The Media 's Influence On Society

We live in a society in which media has such a great influence on us, yet the influence is only in certain aspects and on certain people. “Mass media is arguably the most influential in molding public consciousness” (562). People might think that media is managed by a combination of different people but in reality, since the number of media companies is decreasing, only certain people control the industry and what gets to be put out to light. Since media is mostly controlled by a few people who belong to the 1%, the information that goes into the media is influenced by their beliefs as well as race, class, and even gender. Media influences every aspect of our lives since “media plays a key role in defining our cultural tastes, helping us locate

Media as a whole has evolved alongside with the growth of technology, that give us new ways to interact with each other with social sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc… It also gives way for individual to get more information to get in touch with our culture. But often times, some of the information were given to us by media can be ignored and interpret it differently than the original meaning, especially the depiction of minorities in media. It is hard to watch any form of media in today's society without seeing some kind of injustice toward minorities or the representation portrayal of that particular minorities in the form of entertainment value without being analytical and invoke some kind of negative reaction toward that kind of representation.

The media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that 's power. The article “Reality TV Goes Where Football Meets the Hijab”, published in the New York Times in November 2011, introduces how the media controls the minds of the masses. Media has become a major issue in our daily lives. We live in a world that we cannot have access to what is going around us, unless we refer to the media. For instance, in our daily routine we usually listen to the news in the morning or at night before we sleep. The news has already been reported and its being delivered to us that fast, but how do we know if what is being said is what is actually happening or if it has been manipulated for political/social reasons? In the beginning of the article, Porochista Khakpour the author of the article, Iranian born American reared, mentions: “If anything made me, an American, it was televisions.” TV, especially the reality TV, resembles the characters and movie stars the way they want to not the way they are. Khakpour said, "Darkness-dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin-always equaled trouble, as if it actually implied a dark side". When we watch TV, most of the movie characters are labeled, either by their gender, religion, or color. Khakpour reaches out to the "outcasts", to prove her point on reality TV shows shaping our beliefs towards each other, especially the "freaks”.

The media has become the world’s largest oppression outlet. Whether it be through movies, TV shows, or real-life news, the media has become capable of shifting one’s view on either yourself or other groups of people. Types of oppression that can result from the media include, but are not limited to, internalized oppression and interpersonal oppression. Internalized oppression is when a member of an oppressed group believes and acts out the stereotypes created about their group. Interpersonal oppression, on the other hand, is the belief that one group of people are superior to another group of people. Essentially, the media broadcasts ideas from interpersonal oppression and causes internalized oppression through the

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.

In today’s 20th century, media plays a significant role within the everyday lives of Americans within today’s society. Rich, poor, black, or white, media is all around us and unconsciously shapes our thoughts and perceptions on an every day basis. One cannot hide from the media because it is intertwined in our lives from the shows we watch on television to the books and magazines we read and seek to learn from to the music we listen not only by choice but songs that are played in almost every store across America, all influence our perceptions on how we perceive the world. Whether we want to believe it or not our minds, thoughts, beliefs are all influenced by things within the media and especially there is a significant influence on how race

The media, in spite of the fact that it might incite or propagate forceful conduct, can't be considered completely dependable. Rather, it might be viewed as one impact that is working in an aggregate circumstance among numerous others, and is liable to fortify previous social and individual propensities, inclinations, states of mind, practices, convictions, and worth frameworks, which advance threatening vibe and

In order to understand the current issue involving certain groups being incorrectly portrayed in media, it is important to first understand exactly what mass media is. There are a variety of technical definitions for the term “mass media.” According to Britannica, “Media is used to pass on information to many people in a society” (“Media”). Merriam-Wenster claims media is a “mean of communication that is designed to reach the mass of the people” (“Mass Medium”). Recently, a spike of innovations has led to an increase of possible methods of communication that can be inducted into the field of mass media. Tomi Ahonen, an author on telecommunications and technology, popularized the term “Seventh of the Mass Media” to prove that cellphones are a new form of mass media. This has made the world more familiar with the different categories of media. The seven designated forms include print, recordings, movies, radio, television, internet, and cellphones (Duarte). If more people in the world contained this knowledge of media, it might be more easily understood the effect it can have on so many. In addition to knowing what media is in today’s age, it is also important to fully understand misrepresentation.

