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In the world where technology serves as a convenience store to the human race, is there little hope left for the printed word? What does the future hold for magazines, newspapers, and books in the middle of its gyrating competition with their electronic counterparts? Witness history as eleven students take the challenge to voice out their opinions on the status of the print industry. Read, listen, see and believe.
The Fine Print is an online publication owned by a group of Communication Arts students from De La Salle University Manila in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the course subject Introduction to Print (INTPRIN). Any unauthorized distribution of content indicated in this site will be heavily penalized.
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The views expressed in this website are attributed to its respective authors and do not necessarily represent The Fine Print and De La Salle University - Manila. Special thanks to Afeeqah for the website layout. Copyright 2012-2013.
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Magazines and the Spiral of Voices
written on Wednesday, December 11, 2013 @ 3:51 PM ✈
Candice
Shayne D. Leocadio
INTPRIN A51
Mr. Randy
Torrecampo
December 12,
2013
Magazines and the
Spiral of Voices
Public opinion matters in the age where we are born to be exposed to mass
media. Magazines often feature what is popular and likeable with the readers
from the cover story to the articles filled with nothing but lavishing praise
towards a certain subject. Publications keeping up with this philosophy are
more advantageous to see a boost in circulation as well as publicity value to
both the brand name and its target audience. All the good press we are surrounded
with is only a fraction of the state of magazines today; many issues are taking
over the industry but we as readers fail to capitalize them because we tend to
focus only on the commodities that are presented in print. When we are too
immersed at the sight of our favorite celebrities hoarding the spotlight every
now and then in those glossy pages, it is not surprising we are apathetic about
the people who don’t like the idea of shoving them down their throats. If
someone contradicts the popular opinion, chances are we bash them for not
“going on with the flow” and for that their ideas fall into silence.
It is no
secret that every publication company wants to achieve the goal of meeting
readers’ wants by featuring “what’s hot” in order to see their issues sell like
hotcakes just as it exemplifies the “bandwagon effect” (Baran and Davis 300).
And as Baran and Davis elaborate on the theory of the spiral of silence,
“because people’s fear of isolation or separation from those around them, they
tend to keep their attitudes to themselves when they think they are in the
minority” while mass media apparently intends to isolate an opposing idea
(298). In Hayes’ words, spiral of silence is when “people perceive which
opinions are popular or gaining favor and which are unpopular or losing favor
among the public” causing conflicts in how people express them (785) as is the
vulnerability to “psychological pressure” when facing less-acknowledged
views (786). The fear of getting desegregated from the rest of the community
may impact an individual’s willpower to express his / her opinion publicly
(“Spiral of Silence Theory”). A chapter in Griffin’s points out the
purpose of Noelle-Neumann’s spiral of silence to pinpoint trending topics among
the community while suggesting a “quasi-statistical organ” as “a sixth sense
that tallies up information about what society in general is thinking and
feeling” (373). Basically this issue of public opinion has extended from
television and newspapers to magazines.
Magazines
never falter in leaving a strong impact on how people eloquently share their
views not just to their close-knit relationships but to a crowd full of
unrecognized faces as well. Through this form of media, people become more open
to the possibility of choosing which side they stand; it’s depends on them if
they make it known to the public or keep it to themselves considering the many
consequences it offers.
For
example, entertainment magazines might be the foundation of our opposing views
upon reading the same stories about the round robin of celebrities 24/7.
On one side, there’s this reader screaming hostility, “I’m so sick of reading
about this celebrity and his girlfriend every (insert expletive here) month.
Can they feature the man who dedicated his life to a hundred dogs in the animal
shelter instead of some one-hit wonder?” The other site contradicts in
exclamation, “Good riddance! Everybody loves him except you. He’ll never go
away because he’s a media darling so get over it.” Long story short: everybody
enjoys hearing anything about this sensation but you have to ride on with his
popularity as long as he does not crash and burn later in his career. In this
situation, you are mocked by your peers the moment you express an
unfavourable comment about this famous figure.
Every year People lists
the most beautiful people in the world with the titleholder of “Most Beautiful
Woman / Man” gracing the cover. Once you take a look at who’s who in the
feature, you will observe that all those proclaimed as the fairest in the
universe are all famous celebrities. It’s given there are women and men away
from the limelight who may be more attractive than they are; but as we all know
it’s the magazine’s tactic to generate publicity and earn the public’s
interest. Besides, it is called People for a reason. Same goes
for Maxim’s Hot 100 – are they really the living planet’s hottest
women, or they wouldn’t be had it not been for the thousands of readers wooing
over them which lead to those skyrocketing votes? A lot of people would want to
argue that neither of these celebrities is qualified to be the world’s most
beautiful or desirable but they feel powerless against the media which further
instigates the spiral of silence theory. This may seem like rubbing salt to a
wound but magazines are trying to lure us to catch the same wave as the masses.
