Much of the social problems work undertaken by media organizations and their personnel involves packaging and reporting the claims made by others (as opposed to constructing their own claims from scratch), such as a news report that features harrowing accounts, sound bites from public officials, statistics, and gripping images (each of which represents a social problems "claim"). Positioning the media as being oriented more toward selectively repackaging the social problems work of others should not be taken as an indication that media have a passive role in the construction of social problems. Media are not merely a conduit for the claims of others; they do not simply disseminate claims as claims makers proffer them. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Even when media are not the originators of a particular claim, they play an integral part in the form that the claim takes. Claims are constantly shaped and reshaped to bring them into alignment with the needs of media and their audiences.

This transformative capacity furthers the important role of media in how we think about and respond to social problems, because it means that media (as far as their audiences are concerned) get to determine what gets said about social problems, how it gets said (e.g., whether material is delivered as straight news, as an editorial, as a mixture of reportage and eyewitness accounts, as a docudrama, and so on), who says it (media tend to favor official sources, those with experience in the issues at hand, celebrities or others who are well known), and when it gets said (i.e., where it will be slotted in media cycles, how often it will be presented, and for what duration).

The modern media marketplace is extremely competitive, and media personnel must strive to identify and create "products" that can be produced quickly and efficiently while also being able to attract and sustain the interest and attention of a range of audiences. Thus, the decisions of media personnel determine what makes it into the mediated products that the audiences consume. What people see on their televisions or computer monitors, read in newspapers and magazines, or hear on radios and "Podcasts" represent the tangible manifestations of a series of decisions made by media personnel--editors, producers, reporters, anchors, guest bookers, executives, advertisers--as to who or what will be attended to, how much various topics will be covered, and how selected material will be framed.

Of course, these decisions about which potential social problems are transformed into mediated products (and which are not) and when, how, and by whom claims will be presented do not get made in a vacuum. The decision making of media organizations and their personnel is shaped by a number of external constraints, ranging from the structure of the media industry (i.e., media conglomeration, a profit orientation, reliance upon advertisers, and so on) to the daily demands of crafting news or entertainment products (i.e., budget limitations, deadlines, finite broadcast or print space, and so on). From a social problems perspective, a key constraint is the limited amount of time and space that media have to devote to social issues. Quite simply, media have only so much attention available for allocation to the seemingly infinite array of things that might be considered worthy of broadcast time or print space. This renders space within media presentation cycles a finite and hence valued commodity in the media marketplace. Media cannot cover it all, so media personnel have to sift through the seemingly infinite array of information, issues, individuals, and events and determine what will be attended to. What this means for our understanding of social problems is that only a miniscule proportion of the events and issues unfolding at a given time get identified as potential social problems, and only a small fraction of these get featured in the mediated products that individuals watch, read, or hear in their daily lives.

The structural, cultural, and practical constraints media personnel face lead them to favor certain types of material over others, which in turn affects the coverage of various social problems. Media personnel must actively select and reconstruct the claims they will deliver so that the claims will fit within the constraints of the structure of their work and remain consistent with the expectations of their audiences. As a result, media personnel tend to place a premium on materials that possess certain elements (i.e., items that seem important, novel, timely, and interesting; they also favor materials that feature interesting characters, can be accompanied by compelling photos or video, packaged in a noncomplex manner, and planned in advance). In short, media play both direct and indirect roles in how claims get constructed and disseminated. The direct role occurs when media personnel construct a claim (i.e., primary claims making) or refashion the claims of others (i.e., secondary claims making) and disseminate them to their audiences. The indirect role of media may be reflected in the efforts of claims makers, who, having become aware of the kinds of claims that are likely to be represented in the media, begin to shape their claims in ways that they presume will appeal to the interests of a given media organization or its audiences. Successful claims makers are those who account for the "realities" and constraints faced by media officials and who are willing and able to adjust their claims-making efforts accordingly.

The media-social problems relationship is clearly a strong one. Much of the social problems work of claims makers requires the complicity of media if it is to be effective, while at the same time media draw upon the social problems work of others to craft news and entertainment products that meet their own unique needs as well as those of their audiences. Media are a vital force in how we construct and react to social problems; how media attend to the efforts of various claims makers helps shape what gets said, how it gets said, who says it, and when it gets said, all of which are crucial determinants of whether a potential social problem becomes an actual social problem, as well as how political officials, policymakers, and the public elect to respond to constructed problems.

While the media-social problems relationship remains as strong as ever, sociologists and other analysts should take note of recent changes in the overall media landscape that could affect this relationship (not necessarily in its strength, but in its nature). In recent years, several of the mainstream media forms that have traditionally served as core outlets for the claims-making efforts of social problems activists--for example, the major television networks' evening news broadcasts and a number of once-prominent newspapers and national magazines--have seen somewhat precipitous declines in the size of their overall audiences (and in the loyalties of some of those who remain), as many of their former audience members have found more convenient sources (e.g., Internet news sites or 24-hour all-news channels on cable and satellite television) that allow them to get the latest news content whenever they want. At the same time, innovative media forms have emerged (e.g., Internet chat rooms, blogs, Podcasting) that offer new avenues through which claims makers are able to disseminate their claims to a mass audience and provide audience members with new ways to interact with those claims. Thus, it is a time for both excitement and wariness: excitement because these shifts could spur sociologists and other analysts to undertake important empirical assessments of the strength and nature of the media-social problems relationship; and wariness because these shifts and innovations present new complexities for media consumers to navigate as they continue to turn to media to make sense of the world around them.

Bibliography:

1) Best, Joel. 2001. Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

2) Gusfield, Joseph. 1984. The Culture of Public Problems: Drinking-Driving and the Symbolic Order. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

3) Hilgartner, Stephen and Charles Bosk. 1988. "The Rise and Fall of Social Problems: A Public Arenas Model." American Journal of Sociology 94:53-78.

4) Loseke, Donileen R. 2003. Thinking About Social Problems: An Introduction to Constructionist Perspectives. 2nd ed. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

5) Surette, Ray. 2007. Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice: Images, Realities, and Policies. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

6) Tuchman, Gaye. 1980. Making News: A Study in the Construction of Reality. New York: Free Press.

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