Much of what we know about the world, beyond our immediate experience, comes to us through the media. Media studies gives us the tools to respond thoughtfully and critically to media content, and recognise media productions as deliberate constructions rather than windows on reality. The ‘mediated’ society in which we live, is heavily shaped by the transfer of information. Many of our values, our ideas, and our knowledge of the world come from beyond our individual daily or immediate experience, usually via the media. They play a vital role in democracy, shaping citizens' understanding of social and political issues and functioning as gatekeepers through which issues, and events must be passed.
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.
The media influences how people experience social life. Media such as newspaper, television and film, are important sources of information, education and entertainment. It can be used to learn more about the world and the people in it. In this regard it can be said that the media represent, interpret and endorse aspects of social experience (O’Shaughnessy and Stadler, 2005). The media are also implicated in social regulation, or in other terms, the government of society.
Indeed, popular culture is also afforded power and agency within society, as it can determine common and accepted aspects of a national and global culture. John Thompson (1995, p4) argues that the “communication media” holds significant power. He argues that the media possesses considerable influence in modern society, therefore providing the media with significant agency (Thompson, 1995, p10). Thompson (1995, p5) argues that the communication media has been a powerful force behind social interaction and relationships, formulating new “ways of relating to others and to oneself” (Thompson, 1995, p4). Indeed, in the ‘Digital Age’, Thompson’s argument can be compared to the power of media in the world of the Internet, highlighting the formation of new social interactions in a place in which individuals do not have to be physically present to communicate and debate.
Introduction Mass media has an important role in modern democratic society as the primary channel of communication for most civilized nations. A citizen relies on the media as the main source of information and the basis on which they form their ideas and opinions. Mass media can bring radical changes and improve many situations as it influences our social, civil, cultural, political, economic outlook. The modernization of mass media has converted media into an indispensable feature of human activity. However, factors like age, education, economic conditions, personal needs and availability of proper components decide how frequently mass media is consumed.
In addition, media literacy can increase our enjoyment of the media. Due to the enormous impact media plays in the lives of citizens, media literacy must develop into an integral component of school curriculum. The first argument for media literacy deals with the notion that media plays a dominant role in politics and culture. Media help citizens to understand the complex problems within society. The job of the media is to inform the public; however, it is the job of the public to decipher the messages being sent through the media.
Without journalism it would be very difficult for worldwide information to be dispersed to citizens and the world wouldn’t be what it is today. Journalism is an important factor to a functioning society. Journalism provides citizens with information that is useful... ... middle of paper ... ...d them, a functioning society is formed. Citizens have the right to be informed on everything that goes on and this is achieved with the help of journalists. It would be chaotic if people weren’t aware of national occurrences and they wouldn’t be able to work together to resolve an issue.
The potential of new media to bring about social, political and economic development is abundant. Society depends on the synergy between civil society and the public sphere. This essay will explore the relationship between society and the public sphere. It will explain the positives and negatives of the public sphere and new media, with relevant examples. So too it will display how the public sphere continues to transform as a result of the constant changes and prevalence of new media and technology.
The media performs an essential part in our democracy socially, politically, economically and culturally. It is the main source of political information and allows us to access political debate. It allows us as an audience to be informed and to participate in how we should perceive things. Democracy needs the media to provide people with a wide range of opinions, analysis and debates on important issues. It needs the media to be able to reflect on the diversity of the audience, and it needs the media to be accountable for what is going on around them, and to be diverse and deliberate in how they communicate these issues to audiences.
We don’t realize the influence of media because we have relied on it so much that it became almost second nature. Not everyone is influenced the way others are, but some of the information received naturally changes our perception of things. We’ve become so reliant on mass media that it controls a majority of our lives. It is our duty to make sure to not allow media to control our society by limiting what we portray to the public as acceptable. As a society individuals should be able to distinguish the separation of fictional behavior to reality.