Mass media impact on spatial perception

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Mass media influences spatial perception through journalistic cartography and spatial bias in news coverage.

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general public the most of its information about places and geography";[1] Mass media is the means of communication that reach large numbers of people in a short time, such as television, newspapers, magazines and radio. Mass Media is one of the significant factors in shaping perception of places.[2][3] 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".[4] 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.[5]

When some news has an important geographic component, journalism concerns with a location of journalistic information.[6] Use of maps becomes appropriate as "a map is an efficient means for showing location and describing geographic relationships".[7] 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.[6] Geographers criticize journalistic cartography for deficiencies and constraints of map production.[8][9] Maps in journalism are produced by graphic artists, who lack in cartographic training.[9]

Geographers have explored the spatial bias in news reporting.

broadcast proximity.[13] Capitals, major financial centers and politically unstable places are highly geographically stereotyped and considered as newsworthy locations where important events happen often [2][12] Economic ties and social distance play also significant role in news coverage.[14][15][16]

Notes

  1. ^ Monmonier, M.,(1989). Maps with the news. Chicago: The university Chicago Press, p. 1.
  2. ^ a b Lewis, L., Degani, A., Hudson., (1980). The measurement and explanation of the spatial perception of Africa: a Nigerian viewpoint. Geografiska Annaler, 62B, 33-38.
  3. ^ Gribok, M. V., (2008). Cartographic representation of mass media influence on the formation of the image of Russian regions. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta, 5 (4), 41-46.
  4. ^ Huxford, J., (2007). The proximity paradox: Live reporting, virtual proximity and the concept of place in the news. Journalism. 8, p. 670.
  5. ^ Golan, G., & Wanta, W., (2003). International elections on the U.S. network news: An examination of factors affecting newsworthiness. Gazette,. 65, 25-39.
  6. ^ a b Monmonier, M., (1989). Maps with the news. Chicago: The university of Chicago press.
  7. ^ Monmonier, M., (1989). Maps with the news. Chicago: The university of Chicago press, p. 1.
  8. ^ Gilmartin, P., (1985). The design of journalistic maps/purposes, parameters and prospects. Cartographica: The international journal for geographic information and geovisualization, 22, 1-18.
  9. ^ a b Green, D. R., (1999). Journalistic cartography: good or bad? A debate point. The cartographic journal, 36, 141-153.
  10. ^ Hoare, A., (1991). Making the news: spatial and non-spatial biases in British parliamentary reports of the Rowntree - Mackintosh takeover. Geografiska Annaler, 73B, 95-109.
  11. ^ Walmsley, D. J., (1980). Spatial bias in Australian news reporting. Australian Geographer, 14, 342-349.
  12. ^ a b Brooker-Gross, S., (1983). Spatial aspects of newsworthiness. Geografiska Annaler, 65B, 1-9.
  13. ^ Huxford, J., (2007). The proximity paradox: Live reporting, virtual proximity and the concept of place in the news. Journalism. 8, 657-674.
  14. ^ Bendix, J., & Liebler, C. M., (1999). Place, distance, and environmental news: geographic variation in newspaper coverage of the spotted owl conflict. Annals of the Association of American geographers, 89(4), 658-676.
  15. ^ Tichenor, P.J., Donohue, G.A., Olien, C.N. (1980). Community conflict and the press. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
  16. ^ Dunwoody, S., & Griffin, R.J. (1993). Journalistic strategies for reporting long-term environmental issues: a case study of three superfund sites. In A. Hansen (Ed.), The mass media and environmental issues, (pp. 22-50). Leicester, England: Leicester University Press.
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