Specificity of mass information as forms of the fourth power



From the history of the relationship of people, one can see that the term «information exchange» usually refers to the method of communication. In ancient times, few really realized that it is such a powerful tool, a force that can exert a decisive influence on the actions and behavior of large numbers of people. For example, such a power had leaders, priests, elders, military leaders, orators, philosophers. This is largely due to their direct activities.

Key words: implement, Richard Nixon, indispensable, communication, generalization

Технологии и институты, через которые централизованно распространяется информация и другие формы символической коммуникации крупным, гетерогенным и географически рассеянным аудиториям; одна из существенных форм распространения и бытия массовой культуры. Само слово «медиум» означает определенный инструмент преобразования опыта в знание, а его форма множественного числа «медиа» обозначает знаки, которые придают смысл событиям повседневной жизни, причем подразумевается существование многочисленных знаковых систем. Термин «медиум» является достаточно обобщенным, это любой инструмент коммуникации, который передает, или «медиирует» значение. Телефон, радио, фильм, телевидение — все они являются «медиа», наряду с печатью и человеческим голосом, живописью и скульптурой.

Ключевые слова: осуществлять, Ричард Никсон, незаменимый, общение, обобщение

Historically, power has emerged with the emergence of human society. The image of power in itself is a rather complex phenomenon. Power has various forms of levels: political, administrative, family, etc., direct and indirect meaning. Under the power is understood the ability, opportunity and right to dispose of someone, to exert decisive influence on the fate, behavior and activities, customs and traditions of people through various means — law, authority, strength, etc. The essence of power is not just dominate someone, but, above all, to achieve the subordination of others. To implement it, a force is needed that can maintain power. As this strength can be information, because it has much more power than it usually can imagine.

Most researchers agree that today the information role in its impact on people plays a key role, but each of them has its own approach. So "…information, as never before, has become an instrument of power”. When the susceptibility of the human psyche to suggestion was discovered, information in the form of agitation became the main lever of human control. It is gradually replaced brute force, violence, which for a long time was considered the only and indispensable tool of government. The late US President Richard Nixon, once speaking at the National Security Council on budget expenditures, said that he believes that the $ 1 invested in information is more valuable than the $ 10 invested in the creation of weapons systems, since the latter is unlikely to be when only used in the case, while the information works hourly and everywhere». Today, such a flow of information is created that it is very difficult to follow it: the information just received is instantly replaced by a new one.

From the history of the relationship of people, one can see that the term «information exchange» usually refers to the method of communication. In ancient times, few really realized that it is such a powerful tool, a force that can exert a decisive influence on the actions and behavior of large numbers of people. For example, such a power had leaders, priests, elders, military leaders, orators, philosophers. This is largely due to their direct activities. They possessed such information that allowed them not only to think logically and analyze, but also to make decisions related to the lives and destinies of many people. Having more information, and therefore knowledge, they acquired certain privileges, which resulted in respect, trust — they were listened to, followed.

In former times, information as the main power of human management was not used to such a large extent as it is today. Then the leading tool in ensuring a stable environment was the application of predominantly physical strength. Violence in the form of reprisals, punishments of recalcitrant was a favorite instrument of power. There are an infinite number of such examples in history.

As social relations developed, it became clear that to have power, to have control over society is perhaps more humane and effective: with the help of information, that has a greater influence over the city than physical strength. Information as a form of power conquers a person's consciousness. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that it prolongs any obstacles and imperceptibly «sinks» into its consciousness.

Man became a person in the process of communication. Receive any information. In turn, information makes a person think. To argue, develop. And the fact that a person perceives information (sounds, noises, gestures, facial expressions) and inevitably begins to comprehend more, reacts to it, says that he becomes her prisoner. In other words, this process makes a person a servant of his mind, a slave of information.

Penetrating into his consciousness, information becomes the master of personality. Herbert McLuhan says this: «The subconscious and obedient acceptance of the impact of the means of communication turned them into prisons without walls for those people who used them». In other words, who owns the information, he owns the consciousness of the people on whom it is directed, and therefore their behavior, mood. This is the main power — the power of information. Now it began to rely not so much on coercive measures of influence, as it did before, but rather on the use of information-psychological influence.

