Media

Among the chief concerns of this volume are how social conditions get defined as social problems and the ways different social actors and organizations view and try to solve them. Media, by any measure, are central to these processes. When we speak about media, what exactly are we talking about? While there are numerous definitions of media, in this volume it is used as a catch-all term that refers to any and all forms of information or entertainment available to a large number of people. Thus, it includes television programming, newspapers, magazines, books, documentaries, popular movies, radio, community newsletters, and, more recently, things like Internet Web sites, electronic mail, and the increasingly popular Web log or “blog.” (It is important to note the incredible range of diversity embedded within each of these categories; consider the ever-expanding array of television programming, the substantial number of general and specialized magazines, the wide array of local, regional, and national newspapers, and a seemingly infinite collection of Internet-based materials.)

Some analysts have tried to counter this broad conceptualization of media by dividing it into somewhat smaller classifications, such us press (i.e., those media products that deal primarily with “hard” news) and entertainment media. But these categories are still exceedingly broad. Further, such a division may no longer remain as viable as it once might have been given the increasing presence of media products that transcend traditional categories by incorporating elements from both news and entertainment formats (this hybrid genre is often referred to as “infotainment”).

For our purposes, then, a general definition of media will suffice. Thus, media is used here to refer to the entire range of news and entertainment “products” that audience members can consume and through which they can learn about some aspect of the world around them. In fact, a broad categorization such as this may be essential to developing a thorough understanding of the role contemporary media play in the construction of social problems because it gives reason to consider how the entire range of media productions (rather than just the dominant media forms—such as network and cable television news, newspapers from large cities, and national magazines—that most people associate with the term media) shape the ways that individuals think about, construct, and respond to social problems.