Media Influence On Sport Essays - Communication, Mass Media

Media Influence On Sport When communication is spread not just between two individuals but rather between tens of millions of people it is known as mass media. Mass media is known as the central nervous system of society. "Mass media has many different purposes, such as providing information, entertaining, persuading and also by carrying a vague general function of culture to millions of people."(Frederick 18). In order for mass media to exist, there must be an audience. Today's society is very selective; each receiver reacts differently through his or her own experience and orientation according to mass media. Therefore, mass media exists in many different forms such as magazines, television, newspapers, internet, motion pictures, and even plays. Some examples of these forms of mass media are cosmopolitan magazine for young modern women and TSN television network for sports fans. With such extreme varieties of mass media existing in today's societies there are three major constraints that seem to have an impressionable impact. These constraints can keep mass media very restricted. The major constraint of mass media is competition. Each form of mass media wants to be the one to target the audience, so therefore competition between mass media is very strong, because capturing the inside of the sports world is critical. Apart from the competition among the various forms of media there is also competition among each form of the media example Fox network competes with all television networks for a market share of the audience. Network companies such as Fox buy the contracts to show American football games for millions of dollars, which they in turn make their money back through companies wanting to advertize on their network during these football games. The audience Fox attracts by showing these games also provides an audience for companies wanting to advertise their products and provides potential customers for their products. This life cycle exists in all forms of media apart from just television, newspapers try to cover the best stories in all areas of life from tradegy to sports and entertainment. From a sociological stand point in today's society sex and violence attracts audiences. By examining the internet, which is the newest form of mass media internet companies that provide the most outrageous websites with sex and violence are the most watched websites. Media Companies compete with each other on those levels by looking at what attracts the most attention and trying to provide it. Although the audience are the ones who decide what information is important and this decides what groups of mass media get the most attention the influence of the media in today's world really guides them in helping them make that decision without their actual knowledge. If your story isn't important to the audience then your media is taking up space, so therefore you either have to produce what the audience wants or you will not be able to survive in the competitive world of mass media. In order to survive in society you must offer the general public information they are interested in. Money also puts constraints on what an individual gets to know. If a person can't afford to buy a television that is restricting them on the knowledge that they are able to consume. Also, companies run on budget plans, and if there is no money in the budget, they are unable to provide information to a society. For every story that is produced, or every television commercial aired that could have been many more, to follow. But with limited money in the budget plans, an audience's view also becomes very limited, because if the media doesn't have the money to produce the information that is information that a society loses out on. Time is also another constraint because is doesn't make a difference on the amount of media there is, there will only be twenty four hours in each day and not all a person's time can be devoted to the effects of mass media. With the consideration of all these constraints this may create many difficulties for mass media, these difficulties will have a reflection on society as well. In media these constraints are known as noise. "All media within each other create noise, but with all the conflicting views, within lies a pattern, that shows some element of truth." (Frederick 10). The purpose of this paper is to state how mass media influences sport. The point that is being made in this paper is to show how mass media influences society, and how it influences sports within a society. To show