An interesting fact is that information, being an integral part of a person's vital activity, is not only his friend, but also an enemy, because he has the opportunity to influence him both positively and negatively. In other words, in certain cases, under the influence of information, a person intuitively can do what he does not want.

It is necessary to understand and explain the current trends in the development of information and the rapid growth of its social role.

With the advent of the printing press in the 15th century, invented by Johann Guttenberg, the information acquired a total character. Thanks to this discovery, the amount of information has increased dramatically. Massively, books, magazines, newspapers began to spread out. Now it became possible to talk about mass information, since the new invention allowed not only to keep information, but also to print, to reproduce texts and television all the time, all this became noticeably stronger. The mass media began massively distributing various kinds of information about the public life of people, actively participating in the process of shaping reality.

Given that, the basis of journalism is information that spreads through the media (print, radio, television, the Internet), it's easy to imagine what kind of power it has. This power lies in the fact that mass information is directed at the society, directly related to life, distributed and consumed by it.

Apparently, mass information is most effective under certain conditions. First of all, this is accessibility to broad masses, simplicity of form, the possibility of convenient use, low cost, openness to all comers, stability and regularity. Because of this, it becomes universally valid and generally available.

Its peculiarity lies in the fact that through the mass media it can penetrate into various strata of the population: elite, class and mass. If they were previously available only to the public, who can read and write now audiovisual technology makes them available to almost any person.

As F. Webster emphasizes, today «an important feature of this world has become changes in the information sphere. It is impossible to imagine anyone trying to describe the world without paying due attention to the huge area of change that concerns the media, the dissemination of information, communication technologies, new forms of employment and even educational systems.»

Development assumes certain changes, a clear sign of which is the increase in the volume of information, which, in turn, leads to an increase in the exchange of information. Hence, we can trace the pattern: the higher the need for information, the more it spreads. It exerts an exceptional influence on the consciousness, the behavior of people, determines their social roles, lies at the basis of decisions, worldviews, is the decisive factor of social development.

In the modern world, the role of mass information has immeasurably increased, it has acquired a powerful character, has become a key phenomenon, one of the basic values, a resource of development, the basis of social life and the whole existence of man. Alexander Kalmykov and Lyudmila Kokhanova argue that due to the rapid development of technology, «information becomes a sign of power — the more advanced technology, the potentially more power».

Information has now become the main product created by modern society. Its mass production and effective use determines the prospects for social development, levels and forms of being of people.

Of course, these changes are directly related to scientific and technological progress. «As the generalization factor of the world, information, essentially, was claimed by the information searchers... And the crown was the computer and computer networks — kind of imaginative integrators of the information age». Their mass distribution led to the emergence of a global Internet network.

The strength of the impact of mass information on the human mind has become so strong that it is sometimes difficult to predict all of its consequences. In this regard, Erast Galumov notes that «global information is in fact an extremely powerful resource of global development. On the other hand, it is an extremely dangerous resource, manipulation, which is fraught with catastrophic consequences for all earthlings. «In other words, what kind of information a person will receive depends on his state of mind, the inner world, on which, in turn, his actions will depend — and all this will be reflected in modern reality. Information in skillful hands can become both a medicine and a weapon. It is important in whose hands it is located and what goals are being pursued, as it can inflict both harm and good. Who owns the largest amount of information on any issue, he is always in a better position than the rest.

In my opinion, if it were not for technological opportunities, the role of the mass media would not have been so great. It has become so much that it begins to noticeably outperform the rest of society. It was not easy to embrace a large number of people; it began to prevail over man. Mass information has properties characteristic of the authorities: the ability to subjugate the broad masses, and from this to form a modern reality. Of course, the very image of power is a complex psychological phenomenon. It is important to understand the adequacy of audience dependence on the level of influence of information as a carrier of power.