How publishing
companies are being run nowadays makes us question whether magazines are
putting importance with earning profit from selling issues more than with the
substance of content. Nowadays they appear to be leaning more on the
“quantity over quality” standard, caring more on popularity rather than
credibility. Who would want to spend his / her time trying to sink in what is
written in an article defending a politician in the middle of his involvement
in a well-documented controversy? Can we blame all these entertainment
magazines for outing the private lives of celebrities to entice readers yet
tempt to change their perceptions of who they don’t really know personally?
Those lifestyle magazines with glamour written all over - do they have a part
in formulating a homogenized standard of beauty based on society’s accepted
take on the concept? Does it really matter if you buy Brand X or Brand Y
with customer and critical reviews as primary basis? When all is said and done,
can we dare to conclude that magazines are establishing public opinions in the
same way as its sister mediums nowadays? Magazines have been attributed to the
following elements more or less associated with opinion: bandwagons and the
waning capability in expressing one’s opinion freely without thinking of the
backlash.
Magazines play
a huge role in a culture where winners are celebrated and losers are humiliated
by either dedicating the whole issue commemorating the victor’s success or a
five-page article speculating on a team’s free fall capped by a dubious losing
streak. It’s not every day we hear about writers struggling under the pressure
of penning articles on a one-dimensional societal perspective; reputations of
both the writers and their subjects are at stake so they are advised to be
meticulous with what to write. The general rule always goes like this: breathe
with relief when the article gets a positive reaction from the readers because
you just gave them what they’re looking for. You are in deep jeopardy once you
get insults of all sorts for siding with a universally-dissed opinion. Not only
you will get scorned by the readers, it can cost your reputation and your job.
Lesson of the story in relation to the spiral of silence: the reader is often,
if not always, right. And who knows, what the writer may have written in the
magazine may not be even his / her own opinion.
A vital issue
affecting magazines is how opinions are controlled, trimmed, and polished at
the readers’ expense. It is very unrealistic for everyone to have the same
perceptions on an issue, but magazines these days hinder us from opposing an
established public perception. In case of the feedback columns, they frame
their letters by publishing only the good ones. Talk about herd mentality in here;
magazines are actually teaching us to become just another face in the crowd
blending in with the same thoughts without gaining ground on our own beliefs.
Where is freedom of expression at the time of this dissonance? Magazines are
supposed to allow positive or negative feedback from readers in order to
construct future developments on the publication. But if they continue on being
one-sided on readers’ opinions, then they are just depriving the audience of
the right to speak out and be heard without any fear of marginalization. The
spiral of silence is at its finest right there.
Therefore, the
impact of magazines has provided us limited privilege on our viewpoints as what
is deemed popular and likeable by society gets all the moolah from the press. Allow
this quote to sum up the spiral of silence’s association with magazines: “It’s
either you’re with us or you’re against us.”
Works Cited
“Spiral of Silence Theory”. Changing Minds. n.p.,
n.d. Web. 10 December 2013.
Baran, Stanley J. and Davis, Dennis K. Mass
Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future. Stamford:
Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
Griffin, Em. “Spiral of Silence of Elisabeth
Noelle-Neumann”. A First Look at Communication Theory, New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 372-382: Print.
Hayes, Andrew F. “Exploring the Forms of Self-Censorship:
the Spiral of Silence and the Use of Opinion Expression Avoidance
Strategies”. Journal of Communication 57 (2007):
785-802. EBSCO. Web. 10 December 2013.
Labels: candice, magazines
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Magazines and the Spiral of Voices
written on Wednesday, December 11, 2013 @ 3:51 PM ✈
Candice
Shayne D. Leocadio
INTPRIN A51
Mr. Randy
Torrecampo
December 12,
2013
Magazines and the
Spiral of Voices
Public opinion matters in the age where we are born to be exposed to mass
media. Magazines often feature what is popular and likeable with the readers
from the cover story to the articles filled with nothing but lavishing praise
towards a certain subject. Publications keeping up with this philosophy are
more advantageous to see a boost in circulation as well as publicity value to
both the brand name and its target audience. All the good press we are surrounded
with is only a fraction of the state of magazines today; many issues are taking
over the industry but we as readers fail to capitalize them because we tend to
focus only on the commodities that are presented in print. When we are too
immersed at the sight of our favorite celebrities hoarding the spotlight every
now and then in those glossy pages, it is not surprising we are apathetic about
the people who don’t like the idea of shoving them down their throats. If
someone contradicts the popular opinion, chances are we bash them for not
“going on with the flow” and for that their ideas fall into silence.
