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IN THIS SECTION OF THE EXAM AND IN THE SAC YOUR PERSONAL OPINION IS NOT REQUIRED WHEN DISCUSSING MEDIA INFLUENCE-YOU ARE SHOWING YOUR KNOWLEDGE WHAT I GOTTA KNOW:

Tick it when you get it

1. know some of the theories of media influence, date and who made them up. 2. know how these theories view the way an audience behaves. 3. know whether the theories are linear/cultural effects theories OR reception theories 4. know some examples where media texts have been said to have had a negative or positive effect on the audience. 5. know different research methods and their weaknesses. 6. know some examples of research that has been conducted into media influence and know the criticisms that can be made against the research. 7. know which audiences are vulnerable in our society. 8. know how the government tries to protect us from harmful media influence.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Jackie Magee Carey Grammar, Eric Jensen Pascoe Vale Girls SC and notes from ATOM workshops. 1 AUDIENCE Media influence theories see the audience fitting into 3 distinct groups where they see the audience as:  Passive  Active  Combination

No theory is correct it is a lens or binoculars through which we look at the impact and influence of the media on our society across time.

Cultural Effects Theories: what the media do to people -media is powerful -audience is passive

Reception Theories: what the audience does with the media -media not powerful -audience is active

Postmodern theory belongs to neither of the above.

1. BULLET /HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY 1920s-30s popular 1940s and 1950s (cultural effects)

A very simplistic view where the message is ‘injected’ into the audience and everyone is affected in the same way. The audience is viewed as a mass. The media is highly influential and audiences are seen as ‘sponges that absorb the media without interference Media very powerful Media texts: CLOSED Audience: PASSIVE Researcher/s who developed this theory: ADORNO & HORKEIMER-Frankfurt School Germany

Weaknesses A very simplistic approach to something that is a complex issue Treats the audience as a mass and doesn’t take into account individual differences or interference Based on anecdotal observations 2. USES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY: 1940s (reception theory) Media not powerful Media texts: OPEN Audience: Active Originated in USA in 1940s One message is sent, the audience all receives the same message but they don’t respond in the same way. There is not a passive absorption rather an interchange between the media and the receiver. The theory fucuses on WHY the audience uses a particular text rather than its content.It’s what the people do with the media – rather than what the media does to people – that counts. The public uses the media to gratify desires – whether they desire entertainment, relaxation, information, etc. -own choice of media, audience select and omit LAZARFELD -1940s and BLUMER AND KATZ 1970s USA 2 3. JOSEPH KLAPPER’S REINFORCEMENT THEORY : 1960s (reception theory)  Media not powerful  Media texts: OPEN  Audience: Active The media has little power because audiences are active and texts work to reinforce existing opinions, experiences and beliefs.In Klapper’s opinion-audience doesn’t have as much power as family, peer group, etc. According to this theory, the media is seen as having little power to shape public opinion. Other factors (referred to as ‘socialising influences’) play a greater role in shaping people’s beliefs and attitudes such as the influence of family and peer groups, religion, social class, education, occupation, etc. HOWEVER according to Klapper if the audience is presented with an issue that is new and previously unheard of then the media could have the power to influence by representing particular issues in certain ways. JOSEPH KLAPPER- USA

Weaknesses For the media to be able to influence an audience, the audience must be presented with an issue of which it is totally unfamiliar with. So if the audience is presented with something unfamiliar or unheard of then the media does have the power to influence and shape the audience opinions and behaviours.

ANOTHER ONE FROM THE 60s…..

Cultivation Theory George Gerbner mid 1960S

This is a theory proposed by George Gerbner. It is concerned mainly with the influence of television. It argues that television, as the main source of storytelling in today’s society, has a great deal of influence on the picture of society we form in our minds. Cultivation theory states that the effect of watching a lot of television is cumulative. That is, it builds up over time, and that, rather than believing individual texts, the audience come to accept the whole picture of the world as presented on television. So, if there are lots of murders on the television, the audience will eventually come to believe that the world is a dangerous place full of murderers. If all the women on television are skinny and blonde, than audiences will start to believe that women are mostly skinny and blonde. It is not a matter of an audience believing a particular text; rather it is a matter of the audience slowly coming to confuse the world as it is represented on the television with the world as it really is. Cultivation theory underpins the Mean and Scary World Syndrome. This is the idea that audiences come to believe that the world is a worse place than it really is due to the cumulative effects of years of television watching. Watch Bowling for Columbine for a good example of this.

4. AGENDA SETTING THEORY 1970s (cultural effects theory)  Media is powerful  Media texts: CLOSED  Audience: PASSIVE The media cannot tell us what to think but it can tell us what to think about. This theory is defined as the process whereby the mass media determine what we think and talk about. In other words, the media can ‘set agendas’ or terms of reference of any discussion be it social, political or economical. -“gatekeeping” Stuart Hall / Raymond Williams The Birmingham School UK 3 Weaknesses Sees texts as closed The gate keepers are able to control what the audience has access to so in a way they have the power to influence audience opinion and behaviour.

5. POST MODERN THEORY 1970s to today  Media has neutral power  Texts are open  Audiences are active Developed in France during the 1970s and 1980s. Postmodernism reflected the social values of the 1980s-every individual has his or her own way of reading a media product. Everyone’s response is unique. Postmodernists argue:  There is no single meaning in the text itself.  The meaning of the text resides in the viewer  Everyone’s opinion of a text is equally valid  Can’t talk about a particular media product having a major influence over everybody because everyone has their own unique way of interpreting it.  There is no such thing as a dominant/preferred reading. Readings are more often negotiated or oppositional-audiences make their own meanings. (eg: the other night watching Australian Idol they had a “24” joke-split screens and a clock showing different scenes at the same time-I laugh at it because it’s sending up “24”-my 6 year old has never seen “24” and so she makes meaning in a different way. Another example is Shrek2 when Puss in Boots is in Shrek’s jumper and is trying to get out-I laugh because it is a joke about Aliens-my 6 year old laughs because the cat looks funny.

Some examples of post modernist media influence theories: RECEPTION THEORY popular 1980s and 1990s The meaning of the text lies somewhere between that framed or encoded by the producer of the text and that decoded by the audience. Meaning is negotiated by the audience and the audience either chooses to accept all or part of the meaning intended by the media producer. Alternatively the audience may set up an oppositional reading to the text. Readings vary depending on the social and cultural background of the audience. Stuart Hall, British media theorist

SEMIOTIC CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY Suggests that audiences are a combination of both passive and active and read texts depending on cultural norms. (in other words the way their culture has affected them)

OPEN TEXT THEORY 1980s The media has little power and texts are always open and never closed. There are no preferred meanings or readings of a media text as all meanings are derived from the individual. It also proposes that meanings and readings are constantly changing so there is no absolute truth, reality or structured meaning. Audiences are empowered to make their own interpretations individually at a point in time. DERRIDA, BAUDRILLARD & LYOTARD- France

SOME RESEARCH METHODS INCLUDE: case studies, laboratory studies, correlation/longitudinal field studies, quantitative research, questionnaires, interviews, discussion/focus groups, meta

4 analysis. WE WILL CONCENTRATE ON THE UNDERLINED ONES FOR OUR EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH INTO MEDIA VIOLENCE. (see page 14) MEDIA PRODUCTS SAID TO HAVE HAD A NEGATIVE EFFECT ON AN AUDIENCE example 1&2

National socialist film policy GERMAN PROPAGANDA FILMS: THE ETERNAL JEW & JUD SUS-Joseph Goebbels helped to produce. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Seen as examples of negative media influence on the German people.

Despite its authoritarian core, Nazism was populist, a political movement that courted the masses by the means of slogans that were aimed directly at the instincts and emotions of the people. It is therefore not surprising that the Nazis valued film as a propaganda instrument of enormous power. The interest that Adolf Hitler and his Propagandaminister Joseph Goebbels took in film was not only the result of a personal fascination. The instrumentalization of film for propaganda had been planned by the NSDAP as early as in 1930, when the party first established a film department.

Goals of the Nazi film policy

Goebbels who appointed himself "Patron of the German film" assumed, accurately, that a national cinema which was entertaining and put glamour on the regime would be a more effective propaganda instrument than a national cinema in which the NSDAP and their policy would have been ubiquitous. The main goal of the Nazi film policy was to promote escapism, which was designed to distract the population and to keep everybody in good spirits. The open propaganda was reserved to documentary films and newsreels. There are only very few examples of German feature films from the Third Reich that deal with the NSDAP or with party organizations such as Sturmabteilung, Hitler Youth or Reich Labour Service. Even the so called propaganda films that refer directly to the Nazi politics amounted to less than a sixth of the whole national movie production, which mainly consisted of light entertainment films.Jud Süß

Jud Süß, (The Jew Süss), was the nickname of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer and is the title of an 1827 novella by Wilhelm Hauff, a 1925 historical novel by Lion Feuchtwanger, a 1934 British film and a Nazi propaganda film made in 1940 by Veit Harlan, all of which are stories with a title character modelled on Oppenheimer. The Feuchtwanger book and the 1934 film based on it were both condemnations of anti-Semitism with the 1934 film being meant as well as a satire of Nazi anti-Semitism.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The original novella was about a businessman who believes he is a Jew, but whose unfair business practices result in the betrayal of an Directed by Veit Harlan innocent girl. Consequently, he is arrested and sentenced to be hanged under 18th-century anti- Produced by unknown Semitic laws. While he waits to be executed, he Release date 1940 discovers that he is not Jewish, but he prefers to face his sentence rather than turning his back to Running time minutes the community he grew up in.

Language German

Budget Unknown

5 The first film adaptation of Jud Süß was made in 1934 by Michael Balcon, head of production at Gaumont British in the 1930s. British censors would not have allowed a movie to criticize openly the persecution of Jews, since it would have appeared as an attack on German policy and led to a diplomatic incident. The movie had little success in America or most of Europe, but a great political impact in Vienna, where it was banned. Unlike the 1940 version, the 1934 version is based on Feuchtwanger's novel and is a condemnation of anti-Semitism, not a justification of it.

The infamous German movie adaptation made in 1940 by Veit Harlan under the supervision of Joseph Goebbels is a justification of anti-Semitism and is considered one of the most hateful depictions of Jews on film. The 1940 Süß, played by Ferdinand Marian, is different from the original character on the following points: He is a real Jew; he represented Nazi propaganda stereotypes of Jews having hooked noses and greasy hair. The 1940 film achieved Nazi objectives and was a great success in Germany and abroad. Anti- Jewish violence was reported after its projection in Marseilles, for example. The impact of this movie was such that its director, Veit Harlan, received the 1943 Universum Film Archiv award (the UFA was the major commercial German film studio in the early part of the 20th century), and was put on trial after the war but Harlan defended himself by arguing that the Nazis controlled his work.

