Media Literacy is important to all of us, because we all intake media. While watching a movie like Veronica Guerin, you may be viewing all sorts of things that you either agree with or don’t agree with. In order to understand the effects of media on you, have a look at these helpful Media Effects Theories.
Selective Processes: We all see the world in different ways and are exposed to a million different things throughout our lives. This theory explains that because of that, we perceive the world in different ways.
Selective Exposure: Based on how we see the world, we all tend to pay attention to different kinds of information that is more or less relevant and familiar to our own experience. We tend to choose news and T.V. shows that are easy for us to relate to and fit well with what we already believe. We like to feel that what we believe is right. When we make media choices that affirm those beliefs, we are very happy media consumers.
Selective Perception: Because we all perceive the world in different ways, we tend to filter the information that reaches us through our own prejudices and prior knowledge. We do this so the information reaching us makes sense in our own context.
Selective Retention: We tend to remember best the information that confirms our beliefs and values, and forget the information that contradicts our values and beliefs. An interesting article that deals with this idea--and how it can backfire--can be found here: backfire
Gatekeeping: What information gets through the “gate” from the sender of a message to a receiver of that message. This theory has a huge role in the movie Veronica Guerin, because not only were the director, and producer responsible for the information they permitted to be shown through the “gates” of their movie, but Veronica as a reporter used gatekeeping in deciding what stories to research and how much of her research she would allow into her final articles.
Agenda-Setting: Through media’s gatekeeping, the mass media serve to create an agenda for social discourse. Media still cannot make us think in certain ways (because of selective perception), but they are able to focus attention on some issues, while ignoring others. Historical dates and examples of this can be seen at: Timeline.
Framing: See Our Framing and Ideologies Page.
Cultivation: The images and messages that appear in the mass media serve to “cultivate” in all of us certain impressions of the world. With enough accumulations of media messages, the messages may begin to affect our behavior, attitudes and decisions. In Veronica Guerin, Veronica is framed in a very positive light, which fits into what the Irish people thought of her. This message of her, however, became a problem when Emily O’Reilly, Author of Veronica Guerin: The life and Death of a Crime Reporter, wrote that Veronica may not have been a good mother. People called Emily jealous and power hungry. This shows that the cultivation of how Veronica Guerin is shown in the media has so affected the people of Ireland that they refuse to see her in any other light.
Third Person Effect: Simply put, we believe that all these media effects theories have nothing to do with us, only with others. We believe that others are affected by media messages, but we refuse to see that we are also affected.
Source: http://getmediasmartsjcom2010.blogspot.com/2011/03/media-effects-theories.html
