The Importance Of Mass Media

Former SIS agent and novelist David Cornwell once said, “I suffer from the same frustration that every decent American suffers from. That is, that you begin to wonder whether decent liberal instincts, decent humanitarian instincts, can actually penetrate the right-wing voice, get through the steering of American opinion by the mass media.” In this weeks reading we read about the events happening after the cold war and beyond. These being subjects like the NATO expansion to internal reform. However in one section of the reading it talk about the events of the Somalia and Bosnian humanitarian effort and the shocking reality of America’s view on it. Being born in America, we have all have heard and influenced by the idea of America being a peace keeping and leading Humanitarian force in the world. Yet the history of America is anything but. With fights only

News media outlets are now driven based on the biased nonfactual information.The media’s standards of credibility are continuously decreasing making it difficult to encounter reliable sources. Many would like to blame the public's inability to distinguish factual information from opinions, but the media ultimate goal and responsibility to the public is to provide factual information which they are failing to do so.

It has taken a long time to get to where society is now in 2017, and now more than ever media plays a big role in everyone’s lives. With the invention of the computers came numerous other inventions, such as the Internet and smartphones. An example of the big role computers, the Internet and smartphones play in society is given by Baran in page 30 where he says “ the average American child between the ages 8 and 18 spends more than seven hours a day engaged simultaneously with many different screens.” I understand that in order to invent the computer there other creations that allowed the computer to become what it is now, but putting that aside I consider computers to be the most important technological breakthrough. The World Wide Web, smartphones and gaming consoles, would not have come into existence without computers. Other media sources such as Cable television, CD’s, and newspapers, have began to decline in terms of audience mostly due to the upsurge of the computer related media, Baran talks about the industries in transition and mentions how newspapers have lost 26 billion dollars in the past 10 years, he also talks about the decline in CD sales by 13% in between 2013 and 2014 (30)

Today’s topics were mostly on masculinity with some feminism topics and mass media. The topics that stuck with me the most were about how masculinity is used, the feminist movements over time and the mass media’s involvement in citizens life. For men to show there masculinity features they would have to prove their masculinities through test established by another male figure above that individual man. This could be seen when a father tells his son that if he wants to prove that he is a big boy he will take care of his younger sister. This gives the son a sense of duty and responsibility over someone else and overall show his power to his younger sister. This in turn would make the younger sister feel as if she is weak because it seems she needs to be taken care of.

Mass media has had many changes in our history beginning with the printing press in the 1400’s up to today. The most drastic changes have occurred within the last century. These changes have influenced American culture in many ways. They have also changed the way we live everyday of our lives.

With the fantastic spur both in industry and economy in the world, the spread of media is on the rise. In general, ‘media’ refers to the implement of mass communication, it consists of newspaper, magazines, television, the internet and so forth. There is a huge amount of media users around the world which means the number of audiences is large. As generally acknowledged, nowadays, the spread of news, entertainment has a rapid speed through the media and mass communication. The public opinions and thoughts can be easily affected by the spread of media, also, mass communication of the news media may provide some bias and prejudice of the news. In this sense, to have a powerful communication tool, the agenda setting theory demonstrates that it is better if shaping the various news in order to create a moral society (Kiousis and McCombs, 2004). In general, agenda setting describes the effects of the media on the general public, the ability to choose important issues (Moon 2011, p.699). The sense of agenda setting has been deeply accepted by the public a long time ago. In 1992, Walter Lippmann (1992), a newspaper columnist, argued that the mass media has the ability to produce images of events that can be present to the public. Since 1948, Lazarsfeld and Metton (1948) acknowledged that the function of the press to give specific status upon events it emphasizes. Till 1959, Norton Long (Long 1958) also illustrated that media will grasp specific attention from the public on certain

Studies show how the role of mass media has triggered an enormous influence in the lives of our nation’s citizens. Nevertheless, what I have observed over the course of my life is how the mass media have predominantly swayed, persuaded and changed various people’s views and opinions of the world quite drastically. A journalist’s influence on politics and the election process can influence various undecided voters for they are the ones choosing what appears in the media. Pertaining to the press, we observe how exactly mass media play a role in shaping public opinion. Consequently, mass media have changed from a time when the government used the media as a medium to influence voters, committees, and communities. However, the media have the authority and ability to inform the people, yet, repeatedly, the stories given to the public come across as biased and distorted for reasons we don’t fully comprehend. Through the practice of slant and sensationalism, we begin to understand the ways the media have begun to form our views and interpretations in society as well as the method by which we choose our nation’s leaders.

