Mass media impact on spatial perception
Encyclopedia
Mass media
influences spatial perception
through journalistic cartography
and spatial bias
in news coverage.
"Journalism
is one of the few industries that provide the public
the most of its information
about places and geography
," , mass media is one of the significant factors in shaping perception of places . Moreover, mass media has been criticized for "limited iconography
that constructs the newscape-generic locations that are interchangeable from story to story, and which have come to give a restrictive and distorted worldview" . Lack of geographical balance in news coverage may lead to limitations of spatial knowledge, i.e., US media focuses on a limited number of nations and regions for international news coverage .
When some news has an important geographic component, journalism
concerns with a location of journalistic information . Use of maps becomes appropriate as "a map is an efficient means for showing location and describing geographic relationships" . Mass media may use maps to show an event that have spatially distributed data like election results, the distribution of acid rain, radon contamination, weather forecast, traffic, or traveling routes; also describe a story of a battle, a geopolitical strategy, or an environmental threat . Geographers criticize journalistic cartography for deficiencies and constraints of map production . Maps in journalism are produced by graphic artists, who lack in cartographic training .
Geographers have explored the spatial bias in news reporting . Spatial pattern of news is created by journalistic norms, which concern is national coverage, national interest, geographic stereotypes and accessibility to news events . As mass media provides live reporting from the scenes of the news events, journalism requires spatial proximity, event proximity, and broadcast
proximity .Capitals, major financial centers and politically unstable places are highly geographically stereotyped and considered as newsworthy locations where important events happen often Economic ties and social distance
play also significant role in news coverage .
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
influences spatial perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
through journalistic cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
and spatial bias
Bias
Bias is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of alternatives. Bias can come in many forms.-In judgement and decision making:...
in news coverage.
"Journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
is one of the few industries that provide the public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
the most of its information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
about places and geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
," , mass media is one of the significant factors in shaping perception of places . Moreover, mass media has been criticized for "limited iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
that constructs the newscape-generic locations that are interchangeable from story to story, and which have come to give a restrictive and distorted worldview" . Lack of geographical balance in news coverage may lead to limitations of spatial knowledge, i.e., US media focuses on a limited number of nations and regions for international news coverage .
When some news has an important geographic component, journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
concerns with a location of journalistic information . Use of maps becomes appropriate as "a map is an efficient means for showing location and describing geographic relationships" . Mass media may use maps to show an event that have spatially distributed data like election results, the distribution of acid rain, radon contamination, weather forecast, traffic, or traveling routes; also describe a story of a battle, a geopolitical strategy, or an environmental threat . Geographers criticize journalistic cartography for deficiencies and constraints of map production . Maps in journalism are produced by graphic artists, who lack in cartographic training .
Geographers have explored the spatial bias in news reporting . Spatial pattern of news is created by journalistic norms, which concern is national coverage, national interest, geographic stereotypes and accessibility to news events . As mass media provides live reporting from the scenes of the news events, journalism requires spatial proximity, event proximity, and broadcast
Broadcast
Broadcast or Broadcasting may refer to:* Broadcasting, the transmission of audio and video signals* Broadcast, an individual television program or radio program* Broadcast , an English electronic music band...
proximity .Capitals, major financial centers and politically unstable places are highly geographically stereotyped and considered as newsworthy locations where important events happen often Economic ties and social distance
Social distance
Social distance describes the distance between different groups of society and is opposed to locational distance. The notion includes all differences such as social class, race/ethnicity or sexuality, but also the fact that the different groups do not mix...
play also significant role in news coverage .