Media Effects And Theories: It's Never Just HIV

Media Effects And Theories – “It’s Never Just HIV”
Media affects how people behave by what it displays and portrays be it crime, violence or sexual inappropriateness. This essay serves to discuss the effects of media and how media can influence human actions and behaviour in life. In the first paragraph I shall define and discuss the media effects. Following that, in the second paragraph, I will explain my media item and its perceived effects on an audience. Lastly, I shall link up my media aspect with the relevant media effect theories, clearly showing how they relate with one another.
As I have stated in the introduction that media affects the way people think and behave we firstly have to understand what media effects are. Media effects
The video paints a picture in the audiences’ head that Homosexual men are the only ones that may get these diseases due to the fact that the video only shows men and not a single woman. This will therefore lead to the audience making the assumption that any gay man that practices unprotected sexual intercourse has these diseases. In addition to that there is also framing in the video. The main aim of it is to focus mainly on the downside of gay sexual intercourse as it just shows the terrible conditions a gay man could land in if they had unprotected sex. Lastly, there is meaning construction effect theory that could come from the video. The audience already knew that homosexual sexual intercourse could pass on HIV but now the media has painted a bigger picture on the other existing conditions in a way that when people think of homosexual sex the dangers they fear more the osteoporosis and anal cancer and not really the HIV and this message is passed on in the way that media has shown it. I therefore find it conclusive to say that this video manages to affect and provoke several audience thoughts and inform them about the other likely dangers of homosexual intercourse other than HIV using the long term theories and causing some of the behavioural effects on the audience. Thoughts and perceptions were created whereby the video painted a new picture in our minds showing the influence that media has on people. “Media will always influence us and be a natural part of us just like the