It is no
secret that every publication company wants to achieve the goal of meeting
readers’ wants by featuring “what’s hot” in order to see their issues sell like
hotcakes just as it exemplifies the “bandwagon effect” (Baran and Davis 300).
And as Baran and Davis elaborate on the theory of the spiral of silence,
“because people’s fear of isolation or separation from those around them, they
tend to keep their attitudes to themselves when they think they are in the
minority” while mass media apparently intends to isolate an opposing idea
(298). In Hayes’ words, spiral of silence is when “people perceive which
opinions are popular or gaining favor and which are unpopular or losing favor
among the public” causing conflicts in how people express them (785) as is the
vulnerability to “psychological pressure” when facing less-acknowledged
views (786). The fear of getting desegregated from the rest of the community
may impact an individual’s willpower to express his / her opinion publicly
(“Spiral of Silence Theory”). A chapter in Griffin’s points out the
purpose of Noelle-Neumann’s spiral of silence to pinpoint trending topics among
the community while suggesting a “quasi-statistical organ” as “a sixth sense
that tallies up information about what society in general is thinking and
feeling” (373). Basically this issue of public opinion has extended from
television and newspapers to magazines.
Magazines
never falter in leaving a strong impact on how people eloquently share their
views not just to their close-knit relationships but to a crowd full of
unrecognized faces as well. Through this form of media, people become more open
to the possibility of choosing which side they stand; it’s depends on them if
they make it known to the public or keep it to themselves considering the many
consequences it offers.
For
example, entertainment magazines might be the foundation of our opposing views
upon reading the same stories about the round robin of celebrities 24/7.
On one side, there’s this reader screaming hostility, “I’m so sick of reading
about this celebrity and his girlfriend every (insert expletive here) month.
Can they feature the man who dedicated his life to a hundred dogs in the animal
shelter instead of some one-hit wonder?” The other site contradicts in
exclamation, “Good riddance! Everybody loves him except you. He’ll never go
away because he’s a media darling so get over it.” Long story short: everybody
enjoys hearing anything about this sensation but you have to ride on with his
popularity as long as he does not crash and burn later in his career. In this
situation, you are mocked by your peers the moment you express an
unfavourable comment about this famous figure.
Every year People lists
the most beautiful people in the world with the titleholder of “Most Beautiful
Woman / Man” gracing the cover. Once you take a look at who’s who in the
feature, you will observe that all those proclaimed as the fairest in the
universe are all famous celebrities. It’s given there are women and men away
from the limelight who may be more attractive than they are; but as we all know
it’s the magazine’s tactic to generate publicity and earn the public’s
interest. Besides, it is called People for a reason. Same goes
for Maxim’s Hot 100 – are they really the living planet’s hottest
women, or they wouldn’t be had it not been for the thousands of readers wooing
over them which lead to those skyrocketing votes? A lot of people would want to
argue that neither of these celebrities is qualified to be the world’s most
beautiful or desirable but they feel powerless against the media which further
instigates the spiral of silence theory. This may seem like rubbing salt to a
wound but magazines are trying to lure us to catch the same wave as the masses.
How publishing
companies are being run nowadays makes us question whether magazines are
putting importance with earning profit from selling issues more than with the
substance of content. Nowadays they appear to be leaning more on the
“quantity over quality” standard, caring more on popularity rather than
credibility. Who would want to spend his / her time trying to sink in what is
written in an article defending a politician in the middle of his involvement
in a well-documented controversy? Can we blame all these entertainment
magazines for outing the private lives of celebrities to entice readers yet
tempt to change their perceptions of who they don’t really know personally?
Those lifestyle magazines with glamour written all over - do they have a part
in formulating a homogenized standard of beauty based on society’s accepted
take on the concept? Does it really matter if you buy Brand X or Brand Y
with customer and critical reviews as primary basis? When all is said and done,
can we dare to conclude that magazines are establishing public opinions in the
same way as its sister mediums nowadays? Magazines have been attributed to the
following elements more or less associated with opinion: bandwagons and the
waning capability in expressing one’s opinion freely without thinking of the
backlash.
