Media Influence: Metaphor or Reality?

Abstract

A monograph of a group of researchers whose work was funded by the National Research Foundation of Ukraine in 2020-2021 was recently published: Rizun, V., Havrylets, Y., Ivaskevych, D., Petrenko-Lysak, A., Popov, A., Tukaiev, S., & Yachnik, Y. (2021). Stressogenic elements of the latent impact of real media reports on the COVID-19 pandemic on social groups (experimental study) [Monograph]. Academy of Ukrainian Press. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356732051_Stressogenic_Elements_of_the_Latent_Impact_of_Real_Media_Reports_on_the_COVID-19_Pandemic_on_Social_Groups_experimental_study The results of the experiments led researchers to unexpected, debatable conclusions: hoping to identify stressful units of media messages, the researchers faced the fact that certain elements of messages acquire signs of stress depending on the socio-psychological status of the perceiver (audience member). I.e., the elements of the messages themselves were indifferent to stress, they were made so by the communications themselves, depending on their condition. We present a fragment of the text of Chapter 4 “Discussion” of the monograph (pp. 118-120) both in the original and in Ukrainian translation and invite you to discuss this fact. The metaphorical expression of the statements “media influence”, “media affect people, society” has become obvious to researchers: influence should be understood as the reaction of the communication to the message and its elements. With this approach, everything falls into place – the media influence not because they have some energy, the power to act on people (this is a figurative expression!), but because people have the energy and power to perceive the elements as they see them and feel.