Concerns about the effects of media on consumers and the existence and extent of media bias go back to the 1920s. Reporter and commentator Walter Lippmann noted that citizens have limited personal experience with government and the world and posited that the media, through their stories, place ideas in citizens’ minds. These ideas become part of the citizens’ frame of reference and affect their decisions. Lippmann’s statements led to the hypodermic theory, which argues that information is “shot” into the receiver’s mind and readily accepted.[1]
Yet studies in the 1930s and 1940s found that information was transmitted in two steps, with one person reading the news and then sharing the information with friends. People listened to their friends, but not to those with whom they disagreed. The newspaper’s effect was thus diminished through conversation. This discovery led to the minimal effects theory, which argues the media have little effect on citizens and voters.[2]
By the 1970s, a new idea, the cultivation theory, hypothesized that media develop a person’s view of the world by presenting a perceived reality.[3] What we see on a regular basis is our reality. Media can then set norms for readers and viewers by choosing what is covered or discussed.
In the end, the consensus among observers is that media have some effect, even if the effect is subtle. This raises the question of how the media, even general newscasts, can affect citizens. One of the ways is through framing: the creation of a narrative, or context, for a news story. The news often uses frames to place a story in a context so the reader understands its importance or relevance. Yet, at the same time, framing affects the way the reader or viewer processes the story.
Episodic framing occurs when a story focuses on isolated details or specifics rather than looking broadly at a whole issue. Thematic framing takes a broad look at an issue and skips numbers or details. It looks at how the issue has changed over a long period of time and what has led to it. For example, a large, urban city is dealing with the problem of an increasing homeless population, and the city has suggested ways to improve the situation. If journalists focus on the immediate statistics, report the current percentage of homeless people, interview a few, and look at the city’s current investment in a homeless shelter, the coverage is episodic. If they look at homelessness as a problem increasing everywhere, examine the reasons people become homeless, and discuss the trends in cities’ attempts to solve the problem, the coverage is thematic. Episodic frames may create more sympathy, while a thematic frame may leave the reader or viewer emotionally disconnected and less sympathetic.
<span>The United States had troops in Saudi Arabia</span>
A. The Enlightenment's emphasis on reason was in contrast to superstition and traditional beliefs. The Scientific Revolution had shown that there are natural laws in place in the physical world and in the universe at large. Applying similar principles to matters like government and society, using reason will guide us to the best ways to operate politically so as to create the most beneficial conditions for society.
B. Locke's ideal was one that promoted individual freedom and equal opportunity for all. Each individual's well-being (life, health, liberty, possessions) should be served by the way government and society are arranged.
C. Locke's ideals ARE a model for our country today ... or perhaps I should say Locke's ideals are the model on which our country, the United States, was founded. We may want to study some of Locke's political thought to keep our country focused in that direction. Ever since 9-11 and subsequent fears of terrorism, as a nation sometimes we've tended to follow more so the ideas of Thomas Hobbes (a predecessor of Locke), who focused on security as the primary national concern. Locke's focus always was on liberty as the dominant goal.
The correct answer is linear perspective
Linear perspective is the method that represents the three dimensions of space on a flat surface. It is a geometric system that creates the illusion of depth. Knowing that parallel lines are always on the horizon, perspective mimics the depth of the painting.