Since we live in a multicultural society, meaning that we are constantly faced with ‘the other’, we often turn to media as a source to gather information about this unfamiliar other. Arguing that media have the potential to shape people’s perception of social relations and groups, this paper contains a literature review on the relation between media and the portrayal of ethnic minorities. By

Media representations are ways in which a particular group, communities, ideas, topics, and experiences are portrayed (Breach, 2012). Media representations shapes the audience perceptions of experiences from their beliefs about race, gender, class, and their expectations about what is appreciated or accepted in society, and their notions of suburban, urban, and rural life. However, it is vital to know that people are not simply inert beings who consent with all of these representations without questioning. Social scientists argue that scholars are able to resist these representations, resistance that is often specific to adopting stances valued in certain context, particularly if they can parody or adopt creative alternatives to representations. Whether intentional or unintentional, the news and the entertainment media teach the public about other ethnic groups as well as minorities, and societal groups’ such as women, the LGBTQ community. Second, this media program or society has a particularly powerful instructive impact on people who have little contact with members of the direct groups being treated. Media images have the highest impact on perception when the viewers have fewer reality experiences with the topic (race, etc.), meaning what is viewed, read, or heard can be in relation to the real world.

Throughout the course, we have learned many different communication topics – most of which have struck a great interest in me. But, the one topic that I found the most interesting was Media Literacy because of not only how in depth it can be, but also how much of an impact it can actually have on everyday lives. In the article Intervening in the Media’s Influence on Stereotypes of Race and Ethnicity: The Role of Media Literacy Education by Erica Scharrer and Srividya Ramasubramanian, they review research conducted to see how media literacy in education affects individuals thought process and creates stereotypes. The two research questions Scharrer and Ramasubramanian wanted to answer was, “can media consumers’ examination of the principles and practices behind media production, media content, and media reception facilitate critical analysis of media’s treatment of underrepresented social groups and open up their views of race and ethnicity?” and, “Might media literacy education help to increase knowledge and/or shape attitude about media’s roles and practices pertaining to race and ethnicity?” (172). These topics were discussed mostly in chapters 9 and 11, as well as chapter 10.

“The media 's the most powerful entity on Earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that 's power. Because they control the minds of the [people]” (Malcolm X). The message of this Malcolm X quote is that society can control the mind of the individual. This is true. For many years, society has influenced everyone worldwide both negatively and positively. That is because society has the ability to control the individual’s decisions. They can control the individual in making their decisions that could affect people’s lives worldwide; it also has the ability to control their decisions that could affect the individual’s life. You might be thinking “But why should we care about this topic? This doesn’t seem really important to us” well it’s important because we all can relate to this as everyone has been influenced by society at least once in their lifetime. Just ask yourself this. Have you ever simulated a role model that you had by just copying the actions that they do just because you wanted to be just like them? Have you picked up habits from society that is around you like family or peers that has affected you in your life? Have you ever maybe tried something you found from your family members or from the Internet to get your personal needs? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are involved in this conversation. But there’s a problem. There’s an argument going on about this topic. The controversy of this topic

Television, magazines, the Internet—these are just three of the many types of media forms prevalent in society today. Whether it be to update one’s self with current events or to entertain, media have become a daily resource. It is second nature to glimpse at them and society is plagued with the constant urge to consume media; however, through print, broadcast, or other news media, the overall message can often be misleading or partial. Occasionally, the media does not give the most accurate information as the truth is altered to cater to a specific audience or to preconceived ideas. Though progress has been made over the last few decades, the media continues to negatively depict certain races and ethnicities—such as Muslims, Hispanics, and

The popular culture particularly visual media affects our opions and attitude towards race and racial minorities group. our assumptions about race and racial minorities are both successeded and reflected in the streotypes presented by the visual media. i strongly believe in the George Gebners scientific examintaiton of televison that how we perceive ourselves and how we view those around us are affected by what we see on television. Visual media has such a heavy impact on us that even though they present a grossly distorted picture of the real world. people tend to accept more readily than reality itslef. the popular culture deals with symbolic realm of social life, the image which it creates, represents

Media influence is the force by which ideas are injected into people’s lives shaping the very culture of society. This influence is masqueraded through hidden media message, resulting in a change in its audience which can be positive or negative, abrupt or gradual, short term or long term. Although mass media’s influential effect can reach a wide ranged audience as an agent of socialization the responsibility to contain what it releases has not been of importance. “The media’s socially significant obligations are formally ignored.” (A.S. Zapesotskii, 2011, p 9). Media messages can be exerted through many different outlets such as TV shows, music, movies, commercials, news, magazines, games which are all gravitated to entertain audiences ultimately offering personal gratification that can sometimes blur the lines between reality and