Disney Media Influence

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As a young girl, I spent hours watching my favorite television station, Disney Channel. Disney Channel offered a tight knit array of sitcoms and movies. Through my growing infatuation with the channel, I learned about its partnering radio station and its theme parks. Although Disney is widely recognized for its television shows, movies and theme parks, Disney plays a larger role in media as a whole. Walt Disney is the largest media conglomerate in the world and rakes in billions in profits annually through its variety of media outlets. Through economic convergence, single companies, like Disney, have interests across and within many kinds of media. This ultimately limits the variety of perspectives being let out into the public. By having …show more content…

For example, the media has been intertwining news and entertainment for years. News channels report global and local news with entertainment and sports. Many Americans believe that if something is not aired on the television news cast or written about in a newspaper then it must not be as important. Due to this way of thinking, many news stories that could benefit one’s global awareness are not looked upon. News has become less about informing facts, and more about telling people what their opinions should be. Many people already have their own established opinions and tune into networks that support their views. This hinders them from learning and becoming universally aware of other viewpoints. The influence of media on society allows big corporations to pass down their own preconceived views and values to the public. A democratic society consists of citizens who actively participate in politics and civic life. Consumers are becoming less in tune with their duties as citizens and are not using their own opinions but those of former corporations that are influencing them through media. During the Bush administration, the media began to sell the idea for the Iraq war as a fight for liberty and deemphasized the agenda for stabilizing of an area for oil. The public swallowed the media’s agenda in selling the war without completely understanding all aspects of the decision. The media influence of the Iraq War is an example of how economic convergence is essentially unhealthy for the democratic society. Without further investigation, society was manipulated into believing one side of a misrepresented issue, obstructing the proper decisions-making process of the

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