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CITS Media Watch
Loss of a Legend: George Gerbner
Author
Dr. W. Curtiss Priest
In the history
of Mass Communications, Dr. Gerbner
epitomized a person who understood
the power of the media and a person
who recognized that what we see and
view might be a social choice rather
than a competition for Nielsen Ratings.
Gerbner, and I, have never been confident
that the open capitalistic market
system delivers what will not only
create, but maintain, a great society.
In the production of any film, news
segment, music video, etc., are implicit
values that have either a positive
nurturing effect on society, or a
gradual
eroding effect on society.
And, such distinctions
are not simply the choices of PBS/NPR
vs. commercial TV and Radio. First,
as Bill Moyers has recently recounted,
PBS/CPB are at the political mercy
of the US government, and the idea
that programs are free of censorship
is a myth. And, PBS/NPR have not demonstrated
that viewer donations are sufficient
to fund programming and operations.
Further, as many
notice, corporate endorsement now
comes with a price tag of a modest
form of advertisement.
Secondly, while
much commercial fare panders to base
entertainment interests involving
overt sexualization, excessive violence,
an idol fixation, and most importantly
the lack of redeeming values; there
are a surprising number of TV shows
that embody many principles and human
values where the net effect is likely
positive. Is there agreement? Yes.
For example, the Boston Globe has
an excellent writer, Matthew Gilbert,
and he "advises us" what
is worth watching and what \is not.
Fantastically (?), his opinions coincide
with the opinions of my wife (a critic
of literature), me, and many
of our friends. Does this coincidence
prove anything? Yes, about as much
as any of the findings of Gerbner's
proved anything.
Intermixed in
this enormously complex subject are
questions about whether "ad-revenue
driven" programming enriches
society and culture? Will the viewing
interests of a nation endow that nation
with qualities, as well as a way to
pass time?
Let's (dangerously)
compare the effects of TV/Movies to
the varying effects of religious practice.
How often is the sermon by the "man
of God" dictated by a 900 number
poll or an Internet poll? Quite few
times? So these religious viewers
listen to a sermon, giving trust to
the idea that the > preacher might
help them live a better life. Is this
comparison, also, a vast subject?
Yes.
But, what is the
ratio of TV/Movie/Radio hours to Preacher
hours? As the average TV viewer watches
at least four hours of TV a day (7
x 4 == 32) and a sermon might last
an hour, the ratio might be as small
as 32:1.
Does the material
of a sermon have any more or less
an effect of one hour of TV programming?
Interesting question.
Does today's social
psychology literature suggest problems
with TV fare? Absolutely. Girls, for
example, now worry about their dress
and their appeal at ages less than
8 or 9 years old. Some writers say
that female adolescence has disappeared.
And "Nip/Tuck" says that
bodily variations can be "fixed."
Are there physical
attributes that are so far from the
norm that they interfere with psychological
development? Yes. But, as a statistician
might say, let's deal with those that
are 2 sigma or 3 sigma from the norm.
The aim is not to look exactly like
Britney Spears, or, even Diana Ross.
George Gerbner
informed many of us studying mass
communications that there were serious
dangers. Supported by various private
foundations, Gerbner studied the effects
of TV on viewers and was one of the
most vocal about the negative effects
of violence in TV on viewers. In the
Cultural Indicators Project, Gerbner
collected information on more than
3,000 television programs and 35,000
characters. [This database is housed
by the university of Pennsylvania's
Annenberg School for Communication,
and has been used in many studies
by many scholars.]
By the early '90s,
Dr. Gerbner left Penn. Why? I can
only assume that Gerbner's subsequent
association with Temple University
and Gerbner's formation of the Cultural
Environment Movement, was not high
on the Annenberg's School's priority
list. By this time many private foundations
started backing away from projects
with a "liberal perspective."
The TV Guide, which previously funded
Gerbner, via Walter Annenberg, was
no exception. Starting with the "Reagan
Era," the funding orientations
of many private foundations were being
steered by Corporate America interests.
Why fund anyone who questions the
"market system" in providing
what we need, want or should have?
So, with the loss
of Dr. Gerbner this society has lost
part of its conscientious. Who else
is stepping forward to ask the questions
that he did? Indeed, can a person
with a Ph.D. and a heart, survive
in an era that subsidizes few social
causes.
FOOTNOTE
An
LA Times obituary is attached below.
Various activities of Dr. Gerbner
are provided via web links described
below.
http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/
TheCrisisoftheCulturalEnvironment
http://www.cemnet.org
Via the "Waybackmachine"
(http://web.archive.org)
About
the Cultural Environment Movement
http://web.archive.org/web/20020203101932/http://www.cemnet.org/index.html
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