"The Demonic Effect": Veit Harlan's Use of Jewish Extras in Jud Süss (1940) Susan Tegel University of Hertfordshire

Veit Harlan, director of the notorious anti-Semitic film Jud Süss (1940), was the only film director of the Third Reich to be tried for crimes against humanity. Of particular interest to the prosecutor was the role of the SS in recruiting Jewish extras for some scenes. Determined to depict German Jews as Eastern Jews (Ostjude) in a film justifying their expulsion from Germany, Harlan sought extras first in Lublin in January 1940, and then in Prague in March of the same year. Perhaps because Harlan was eventually acquitted, their use has attracted little scholarly attention, but it does shed light on the making of state-commissioned propaganda on the "Jewish Question.

The Eternal Jew is a 1940 anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia film. Its title in German is Der ewige Jude, which is The Eternal Jew ambiguous and could be translated as the "Wandering (Redirected from Der Ewige Jude) Jew". It was directed by Fritz Hippler at the insistence of German Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, though Directed by Fritz Hippler the writing is credited to Eberhard Taubert. The film consists of feature and documentary footage combined with new materials filmed shortly after the Nazi occupation of Poland, which then had a Jewish population of about 3 million (roughly 10 percent of the total population). The purpose of the film was to explain to the German public about the supposed danger posed by this new population, which had come under the control of the Reich.

Format

The movie is done in the style of a documentary, the central thesis being the immutable racial personality traits that characterize the Jew as a wandering cultural parasite. Throughout the film, these traits are contrasted to the Nazi state ideal: While Aryan men find satisfaction in physical labour and the creation of value, Jews only find pleasure in money and a hedonist lifestyle. While members of the Aryan race have a need for aesthetic living, rich Jews live Written by Eberhard Taubert in bug-infested and dirty homes, even though they could afford better. While Western man has an appreciation for Release date 1940 Northern culture and imagery, Jews only find satisfaction in the grotesque and decadent. Many things that run Running time 62 minutes contrary to Nazi doctrine are associated with Jewish influence, such as modern art, (cultural) relativism, Language German anarchic and socialist movements, as well as sexual liberation. Budget Unknown 6 Plot and content

One of the opening shots of the film shows a pack of rats emerging from a sewer, juxtaposed with a crowd of Jews in a bustling Polish street. Close-ups of individuals show sickly, malformed facial features. The narration explains how just as rats are the vermin of the animal kingdom, Jews are the vermin of the human race and similarly spread disease and corruption. Unlike rats, however, the narrator continues, Jews have the uncanny ability to change their appearance and blend into their "human hosts." A chilling scene depicts four bearded men in traditional Jewish costume, then shows them shaved and in modern business suits, while the narrator explains that only a "trained eye" can distinguish their Jewish features. In this scene, the men's eyes roam from one side of the shot to the other as they smile at the camera--the men, who were filmed at gunpoint, were following the soldiers whose rifles were aimed at them.

Other scenes include footage of notable figures such as Albert Einstein (placed adjacent to a series of images about Jewish control of the pornography industry), socialist leader Rosa Luxemburg, and even Charlie Chaplin, who was not Jewish but who managed to earn Adolf Hitler's wrath through his own film, The Great Dictator. Other noted figures are clearly taken out of context as well: for example, the Jewish actor Peter Lorre is shown in a scene from Fritz Lang's film M, in which he played a child murderer.

Scenes of Jewish life in Poland were also staged to make the Jews objects of ridicule. Adam Czerniakow, whom the Nazis appointed head of the Judenrat (Jewish Council), is shown seated in front of a seven-branched menorah (candelabra), gesticulating wildly at the director's insistence, because "that is how Jews speak." Toward the end of the film, after showing how Jews have been responsible for the decline of Western music, science, art, and commerce, is a scene of a cow being slaughtered for meat by a shochet (Jewish ritual slaughter), which is prefaced by a warning similar to the one in Frankenstein (1931 film); telling women, children, and the squemish about the upcoming scene. This long scene, lasting several minutes, show the cows and sheep in all their death throes.

Public response

Though it was released in German cinemas in 1940, the film was a failure. Audiences that had been accustomed to the elegant filmwork of directors such as Leni Riefenstahl in Triumph of the Will and Olympia and even to such popular anti-Semitic features as Jud Süß found that this film was exaggerated and extreme. Nevertheless, Hippler, who was Goebbels's favorite director, remained in Poland to continue "documenting" Jewish life. Despite the obvious bias, his later footage, particularly of the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto is historically valuable because it is the only filmed record of the event.

Postwar significance

An unrepentant Fritz Hippler was interviewed in the Emmy Award winning program "The Propaganda Battle" in the PBS series Walk Through the Twentieth Century. In this interview he explains that he regrets that his name was listed as the director of The Eternal Jew because the Allies interogated him after the war. He thought this was very unfair because, in his opinion, he had nothing to do with the killing of Jews.

The infamous German movie adaptation made in 1940 by Veit Harlan under the supervision of Joseph Goebbels is a justification of anti-Semitism and is considered one of the most hateful depictions of Jews on film. The 1940 Süß, played by Ferdinand Marian, is different from the original character on the following points: He is a real Jew; he represented Nazi propaganda stereotypes of Jews having hooked noses and greasy hair.

The 1940 film achieved Nazi objectives and was a great success in Germany and abroad. Anti-Jewish violence was reported after its projection in Marseilles, for example. The impact of this movie was such that its director, Veit Harlan, received the 1943 Universum Film Archiv award (the UFA was the major commercial German film studio in the early part of the 20th century), and was put on trial after the war but Harlan defended himself by arguing that the Nazis controlled his work.

7 MEDIA PRODUCTS SAID TO HAVE HAD A NEGATIVE EFFECT ON AN AUDIENCE example 3 The War of the Worlds (radio drama)1938

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The War of the Worlds was an episode of the American radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938 and aired over the Columbia Broadcasting System radio network. Directed and narrated by actor and filmmaker Orson Welles, the episode was an adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds. The first two thirds of the 60-minute broadcast were presented as a series of simulated "news bulletins", which suggested to many listeners that an actual alien invasion by Martians was currently in progress. Compounding the issue was the fact that the Mercury Theatre on the Air was a 'sustaining show' (it ran without commercial breaks), thus adding to the program's quality of realism. Although there were sensationalist accounts in the press about a supposed panic in response to the broadcast, the precise extent of listener response has been debated. In the days following the adaptation, however, there was widespread outrage and panic by certain listeners who believed the events described in the program were real.[1] The program's news-bulletin format was decried as cruelly deceptive by some newspapers and public figures, leading to an outcry against the perpetrators of the broadcast, but the episode secured Orson Welles' fame. Welles' adaptation was one of the Radio Project's first studies. Background

Welles in 1937 (age 21), photographed by Carl Van Vechten H. G. Wells' original novel, relates the story of an alien invasion of Earth at the end of the 19th century. The radio play's story was adapted by and written primarily by Howard Koch and Anne Froelich, with input from Welles and the rest of the Mercury Theatre on the Air staff. The action was transferred to contemporary Grover's Mill, an unincorporated village in West Windsor Township, New Jersey in the United States. The program's format was to simulate a live newscast of developing events. To this end, Welles played recordings of Herbert Morrison's radio reports of the Hindenburg disaster for actor Frank Readick and the rest of the cast, to demonstrate the mood he wanted. The first two thirds of the 55½ minute play was a contemporary retelling of events of the novel, presented as news bulletins. This approach was not new. Fr. Ronald Knox's satirical newscast of a riot overtaking London over the British Broadcasting Companyin 1926 had a similar approach (and created much the same effect on its audience). Welles had been influenced by the Archibald MacLeish dramas The Fall of the City and Air Raid, the former of which had used Welles himself in the role of a live radio news reporter. But the approach had never been done with as much continued verisimilitude and the innovative format has been cited as a key factor in the confusion that followed. Plot summary

The program, broadcast as docudrama from the 20th floor at 485 Madison Avenue in New York City, starts with an introduction from the novel, describing the intentions of the aliens and noting that the adaptation was set in 1939, a year ahead of the actual broadcast date. The program continues as a weather report, then as an ordinary dance band remote featuring "Ramon Raquello and His Orchestra" (actually the CBS orchestra under the direction of Bernard Herrmann) that is interrupted by news flashes about strange explosions on Mars. Welles makes his first appearance as (the fictional) famous astronomer and Princeton professor Richard Pierson, who refutes speculation about life on Mars. The news grows more frequent and increasingly ominous as a cylindrical meteorite lands in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. A crowd gathers at the site and events are related by reporter Carl Phillips (portrayed by Frank Readick). The meteorite unscrews, revealing itself as a rocket machine, and onlookers catch a glimpse of a tentacled, pulsating, barely mobile Martian before it incinerates the crowd with Heat-Rays. Phillips' shouts about incoming flames are cut off in mid- sentence. (Later surveys indicate that many listeners heard only this portion of the show before contacting neighbors or family to enquire about the broadcast. Many contacted others in turn, leading to rumors and confusion.) 8 Regular programming breaks down as the studio struggles to keep up with casualty updates, firefighting developments and the like. A shaken Pierson speculates about Martian technology. The New Jersey state militia declares martial law and attacks the cylinder; a message from their field headquarters goes on about the overwhelming force of properly equipped infantry and the helplessness of the Martians in Earth's gravity until a tripod alien fighting machine rears up from the pit. The studio returns to establish the Martians as an invading army with the obliteration of the militia force. Emergency response bulletins give way to damage reports and evacuation instructions while millions of refugees clog the roads. Three Martian tripods from the cylinder destroy power stations and uproot bridges and railroads, reinforced by three others from a second cylinder as gas explosions continue. An unnamed Secretary of the Interior advises the nation. (The secretary was originally intended to be a portrayal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, then President, but CBS insisted this detail, among others, be changed. The secretary did, however, sound like Roosevelt as the result of directions to actor Kenny Delmar by Welles.) A live connection is established to a field artillery battery. Its gun crew reports damaging one machine and a release of black smoke/poison gas before fading in to the sound of coughing. The lead plane of a wing of bombers broadcasts its approach and remains on the air as their engines are burned by the Heat-Ray and the plane dives on the invaders. Radio operators go active and fall silent, most right after reporting the approach of the black smoke. The planes destroyed one machine, but cylinders are falling all across the country. This section ends famously: a news reporter (played by Ray Collins), broadcasting from atop the CBS building, describes the Martian invasion of New York City — "five great machines" wading across the Hudson River, poison smoke drifting over the city, people running and diving into the East River "like rats", others "falling like flies" — until he, too, succumbs to the poison gas. Finally, a despairing ham radio operator is heard calling, "2X2L calling CQ. Isn't there anyone on the air? Isn't there anyone on the air? Isn't there.... anyone?" After an intermission for station identification, in which announcer Dan Seymour mentions the show's fictionality, the last third is a monologue and dialogue, with Welles returning as Professor Pierson, describing the aftermath of the attacks. The story ends, as does the novel, with the Martians falling victim to earthly germs and bacteria. After the play, Welles informally breaks character to remind listeners that the broadcast was a Halloween concoction (the equivalent, as he puts it, "of dressing up in a sheet, jumping out of a bush and saying, 'Boo!'"). Popular mythology holds this "disclaimer" was hastily added to the broadcast at the insistence of CBS executives as they became aware of panic inspired by the program; in fact, it had appeared in Koch's working script for the play, as detailed in his 1970 book The Panic Broadcast. [edit]Public reaction

