The Media And Its Effect On Society

In The Running Man, television has became a tool for the Network to brainwash the public minds. The Network relies on shows of public entertainment, like "The Running Man", to distract their populaces. They want to direct their attention on shows that will keep them away from public affairs. They want to push them away from religion and humanity, making them uncivilized. Therefore, the Network installs a "Free-Vee" (Bachman, 1982, p. 1), a television, in

Throughout the years the use of technology has increased, and expanded. Mass media plays a vital role in society. Mass media can be defined as any means of communication, to an extremely large group of people. Technological advancements have been extremely beneficial for prior generations, the generation we now live in, and will be for the future generations to come. Such as, providing news for the world to hear, entertainment, and much more. Some examples of media would be television, films, newspapers, and the Internet. Unfortunately along with benefits, there are disadvantages concerning gender discrimination, and sexism. Such as, women feelings forced and obligated to stay at home with their children instead of working, and the representation of beauty involving both men and women. Examples of how the media can accomplish this would be through the use of advertisements, movies, magazines, and the radio. The media has an enormous effect on people within society today.

Television, or the media in general, is one of the most important inventions in the twentieth century. It is a powerful creation used for communication in our lives. In Harrison Bergeron, the government used television as a sedation for the people, a cover or distraction from seeing what was really going on. As stated right in the beginning of the story “George and Hazel were watching television.” (page 1) Our government does not do that, but it is not out of their reach to become hypocrites and use media as a way to lie to us and warn us about dangers. Continuing on, in the story they put a constant television program on the television to enforce their laws of equality. When George and Hazel first started watching, “there were tears on Hazel's

If you're at home switching between channels and you come across a news channel or even say you wanted to catch up on the latest news and intentionally open one, You may get incorrect information. The TV may give you only half the information, which will give you false facts. You may think this is all that's there to it, but really that's just half the story. We just sit back and let the TV brainwash us instead of actually exerting

TV: It induces people to a certain opinion, a very high cost for the production and sending of

Women around the world face overwhelming oppressions in their daily lives. That is not news to anyone and these oppressions have occurred for so much of history, that it is often times overlooked by the mass majority; even the younger generations of women do not know the types of oppressions that they will soon have to face. To combat this, FCKH8.com, a well known organization that sells t-shirts and other merchandise with witty anti-racism, anti-homophobic, and pro-feminist catchphrases on them, created the video, “Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism”. As the title implies, the video contains little girls, ages six through eleven, aggressively yelling “FUCK,” towards the camera while rattling off facts and statistics about some of the oppressions women face because of their gender. The comment section of this video is erratic; the viewers often have conflicting views about the meaning of the video as well as whether or not it was successful in its purpose. One thing is for sure, the video makes an impact by using several rhetorical devices including word choice, pathos and logos; all which separate it from other pro-feminism videos that exist.

To begin with, the television is a major symbol within this story. The setting of the entire narrative is George and Hazel sitting in front of their TV, watching the events unfolding that lead to the assassination of their son. In this society, TV is the only way to receive information that the government chooses to share. The retaliation and murder of Harrison Bergeron is only broadcasted at the government’s discretion. They could’ve chosen to stop running the channel at any time, but they wanted people to see the consequences of defiance. It looked like Harrison Bergeron was destroying everything and was going to take over, but they government only let him have his fun for so long just to show the people who is really boss, and that the only fear is fear of the law. TV is the ruling medium and also is used to manipulate the

Often times we use television as an escape route, a tube to pull us away from the pains of our true reality, but what are we escaping? TV is a hypnotic box of propaganda, used to program American morals and values. Negative images in Technicolor has blurred the lines of our perceptions. TV is the piece of technology developed to control the minds off the masses through social, economic, and political order.

In the best of times here, television had been a closely guarded and carefully monitored luxury. It was an award system that I had shunned since my first day of residency, realizing quickly that the only programs awarded to my special class of society were reruns of Saved by the Bell and whatever channel constantly replayed “Homeward Bound.” Until today, I thought that those were the only channels the damn thing received.

Television has acted as a moral barometer and guide to Americans since the 1950s. It evolved from stage, to cinema, to small screen, bringing outside influence into intimate home settings. Television sponsors and programmers became paid influencers invoking a negative impact on society. Reviewing television and its history as a medium of social, cultural, and political reform, reveals it has the potential to unwind the damage done by past negative messaging in future broadcasting.

Approximately twenty five billion dollars is spent on advertising a year, a number far greater than the amount spent on education nationally. Why so much money? Jerry Mander in his book Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, lays out the numerous problems that exist with television, a problem that cannot necessarily be improved. In essence, technology is not a tool that is neutral. Mander describes that in different institutions and technologies, such as advertising, mass production, militaries, the basic structure of particular technology or institution establishes its influence on the world, the types of individuals that will make use of it, and how people will use it. Television is a tool that established the kinds of effects it will have on peoples lives, how people will use it, and who will use it, and if such technology continues to be used, the kinds of effects and political forms that will result from it. Mander develops four arguments throughout his book.

The second reason why I believe television is a force of good in American society is for the reason that a lot of us are hooked on to be aware of what’s going on within the country and around the world. If we don’t pay attention to the news then we are not notified of what’s going on whether it’s about our community, we won’t know any new laws or modified laws, what’s going on with stock market, status on economy, and any information about new diseases or cures of disease. In the old days, we would get our source from the newspaper, since technology has rapidly evolved we now also get our source television, internet, and radio. More than eighty percent of adults follow the news multiple times in a week and about fifty seven percent go thru

Therefore, what we mostly see on the screen is what the sponsors promote, which are usually mechanisms to keep society stable. This exactly what American media was doing from the muckrakers of the 20's to the war in Kosovo in the 90's. Let us now look at some examples of the use of TV as a mean of control over society. Before January 1991, public opinion polls showed that the American public was split into two groups, 50% each, about whether the U.S. should attack Iraq or not. Historians say however, if any anti-war voices had been heard in the mass media at this time, the outcome could have been completely different. The second example turns out to be a tragic one, when we talk about the freedom of speech. After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the pictures of the irradiated Japanese were not made available to the American public until the 1980's. In both cases we see the control of society through TV, by those who control it, and directing society toward a certain destination, which is found to be the "way forward for the humanity", and keeping the system together by creating a popular culture based on consumerism; turns out to be a modern way of practicing authority in our lives.

At the outset, there are numerous ways that television can be used to spread news and awareness, but the most conspicuous one stems from the fact that television is broadcast at all times of

Television has been a big part of American culture; it has been used as a form of advertisement and communication for generations. Many businesses over the years have been using television as a way to reach out to the public. T.V does not only market products, but also various ideas. In recent times, it seems broadcast television is under pressure. The speculated pressure is due to an upraise of services such as, YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix. Some argue, younger generations are slowly moving away from broadcast television entirely, and moving to online sources, seeking new ways to view content. They speculate new online content sources, will put an end to the classic antenna. The opposition argues, the flourishing of things like YouTube and Hulu are more of an extension to broadcast television, not ending the