Public Opinion and the Media

The mass-media is a primary source that defines social problems for many of us.

1. The powerful control the media
   Powerful interests control the mass media and, therefore, control public opinion. Often "relevant issues" are defined by those who wield power through the mass media.
   The powerful, through the mass media, can set the agenda.
   
2. Conditions that affect the powerless are ignored
   The media may overlook conditions that are detrimental to the relatively powerless segments of society.

 

Attention is diverted to specific social instances and away from the cause of many social problems . There is a tendency to focus on the characteristics of individuals. As Skolnick and Currie notes: “ conventional social problem writing invariable returns to the symptoms of social ills rather than to the source ” of those ills (Eitzen, 2000: 7). 

It diverts attention from problems with the existing social order (see Eitzen, 2000: 7).  By focusing on those who deviate, it often overlooks the role of society's powerful. 

• We study the criminal instead of the law or the prison system that tends to perpetuate crime.
• We scrutinize the mentally ill rather than the quality of life or social programs that initially bring on a mental breakdown.  We don't study the role of social institutions that ultimately fail to accept responsibility by pushing the insane onto the street (deinstitutionalization) to "save the budget."
• We explore the culture of the poor rather than characteristics of the rich.
• We investigate the pathologies of students and their families rather than the inadequacies of higher education.
• We study the characteristics and consequences of poverty rather than the social structure that creates conditions that allow problems like poverty to exist.