New York Times headline from October 31, 1938 Some listeners heard only a portion of the broadcast, and in the atmosphere of tension and anxiety just prior to World War II, took it to be an actual news broadcast.[1] Newspapers reported that panic ensued, people fleeing the area, others thinking they could smell poison gas or could see flashes of lightning in the distance. Richard J. Hand cites studies by unnamed historians who "calculate[d] that some six million heard the CBS broadcast; 1.7 million believed it to be true, and 1.2 million were 'genuinely frightened'".[2] While Welles and company were heard by a comparatively small audience (in the same period, NBC's audience was an estimated 30 million), the uproar was anything but minute: within a month, there were 12,500 newspaper articles about the broadcast or its impact, while Adolf Hitler cited the panic, as Hand writes, as "evidence of the decadence and corrupt condition of democracy."[2] Later studies suggested this panic was less widespread than newspapers suggested. During this period, many newspapers were concerned that radio, a new medium, would render the press obsolete. In addition, this was a time of yellow journalism, and as a result, journalists took this opportunity to demonstrate the dangers of broadcast by embellishing the story, and the panic that ensued, greatly.[3]

9 Robert E. Bartholomew suggests that hundreds of thousands were frightened in some way, but notes that evidence of people taking action based on this fear is "scant" and "anecdotal".[4] Indeed, contemporary news articles indicate that police were swamped with hundreds of calls in numerous locations, but stories of people doing anything more than calling the authorities typically involve groups of ones or tens and were often reported by people who were panicking themselves. Later studies indicate that many missed the repeated notices that the broadcast was fictional, partly because the Mercury Theatre (an unsponsored cultural program with a relatively small audience) ran opposite the popular Chase and Sanborn Hour over the Red Network of NBC, hosted by Don Ameche and featuring comic ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and singer Nelson Eddy, three of the most popular figures in broadcasting. About 15 minutes into the Chase and Sanborn program the first comic sketch ended and a musical number began, and many listeners began tuning around the dial at that point. According to the American Experience program The Battle Over Citizen Kane, Welles knew the schedule of the Chase and Sanborn show, and scheduled the first report from Grover's Mill at the 12-minute mark to heighten the audience's confusion. As a result, some listeners happened upon the CBS broadcast at the point the Martians emerge from their spacecraft. Many listeners were apparently confused. The confusion cannot be credited entirely to naïveté. Though many of the actors' voices should have been recognizable from other radio shows, nothing like The War of the Worlds broadcast had been attempted in the United States, so listeners were accustomed to accepting newsflashes as reliable. The problem is that the working script had only three statements concerning the fictional nature of the program: at the beginning, at the 40-minute mark, and at the end. In fact, the warning at the 40-minute mark is the only one after the actors start speaking in character, and before Welles breaks character at the end. This structure is similar to earlier Mercury Theatre broadcasts: due to the lack of sponsorship (which often included a commercial message at the 30-minute mark during an hour-long show), Welles and company were able to schedule breaks at will, depending on the pacing of a narrative. Furthermore, the show's technique of jumping between scenes and narratives made it hard for the audience to distinguish between fact and fiction, so it is understandable that they were no more likely to perceive the three statements of the fictional nature of the program as being 'outside' the narrative, than they were to perceive the introduction (and subsequent interruption) of the music as being 'inside' the narrative. While War of the Worlds was in progress, some residents in northeastern cities went to ask neighbors what was happening (many homes still did not have telephones). As the story was repeated, rumors began and caused some panic. [citation needed]

Contemporary accounts spawned urban legends, many of which have come to be accepted through repetition. Several people reportedly rushed to the scene of the events in New Jersey to see the unfolding events, including a few geologists from Princeton University who went looking for the meteorite that was said to have fallen near their school. Some people, who had brought firearms, reportedly mistook a farmer's water tower for a Martian Tripod and shot at it.[5] Initially Grover's Mill was deserted, but crowds developed. Eventually police were sent to control the crowds. To people arriving later in the evening, the scene really did look like the events being narrated, with panicked crowds and flashing police lights streaming across the masses.[citation needed]

Monument erected October 1998 commemorating where the Martians in the story landed in Van Nest Park, Grover's Mill, NJ. Some people called CBS, newspapers or the police in confusion over the realism of the news bulletins. There were instances of panic throughout the US as a result of the broadcast, especially in New York and New Jersey.[6] Future Tonight Show host Jack Paar did announcing duties that night for Cleveland CBS affiliate WGAR. When the phone lines to the studio started to light up with panicking listeners calling in, Paar attempted to calm them on the phone and on- air by saying, "The world is not coming to an end. Trust me. When have I ever lied to you?" When the frightened listeners

10 started charging Paar with 'covering up the truth', he then called WGAR's station manager for help. Oblivious to the situation, the manager advised Paar to calm down, saying it was "all a tempest in a teapot."[7] Seattle CBS affiliate stations KIRO and KVI broadcast Orson Welles' radio drama. While this broadcast was heard around the country, it made a deep impact in Concrete, Washington. At the point where the Martian invaders were invading towns and the countryside with flashes of light and poison gases and the lights were going down, there was a loud explosion and a power failure plunged almost the entire town of 1,000 into darkness. Some listeners fainted while others grabbed their families to head into the mountains. Others headed for the hills to guard their moonshine stills. One was said to have jumped up out of his chair and, in bare feet, run two miles to the center of town. Some men grabbed their guns, and one Catholic businessman got his wife into the car, drove to the nearest service station and demanded gasoline. Without paying the attendant, he rushed toBellingham, Washington (50 miles away) to see his priest for a last-minute absolution of sins. He reportedly told the gas-station attendant that paying for the gas "[wouldn't] make any difference, everyone is going to die!"[ Because phone lines as well as electricity were out, residents were unable to call neighbors, family or friends to calm their fears. Of course, the real story was not as fantastic as the radio drama: all that had occurred was that the Superior Portland cement company's sub-station suffered a short-circuit with a flash of brilliant light, and the town's lights went dark. The more conservative radio-listeners in Concrete (who had been listening to Edgar Bergen's program on another station) calmed neighbors by assuring that they hadn't heard about any disaster. Reporters heard soon after of the coincidental blackout of Concrete and sent the story over the newswire and soon the town of Concrete was known worldwide.[8] Edgar Bergen and Don Ameche, who were continuing their Chase and Sanborn Hour broadcast on NBC, are often credited with "saving the world". It is said many listeners were reassured by hearing their tones on a neighboring station. Aftermath

In the aftermath of the reported panic, a public outcry arose, but CBS informed officials that listeners were reminded throughout the broadcast that it was a performance. Welles and the Mercury Theatre escaped punishment, but not censure, and CBS is believed to have had to promise never again to use "we interrupt this program" for dramatic purpose. [citation needed] However, many radio commercials to this day do start with the phrase "We interrupt this program". A study by the Radio Project discovered that some who panicked presumed that Germans — not Martians — had invaded. Other studies suggest that the extent of the panic was exaggerated by contemporary media[citation needed]. When a meeting between H.G. Wells and Orson Welles was broadcast on Radio KTSA San Antonio on October 28, 1940, Wells expressed a lack of understanding of the apparent panic and it was, perhaps, only pretense, like the American version of Halloween, for fun. The two men and their radio interviewer joked about the matter, though with embarrassment. KTSA, as a CBS affiliate, had carried the broadcast. War of the Worlds and the panic have become examples of mass hysteria and the delusions of crowds. In 1988, during the weekend nearest the 50th anniversary of the broadcast, West Windsor Township, in which Grovers Mills is located, held a Martian festival. Designed to attract tourist revenue, this included "Martians" firing "Heat Rays" and carnival rides and hucksters' stalls. The New Yorkermagazine review began "It's not every day we get to see the Martian Women invade..." The notoriety of the broadcast led to the show landing a sponsor, the Campbell Soup Company and the Mercury Theatre on the Air show was renamed the Campbell Playhouse. Influence

It is sometimes said the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was received with skepticism by the American public, as a consequence of the radio performance.[17] In the 1943 film Air Force, when the attack is reported on the radio a character asks if they have Orson Welles tuned in.[18] Because of the panic in the 1930s and 1940s, U.S. TV networks deem it necessary to post bulletins to the audience to inform them some TV stories were fiction

11 MEDIA PRODUCTS SAID TO HAVE HAD A POSITIVE EFFECT ON AN AUDIENCE example 1

Tiny songbird who stopped the British media in their tracks

By James Button Herald Correspondent in London May 19, 2005 ARTICLE 1 May 18th, 2005: the world learns that Kylie Minogue has breast cancer. This newspaper article discusses the reaction in Britain .

Loved by Briton's ... Kylie Minogue. Photo: Reuters

The news broke on the Today program, BBC radio's morning show of heavyweight politics. Ahead of an interview with the British Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, about the Government's legislative program came the report that Kylie Minogue had breast cancer.

By yesterday the British media were talking about little else. Pictures of Kylie - no surname necessary - were on the front of every newspaper. The Sun devoted its first seven pages and its main editorial to "the tiny songbird". Suspending its usual pic of a topless girl on page three, it called on readers to buy a £1 pink wristband for cancer research and "wear it for Kylie".

The newspaper also ran paparazzi pictures of Minogue and her boyfriend, the French actor Olivier Martinez, reportedly frolicking last weekend on French Island in Westernport Bay, Victoria. The Sun called it "an idyllic island", which was a stretch, but such is the cult of Minogue that everything must be glamorous for the girl Britons have loved for nearly 20 years.

On the BBC Radio One website are more than 400 messages from fans wishing Minogue well. Laura from Nottingham said she "literally broke down and burst into tears" when she heard the news. Simon described her as "an institution to the '80s Neighbours tea- time generation. We love her".

In Australia, Minogue is merely huge. In Britain more than 300,000 people, including Madonna, went to her 11 Showgirl tour performances over the past month.

She has had 37 hits and sold 40 million singles. In the 1980s, 14 million British people watched her every day when she played Charlene, the bubbly, feisty mechanic, in Neighbours.

Even allowing for differences in population size, the British audience for the program always far exceeded Australia's. It even spawned academic theses claiming the Brits loved Kylie and Jason and Neighbours because they represented a fair-haired fantasy of what Britain had been.

