Television is a vital source from which most Americans receive information. News and media delegates on television have abused theirs powers over society through the airing of appealing news shows that misinform the public. Through literary research and experimentation, it has been proven that people's perception of reality has been altered by the information they receive from such programs. Manipulation, misinterpretation, word arrangement, picture placement and timing are all factors and tricks that play a major role in the case. Research, experimentation, and actual media coverage has pinpointed actual methods used for deceptive advertising. Television influences society in many ways. People are easily swayed to accept a belief that they may not normally have unless expressed on television, since many people think that everything they hear on television is true. This, however, is not always the case. It has been observed that over the past twenty to thirty years, normal social behavior, even actual life roles of men and women and media, regulatory policies have all been altered (Browne 1998). Media has changed with time, along with quality and respectability. Many Americans receive and accept false information that is merely used as an attention grabber that better the show's ratings and popularity. Many magazines and Journal reviews have periodically discussed the "muckraking" that many tabloid shows rely on to draw in their viewers. This involves sensationalizing a story to make it more interesting, therefore increasing the interest of the audience. "Along the way, all sorts of scandalous substance and goofy tricks appear, but not much mystery in the logic," (Garnson 1997). People often know that these shows aim to deceive them, but still accept the information as truth. Many times, people have strong opinions on certain topics. Yet, when they are exposed to the other side of the argument, they may be likely to agree with the opposite view. As Leon Festinger said, "If I chose to do it (or say it), I must believe in it," (Myers 1997). This is an example of Festinger's cognitive dissonance theory, which pertains to acting contrary to our beliefs. Television influences many people to change their original beliefs. It has the viewers think that the majority of other people hold the contrary idea. Once these views are presented, people have the option to hol... ... middle of paper ... ...ngly affected daily by televised violence. People need stop and take time to actually watch what they are allowing their children to see hour after hour. I am almost positive that if most parents took the time to see what they allow their children to watch every day that they would be shocked at the amount of violence that is included in some of their child¡¦s favorite TV shows. It is obvious that this does have some effect on child¡¦s behavior and these children grow into adults and bring with them this hostility and aggression. How long is it going to take for people to realize that this needs to come to an end some where and that we should wait no longer, these children are the future, so why are we teaching them that it is okay to be violent towards others. When people are spending all this money on ways to cut down on violence in the United States, they can easily begin to help eliminating violence even if it is only keeping violence out of their living rooms and bedrooms, by refusing their children to watch violence on TV. By doing this more and more people will begin to realize that this is not acceptable to show their five, six, seven, or eight year old violent programs.
Everyone’s seen the classic cartoons. Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner around a bend, only the Roadrunner turns, but our comedic--and usually stupid--villain doesn’t. So, he falls from a height of what looks like about 500,000 feet, only to become a small puff of smoke at the bottom of the canyon. After all, if what happens to you when you fall from that height were to have happened to Mr. Coyote, that would have been a very short lived cartoon series. Maybe this example is an exaggeration, but the idea is the same: violence comes streaming into our homes every single day through our TVs not to be viewed, but to be devoured. It’s been proven that sex and violence sell. For those of us who can tell the difference between reality and fantasy, the effect of TV violence is miniscule. But for our children--who think when the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers come to the local shopping mall, that it’s the biggest event since Bert told Ernie he snores too loud--the violence seen on TV seems like a logical reaction to life’s problems. And that’s a problem within itself. The impact of televised violence on children is only a slice of the pie that is the problem with the endless stream of violent acts on TV.
Many things should be done to change children's view on television and how much violence should be on the television. Children today act and dress older than they are. The fact remains that they still are children. The children that watch Barney and sing along and have a great time learn to love one another. The children who watch Power Rangers begin to kick each other and fight because that is what they are seeing on television. We should sit down and explain to our kids that the Power Rangers are trained actors and actresses. They are actually not hitting and kicking each other. Watching violence makes children act violently. As long as children see it being done, they are going to do it also. Children imitate everything they see.
“Nowadays in the modern world, society if affected by more things we can think of. Society is affected by movies, TV shows, TV reality shows, magazines, and books. A report was recorded over a six-month period about Television shows and daily news broadcasts. From September 1, 1999 through February 29, 2000; The Grand Rapid Institute recorded and viewed a few programs and at the end of the month the Institute tallied up the number of letters sent after a recorded program and it showed how unfair the programs were and how people became a democracy to let them know” (TV News 1).
...can child reaches the age of 16, he or she will have witnessed 200,000 acts of violence on television, including 33,000 murders. (Juvenile Crime and TV) Apparently we accept what we see over and over again as normal behavior. We are teaching our children that violence is acceptable by inviting it into our homes everyday. They, in turn, are becoming more violent from the playgrounds all the way to the prisons.
