The media has a lot of power to influence its viewers and to whoever the viewer spread the medias opinion. The Civil Rights Movement is an example of the medias power in influencing it’s viewers and readers. The media used this movement to transform U.S.A. They showed the violence in segregation and the worthiness of African American goal for equal rights. There are some ways that the media used that brought awareness of the Civil Rights Movement to Americans. One is the print media and how they brought attention to its readers. Second is the broadcasting media and how their coverage made an immediate and huge effect to its viewers. Those two ways helped bring the civil rights issues in Americans homes as a problem to be concerned about. Another
2.2 Media Influences
Supporters of nurture influences on the child becoming a criminal believe that one of the major factors is from the media, as the current era now depend heavily on technology. One of major influences from media is usually from televisions, films and especially the internet that contain strong violence. According to the article ‘15 films That Inspired Real Life Crimes’ (n.d), in 1993, two 10-year-old boys who were fans of the movie ‘Chucky’ had killed a woman, Suzanne Capper, by torturing and torching her to death. The two boys were chanting “I’m Chucky. Chucky wants to play” and played mimics from the movie on a tape.
In this age of social media, all our issues as a society finds their way to those pages. None more poignant than the eroding relationship of everyday American citizens and police commissioned to protect and serve them. Before social media the following events may not have even made the evening news without corresponding video footage. However, now every person with a cellphone is a potential witness, willing to share the footage with the world; at the push of a few buttons. Presented with these images, we have to ask ourselves a few obvious questions: Why does it matter that a man selling loose cigarettes on the street is detained and asphyxiated to death in plain sight of the public? The death of Eric Garner July 17, 2014 highlighted the sentiment of the public and sparked the ‘#I can’t breathe’ all over social media. Why does it matter that unarmed teenagers are gunned down in the streets by policemen? This is police brutality at its worst. In the case of Michael Brown shot and killed by patrolman Darren Wilson, in Ferguson, Missouri August 9, 2014; the failed indictment of the officer sparked a summer filled with riots and protests. Discord quickly spread across the country via social media. Then, actual people began to show
Today's media mainly focuses on violent stories that capture the viewer's attention. So how are we, as viewers, affected by these stories? In her article, "The Violence Reporting Project: A New Approach to Covering Crime", Jane Ellen Stevens focuses on the effects the media have on the viewers and the people within a community. I agree with Stevens when she states that the media fails to provide viewers with information on community violence and violence prevention. Without the knowledge of the violence that is going on in our neighborhoods, we are led to not being able to distinguish the difference between what is real and fantastic crime. In essence, we have a false perception on the reputation of our communities. Also, not knowing about violence prevention increases the number of crimes occurring in neighborhoods. Journalists report crimes from a law enforcement and criminal standpoint. They do not inform the public about statistics and facts. As a result, our agency is being mitigated that our knowledge is being taken away from us and that we, as viewers, are not properly informed about violent incidents that occur in our communities. By not knowing what is going on in our communities, we are slowly losing our agency to act upon preventing violence and crimes. The lack of agency is so problematic because humans are slowly losing their ability to perform certain actions to keep ourselves and our neighborhood safe.
Influence; it is an essential force inherent to all decisions, mindsets, and values. Sometimes influence, be it intentional or not, is easy to uncover, but other times it goes unnoticed despite the great impact it can have. Influence can come about in many forms, be interpreted in multiple fashions; it all contributes to the idea that the roots of influence are not always necessarily clear. This is increasingly the case with the effects of the Canadian media on politics as more people continue to consume additional media on additional platforms at additional convenience. Essentially, it is easier to consume media than it has ever been before. On the aggregate, the Canadian media is able to impact a larger audience while inducing additional influence on Canadian elections as a consequence of a meager regulatory board resulting in media corporations holding too much influence in Canadian elections.
Growing up in this day of time, one is constantly surrounded by social media, affecting all of us in some kind of way. Social media is at the touch of our fingertips, within seconds, one can search the news that happened a minute ago and get the latest details. We are able to follow up with the most cutting-edge trends and the latest gossip going around. Social media, being one of the biggest social identity components, can leave teenagers and younger adults pressured to socially construct their identity, that including television, the internet, and social network.
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.
The Influence of the Media on Politics
"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one. " This quote by A.J. Liebling illustrates the reality of where the media stands in today's society. Over the past twenty years there has been an increase in power throughout the media with regard to politics.
Abstract
In our democratic society, mass media is the driving force of public opinion. Media sources such as Internet, newspaper, news-broadcasts, etc, play significant roles in shaping a person’s understanding and perception about the events occurred in our daily lives. As long as the newspapers, internet, network television, etc, continued to be easily accessible to the public, the media will continue to have an influence in shaping its opinions. Factors such as agenda-setting, framing and priming help shape the public opinions. Agenda-setting is when the media focuses their attention on selected issues on which the public will form opinion on, whereas framing allows the media to select certain aspects about the problem and then make them appear more salient.
"People are more influenced by mass media than they think. What evidence is there to support this statement?"