Reading Summary

Posted: February 21st, 2020

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Reading Summary

The article, The Third-Person Effect in Communication, by W. Philips Davison documents the idea of the third-person effect in respect to media and communication for the first time. Accordingly, Davison develops a discourse based on his personal experiences as well as experiments aimed at testing out his ideations concerning the respective topic. As an outcome of his examination and observations, the author discovered that individuals normally believe in the strong effects of the media on the convictions and actions of other people. In addition, individuals are certain that other persons are overly affected by media in contrast to themselves. For the aim of supporting this notion, the article hypothesizes that the third person impact requires a behavioral component that actually influences the respective form of perception on the occurrences of ramifications arising from the actions of people. For Davison, the lack of establishing the importance of a behavioral component would only rule out the importance of the third-person impact and downgrade to a measly yet enthralling perceptual phenomenon. Apart from the focus on the connection between the third-person effect and the media, the article also explores the possible presence of the concept within literature. Based on the coverage of materials such as newspapers, the article illustrates that the third-person effect is evident.

 A further evaluation of the media’s overall effect on communication is assessed in the article, The Hostile Media Phenomenon: Biased Perception and Perceptions of Media Bias in Coverage of the Beirut Massacre. Authored by Robert P. Vallone, Lee Ross, and Mark R. Lepper, the article focuses specifically on the ability of the media to entertain and disseminate prejudice against certain individuals and ideas. Using the illustration of the Beirut Massacre, the authors deduce that the conflict took place as an outcome of the media bias presented against the sides that were involved in the struggle. On one hand, partisans from the pro-Arab and pro-Israeli sides argued that the media established considerable bias against either side. On the other hand, the media asserted its role as a purveyor of news and rational information. Based on the findings of the discussion, the article discovered that an imperative aspect of the tension between the media coverage and the partisans alluded specifically to the hostile media phenomenon. Due to the ideas of the hostile media phenomenon, Vallone, Ross, and Lepper assert that for the phenomenon to operate, two segregated measures need to take place simultaneously. This is mainly the disparate evaluation of the media’s facts and claims by partisans fairly. Lastly, different recollections and perceptions are present within the content of the program based on the disparity between the involved partisans.

Further assessment into the implications of media is based on the focus on public opinion as asserted in the article, The Theory of Public Opinion by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. Due to the supposed connection surrounding the media and social responses, the article attempts to illustrate the formation of the public opinion process via the assessment of a social environment by an occupant. Interestingly, for purposes of understanding the development of public opinion, the article examines the implications that assessment of the social environment possess on the social wellbeing of the affected individual. Simply, evaluating the social environment due to the presence of public opinion will only influence the individual to isolate himself or herself. Accordingly, the engagement in self-isolation presents new challenges based on the distribution of personal or public opinions. A closer look at the occurrence of public opinion indicates that persons are more inclined to maintain an order of silence, especially if they possess opinions that do not converge with the rest of the population.