Minogue always seemed "ageless, almost ethereal", perfect for the absinthe fairy in the film Moulin Rouge, Libby Brooks wrote in The Guardian.

But "now the plastic has deferred to the corporeal". The article was headlined: The girl who fell to earth.

12 Melbourne heart skips a beat

By Alan Attwood ARTICLE 2: The reaction in Melbourne. These are just May 19, 2005 examples of the newspaper articles that appeared during this time. WHAT EFFECT DID KYLIE’S MEDICAL CONDITION RECEIVING SUCH HUGE MEDIA COVERAGE IE: RADIO, NEWSPAPER, TELEVISION HAVE ON THE PUBLIC OF THE DAY?

We love you, Kylie ... schoolgirl Amy Parker joins the vigil. Photo: AP

There was only one question on the lips of the assembled fans, well-wishers, neighbours and media outside the Minogue family home in the Melbourne suburb of Canterbury yesterday: "Where is she?"

There was blanket coverage of Minogue's cancer on the local radio shows, and among all the speculation, it was reported that treatment had begun.

The word was out that the British press pack was on its way, camera phones and chequebooks in hand: the Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks, raised the issue of the state's privacy laws.

Even the London tabloids would be stretched to match Melbourne's Herald Sun, which ran Minogue stories on the first nine pages.

Its editor, Peter Blunden, was unapologetic: it was a Melbourne story; it was Minogue first, "daylight second".

The pop diva's promoter, Michael Gudinski, said one of the few positive things was that Minogue was with her family.

It is understood her sister and fellow pop star, Dannii, is on her way from London.

Melbourne can't get enough of its homegrown megastar: six of the 20 Showgirl performances scheduled for the Australian tour were to have been in the city.

An exhibition of costumes, photographs and videos, donated by the performer, smashed attendance records at the National Gallery of Victoria, attracting 293,000 visitors last month.

The gallery's curator, Janine Barrand, said this confirmed Minogue's place in the city's cultural pantheon alongside Dame Nellie Melba and Barry Humphries.

Kylie: The Exhibition, featuring those famous 50-pence Spinning Around hotpants, is showing at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

13 MEDIA INFLUENCE: POSITIVE The increased incidence of reports on breast cancer due to Kylie’s medical condition resulted not only in a rise of media reports on the illness in general but also a rise in women having mammograms. This is an example of POSITIVE media influence and it seems to support the AGENDA SETTING FUNCTION THEORY

'Kylie effect' helped raise breast screening

By Lyndsay Moss August 8, 2005

The so-called "Kylie effect" could help reduce deaths from breast cancer as more women are screened for the disease, a Sydney researcher says.

Pop star Kylie Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer in May, and had surgery to remove the lump.

A study at the University of Sydney has revealed that coverage of the singer's plight caused an unprecedented increase in bookings for breast screening.

Researcher Simon Chapman, professor of public health at the university, examined women over 40 who booked mammograms as part of the Government's BreastScreen programs in the 19 weeks before, the two weeks during and the six weeks after the publicity surrounding Minogue's illness.

He found a 20-fold increase in the news coverage of breast cancer on television.

This coverage emphasised that young women also got breast cancer and that early detection of the disease was critical for successful treatment.

Professor Chapman said that overall bookings for breast screening increased 40 per cent in the two weeks of Kylie-related publicity.

He also found a 101 per cent increase in bookings for women in the eligible age group for the program — 40 to 69 — who had not been screened before.

Six weeks after the publicity, mammography bookings remained nearly 40 per cent up in previously unscreened women.

"The significant 'Kylie effect' on screening may further reduce breast cancer deaths," Professor Chapman said.

Writing in The Medical Journal of Australia, he said that stories about health and medicine could lead to dramatic changes in consumer behaviour.

"Health advocates should develop anticipatory strategies for responding to news coverage of celebrity illness," he said.

14 Medicine and the Media HERE IS THE OFFICIAL REPORT & RESULTS Impact of news of celebrity illness on breast cancer screening: Kylie Minogue's breast cancer diagnosis Simon Chapman, Kim McLeod, Melanie Wakefield and Simon Holding MJA 2005; 183 (5): 247-250 eMJA rapid online publication 7 August 2005

Abstract Objectives:

To describe the main media narratives in the reportage of singer Kylie Minogue’s illness with breast cancer; and to assess the impact of this coverage on bookings for screening for breast cancer by mammography in four Australian states.

Setting: Government sponsored BreastScreen programs in Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia. Main outcome measures: Narratives on breast cancer in television news programs 17–27 May 2005; initial and re- screening bookings for mammograms. Participants: Women aged ≥ 40 years who booked for mammograms in BreastScreen programs in the 19 weeks before, the 2 weeks during, and the 6 weeks after the publicity. Results: There was a 20-fold increase in news coverage of breast cancer, which emphasised that young women do get breast cancer and that early detection was critical. Overall screening bookings rose 40% in the 2 weeks of the publicity, with a 101% increase in non-screened women in the eligible age-group 40–69 years. Six weeks after the publicity, bookings remained more than a third higher in non-screened women. Conclusions: News coverage of Kylie Minogue’s breast cancer diagnosis caused an unprecedented increase in bookings for mammography. Health advocates should develop anticipatory strategies for responding to news coverage of celebrity illness.

News stories about health and medicine can precipitate dramatic changes in consumer behaviour. For example, news of health problems related to hormone replacement therapy saw an immediate 58% reduction, and a prolonged 40% reduction, in use of hormone replacement therapy in New Zealand.1 In 2000, a live, on-air colonoscopy undertaken on a prominent US TV show host saw a sustained 9-month increase in the number of colonoscopies performed by a panel of 400 endoscopists.2 A TV “soap opera” in England featuring a story about the importance of cervical screening was associated with a 21% increase in women having Pap smear tests.3

Health issues can receive substantial publicity when a celebrity dies, becomes ill, undergoes a medical procedure, or announces a health-related lifestyle change.4 Capitalising on the interest generated by celebrity illnesses can increase news coverage of health topics to levels that would ordinarily require huge campaign budgets.5-9

On 17 May 2005, it was announced that the singer Kylie Minogue had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Eight of Britain’s 10 daily national newspapers ran reports of her diagnosis on their front pages. The Sun, the London-based tabloid, devoted its first seven pages to the story, as did the Herald Sun in Melbourne (Kylie’s home town).We determined the effect of Kylie’s breast cancer announcement on screening for breast cancer by mammography.

Methods Media coverage As part of a broad project examining the depiction of health issues in the news media, which commenced fortuitously on 3 May 2005, we recorded all television news and current affairs programs broadcast from Sydney on five free-to-air channels. We thereby recorded all material on these channels which explicitly referred to Kylie Minogue, or which used her diagnosis as a news hook to cover various aspects of breast cancer. While the channels operate state-based news bulletins (with one being national), stories of national interest such as this one are typically shared between the state bulletins and so broadcast nationally, as are current affairs programs. We noted the dominant news discourses in each broadcast item. Mammography data

15 BreastScreen is a national, federal and state government-supported program providing free mammograms for Australian women. The program actively targets women aged 50–69 years, but, on request, will accept women aged 40–49 years and those over 69 years for screening. Women whose doctors suspect possible malignancy can be referred for a mammogram that will also be paid for by the government. Private screening services aggressively promote mammograms to women aged less than 40 years. We obtained mammogram booking data from four state BreastScreen units for the 19 weeks before the story broke (1 January – 13 May 2005), the 2 weeks during which the story broke and received its most intensive coverage (16–26 May 2005), and the 6 weeks after the publicity period (27 May – 9 July). BreastScreen units report that in excess of 90% of bookings translate into screenings.

Results Reportage of breast cancer

In the 13 days (3–16 May) before the publicity about Kylie Minogue, there were six news items broadcast on breast cancer for a total time of 13 min 27 s. In the 7 days (17–23 May) following the announcement (after which the story temporarily went into recess, until briefly re-emerging as news about Kylie’s prognosis after surgery), there were 74 separate items on breast cancer broadcast for a total of 147 min 40 s, representing a 20-fold increase in average daily television attention to breast cancer compared with the previous 13 days.

Box 1 shows the dominant news discourses in the coverage. The most common were comments on the importance of Kylie’s personal attitude toward recovery (references to her being a fighter, and strong and fit, accounted for 18% of all items), and particularly the importance of support from her family and friends (61%) and the public (51%). Despite her celebrity status, Kylie was embraced as “one of us” — almost as a favourite “neighbour” whom we would all want to support and see recover from her illness. While her celebrity status was a key factor driving the coverage, her age (36 years) and the notion that breast cancer was no respecter of celebrity status, wealth or youth (it was something that “could happen to anyone”) were often emphasised. Typical comments included:

Any woman of that age, to be diagnosed with that condition, it does send a shudder through you. (Prime Minister)

Another reminder that cancer is no respecter of youth. (leading news reader)

People who saw Kylie just last week in the “Showgirl” tour just can’t believe someone so young and healthy could get a diagnosis like this. (journalist)

She’s only 36 years of age. My mother died, and she was 51, and I thought that was young. I guess it’s a wake-up call to everyone out there . . . breast cancer is not a disease any more that affects 45–65-year-old women. (Ronan Keating, singer)

Kylie was repeatedly said to have a good prognosis because she detected the cancer early, and this boded well for her recovery and survival (28%). The importance of early detection was often stressed (8%), and 26% of items gave a more general prevention message. Journalists explicitly emphasised that vigilance and mammograms were relevant for all women:

I guess the message is . . . this hideous disease can affect anybody and Kylie has at least caught this in the very early stages, but if ever there was a warning, a wake-up call to ALL women, to be tested regularly, and often . . . (journalist).

No one’s incapable of getting it and if it encourages more people, girls, to have check-ups, that will make our girl [Kylie] very happy. (tour promoter)

The most salient message out of all this is that if it’s found early, you’re very likely to survive your disease. (breast cancer expert)

Reportage of mammography A dramatic increase in mammogram bookings at BreastScreen began to be reported by the media 2 days after the announcement of Kylie’s diagnosis (15% of all items). One in six news items were critical of government policy on age-restricted free screening:

Strangely, getting that screening is not so easy for women in Kylie’s age group. (leading national news reader)

16 It doesn’t discriminate against ages, it’s a disease . . . I’d like to see that everyone, no matter what age they are, can have a mammogram for free. It’s scary to think we could get it, or our daughters could get it. (young woman with family history of breast cancer )

In New South Wales, the political opposition seized the opportunity of media concern about lack of provision of free screening for younger women to attack NSW government policy (which is nationally determined):

This is a situation the government has sat on. It would not have been exposed except for the Kylie Minogue situation. (Shadow Health Minister)

Mammography bookings

The number of bookings for mammograms made at four state-based BreastScreen programs for the 19 weeks before the publicity, during the 2 publicity weeks, and for 6 weeks after the publicity, are shown in Box 2. The average weekly bookings during the 19 pre-publicity weeks (1 January – 13 May) were used as the index for comparison. There was a 40% increase in average weekly screening bookings made in the 2 weeks of publicity in the four states. The increase was most prominent (100.7%) in women being screened for the first time.