Magazines play
a huge role in a culture where winners are celebrated and losers are humiliated
by either dedicating the whole issue commemorating the victor’s success or a
five-page article speculating on a team’s free fall capped by a dubious losing
streak. It’s not every day we hear about writers struggling under the pressure
of penning articles on a one-dimensional societal perspective; reputations of
both the writers and their subjects are at stake so they are advised to be
meticulous with what to write. The general rule always goes like this: breathe
with relief when the article gets a positive reaction from the readers because
you just gave them what they’re looking for. You are in deep jeopardy once you
get insults of all sorts for siding with a universally-dissed opinion. Not only
you will get scorned by the readers, it can cost your reputation and your job.
Lesson of the story in relation to the spiral of silence: the reader is often,
if not always, right. And who knows, what the writer may have written in the
magazine may not be even his / her own opinion.
A vital issue
affecting magazines is how opinions are controlled, trimmed, and polished at
the readers’ expense. It is very unrealistic for everyone to have the same
perceptions on an issue, but magazines these days hinder us from opposing an
established public perception. In case of the feedback columns, they frame
their letters by publishing only the good ones. Talk about herd mentality in here;
magazines are actually teaching us to become just another face in the crowd
blending in with the same thoughts without gaining ground on our own beliefs.
Where is freedom of expression at the time of this dissonance? Magazines are
supposed to allow positive or negative feedback from readers in order to
construct future developments on the publication. But if they continue on being
one-sided on readers’ opinions, then they are just depriving the audience of
the right to speak out and be heard without any fear of marginalization. The
spiral of silence is at its finest right there.
Therefore, the
impact of magazines has provided us limited privilege on our viewpoints as what
is deemed popular and likeable by society gets all the moolah from the press. Allow
this quote to sum up the spiral of silence’s association with magazines: “It’s
either you’re with us or you’re against us.”
Works Cited
“Spiral of Silence Theory”. Changing Minds. n.p.,
n.d. Web. 10 December 2013.
Baran, Stanley J. and Davis, Dennis K. Mass
Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future. Stamford:
Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.
Griffin, Em. “Spiral of Silence of Elisabeth
Noelle-Neumann”. A First Look at Communication Theory, New
York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 372-382: Print.
Hayes, Andrew F. “Exploring the Forms of Self-Censorship:
the Spiral of Silence and the Use of Opinion Expression Avoidance
Strategies”. Journal of Communication 57 (2007):
785-802. EBSCO. Web. 10 December 2013.
Labels: candice, magazines
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How It All Began
The realization of a goal began one chilly September night of 2013 in Mr. Randy Torrecampo's Introduction to Print (INTPRIN) held at M206 of De La Salle University - Manila. The multi-talented and energetic Student Media Office director instructed the class to produce a final output as a showcase of their learnings on the status of the print industry. Since then, this group of eleven of DLSU's finest in the field of Communication Arts have taken their talents online by expressing various viewpoints on newspapers, books, advertisements, magazines, and digital media. And this is how The Fine Print came to be, aiming to explore the word one step at a time.
Who's Who
Sir Randy is the senior editor of The Fine Print and probably one of the few singing professors in the face of this spherical Earth. The moment he belts out the Aladdin theme song, his enchanting voice makes the world stop for a while because for they "don't want to miss a thing" (Aerosmith, 1998).
Bryan is the sole male staffer in this online publication. He is very passionate with the mass media industry and a renowned speaker.
Candice is a female staffer of The Fine Print who is currently the web manager and also a major contributor to this fine publication. She enjoys writing and eating at the same time.
Czar is a female staffer of The Fine Print who is a major contributor in this fine publication. She likes to travel, create videos, and go on adventures.
Mona is a female staffer of The Fine Print who is a major contributor to this fine publication. She has a really enchanting singing voice that makes everyone's hearts beat faster in addition to taking breathtaking photographs.
Erika is a female staffer of The Fine Print who is a major contributor to this fine publication. She loves to draw anything that tickles her fancy.
Issa is a female staffer of The Fine Print who is a major contributor to this fine publication. She is a dancer with a renowned Philippine dance group who has also appeared in several short films and music videos.
Madi is a female staffer of The Fine Print who is a major contributor to this fine publication. She is passionate about fashion and indie music.
Rio is a female staffer of The Fine Print who is a major contributor to this fine publication. She is an aspiring graphic artist and filmmaker.
Maisie is a female staffer of The Fine Print who is a major contributor to this fine publication. She enjoys entertaining audiences with her killer dance moves.
Marielle is a female staffer of The Fine Print who is a major contributor to this fine publication. She is a wonder whose size does not hinder her from being a charm to the people around her.
Sammie is a female staffer of The Fine Print who is a major contributor to this fine publication. She is an aspiring filmmaker and considers Samantha Jones of HBO's Sex and The City as her queen.
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my sunshine
links exchanged opened! just tag me but link me first
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link
coming soon....
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