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The role of media in democracy
What is the role and power of media in today's politics
Media influence in our society
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Watching the average American is a lot like watching Homer Simpson. There is an episode of the television show the Simpsons where someone, probably Bart places a Twinkie in the backyard. The Twinkie is rigged to electrocute anyone who touches it. Homer loves Twinkies and he just can’t resist them. So for the next several hours we hear a shocking noise followed by Homer’s trademark D'oh. Poor Homer is just not smart enough to keep from getting shocked over and over again. Perhaps the reason that Homer is one of America’s favorite stars aside from his outstanding acting ability is that we can relate to his predicament. The press or a least the television news is a lot like the electric Twinkie, we want it, yet it continues to bite us. We are not smart enough to see it for what is really is. The media is a business and today with cable news blasting into our lives every minute of the day in more every nation it is a mega business. We erroneously see them as a public service or as providers as the whole truth, whereas it’s really designed to keep us tuned in long enough to run several commercials. The sole function of the news is to sell products. Keeping this in mind the news services at least the cable services have become designer agencies catering to the political predisposition, susceptibility, and propensities of this chosen viewers our perhaps a better term is cliental. We need to understand that the press is not interested in the truth; the press is interested in selling advertisements. If you really want to understand a news channels standpoint pay attention to the advertisements. Fox advertises beer, frozen vegetables, Volkswagen Jettas and easy credit companies while CNN peddles trips to the Caribbean, expensive perf... ... middle of paper ... ...ar as constitutionality in relation the first amendment, these shows must be allowed to continue. They are to be protected at all cost. A free nation should never restrict such political discourse. The issue is that we need to understand the press. We must understand its motivation. We must understand who is talking and why they are saying what they are saying, be it their deepest beliefs or for the enhancement of their deepest pockets. Blaming the media of eroding of participation is problematic. True many people likely opt out of participating due to the rhetoric and banter, but in all reality many people are motivated to vote because of these programs. In reality it is likely a wash. We as viewer just can’t seem to get enough, we hate it, and it hurts us yet we still keep coming back. In the mean time the advertisers get richer. Hay look a Twinkie D’oh.
The media is the main source of information for America today. Tocqueville would call the media the "intellectual authority"(Tocqueville 13) in America. "Everybody there adopts great numbers of theories, on philosophy, morals, and politics, without inquiry"(Tocqueville 11) These forms of media, newspapers, television and radio to name a few are filled with opinions and ideas that people just accept. Many of the leading media corporations are run by a handful of people. This means that the ideas and opinions that the masses are accepting are those ideas and opinions of a certain few people, a minority.
Media platforms like television and radio primarily spread propaganda created by the government. Citizens spend a lot of time watching television or listening to the radio and it’s a big part of their life. Almost everyone in the city owns a television or radio and believes things they see and hear from them. Montag escapes the police, but the T.V. chase is still playing out because they don’t want people to know that they let a fugitive get away. They found an innocent man on the street, labeled him as Montag, then killed him on the broadcast. “‘They’re faking. You threw them off at the river. They can’t admit it. They know they can hold their audience only so long. The show’s got to have a snap ending, quick!’... ‘The innocent man stood bewildered’… ‘The victim was seized by Hound and camera in a great spidering, clenching grip’” -Granger (Bradsbury 142). Media propaganda is so powerful today because everyone is susceptible to it. The press (newspapers, magazines, and T.V.) uses their tactics to shape people’s opinions. According to Johnnie Manzaria, the press is important because the most current news and info is spread through them everyday. People can believe anything the media says, because they have a popular opinion or reputation. Even if they spread propaganda, some people will inevitably believe it because “the news said so”, and is a very influential resource ("Media's Use of Propaganda to Persuade
Newspaper, radio, film, television. These are only a few of the various forms media can take. From the moment we open our eyes to the instant we shut them, we are surrounded by media and absorb the information it hurls at us in an osmosis-like manner. The news ranges from the latest terror attack and political scandals to supposed UFO sightings and scandals involving sandals. We as an audience tend to focus more on the message the media relays rather than on the medium in which it is presented to us.
News is all around us and is readily available to everyone. There are many flaws in the system that hurts the authenticity of the news when you see it. The media is indirectly part of the political system. Most news is either considered liberal or conservative by many.