We obtained age-related data for the state of Queensland. The increase in bookings for screening in the age group 40– 49 years in the publicity weeks was 69%, more than double the 25% increase seen in the age group 50–69 years.Further, we found no evidence of a lead time or “borrowing from the future” effect, whereby previously unscreened women might have simply brought forward their intention to be screened, causing a decline in screening in the later period. In the 6 weeks after the 2-week intense publicity period, screening bookings continued to occur at largely unprecedented levels, being 39.3% higher in unscreened women, while remaining unchanged in previously screened women compared with the 19-week pre-publicity weekly averages.

Discussion

The dramatic increase in initial and re-screen mammography among eligible women is unprecedented in the Australian breast screening program. In view of Australian findings that recent (2001–02) rates of biennial screening (53% of eligible women) predict a 26% decrease in breast cancer mortality,10 it might be expected that the significant “Kylie effect” on screening may further reduce breast cancer deaths. Despite considerable government investment in the promotion of mammography, 14 years after the commencement of the program an estimated 42.9% of the target age group 50– 69 years have never been screened.11

The higher responsiveness of younger women shown in the Queensland data suggests the emphasis in news coverage of Kylie’s age stimulated younger women to volunteer for screening. As women aged less than 40 years are ineligible to participate in the BreastScreen program, we cannot report on how many such women booked to obtain mammograms through private screening services or arranged with their GP to receive a bilateral mammogram on the pretext of it being a diagnostic screen. The latter data will be available in the next few months from the Health Insurance Commission.

Public health campaign evaluations generally highlight the role of campaign variables controlled by campaign organisers in explaining changes in behavioural outcomes, such as participation in mammographic screening. The “Kylie effect” we have described indicates that unplanned influences can also have profound effects on such outcomes. Rarely are these effects so obvious that they inspire focused research interest, as in this article, being generally relegated to background “noise” status.12 However, breast cancer is a well reported public health issue in many nations, and arguments have been made that far more research attention should be focused on “bringing the background into the foreground”,13 and examining how news coverage influences outcomes and might be improved to increase participation rates.

Celebrity illnesses and related health events are inevitable, as is the massive news coverage these can bring. Health agencies would be wise to develop news management strategies, whereby celebrity management agencies could be rapidly assisted with responses to the inevitable “frequently asked questions” that news analysis can catalogue

17 MEDIA PRODUCTS SAID TO HAVE HAD A POSITIVE EFFECT ON AN AUDIENCE example 2: TAC ads

MEDIA INFLUENCE: POSITIVE In 1993 Monash University Accident Research Centre released a report that examined the effect of TAC commercials during the period between December 1989 and December 1992. During this time there was a variation of the number of commercials aired. This variation represented an opportunity to examine the link between the TAC advertising and the monthly road safety performance in Victoria. In general the research discovered that there were less accidents in Victoria compared to NSW who did not run the commercials. This is an example of POSITIVE media influence and it seems to support the HYPERDERMIC NEEDLE/BULLET THEORY

Evaluation of Transport Accident Commission Road Safety Television Advertising

Monash University Accident Research Centre - Report #52 – 1993 Authors: M. Cameron, N. Haworth, J. Oxley, S. Newstead & T. Le

Abstract:

The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) has made a major investment in road safety advertising on television in Victoria since 1989. This high profile and intense advertising has captured the Victorian public's attention as representing a substantial commitment by the TAC to improving road safety in Victoria.

Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) has conducted an evaluation of the road safety benefits of TAC's television advertising campaigns. Part 1 of this report describes the TAC campaigns and summarises an attempt to estimate the role of the publicity campaigns in Victoria's road safety performance. Part 2 builds on recent MUARC evaluations of two major road safety programs which combined TAC advertising campaigns with increased enforcement efforts by the Victoria Police. An economic analysis of the effects on crashes of the TAC advertising supporting enforcement is described. Part 3 describes an attempt to evaluate the Concentrate or Kill campaign, which differs from the speed and drink-driving advertising campaigns in that it was not designed to support enforcement. The overall findings from this multi-faceted and relatively complex evaluation study are synthesised in Part 4.

The research indicates clear links between levels of TAC publicity supporting the speed and alcohol enforcement programs and reductions in casualty crashes when other major factors are held constant. For levels of advertising at the point of diminishing returns, the estimated benefits in terms of reduced TAC payments were respectively 3.9 and 7.9 times the costs of advertising supporting the speed and alcohol enforcement programs.

The road safety effects of TAC publicity with themes not related to enforcement (ie. concentration) is less clear. The Concentrate or Kill advertisements appear to raise awareness of the issue, but there is no conclusive evidence at this stage that they have reduced the crash involvement of the specific target group of the advertisements, namely young drivers on country roads.

Executive Summary

The Transport Accident Commission (TAC) has made a major investment in road safety advertising on television in Victoria since 1989. This high profile and intense advertising has captured the Victorian public's attention as representing a substantial commitment by the TAC to improving road safety in Victoria.

Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) has conducted an evaluation of the road safety benefits of TAC's television advertising campaigns. Part 1 of this report describes the TAC campaigns and summarises an attempt to estimate the role of the publicity campaigns in Victoria's road safety performance. Part 2 builds on recent MUARC evaluations of two major road safety programs which combined TAC advertising campaigns with increased enforcement efforts by the Victoria Police. An economic analysis of the effects on crashes of the TAC advertising supporting 18 enforcement is described. Part 3 describes an attempt to evaluate the Concentrate or Kill campaign, which differs from the speed and drink-driving advertising campaigns in that it was not designed to support enforcement. The overall findings from this multi-faceted and relatively complex evaluation study are synthesised in Part 4.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS (Part 4)

The research indicates clear links between levels of TAC publicity supporting the speed and alcohol enforcement programs and reductions in casualty crashes when other major factors are held constant. For levels of advertising at the point of diminishing returns, the estimated benefits in terms of reduced TAC payments were respectively 3.9 and 7.9 times the costs of advertising supporting the speed and alcohol enforcement programs.

The road safety effects of TAC publicity with themes not related to enforcement (ie. concentration) is less clear. The Concentrate or Kill advertisements appear to raise awareness of the issue, but there is no conclusive evidence at this stage that they have reduced the crash involvement of the specific target group of the advertisements, namely young drivers on country roads.

OVERVIEW AND GENERAL EFFECTS (Part 1)

The monthly levels of TAC road safety advertising on television varied considerably between December 1989 and December 1992. This variation represented an opportunity to examine the link between the TAC advertising and the monthly road safety performance in Victoria.

The Victorian serious casualty rate per 100 million kilometres travelled displayed a substantial downward trend from mid- 1989, and at a greater rate of decrease than in NSW. The ratio of the Victorian rate to the NSW rate was considered to represent the net effect of the unique Victorian programs (including publicity campaigns) relative to those in NSW.

An attempt was made to develop a method to estimate the contributions of the unique major road safety programs in each State to the reduction in the corresponding serious casualty rate. The aim was to remove the contributions of the unique road safety programs from the ratio of the serious casualty rates calculated each month during 1989-92, so that any link between the residual changes in the Victorian serious casualty rate and the monthly levels of TAC television advertising could be seen. It turned out that it was not possible to develop a satisfactory method because of the absence of some necessary data.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS ON CRASHES OF THE TAC ADVERTISING SUPPORTING ENFORCEMENT (Part 2)

A relationship between the monthly levels of TAC television advertising (all themes) and the reductions in "low alcohol hour" (mainly daytime) casualty crashes in Melbourne during 1990-91 had been found as part of a previous evaluation of the Speed Camera Program. This provided the basis of an economic assessment of the investment in publicity at different levels. The present study found a stronger relationship between the same type of crash reductions and the monthly levels of publicity with "speeding" or "concentration" themes. The level of publicity was measured using TARPs (Target Audience Rating Points - a measure of reach of the designated target audience).

Another previous study had evaluated the effects during 1990-91 of the Random Breath Testing Program using "booze buses". This study was extended to fit relationships between monthly levels of TAC television advertising and casualty crashes during the high alcohol hours of the week in Melbourne and country Victoria to the end of 1992. The relationships took into account monthly variations in other explanatory variables found to have significant effects (ie. unemployment rates, number of random breath tests, alcohol sales, and seasonal variation and trend). The most reliable relationships were those for TAC "drink-driving" publicity measured by "Adstock" (a function of TARPs) which represents cumulative awareness in the month due to current and previous advertising levels.

An economic analysis compared the value of the estimated crash savings per month at each level of monthly TARPs with the total costs of investing in those TARPs. These costs were estimated including both the fixed costs of developing each television advertisement (plus the costs of supporting media), and the costs of television media placement, measured by the average cost per TARP. The estimated reductions in casualty crashes were valued from two viewpoints: (a) reductions in TAC payments to injury claimants, and (b) reductions in the social costs of the crashes (the social costs include the value of future productivity forgone, pain and suffering, and damage to vehicles and property).

19 (a) Return on investment to reduce TAC payments to injury claimants

An investment of 540 TARPs per month on average in a combination of "speeding" and "concentration" publicity was estimated to be economically justified before diminishing returns occurred. This level of average investment could lie in the range from 310 to 750 TARPs per month (with 68% confidence). An investment of 540 TARPs per month (plus necessary fixed costs to develop the television advertisements used, as well as for supporting publicity in other media) is estimated to return benefits of reduced TAC payments at a level 3.9 times the investment costs. It was also estimated to result in a 9% reduction in monthly low alcohol hour casualty crashes in Melbourne.

An investment of 800 TARPs per month on average in "drink-driving" publicity was conservatively estimated to be economically justified before diminishing returns occurred. This level of average investment could lie in the range from 660 to 930 TARPs per month (with 68% confidence). An investment at an average level of 800 TARPs per month (plus necessary fixed costs) is estimated to return benefits of reduced TAC payments at a level 7.9 times the investment costs. It was also estimated to result in an 18.5% reduction in monthly high alcohol hour casualty crashes in Victoria.

In both the above cases, even higher benefit/cost ratios would be realised if lower levels of TARPs per month were used, but the reduction in monthly casualty crashes would be lower.

(b) Reduced social costs of casualty crashes

An investment of 1080 TARPs per month on average in a combination of "speeding" and "concentration" publicity was estimated to be economically justified before diminishing returns occurred. This level of average investment could lie in the range from 610 to 1490 TARPs per month (with 68% confidence; the latter figure also being a less reliable estimate). An investment of 1080 TARPs per month (plus necessary fixed costs) is estimated to return benefits of reduced social costs of crashes at a level 5.4 times the investment costs.

