Socio-cultural Issues

Media coverage can reflect, enforce, or challenge the spiral of silence effect on public opinion. But understanding the dynamics of individuals’ collective observations of their social environments and public opinion translates rather directly into public relations practise. Examples include public information campaigns designed to break the spirals of silence associated with smoking, drinking, and driving, substance abuse, domestic violence, sexual harrassment, and safe sex, to list only a few. In each instance, and for many other public issues, mass communication played a key role in redefining socially accepted expression and behaviour.

As illustrated in Figure 8.3, mass media messages can provide individuals pictures of their social environment, of whether there is social approval or disapproval of their views or actions. This sociocultural model of communication effects suggests that “messages presented via the mass media may provide the appearance of consensus regarding orientation and action with respect to a given object or goal of persuasion.”