The Effect of Television In The Age of Missing Information Bill McKibben, in his book The Age of Missing Information, explores the impact of television on modern cultures both in America and around the world. In the book McKibben carries out an experiment; he watches the entire television broadcast of 93 separate cable channels for one entire day. In all McKibben viewed 24 hours of programming from 93 separate cable stations, that is more than 2,200 hours of television. His purpose in this formidable undertaking was to determine how much actual information that was relevant to real life he could glean from a day of television broadcasting. McKibben also spent a day camping alone on a mountain near his home.
In the article “Life According to T.V.” published in 2009, in common culture: Reading and writing about American popular culture, Harry Water portrays that the media nowadays are easily to misrepresent the world and damage the society as a whole. First of all, he points out that the television is more influential than other forms of entertainment media in the public which affects social attitudes and creates cultural biases. Secondly, he refers to Gerbner’s study which is based on precise experiments and surveys and explains television changes the public’s view through multiple ways such as sex, age, race, work, health and crime, or other aspects of society. For instance, Water says that TV shows leave us a negative impression about the old people, which are silly, stubborn, sexually inactive and eccentric. Water also claims that crime rages about ten times more often than that in real life. Violence video always has a negative influence in society, especially the young generation. Water still points out that young people easily changes their attitude to choose a job because TV show greatly overestimated the proportion of Americans employed as physicians, lawyers, athletes, and entertainers.
Are today's children being exposed to too much violence via television? I think so. From the teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, kids are always being exposed to the rock-'em-sock-'em heroes of T.V., or the brainless violence of Beavis and Butthead. When we live in a country where our children watch an average of three to four hours of television daily {quote}, That is a large number of punches, kicks, and many other violent acts that our children are soaking up every day. Is that really what we want for the children of our country? Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may become "immune" to the horror of violence {quote?}. Gradually they even accept violence as a way to solve problems, imitating the violence they observe on television, as well as identifying with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers.
Over the last forty to fifty years, television has been a major topic of discussion. Specifically, many debate societal benefits to television watching. One widely accepted opinion is that watching TV makes people dumber. People have referred to it with terms like the “idiot box” and do not feel that watching TV has any benefit at all. They feel that it is a waste of time and people need to spend their hours more wisely. Others are of the opinion that TV is actually has societal benefits. From this perspective, they claim that the development of the structure of the programs now requires one to intellectually participate in watching television. Essentially, the argument is whether TV is a beneficial societal force or is it simply a convenient, yet detrimental, outlet for entertainment.
in society. In other words, it was our need to be influenced, to have a
The Mass Media is a unique feature of modern society; its development has accompanied an increase in the magnitude and complexity of societal actions and engagements, rapid social change, technological innovation, rising personal income and standard of living and the decline of some traditional forms of control and authority.
The cultivation theory suggests that “the cultivation of attitudes is based on attitudes already present in our society and that the media take those attitudes which are already present and re-present them bundled in a different packaging to their audiences” (Griffin, p.366). The Truman Show is an excellent example of the cultivation theory as it gives us an interesting insight into the effects that the media has on society. It is no secret that the media has altered our way of living. From the fears they can instill from the news we watch, to the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the sports we watch and even our political opinions are all influenced in some way shape or form by the media.
Unquestionably the media being newspapers, internet, radio and television, influence society. They can affect, have affected and will continue to affect the progression of life in this nation and around the world, as electronic technology continues to be the chosen mode of communication for a whole generation, offering direct, often anonymous influential information.
As Americans we take pride in our liberating government. But, it is essential to ask how much we, the general public, know about our democracy. Because of the representative structure of our government, it is in our best interest to remain as knowledgeable as possible about political affairs so that we can play an active role in our democracy by voting for candidates and issues. The media, which includes print, television, and the internet, is our primary link to political events and issues. (For the purposes of this essay only print and television will be considered.) Therefore, in order to assess the success of our democracy it is necessary to assess the soundness of our media. We are lucky enough to have a media, in theory, free from government influences because of our rights to freedom of press and freedom of speech, but we are still subject to the media’s interpretation and presentation of politics, as is the danger when depending on any source for information. So, we must address how the media informs us; how successful it is at doing so; and how we should respond to it.
17.The Cosby Show (2002) The Cosby Show Changes the Way Blacks are Viewed. September 2002. Available Online: http://www.engl.virginia.edu/~enwr1016/public_html/amc2d/cosby.html
Media technologies are becoming an important aspect of today’s society. Each and every day, people interact with media of many different forms. Media is commonly defined as being a channel of communication. Radio, newspapers, and television are all examples of media. It is impossible to assume that media is made up of completely unbiased information and that the media companies do not impose their own control upon the information being supplied to media users. Since many people use media very frequently, it is obvious to assume that it has affects on people. According to the text book Media Now, "media effects are changes in knowledge, attitude, or behavior that result from exposure to the mass media," (386). This leaves us with many unanswered questions about media and its influences. This paper will look at how the effects of media are determined and explore the main affects on today’s society - violence, prejudice, and sexual behavior.