The Uses of Different Media

A comment should be made about characteristics that influence our use of different media. One familiar concept is media credibility. Some studies have concluded that people cite television as more credible than newspapers, but Professor Alex S. Edelstein of the University of Washington argues that it is wrong to ask whether news­papers or television is more credible. The important question, he maintains, is whether they are useful to us in the same way or useful to the same kinds of people. The an­swer seems to be that different sources of information are useful to audiences for different reasons. Newspapers are popular, among other reasons, because of the amount of information they contain and because readers can read what they want as fast as they want. They can stop to think about what has been read or reread it if necessary.

Television does not allow this. Without videotape equipment, viewers cannot stop the set to rerun something they failed to understand or skip items of little interest. But the value of television is its unique ability to let people see and hear the news event for themselves. Surely not even the best writer in journalism could have reported hu­mankind's first steps on the moon with the drama and excitement of TV coverage. In addition, some people seem to prefer the more passive nature of TV news.

Radio is cited less often as a source of news than either newspapers or television, and its influence on the whole seems to be more limited. Advantages include its ease of use and availability. In recent years, radio has become a more specialized medium. Some networks tailor newscasts to specific markets or audiences. Presumably people who listen to a particular program format - rock, classical, or middle of the road - also prefer their news packaged in a compatible format.

The particular value of magazines, Professor Edelstein argues, is partly their content and partly their credibility. Not surprisingly, credibility becomes more of a factor in the use of magazines than of other media because magazines, particularly the opinion journals, specialize in interpretive reporting and analysis. On the whole, however, cred­ibility is seldom mentioned as a criterion for media use. When mentioned, it is more often a negative factor than a positive one; that is, people more often avoid a particular source because they think it lacks credibility than they seek it out because it has credi­bility. A liberal may avoid the National Review because he or she does not believe it but does not necessarily seek out the New Republic because he or she finds it believable.

The question of what effects the mass media produce is complex. Most media under some conditions have some influence on their audience; some media under some con­ditions can have a profound effect; but most media most of the time probably have lit­tle immediate effect. The ways that media are used are also complex and varied. Sometimes people use one source of information for a particular reason. Others may use the same medium for a different reason or a different medium for the same reason. Sometimes media credibility is important; usually it is not. More often, media are used because of the information they contain or the way they present it. (Adapted from An Introduction to the Mass Media by Fred Fedler)

READING

Text 1

Task 1. Transcribe the words. Then read the text and give English equivalents of the words and word combinations in the chart. Get ready to discuss the text.

Media, enormously, baffling, vary, conversely, banquet, insurmountable, conjecture, recency, chemistry.

Визначити процес, друковані засоби інформації, електронні засоби інформації, читачі, складне завдання, бульварна газета, серйозна газета, сварка, фондова біржа, бути рідкісним (дефіцитним), столична щоденна газета, сільська газета, встановити всеохоплююче визначення, удаватися до припущення, новизна, забобони, близькість, навпаки, непереборні перешкоди.