Media Acts And Its Impact On Society - 1190 Words

In our society today, media acts as an integral factor in creating and undoing social bonds, as well as communicating topics which enable social transformation. It is generally considered that political and economic subjects are rational and thus are treated as ‘men’s issues’, in comparison to social and cultural themes expressed as sensitive and accordingly correlated with femininity (Stevenson 1995). Although this is open to much criticism in terms of gender inequality, it is undoubtable that gender equality is progressing. Women have enrolled into conventionally male-dominated work places, reflecting the general consensus that women achieve better at school. Also, men have proceeded into ‘normally’ female-dominated areas such as†¦show more content†¦Over the course of the 40 years it was found that in both newspapers was an â€Å"evident gender bias, which has gradually overcome as new media genres have developed† (Stanley, 2012). I n the non-elite paper women are hardly pictured, and in the elite magazine women show up ‘just as often as men’ (Stanley, 2012). The audience of both papers consists of approximately 50% women and 50% men (Stanley, 2012). However, mirroring the diversity between elite and non-elite newspapers, â€Å"the typical reader of the New York Times has more formal education than is the case for the Daily News† (Daily News, 2012) (News York Times, 2012). Stanley states that the article addresses a myriad of key questions. Firstly, the progress of women’s appearance in newspapers today is explored in comparison to fifty years ago. Secondly, the location of where women are presented within the newspaper is of concern. The article then explores whether these locations are of similarity within elite and non-elite newspapers or whether they are different. An array of theoretical perspectives are provided, which are later used to justify and criticise findings. The first is an approach that the content within media is a parallel of realism; an increased number of women in society results in photography being progressively occupied by women. This is then followed by a supposition that the constitution of cultural presence in the media is influenced by cultural categories of editors