Murrow states “one of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news” (7). Top management does not have time to give mature and thoughtful consideration to the abundant problems that confront those who are charged with the responsibility for news and public affairs, but they still do any ways and put little to none effort towards doing so. According to Murrow if there is a disagreement between the public interest and the corporate interest it will always go the way of the corporate almost every
Television, more so than any other form of communication, has been the ultimate tool of the propaganda effort. It is the trustworthiest medium to give us the subjective validity of our beliefs which can not be proven physically. It is the ultimate source from which we get evidence about objective reality, motivated by our desires to form an accurate view of this reality and to act correctly. United States is the biggest economical power in the world today, and consequently has the largest media and news industry. The gatekeepers of the American news industry control all the information, and decide what to publish or broadcast, based on the ideology and the structure of the institution. Therefore, whatever is presented in the news would probably be a part of the popular culture (created by the entertainment industry) or would serve it since the popular culture itself is created for the growth of the capitalist economy and the homogenization of the society, which are essential elements for a stable system. That is why the American media is terribly bias in many respects, especially in the matters of foreign affairs, driven by self b...
The majority of media in the United States, are owned in operated by wealthy individuals and corporations. Media also helps portray “big business” good or bad, depending on their influence, mostly due to contributions. Due to these contributions, select few have been able to manipulate and create a bias towards the contributor. Eventually free media and press evolved into the oligarchy that now “runs” our country.
The media plays a very vital role in our nation today and in the past. They can either provide factual information or unbiased information. The war and the national security is important to our nation for numerous reasons. The national security protects the nation as a whole. Individuals who holds powerful positions in the media are willing to take advantage for the benefit of themselves or relatives.
Newspapers and nightly news shows have become a business. They no longer go by the public services values they once stood by (Sensationalism, 2005). Instead of being the fourth branch of government, they are just like any other money making business. It is no longer a race to put out the truth; it is more a race for dollars and control. Sensationalism is purely fueled by money and popularity. If a news outlet garners a large amount of popularity, they can swing votes, and influence voters. Sensationalism has already affected many political situations. Sensationalism has proven to spread like a virus. If sensationalism is not controlled, there is no way the news outlets can be the advocate for the people.
“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).
In order to understand new media, one must first have a solid background of the old media. The old media traces its origins back to the “elite or partisan press [that] dominated American journalism in the early days of the republic” (Davis 29). With the advent of the penny press around 1833, the press changed its basic purpose and function from obtaining voters for its affiliated political party to making profit (Davis 29). With more available papers, individual companies competed with each other with “muckraking journalism”—investigative journalism exposing corruption—and “yellow journalism”—sensationalist journalism that completely disregarded the facts (Davis 30). The press continued to evolve its journalistic approaches and next shifted to “lapdog journalism,” r...
Television and journalism have a relatively short history together, yet over the last sixty years, the two have become increasingly intertwined, perhaps even irreversible so. But this merger is between two opposing forces–one, a mass medium that inherently demands entertainment and the other, a profession most people hold responsible for information, for facts, which, for the most part, are inherently boring. So has television been beneficial for the American people? The people that our country’s founding fathers chose to hold responsible for electing those to be responsible for our country’s government? By exploring the history of television journalism, discovering how it came to be, and looking at current trends in the industry, I only hope to be able to give my own informed opinion.
"People are more influenced by mass media than they think. What evidence is there to support this statement?"
The purpose of journalism is to report a story accurately; simply to tell it like it is. Over the past two decades, with increased tension over political and religious ideologies, the media’s original purpose is being lost. Yes, being well-informed remains an asset in the world today. Our now, globally-focused world will always value knowledge and awareness. With the television, internet, newspaper- all mediums of entertainment- available at the snap of a finger, we have non-stop access to news. One problem with this is the blatant bias of news networks. Every news source has a bias. Viewers typically recognize the platform of the major sources, therefore deterring them from certain networks. When reporters feed viewers the same opinion through different stories, the viewer isn’t getting a balanced intake in terms of overall understanding. In today’s society, viewers are truly at the mercy of what those in authority provide. Think of George Orwell’s 1984 where the all-powerful “Big Brother,” through “The Party” oversees every little piece of information that passes through the telescreen (along with everything that passes by the telescreen on the other end.) The citizens of Oceania are essentially clueless to the truth because they have no access to it. The television: typically a source of entertainment, transformed itself into an instrument for controlling. Yes, the modern technology is
In conclusion, I believe that Americans truly are relying on the media way too much in life. Why can't we live without the media? People have lived on this earth for thousands of years without it, why do we need it? That is the question that will stay around for years, but the worst thing is, the media world has just started to grow.