It was not possible to reliably estimate the point of diminishing returns for the investment in "drink-driving" publicity if the casualty crash savings were valued by their average social costs, except that it would be considerably higher than the corresponding level based on TAC payments.

Assumptions and qualifications

These results were based on a number of assumptions and warrant a number of qualifications which are described in the report. In particular it should be noted that a high level of television advertising at the beginning of a new campaign (perhaps at a higher level per week than indicated by the estimated point of diminishing returns) may be necessary. The TAC launches of each new advertisement had this characteristic, which may be an essential part of establishing in real life the relationships between publicity levels and casualty crash reductions observed in this study.

EFFECTS OF CONCENTRATE OR KILL - AN ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN NOT DIRECTLY LINKED TO ENFORCEMENT (Part 3)

Concentrate or Kill differs from the speed and drink-driving advertising campaigns in that it did not have an associated enforcement campaign. Thus an evaluation of this campaign has the potential to give a clearer assessment of the benefits of a road safety advertising campaign not accompanied by an enforcement effort. The campaign included the advertisements Country Kids and Morgue which promoted the need to concentrate while driving.

It was initially envisaged that statistical analysis would be used to link numbers of crashes with the advertising exposure levels to measure the extent to which the Concentrate or Kill advertising led to a reduction in the number (or severity) of the group of crashes that were targeted. However, for both Country Kids and Morgue, it did not appear possible to identify valid target groups of drivers or crashes which were large enough to make this link satisfactorily. The analysis was restricted to a comparison of crash rates of target and control groups before and after the introduction of each of the advertisements. For both Country Kids and Morgue, there was no reliable evidence of reductions in the risk of serious casualty crashes involving the target groups of the advertisements after the commencement of the advertising campaigns. These findings could have resulted from the crash numbers being too small to show statistically significant reductions or from the effect of the advertisements being relatively small. A number of characteristics of the Concentrate or Kill campaign which may have affected its benefit/cost ratio are discussed in Part 3.

Sponsor: Transport Accident Commission 20 VCE MEDIA UNIT 4 MEDIA INFLUENCE

Research into Media Influence: NEW MEDIA

In this section of the course we will be focusing on 3 areas of research conducted on the supposed effects of new media on the audience. At the time the research was carried out MTV and Facebook were new forms of media use. We will also consider 20 years of research into television and its effect on viewer aggression. The 3 research examples are as follows: Television- TV Violence and viewer aggression: ANDISON (1977) Music Video- Analysis of content and effects of MTV: GREESON & WILLIAMS (1986) Facebook- Social capital, self-esteem and use of online social network sites: STEINFIELD, ELLISON & LAMPE (2008)

21 RESEARCH INTO MEDIA INFLUENCE : NEW MEDIA Television Violence, MTV and Facebook With the introduction of any new media there is a time when society can be distrustful of the effects on the audience by this new media. The exaggeration by American newspapers after Welle’s “War of the Worlds” Halloween radio broadcast in 1938 is evidence of this type of distrust of new media forms. In 1938 radio in people’s living rooms was still a relatively new form of media. Orson Welles, himself said about his infamous broadcast years later, that he had wanted to play with people’s trust of the ‘wireless voice’ in their living room. Television The experimentation of TV began in the late 1920's but technical problems, and WW2 postponed its introduction to the American public until 1946. (Australia got television 10 years later for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics) The TV boom in America occurred between 1949 when 940,000 households had a set to around 20 million by 1953. In the early 1950's many corporations produced and sponsored entire shows and ads were one minute in length. As programming became more expensive and advertisers found that 30 second ads were just as effective shows were sponsored by several products. Many of the early shows had been radio shows. The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, Amos and Andy all were radio shows first. There were 20 million television sets being watched in lounge rooms across the USA and more and more people were spending time in front of ‘the box’. It was therefore a natural course of events that media observers began to question the effects of this new form of mass media. MTV: music video On August 1st, 1981 MTV first aired with these words: “Ladies and Gentlemen, Rock and Roll!” The first music video to be screened was ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’. With the advent of MTV there was a new concern about television according to some researchers and that was the effect of watching music videos on young people. By the beginning of the new millenium there would be at least 433 million personal computers in the developed world in 2003. The effects of online gaming and the violations of privacy through the use of the internet, You Tube and social networking sites were of concern to media observers by the end of the first decade. Facebook Facebook was first launched in February 2004 and by July 2010 it had 500 million active users. Users of this social networking site can add people as friends, send them messages, update their profile and status and tell other Facebook users information about themselves. The website’s name comes from the colloquial name of the books given to university students at the start of the academic year by university administrations in the US with the intention of helping the students get to know each other better. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The website's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League, and Stanford University. It gradually added support for students at various other universities before opening to high school students, and, finally, to anyone aged 13 and over. Facebook has met with some controversy. It has been blocked intermittently in several countries including Pakistan, Syria, People's Republic of China, Vietnam, and Iran. It has also been banned at many places of work to discourage employees from wasting time using the service. Privacy has also been an issue, and it has been compromised several times. Facebook settled a lawsuit regarding claims over source code and intellectual property. The site has also been involved in controversy over the sale of fans and friends. A January 2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social network by worldwide monthly active users, followed by MySpace. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade 'best-of' list, saying,

22 "How on earth did we stalk our exes, remember our co-workers' birthdays, bug our friends, and play a rousing game of Scrabulous before Facebook?" SOURCE WIKIPEDIA Original research articles can be found on the wiki: http://year12mediabpc.wikispaces.com/ RESEARCH CASE STUDY 1: 1977 “TV Violence and Viewer Aggression: A Cumulation of Study Results 1956-1976” Researcher: F.SCOTT ANDISON Type of research: meta-analysis Who is the researcher? F.Scott Andison is a graduate student and Academic Assistant in the Department of Sociology in University of Victoria, BC, Canada Description of research: Andison studied the research into television violence and viewer aggression carried out during a 20 year period from 1956 to 1976. It is important to point out that F.Scott Andison did not carry out the original research. In a meta analysis study researchers look at the results of other people’s research and come up with a conclusion. Data Cumulation method is where results and data from different and various research is gathered together to form a conclusion. Andison carried out this meta-analysis study 44 years ago.

Andision discovered that over the space of the 20 year time period of research that 3 main research methodologies were used: the laboratory experiment, the field experiment and the field survey. The research Andison looked at was trying to ascertain the strength and direction of the relationship between viewing television violence and the subsequent levels of aggression created in an audience watching that violence. Andison discovered within the research literature that there were 3 schools of thought about the relationship between watching TV violence and subsequent viewer aggression: 1. Watching television violence has a cathartic effect on the aggressive levels of the individuals who watch it.

2. Watching television does not make aggressive levels increase or decrease.

3. Watching television violence can stimulate aggression in its viewer.

Andison set about to find out which of the above ideas was likely to be the most relevant in terms of the effects of television violence on the viewer. Andison systematically collected and recorded results of all available pertinent studies between 1956 and 1976. Andision was confident that the data cumulative method was going to make his study a success due to these factors:

THE METHOD Andision applied a set of criteria for selecting research he would examine. Of 153 studies that were looked at, 67 were accepted to be used in the cumulation of results. To be accepted a study had to  Deal with the topic of television violence and aggression

 Present a hypothesis which was either accepted or rejected

 Use a stimulus for the research participants which was shown on a tv screen, video tape player or film projection which had or could have been aired on network television.

23 30,000 subjects were tested in the 67 studies that were selected by Andison for his research.In his research Andision wrote that he felt that the results reflected a great number of individuals and groups. “We can probably feel quite comfortable in drawing inferences from the studies we have cumulated.” Age Factors In Andison’s meta analysis of the various studies he found that according to the total data results, adults might be more affected than pre school children were affected by the violence on television. See table below:

Key WN-weak negative (tv violence does not affect subject) WP- weak positive (mild effect by TV violence on aggression levels) MP- moderate positive effect on aggression levels SP-strong positive (a strong effect on aggression levels by television violence)

How were the aggression levels in the subjects measured? The following techniques were used in the studies Andison selected:  Galvanic skin response: A change in the ability of the skin to conduct electricity, caused by an emotional stimulus, such as fright.

 Observed overt aggression

 Verbal aggression

 Questionnaire

 Rating of aggression in subject by teacher or parent or peer

 Intensity of noise punishment given

24  Intensity of shocks given

 Willingness to be aggressive

 Self-report CONCLUSION In his conclusion Andision states that his data cumulation “demonstrates that television as it is shown today, probably does stimulate a higher amount of aggression in individuals within society. Therefore is seems reasonable to tentatively accept the “TV violence as a simulant to aggression” theory and to reject the “no-difference” and “cathartic” theories, at least until further contradictory study is completed concerning this matter.” STRENGTHS  There are a big number of subjects that took part in the research-30,000

 There were criteria for selection of a research study into Andison’s larger study. He did not accept all the studies on television violence.

 The research is over a 20 year time period so generalisations concerning the effect of television violence on aggression levels can be made.

FAULTS & WEAKNESSES  Results of most studies were applicable only to males, the number of studies reporting separate results for males and females and only one that dealt entirely with females and most studies dealt exclusively with males.

 Most studies were done in the USA. This may just demonstrate that American viewers are more aggressive people.

 Measure of the types of television violence may create bias. What was the level of the violence on television that subjects were exposed to in all of the studies?

 Andison has no control over how the original research was carried out. Some of the research he used may have been flawed. How affluent were the subjects? Could subjects be naturally aggressive due to worries and concerns about money. Their aggression could be affected due to the mood they are in on the day of the research. Were aggression levels measured effectively and accurately? -Andision has no way of knowing. How effective were the measures for aggression?

 In the final totals of the type of research he looked at there were more laboratory experiments (31) than field experiments (22) or field surveys (20). A laboratory is a foreign environment for a subject and this may have increased aggression levels more than the act of watching television violence.

25  Under what conditions were the field experiments carried out? Andison has no control over these environments. With the field surveys, subjects may not be entirely truthful and final results could be flawed. The original questions might be biased towards gaining a positive result that television violence does increase aggression levels in viewers.

