,” it's to say that newspapers, movie studios, television networks, radio stations, and so called “media conglomerates” are all a part of this group of people and companies related to the collective we call “the media.”

Obviously, this group has evolved over the years. In the beginning of civilization, we only had the ability to transmit messages from person to person, through words in the form of stories and conversation. Later, humans developed written language and messages were recorded on some sort of surface. This method further evolved with the capability to copy written messages over and over again. In the twentieth century we began using electronic media. At first, radio was the electronic media of choice. This later evolved into television, and eventually into the internet.

“that constructs messages with embedded values” – The media do not only create messages, but they create messages with embedded values. As we will soon discover, it’s impossible to find any message in the media (or even with people we know personally) that doesn’t have a subjective bias. No part of the media is objective and unbiased, including the news media.Notice that the word “constructs” was used instead of a word such as “creates” or “produces.” The notion that media messages are constructed means that one or more persons made a conscious effort to build the message you’re viewing, listening to, or reading. For example, in a photograph, the photographer uses specific techniques to make her subject more emotionally engaging to the viewer.

“in order to achieve a specific goal” – This last part of the definition is perhaps the most important of all. The media constructs a message, disseminates it into society, and targets specific people in order to achieve an end result. The end result is ultimately meant to sell you something: either a product or service, or an ideology.

As we’ll soon discover, the media is a business selling a product (the message), to a set of consumers (the audience). An example of the media’s intent to sell a product or service, is the commercials we watch between the segments of our favorite television shows. Those commercials have the intention of selling you a product or service. An example of the media’s intent to sell an ideology is the television show between the commercial segments. The television show appeals to your sensibilities and in turn it sells you a lifestyle.

Of course, as with all things, extremes do exist in the media’s attempts to sell a product or ideology. When an extremely biased media source tries to sell you a political ideology, it is considered propaganda.