Mass media refers to communication that is spoken, written or broadcasted and is aimed at reaching a broad audience. Mass media is a significant force in the modern society that reflects and creates the culture. In any country, the media organization is ranked according to its reliability and the power of accuracy. The media should have a well-sourced information to give to the public which should be supported by strong evidence, be clear and unambiguous. The public requires journalists who are reliable, transparent and informative with the correct information. However, in reality, such attributes no longer exist.
According to Chomsky (2002), he states that the members of the public are controlled by the media and are influenced by Lippman’s theory of spectator democracy. According to Lippmann, the public has no direct knowledge about the world they are living in, and they only view it as a picture in their minds. They, therefore, react to “pseudo-environment in their dogmatic suppositions. Lippmann provides an instance where he argues that for people to understand the world, they need to have the world’s map, but what if this maps drawn by special interest? Therefore, most information is of such nature. There can never be information that does not fall into irrationally due to power tussles between self-interested groups. The members of the public are hence not protected against false information, and they usually rely on it without verifying the information. The majority of viewers who depend on the media for information are media illiterate and depend on the broadcasts for information without caring whether the information is accurate or false.
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Social networking has been known to tear down the old paradigms that the society embraced like territories or the government. The elite have found ways of using Mass media and propaganda to rule the society without its consent ( Lippmann, 2010). Some journalists lack the required professionalism in their jobs which becomes apparent to the public in various ways. These journalists tend to provide data to the public which does not have an accurate source, without investigating whether the information given is false or correct. Journalism is a profession which needs to be practiced hence is not a tough job (Anderson, & Caumont, 2014).
The media have a role to help viewers develop a positive mindset, especially in the unexplored areas as citizens should be taught to follow peace and harmony (Lippmann, 2010). The media helps viewers live in an imaginary world where people fulfil their hidden desires. The media is responsible in twisting the human mindset of an individual as they expose people to things that they want to see or hear. In the older days, only a few people had access to media and very few networks broadcasted information to the members of the public. In the modern world, almost every home has a media channel that is available, and this has led to an increase in programming. This exposure has made television and the internet the primary focus of most mass media discussions. New technologies of information have thus made a significant impact on culture (Lule, 2017).
Since the mid-nineteenth century, televised coverage has had diverse cultural effects that have continued to update the viewers with footage of real-time coverage of major events. Television has been able to reach out to millions of viewers providing images that have been influencing the viewer’s opinions. According to a pew center research, most Americans claimed to be connected to social media and relied on the information that they receive from these news outlets (Engal, 2014).
In most cases, the media has never got all the facts correctly due to different reasons. For example, the fashion magazine gives a false image of how woman/girls should wear and what size they should have in the current society. The television companies also broadcast reality shows which seem to reflect how people live in the society. The same television shows certain broadcast programmes which do not reflect at all how people live in reality. Reality television has also created the cultural phenomenon where shows have become a household name drawing criticism to the twenty-first generations.
The social media is a powerful tool that has been known to influence large number of individuals. The media has been deceiving people who believe that the journalist are always telling the truth. According to Watts (2017), people should train themselves on how to do their research on news rather than being fed with information all the time. Watts (2017) talks about a project called Operation Mockingbird whose objectives were to control the information that the public were entitled to hear manipulating the audience through the social media. Though a group of people have been against this program, it continues to exist in the social media. According to Irwin (2017), fake news have become common over the past few years. Fake statements seems to be carrying people’s emotions as citizens have been reported to believing published news in the social media. False information from dubious sources have controlled the public opinion who seem to believe in anything that sounds plausible. Media knows how to craft peoples mind into believing on anything that they publish (Irwin, 2017).
In conclusion, the media reflects upon the society to determine how it shapes certain parts of it. The members of the public should thus be careful on making decisions in relation to what they learn from the media, and this would help them in shaping their thinking. Television can influence culture within the society and can portray controversial relationships among viewers. In addition, the society should maintain its cultural habits, and though there is the emergence of new media, people should take caution not to be misled.
References
Anderson, M.; Caumont, A.; Anderson, M. & Caumont, A. (2014). How social media is reshaping news . Pew Research Center . Retrieved on 4 February 2017, from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/24/how-social-media-is-reshaping-news/.
Chomsky, N. (2002). Media Control. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Engal, P.. (2014). Here's How Liberal Or Conservative Major News Sources Really Are . Retrieved on 4 February 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/what-your-preferred-news-outlet-says-about-your-political-ideology-2014-10.
Irwin, N. (2017). Researches Created Fake News: Here’s What They Found . 2017 Retrieved on 4 February 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/upshot/researchers-created-fake-news-heres-what-they-found.html?_r=0.
Lippmann, W. (2010). Mind Control Theories and Techniques used by Mass Medias . Vigilantcitizen.com . Retrieved on 4 February 2017, from http://vigilantcitizen.com/vigilantreport/mind-control-theories-and-techniques-used-by-mass-media/.
Lule, J. (2017). Understanding Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication 1.0 . Flat World Education : Flat World Knowledge . Retrieved on 4 February 2017, from http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/bookhub/reader/3833?e=lulemedia_1.0-ch09_s02.
Watts, T. (2017). News Focus . Newsfocus.org . Retrieved on 4 February 2017, from http://www.newsfocus.org/media_control.htm.