RESEARCH CASE STUDY 2: 1986 “SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF MUSIC VIDEOS FOR YOUTH -an analysis of the content and effects of MTV” Researchers: LARRY E. GREESON & ROSE ANN WILLIAMS Type of research: Field Experiment

Who are the researchers? Larry E. Greeson is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology at Miami University, Middletown, Ohio. Rose Anna Williams is a learning disabilities teacher and co-ordinator of the gifted and talented education program with the Twin valley South Public Schools, West Alexandria, Ohio, USA. Subjects: 30 seventh-graders (year 7) and 34 tenth-graders (year 10) 75% of the subjects indicated they watched music videos twice a week, about 65% Description of research: What is the effect of MTV on adolescents? In a field experiment set in an Ohio high school students were given a survey about their attitudes towards issues of violence , premarital sex, buying drugs, agreeing with parents purchasing items seen on MTV. Students were also shown video tapes of MTV music clips. It is contended by the researchers that MTV viewing may influence adolescent attitudes towards violence, premarital sex, peer group conformity and a tendency to purchase items seen on MTV. METHOD Students were given a survey before watching the MTV videotape and then a survey afterwards. One group of students did an adolescent survey before viewing the tape and a survey about McDonalds after viewing the tape. The other group did a survey about McDonalds before watching the tape and an adolescent issues survey after watching the tape. Students were informed that if they objected to answering any of the questions then they could choose not to answer it. All questions were answered by all the students. Students responded with a Likert-type scale was used to gauge responses. Number 5 being the highest degree of agreement and number 1 indicating the strongest disagreement. Here are the survey questions:

Following survey administration, one group of subjects from grade 7 and grade 10 viewed a randomly prepared MTV tape (selections made from 6 hours of random recording of MTV) and the rest of the group of subjects from grade 7 and grade 10 viewed a high impact MTV tape, specifically designed to contain high levels of violence, sexual references, and some drug references Videotape Content Analysis Random tape: the clips from 6 hours of randomly taped MTV were categorised according to the following themes: love/romance, sex, violence, drug use, parent/adolescent conflict, and feelings/attitudes (eg: good times, happiness and responsibility. Summary of both tapes: 50% of both tapes contained 2 or more of the above themes: love and romance= 50% of the selections reviewed, sexual references, either visual or symbolic were present in 47% of selections, violence was evident in 15% of selections, 13% of the tapes had some kind of parent/adolescent conflict and 29% of the tapes

26 appeared to depict general feelings such as good times, happiness , responsibility or concern. Drug use was not demonstrated or referred to in either tape FINDINGS More adolescents who viewed MTV tended to agree that premarital sex was acceptable. “Seventh-graders were generally more likely to respond violently than the tenth-graders, this difference was less apparent when the high-impact MTV tape was viewed than when the randomly prepared tape was presented. This interaction effect indicates a possible disinhibiting effect of high- impact MTV with older subjects and a possible desensitizing effect of high-impact MTV with younger subjects. This effect was not found for other issues, for example, attitude toward parents or pre- marital sex.” “For the last question involving the influence of MTV/Media on buying preferences, an effect of order of survey presentation was found to be significant. More subjects tended to state that they would buy items seen on MTV after having viewed segments of MTV.” The content analysis findings indicated that 50% of the videotapes reviewed contacined sexual references either in the lyrics or in visual scenes. “After viewing less than an hour of MTV, 7th and 10th grade adolescents were more likely to approve of premarital sex than were adolescents not having viewed MTV.” “Two additional analysis of variance results point to the possible negative effects of viewing MTV: 1. High impact tapes appear to have an overriding influence with regard to effects of adolescent attitudes toward violence. 7th graders were more likely to indicate apporaval of violence whether they watched the high impact or randomly selected MTV tape.However 10th graders demonstrated a desensitised attitude towards violence.

2. 2. Subjects viewing the MTV tapes indicated that they would be more likely to buy items seen on MTV than subjects responding before having viewed MTV

In summary this study provides some degree of support for the contention that MTV viewing may influence adolescent attitudes toward violence , premarital sex, and peer group conformity. “...the present study suggests the potentially powerful influence of popular music and MTV on young people, especially with regard to attitudes toward violence and premarital sex. ....In any case there is a clear need for more research on the influence of media on adolescent development and behaviour. In the meantime parents, social scientists, and those in the mass media will have little information on which to determine the guidelines, or even whether such standards ought to exist.” STRENGTHS: All questions were answered by all the subjects of the field experiment. FAULTS  The subjects were students from Williams school- Could they be trying to please her to give her the answers she wanted for her research?

 Students were from Ohio only. Is it just students from Ohio who have this attitude towards violence and premarital sex? There is not a big enough cross section of American society to make the study a detailed examination of the effects of MTV on young people.

 “It is unclear how long lasting the results obtained in the present study may be.It is unclear whether an increase in MTV viewing would result in an increased impact on either the attitudes affected or unaffected in the present study. Finally it is not known whether or how MTV- induced attitude changes may affect the actual behaviours of children and youth.”

 Students were Caucasian. It may be only white middle class kids who are affected.

 The selected students may be naturally violent or naturally have an open attitude to premarital sex. This effect may not be because of MTV.

27  The age of the subjects indicates that they would feel strongly about adolescent issues regardless of having watched MTV.

 Subjects watched less than an hour of MTV and answered 2 surveys. This may not be sufficient to measure the effect of MTV.

 How many of the subjects were exposed to MTV in their homes-not all of them would come from familes who could afford the cable subscription to the channel. Maybe for some students it was a new experience to watch MTV in a school environment and therefore their responses may have been heightened by the excitement of this event. The field experiment conditions were not the norm and they did not mirror the home environment where MTV is usually watched. Perhaps being in a group of people and not in their own loungeroom watching MTV made the students feel more prone towards the attitude concerning violence.

RESEARCH CASE STUDY 3: 2008 “Social Capital, self-esteem and use of online social network sites” Researchers: Nicole B. Ellison, Charles Steinfield & Cliff Lampe Dept. Of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media Michigan State University Type of research: Longitudinal study Vocablurary: social capital- the amount of benefits we receive from our social relationships. There are 2 types of social capital- 1.bonding social capital which is the strong ties we have with close friends and family members 2.bridging social capital which are the weaker ties we have with past colleagues, friends of friends and mere acquaintances. Studies show that bridging social capital is much more likely to lead to information about employment than bonding social capital; thus, showing the ever growing importance of these weak social ties. Ellison, Steinfield and Lampe discovered through their longitudinal study that the use of Facebook increased the amount of bridging social capital a person had. Thereby a person who used Facebook was more likely to have the opportunity to gain benefits from this increased bridging social capital. The research also demonstrated that the use of Facebook was in particular very useful for people with low self esteem as they were able to increase their bridging social capital without the awkwardness of face to face communication.

Subjects: University students

Description of research: A longitudinal analysis of panel data from users of a popular online social network site, Facebook, investigated the relationship between intensity of Facebook use, measures of psychological well-being, and bridging social capital. Two online surveys were conducted a year apart (2006 & 2007) in a large US university and this was complemented with interviews involving 18 Facebook users. “Those with lower self-esteem gained more from their use of Facebook in terms of bridging social capital than higher self-esteem participants. We suggest that Facebook affordances help reduce barriers that lower self-esteem students might experience in forming the kinds of large, different networks that are sources of bridging social capital.”

Abstract This study examines the relationship between use of Facebook, a popular online social network site, and the formation and maintenance of social capital. In addition to assessing bonding and bridging social capital, we explore a dimension of social capital that assesses one's ability to stay connected with members of a previously inhabited community, which we call maintained social capital. Results from a survey of undergraduate students (286) suggest a strong association 28 between use of Facebook and the three types of social capital, with the strongest relationship being to bridging social capital. In addition, Facebook usage was found to interact with measures of psychological well-being, suggesting that it might provide greater benefits for users experiencing low self-esteem and low life satisfaction.

There are two complementary perspectives on the importance of friendship maintenance, particularly in the U.S. college- aged population. First, relationships help generate social capital and are important components of psychosocial development for emerging adults. For the college-age populations, sites like Facebook may play a vital role in maintaining relationships that would otherwise be lost as these individuals move from the geographically bounded networks of their hometown. Second, there is also growing evidence that Internet use in general, and social network sites like Facebook in particular, may be associated with a person's sense of self-worth and other measures of psychosocial development, although the positive or negative contributions of Internet use to psychological well-being are hotly debated.

Method A combination of survey methods and in-depth interviews with a small number of students form the core of the data that were used for this study. To test the relationships over time between Facebook use and social capital, survey data were collected at two points in time a year apart. Respondents were all students at a large Midwestern university. Initially, in April of 2006, a random sample of 800 undergraduate students was sent an email invitation from one of the authors, with a short description of the study, information about confidentiality and an incentive for participation, and a link to the survey. Participantswere compensated with a $5 credit to a university-administered spending account. The survey was hosted on a commercial online survey-hosting site. We focused on undergraduate users and did not include faculty, staff, or graduate students in our sampling frame. A total of 286 students completed the online survey, a response rate of 35.8%. Demographic information about non-responderswas not available; therefore we do not know whether a bias existed in regards to survey participation. However, the demographics of our sample compare favorably to the undergraduate population as a whole with a few exceptions. Female, younger, in-state and on- campus students were slightly over-represented in our sample. In April of 2007, the survey was re-administered to a new random sample of 1987 undergraduate students as well as to 277 respondents from the previous year. The 2007 survey was hosted on the same survey-hosting website as the 2006 version, and compensation was limited to an opportunity to win a $50 raffle. A total of 477 usable surveys from the new random sample were obtained, yielding a 24% response rate. We received 92 completed surveys from the 277 prior respondents (33%) from 2006 who were invited to retake the survey. These 92 respondents comprised our “panel” for investigating the potential over time influences of Facebook use. As a follow-up to the first year survey,we conducted in- depth interviews with 18 students primarily drawn from the April 2006 sample in order to learn more about the ways in which students used Facebook to maintain existing friendships and make new ones.We asked survey respondents if they were willing to be interviewed about their Facebook use in person, and 176 (62%) said yes. We then wrote to a number of these individuals and from those who responded with availability we were able to schedule 10 women and 6 men for in-depth interviews. To achieve more gender balance, we added two men through referrals from interviewees, resulting in a total of 18 interviews. We were particularly interested in how the affordances of Facebook translated into usage strategies that resulted in the kinds of bridging social capital outcomes found in the first survey. Although we do not report an extensive analysis of our qualitative data in this paper, we include quotations from these interviews to help explicate the survey findings and suggest how Facebook use might be operating to influence social capital outcomes.

Our participants overwhelmingly used Facebook to keep in touch with old friends and to maintain or intensify relationships characterized by some form of offline connection such as dormitory proximity or a shared class. For many, Facebook provided a way to keep in touch with high school friends and acquaintances. This was demonstrated through the fact that the most commonly included information on users' profiles was likely to be relevant for existing acquaintances trying to find them (e.g., their high school) and that nearly all users felt that their high school friends had viewed their profile, and through respondents' self-reported types of use (connecting with offline contacts as opposed to meeting new people). This offline to online movement differs from the patterns observed by early researchers examining computer-mediated communication and virtual communities. Due to the structure of the site, which blocks entry to those without a school email address and then places individuals into communities based on that email address, Facebook serves a geographically-bound user base.