Marshall McLuhan’s and Lawrence Alloway’s writing looks at how technology, such as radio, tv, etc., affects the world and how mass media affects culture through its opinions, art, and political influence. Their thoughts, though somewhat difficult, are similar to the current reality and therefore easier to relate to. In their collective writings they discusses five key points: technologies as extensions of ourselves, the electrical age bringing a global embrace; sense ratio and the impact from technology; the artist’s role to model coping with change, and humanities understanding of the artist's role.

The fear of crime is one of the most lasting outcomes of a crime-ridden society. Crime, deviance, delinquency and other social problems have always been a staple of newspaper accounts, television news shows and crime dramas. The majority of the population relies on the news media as the main source of information and the basis on which they form their opinions and voting decisions. Knowledge of these events is secondhand, filtered through the media graphically and textually, thus appearing immediate, shocking, entertaining and informative. In today's society the media has become our firsthand experience for our source of information, opinion, and news about the world. While there is some debate as to how much influence the media actually has, there is some evidence to suggest there is some connection. The controversial topic between mass media and the fear of crime can be explained by the influential aspects of the media, moral panics of crime and the fear of victimization.

Mass media has a huge influence on communities across America. There are numerous mass media platforms like the internet, tv, magazines, and radio. Through the use of this platforms, messages are able to be given to the public at a huge and rapid rate. Information can at times, however, be misleading. Due to the fact that the media has a huge influence on the views of people, it is often used as a way to deteriorate the image of a certain group or individual, underrepresenting them in the entertainment business. In the 1950’s African Americans were underrepresented in the media, accounting for 6% of tv characters. Their numbers increased to 16% in the 1980’s (Rodriguez 13). That, however, has not been the case for the Hispanic/ Latino community. The Hispanic / Latino community are underrepresented in the mass media, being portrayed negatively in their moments in the media.

Information is transmitted within a culture through mass media which plays an important role in society through different sociological perspectives. In the case of the functionalist view, providing entertainment is one of the top functions of mass media. In addition, functionalists say that the media can also act as an agent of socialization and an enforcer of social norms. Mass media can also tell people what society expects from them through incentives and punishments depending on a person’s behavior whether it is glorified or penalized and it serves as a promoter of consumer culture such as the heartbreaking film the Titanic.

What actually we understand when we talk about mass media? We discuss the dispersal of data, or how data is transmitted inside a culture. And this can include print media, like books, newspapers and magazines, as well as digital media, like TV, movies, radio and the internet.

People are being depression and reflecting action in real life due to effective of mass media. Media has a power that can everyone has the same right and opportunity to access the information and enjoy their life. Teenagers are the most effective group of people because they can access and explode new technologies, creatives, curious, and proactive. Therefore, they are putting themselves in danger by performing challenge pictures or extreme dangerous things to be famous. People always attractive by beautiful things; therefore, being eye catching faces, stylists, and creatives are easily catch people’s attention. With the flowing of mass media, people are doing more and more crazy things to become famous and popular. For instance, taking selfie pictures and post it Facebook is not the smart way to be famous. Some people want to challenge others and themselves by taking extremely mind freaking pictures such as standing on the top of highest building even in the thunder acceptor. They are not only facing with strong winds, cold weather, and death. If they miss holding the handle but carrying the phone, they will fell down. Not every pictures can be post on social network it also have exception. For example, in the independent e-newspaper of England, an Australian named Chantelle has been stolen about 500 dollar after posting a selfie with the winner ticket of lottery. One of her friends on Facebook took her money in fifteen minutes. That is not good news for people who love to

Since the invention of technologies such as the telegraph, radio and eventually television, which enabled communications “produced at a single source [to be] transmitted to an infinitely large audience” (Fearing, F. 1954), the social impacts of communications via mass media have been a subject of intense research by political and social scientists. This literature review intends to examine the major theories and perspectives on mass media with regard to its impact on society, which existed throughout the 1950’s and 70’s. Special attention will be given to the subjects of human social development, distribution of power, and human knowledge.

To understand the issues of whether or not the media is biased or not, one must first understand the importance of the media in today’s society. Every broadcasting and narrowcasting medium is considered as media. This includes newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, billboards, and internet. The various forms of media are used to spread information. The media is so wide-ranged that a community group or organization can meticulously target almost any sector. Which allows the media to target almost any section of the public by looking closely at where it is directing its focus. The media is a crucial part of the average American’s life. The viewers/consumers are what drive the sources to release more stories, however they do not directly control