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Running Head: Media Influence

Mass Media Influence on Decision Making

Daniel Sigala
The University of Texas at El Paso
Marco Rodriguez
RWS 1302

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Media Influence on Decision Making

In our world today, nearly 74 percent of adults use social media. As we progress in years,
information technology is changing the way we communicate, obtain information for personal
and work decisions. The media is increasing its penetration in our lives. In some situations, the
impact on individual and/or organizational decision making has become very extensive. Sadly, as
the advancement of technology and social media increases, the blindness to decision making also
increases. Chrsitoffer Green-Pedersen and Rune Stubagers article about The Mass Media
influence, claims that the power of the mass media in contemporary politics are much more
frequent than research actually analyzing the influence of mass media on politics. Where in the
article written by Laura M. Carpenter, basically states how the media has indeed influenced the
younger parts of our generation in a much more personal manner. The title of the said article,
speaks for itself. Mass Media Made Them Do It?? These genres and their main issues will be
discussed further throughout the remainder of this genre analysis.
Audience and Purpose
The first genre, Green-Pedersen and Stubager target the government as a whole. This
piece is an article form the Cambridge University Press in July of 2010. The purpose of this
article is to inform the students of Cambridge University, the true effect of the media on the
decisions (good or bad) politicians make in their country. This genre basically addresses the
impact of the media on decision making at the organizational level. The second genre, Laura M.
Carpenter, addresses the media on a much more personal level. This genre serves to inform teens
and their parents about the effects of the media on their sexual decision making. Both of these
genres serve to raise awareness on one certain genre: How does the media influence our decision
making?

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The intended audience for the Cambridge University article is for students and/or
professors of the said university who may be involved or interested in politics. I believe that this
article is deemed very important to the intended audience in such a way that it has the potential
of taking effect on everyone in the country. The article states that the power of the media is
building upon the notion of issue ownership. This article argues that the capacity of the mass
media to influence the agendas of political parties. Media attention to an issue generates attention
from from political parties, when political parties have an interest in politicizing in the first
place. The argument of the article is supported in a time-series study of mass media influence on
opposing parties.
Rhetorical Issues
Both sources/genres show similar rhetorical appeals, the way they are portrayed are both
effective in their own way according to their genre.
Ethos
Pedersen and Stubager, began to bring their point across to the reader through the use of
an ethical appeal. They imply that studies have been performed, and show that a study about this
particular genre is quite inconclusive. They also claim, regarding the power of the mass media in
contemporary politics are much more frequent than the research actually analyzing the influence
of the media on politics. As stated by Pedersen (2010) The findings depend on what exactly is
being studied: Which mass media is being studied? What issues are studied?, This shows how
difficult finding answers as to why the media is so influential from an experimental stand point.
Not that studies have been performed, the thing is that the media is so large that results may be
very vague, given how large the media and politics are in our world today. Media coverage of an

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issue occasionally appears to have a strong impact; at other times media attention seems to have
little, if any impact (Green, 2010).
The second genre also uses ethos, but with the use of actual facts. In recent studies, 13%
of U.S. teens have sex by the age of 15, and 37% teens have sex by or before their 19th birthday
(Carpenter, 2003). Carpenter collected wide studies that harnessed diverse methodologies
quantitative and qualitative content analysis, focus groups, surveys, in-depth interviews, and
media journals to address a wide range of mass media. Given all this information, the results
remain the same, the media influences the younger generations of our society to make un-safe
decisions.
Logos
In the first genre, the media is portrayed for the influence it has on politics. The media is
often portrayed as a constituting a central force in modern democracies the media is seen as a
malign force in politics, and their increased importance is seen as a potential problem for
democracy This quote shows the logical appeal due to the media being a both positive and
negative facet in politics. This means that any government (England in this case) follows what
the media says to give the people what they want to see/hear. This appeal goes in depth,
increasing the media influence on macro-politics is often seen as automatically implying the
declining importance of party politics.
In the second genre, the logical appeal used is widely known all around. Peer pressure is
what Carpenter speaks of. Now, this kind of peer pressure isnt necessarily the common face-toface, but the pressure of peers through social media and mass media. In our world today, sex is
something that has become as common as an, after-school special This means that sexual
relations arent as confidential as they used to be thanks to the influence of the media.

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Pathos

The first genre gives the intended audience an emotional appeal, through the portrayal of
big decisions of the government. The mass media is used to portray a positive or negative picture
of the public, which leads to the government of said country to make a decision based on the
emotion of the public.
The second genre depicts an emotional appeal with the use of vivid interviews. Carpenter
reports on a 16-year-old girl whom was impregnated. This girl was a influenced by social media
peer pressure. This said girl claimed to have had sex voluntarily because of what she had seen on
TV. She was sad enough that she wasnt pretty enough to have a boyfriend, so one thing led to
another. This proves that the influence of the media has indeed impacted the youth of our society
on an emotional scale.
Method of Delivery
In the first genre, the authors begin by giving the audience/readers a general background
information about the influence of the mass media on politics. This gives the reader a little
insight on what they will read. As the reading progresses, the reader is really able to gain a feel
on the issue at hand, through the use of ethos, logos and pathos.
The second genre begins strictly with the use of interviews and personal experiences.
This gives the reader something to think about before reading. When I first read this, I began to
ponder at my personal experiences as well and what might happen if those experiences were
mine. Carpenter uses this method of delivery to reach out to the reader on a personal level.

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Conclusion

In conclusion both genres express the matter at hand really well and thoroughly. The first
genre, discusses the influence of the media on politics on a deep scale. This showed me in great
detail how much of an influence the media can potentially have on a government, personally,
logically and ethically. The second genre is a much more personal line of work, mainly reaching
out to the younger generation in our society. This genre effectively states how important this
issue is and how much it is growing with the advancement in technology and thus advancing the
influence of the media.
The influence of the media in our society has been growing at rate that is incontrollable.
It is very important that this matter must be approached and viewed as something that can reach
out to anyone, and how dangerous this mater can be.

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Reference:

Green-Pedersen, C., & Stubager, R. (2010). The political conditionality of mass media influence:
When do parties follow mass media attention?. British Journal of Political Science, 40(03), 663677.
Carpenter, L. M., Brown, J. D., Steele, J. R., & Walsh-Childers, K. (2003). Mass Media Made
Them Do It?. The Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 40, No. 4 pp 403-405.