Additionally, Facebook provides the technical support needed for social interaction to occur. In addition to the bevy of with insystem messaging opportunities (“wall” postings, “pokes,” and direct messages between users), the system facilitates face-to-face communication and communication through other media through the contact information that is often included in users' profiles. In this way, Facebook serves as a ready-made address book, enabling communication outside the system, as expressed by this participant:

29 “Honestly, I can't remember what I did before Facebook. It sounds really pathetic, but it's just so easy to access information about people. It's not bad information, it's just instead of, ‘do you have this person's phone number?’ or, ‘oh God, where do they live, they live in this dorm but I need the room number,’ it's just so easy to just go on there and find it. And if it's not on there at least you could message them, like, ‘I need to drop something off at your room, where do you live?’ or ‘we’re in the same class, can we get together and study?’… It's just so much easier.” A final quote illustrates the way in which Facebook use interacts with users' self-esteem by helping these lower self- esteem users initiate communication with others while avoiding what might be an awkward phone call or receiving information (about a social event, perhaps) from an acquaintance who would not otherwise contact them: “Well, the only thing that is really nice about it is, I am in a sorority, and it is very convenient…there are so many people in your house, that I don't think you would call all of them. There are people that you are friends with because you see them weekly … and you have a common interest, but I probably wouldn't call all of them. So, it is nice to be [on Facebook], and plus it is really easy to figure out what things you have going on, or what you are supposed to be doing . … People can send a really quick little message. So, it's convenient. It also breaks the ice for certain people, to talk to them, people that you don't necessarily know really, really well, and you might not want to call them up because a phone call could be awkward, but it's really easy to send them a two sentence message.”

Social network sites and society (a blog response to an article on the ELLISON, STEINFIELD & LAMPE Facebook research) Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 10:12 pm Written by: jk445 In today’s world, it is obvious that social network sites play a big role in social networks. Whether it be between family members, friends, or even acquaintances, these sites help maintain the tie in the relationship. In an article titled, “Social Network Sites and Society: Current Trends and Future possibilities” the impact social network sites have on current networks and the potential it holds is discussed. In discussing the significance of social ties, the article refers to two different types of social capital: bonding social capital and bridging social capital. Bonding social capital refers to close friends or family members. Bridging social capital refers to weaker ties: those with past colleagues, friends of friends, and mere acquaintances. Bridging social capital describes weak ties but research shows that these weak ties are great sources for new information. The article refers to this as “strength of weak ties”. Surprisingly, studies show that bridging social capital is much more likely to lead to information about employment than bonding social capital; thus, showing the ever growing importance of these weak social ties. One of the key components that keep these weak edges linked is the “status feed” feature. Through this, it is possible to get both active and passive communication. The status feed keeps you updated about who just got a new job, is in NYC, just got a new pet, etc. It can possibly lead to active communication between these weak edge relationships.Another feature of social network sites is the reduction of coordination costs. Creating an event and inviting people has never been easier. Through the “become a fan” feature, even political views of users have become accessible. This has lead to users being exposed to differing view points and has in ways lead to “increases in discourse and tolerance among those with opposing views”. As the number of users of these social network sites continues to grow, the question of privacy comes to mind. The issues of stalking, bullying, stereotypes, and identity theft are just a few that haunts these sites continuously. In a world where social network sites have become an essential part of social life, avoiding theses sites because of the potential consequences is out of the question.”

FINDINGS

There was a relationship between use of Facebook and the amount of bridging social capital maintained. Facebook use significantly predicted bridging social capital. Tools like friend lists, wall posting, messaging, and tagging help social network site users maintain distant relationships and weak ties. There was a greater effect for low self esteem students when compared to high self esteem students in terms of their bridging social capital. Finally the effect of having more friends of facebook could be an improvement in self esteem by some Facebook users. 30 Conclusions Our empirical results contrast with the anecdotal evidence dominating the popular press. Although there are clearly some image management problems experienced by students as reported in the press, and the potential does exist for privacy abuses, our findings demonstrate a robust connection between Facebook usage and indicators of social capital, especially of the bridging type. Internet use alone did not predict social capital accumulation, but intensive use of Facebook did. The strong linkage between Facebook use and high school connections suggests how SNSs help maintain relations as people move from one offline community to another. It may facilitate the same when students graduate from college, with alumni keeping their school email address and using Facebook to stay in touch with the college community. Such connections could have strong payoffs in terms of jobs, internships, and other opportunities. Colleges may want to explore ways to encourage this sort of usage. Online social network sites may play a role different from that described in early literature on virtual communities. Online interactions do not necessarily remove people from their offline world but may indeed be used to support relationships and keep people in contact, even when life changes move them away from each other. In addition to helping student populations, this use of technology could support a variety of populations, including professional researchers, neighborhood and community members, employees of companies, or others who benefit from maintained ties FAULTS

 Only one social networking site was looked at-Facebook, so the findings may not hold true with other networking sites.  Gender imbalance- more girls than boys answered the surveys.

 Online surveys- how can the researchers be sure of the results from people they have never met and the circumstances in which the survey is filled out online.

 Surveys changed from one year to the next and also the amount of survey participants differed. Rewards for completing the surveys changed. Survey participants being paid may have wanted to have ‘pleased’ the surveyer and given them what they wanted to hear.

 Students from only one university were surveyed. There may be differences across other universities.

RESEARCH SUMMARY FORMS: NEW MEDIA STUDY/RESEARCH (WHAT & WHO) NO.1

TYPE OF RESEARCH (HOW)

FINDINGS

31 MODELS/THEORIES SEEMS TO SUPPORT

DIFFICULTIES & FAULTS WITH RESEARCH

RESEARCH SUMMARY FORMS: NEW MEDIA STUDY/RESEARCH (WHAT & WHO) NO.2

TYPE OF RESEARCH (HOW)

FINDINGS

32 MODELS/THEORIES SEEMS TO SUPPORT

DIFFICULTIES & FAULTS WITH RESEARCH

RESEARCH SUMMARY FORMS: NEW MEDIA STUDY/RESEARCH (WHAT & WHO) NO.3

TYPE OF RESEARCH (HOW)

FINDINGS

33 MODELS/THEORIES SEEMS TO SUPPORT

DIFFICULTIES & FAULTS WITH RESEARCH

How do we protect vulnerable audiences from media influence? What are the measures that have been put in place to control media content? You need to understand the community and government concerns regarding media influence and as a result, what laws and controls have been put into place to monitor and regulate media’s influence. Know an example of each of the following: Media influence is controlled through 1. government regulation (censorship through classification system), self regulation (FreeTV) and informal regulation. 1. Government Regulation: The Classification Board . In Australia we do not have extreme censorship of media , as in places like China, but we do control media through a classification system. If something doesn’t get a classification then it cannot be seen by the Australian public. .

Read The Commonwealth Classification Act 1995.(below) The Commonwealth Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Act 1995 The Act Under the Act, each of the following matters must be taken into account in classifying films and computer games: a) the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults; b) the literary, artistic or educational merit (if any) of the publication, film or computer game; c) the general character of the publication, film, or computer game, including whether it is of a medical, legal or scientific character; d) the persons or class of persons to or amongst whom it is published or is intended or likely to be published. The Code Under the Code, classification decisions are to give effect, as far as possible, to the following principles: a) adults should be able to read, hear and see what they want; 34 b) minors should be protected from material likely to harm or disturb them; c) everyone should be protected from exposure to unsolicited material that they find offensive; e) the need to take account of community concerns about: i. depictions that condone or incite violence, particularly sexual violence; and ii. the portrayal of persons in a demeaning manner. 2. Self Regulation Self regulation is generally thought to mean the mechanism by which media organisations control content. Commercial television stations appoint their own program classifiers and these classifiers have often worked for the OFLC but are answerable to the station that employs them. Industry regulation can be considered self regulation too, Free TV and the Advertising Standards Council are industry based. Content guidelines and quotas to protect cultural identity for the audience are set down by the A.C.M.A (Australian Communications Media Authority). Self regulative industry bodies have also been established to protect the audience. Eg: Free TV What is Free TV Australia Free TV Australia is an industry body which represents all of Australia's commercial free-to-air television licencees. It is one of the few industry bodies in Australia which represents every organisation in its industry. Free TV Australia provides a forum for discussion of industry matters by its members and is the public voice of the industry on a wide range of issues and has represented the commercial free-to-air television industry for over 40 years. Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice The content of free-to-air commercial television, is regulated under the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice which has been developed by Free TV Australia and registered with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). 3. Informal Regulation Informal regulation is where television stations or print and other media outlets do not release something or show an item that they feel would upset the public. Eg: during the Port Arthur Massacre Channel 9 removed a violent film from their programming scheduled for the Sunday night.

Ownership Laws Know that media ownership laws are in place to protect Australia’s media from being monopolised and controlled by only a few owners. (think back to Outfoxed –Murdoch News corp doco from last year) Eg; Australian Communications Media Authority A.C.M.A Get your notes from last year or have a brief look at FLACK

Why does all of the above exist? Because of concerns about media influence. What is Free TV Australia Free TV Australia is an industry body which represents all of Australia's commercial free-to-air television licencees. It is one of the few industry bodies in Australia which represents every organisation in its industry. Free TV Australia provides a forum for discussion of industry matters by its members and is the public voice of the industry on a wide range of issues and has represented the commercial free-to-air television industry for over 40 years. Free TV Australia’s constitution commits it to promoting, defending and conserving the rights and interests of its members in commercial free- to-air television broadcasting in Australia. Free TV Australia is governed by a Board of Directors made up of a representative from each of the major member groups; the Nine Network, Seven Network, Network Ten, Southern Cross Broadcasting, Prime Television, WIN and a representative of Swan Television Broadcasters, NBN and Imparja Television. The Board is supported by a number of committees which formulate advice and recommendations in relation to policy and regulatory issues, engineering and technical issues, marketing, industrial relations and other areas affecting the industry. Project committees may also be formed to address specific matters. Free TV Australia has a small secretariat based in Sydney, which is responsible for implementing policy decisions of the Board and pursuing a range of activities on behalf of members. Free TV Australia actively participates in a number of government and industry bodies. These include overseas broadcast organisations, such as the European Broadcasting Union, Asia Pacific Broadcasters Union, and the US National Association of Broadcasters.

Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice The content of free-to-air commercial television, is regulated under the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice which has been developed by Free TV Australia and registered with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). The Code covers the matters prescribed in section 123 of the Broadcasting Services Act and other matters relating to program content that are of concern to the community including:

 program classifications;  accuracy, fairness and respect for privacy in news and current affairs;  advertising time on television; and  placement of commercials and program promotions and complaints handling.

35 The Code operates alongside the ACMA Standards which regulates programs for children and the Australian content of programs and advertisements. The Code attempts to balance and provide for the various and often conflicting interests of our diverse society in the delivery of commercial television services. It is the result of extensive consultation with Government advisory bodies, community interest groups and the public generally. The Code is reviewed every 3 years.

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