Media Influence On The Media

History has changed. Ideas and standards have also changed. Back in the day, when the media or movies showed a hint or a dash of blood, the reaction of the average person was shock and disgust at the blood and gore shown. These scenes and clips shown have become more and more extreme over the years to the level of being hazardous to society. Even in the videogame industry, certain scenes that may have caused outrage and commotion fifteen years ago are now seen as childish and may even be considered as humorous. To put it candidly, most of the mass media has been used widely to its ability to influence and persuade, to glorify, and diabolize thoughts and actions of individuals. Yet people of this generation still spend a great percentage of

Do you ever feel like our media impacts the way you live? If it does, it probably has a negative impact. The media in today’s society has a bad influence on America’s teenagers- especially girls. It sends wrong messages to its adolescent viewers about today’s society and culture. The media should act as more of a positive influence towards America’s teenage girls.

The media has a strong influence on how societies receive and react to the context of the messages that the media displays to the public. From Disney movies on up to horror films there’s a plot that each film is trying to accomplish. The controversial issue comes into play based on how the film messages are portrayed. Films that use racial humor harm the particular race that the films are depicting. Films with racial humor that is enhanced to be seen as acceptable creates prejudge mental labels for certain races. The viewers of these films are more likely to view these stereotypes portrayed in the media as facts about whatever race that is being critically represented. Films that are created with this line of content harms individuals credibility based on the racial group they belong to. This harms a potential interaction of individual of certain races due to the knowledge they receive about that racial group through the media. The media sets the tone of our cultural experiences before they occur this happens within advertisements and movies. These storylines help to created trend and beliefs that might not be true or affective. These cause viewers who haven’t interacted with certain racial groups before to believe these stereotypes to be a reality versus that of a stereotype due to their lack of personal knowledge of how different cultures actually act.

Media is a huge part of people’s lives in today’s society. Through different forms of media people can now obtain vast amounts of information at the slightest touch of a finger. While it is convenient and comforting to have access to so much data, the question arises. How much of this information we receive shapes our lives? Mass media as an agent of socialization can prime and/or skew people’s belief system through mere exposure without the slightest clue of it affects. Mass media as an agent of socialization can structure people’s perception on society as a whole by simply using influence, control, and trust.

Our basic perspectives about our world, issues, culture comes from the media influence we’ve been exposed to our entire lives. The power the media has over our attitudes, values and beliefs is incomprehensible. Which is why it is crucial to remain critically aware whilst reading media articles, and to always question and draw opinions on what you are being told. As we venture into adulthood, it is important that you are mindful of the power of an author’s positioning in the media through several techniques and effects. This leads us into the deconstruction of the Article ‘Same Sex Marriage debate is disgusting and Dangerous’ by Andrew Bolt to signpost how an author can persuade you into succumbing to their invited reading.

Information and news media have radically changed the way our society both consumes, and views the news today. It used to be that we would reach for our morning paper, or turn on the evening news after a long days’ worth of work to catch up with the events going on around us. I can recall a time when I would sit down with my father to watch the evening news. Those days have since evolved into something not many could have predicted. News and information is now available to us whenever we please, accessible via a smartphone, tablet, computer, even all-day news channels keeping us up to the minute current with events. As such, the media networks have an obligation to its consumers to report accurate, and unbiased stories. With that said, many news organizations exist for the sole purpose of shaping and serving specific political ideals. With the explosion of electronic media outlets, the ways in which we consume news, and how news is generated, is ever evolving.

In today’s digital-based world of smartphones, wifi, and screens in every room, it is hard to deny that people are impacted by the media around them. People are constantly exposed to digital media that affects the way they view the world, their society and themselves. While the constant exposure to media can sometimes lead to positive effects on people, this is not typically the case. Today’s TV programs, video games and other media have caused rigid gender stereotypes in society. Masculinity and femininity are defined by the entertainers and athletes people are constantly seeing on their TVs, computers and phones. The impact of this is most prominent for children. For young people who are constantly learning from their surroundings, their exposure to media affects their understanding of each gender. This leads to skewed perceptions of themselves and others, causing self-esteem issues from a young age.

The state of childhood is difficult to define due to the conflicting views that are held within society. As outlined in Creativity, Culture and Commerce (2015) children are considered a special audience in relation to television and media consumption. This categorisation of this audience allows childhood to be defined as a developmental stage in which youthful participants are considered both ‘vulnerable’ and ‘corruptible’. These distinctive underlying connotations lead to an assumption that children “must be protected,” within media exposure and content (Potter, 2015: 3). In relation to these media definitions society reflects these culturally and socially by linking the well-being of the children with protection. As stated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority the age bracket of a child is any individual “being aged under 14 years,” (Potter, 2015: 7). This definition provides insight into the factors such as the schooling age that govern programming within Australia’s media industry. Due to these diverse definitions childhood is a complex term that reflects aspects of society through media and television consumption in which children are protected from different forms of content.

Sports have always been a leisurely activity, and a way to escape the reality of the world. But the actions that certain athletes, teams and fans have taken, changed the potential that sports now hold. Whether it is athletes that kneel during the national anthem, athletes that hold a fist in the air before the beginning of the game, or fans who protest in unity; sports can be used to spread political messages. Even so, the media has an influence on the way people perceive the message being displayed, and in a sense, it may be up to the media whether or not they want to help spread the messages being sent in sports across.

Unrealistic body image and eating disorders are perpetuated by the media in women of ages 5-24

When we look at the media’s impact in our world it reaches far beyond the individual. While we may spend a large portion of our day individually consuming media, it affects us all in a way that has begun to shape our society. What we see on the news, TV, movies, advertisements, and the internet, all influence what we think and how we act. A quick example is how body image is affected by what we see in media. Teenage girl’s body image is especially distorted based on what the media says they should look like rather than what is realistic. In many more ways, mass media has integrated its way into our lives and it affects us at a societal level when it comes to what we think, how we act, and how we perceive violence in our world.

The way that diasporic audiences use media products to give them a connection to their country of origin has been a topic of research for many scholars. The increasing ability to stream content online allows people to keep the same routine in watching content and to watch content which they can relate to and see themselves reflected in, often unlike the content on in their new home country. Online news allows people to keep up with current events and look out for events that may affect the ones they care about and improvements in communications technology allow people to connect directly with the people they love more effectively. Media provides a way for diasporic audiences to find their sense of self and identity in a country where they may not have a lot of representation. Previous models of looking at diasporic audiences have been helpful in allowing us to see the positive impacts that media can have, however they still continue to look at these audiences and their lives as the ‘other’ which is a step backward in the diverse societies we live in.

In the course of the most recent couple of decades, the media scene has changed drastically. The most essential change is from an old media model of television to another media model of narrowcasting. TV alludes to media speaking to the overall population and is exemplified by system TV, radio, and daily papers. Narrowcasting, made conceivable by television networks, Internet, and satellite radio, is focused to particular gatherings of people.

Growing up in the 1970’s, violence in the media, and television in general, was reserved for late prime time programming and the 11 o’clock news. With deregulation of the broadcast industry in the 1980’s, under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, violence on TV became mainstream ("American television," n.d.). With more channels to watch, the advent of 24 hour news, along with more content to view, the audience as well became increasingly younger. Alongside standard television programming, cartoons became even more violent. With each passing decade thereafter the trend of increasing violence in the media and television continues into present day. Violence in the media has become so prevalent that it seems to elicit almost automatic aggressive behavior in those who view it.

Over-all this documentary made me feel very defeated and overwhelmed. Possibly it is just my mood tonight, but it is clear that a few really wealthy companies run the media in the United States.