Think about this; whenever you want to hear your favorite song, watch your favorite show, or see the latest of current events, where do you go? You more than likely will turn on the television, radio, computer, or a smartphone. The source that much of the general public uses to get their news and information from is consider Mass Media. Mass Media is technology that is anticipated to reach a large audience by mass communication. It is the primary means of communication used to reach the vast majority of the public. The most common platforms for mass media include newspapers, magazines, the radio, television and the internet. Most of the time we rely on the mass media to provide information on political issues, social issues, entertainment and news in pop culture.
The mass media hasn’t always been as advanced as it is today. It has evolved significantly over time. Before there was the Internet, television, or the radio there was the newspaper which was the original platform for mass media. Today however, the internet is the most relevant form of mass media and has become a huge tool for news outlets. One of the main reasons the Internet is so popular today is because of the advances in smartphone technologies. With a smartphone, you can access those same news outlets you would on a computer by just a click of a button from anywhere you might be.
Communication and interactions with others are huge parts of our everyday life. The media is so well-liked that the world seems to not know what to do without it. It’s difficult to think about how people would hear about news without newspapers, magazines, the internet or the radio. There are two types of media and each has its way to broadcast information. There is traditional media which includes the radio, newspapers, television, and magazines. Then there is social media which is websites and applications that allow users to create and share content. Social media allows people to exchange information, thoughts and opinions, or news in blogs and social networking sites like Facebook, twitter, Instagram etc. It basically allows people to become sources to one another. I believe that the media can be quite powerful, that is if it is used properly. The media can create a statement that can affect the way people think about a specific issue or person. The media can educate people on certain topics every day and allows you to know what is going on around your country and even the world. The media is so powerful because it is everywhere we look.
The medias ultimate job is to sell an idea; an idea that they want you to believe. For example, from the music being sad when showing an abandoned dog left in a shelter or the famous, “It’s so easy a caveman could do it,” saying for insurance companies. It’s all done this way so that it makes you feel a certain way and even coerce you to act upon it. You will notice that a lot of the time the media likes to show us negativity as it focuses on the “bad” going on in the world rather than the “good” and nonsense that’s not necessarily news like a celebrity on the red carpet.
The way the media approaches a topic can potentially make an innocent man look guilty and honestly can be very one-sided. The media can even control how certain races are perceived. We actually had a discussion board topic on this exact thing and I certainly believe that the media can shape our perception of race and ethnicity by what we tend to see and hear on there. In the past, there obviously was a lot of discrimination and racist things going on but I think we like to think that it is steadily decreasing today. By watching the news, I believe it shows us how white people treat African Americans and how it can create hate in others towards specific races. For example, we see a lot of videos on social media networks and news sites of white officers and the way they treat African Americans. When we see things like this it can cause stereotypes for both white and African American people. Black Lives Matter’s started when these videos started coming out of black lives that were taken from police officers for no reason. For example, not to long ago there was an incident where a white lady wouldn’t let a black man into this apartment building where he lived because she claims she was following safety precautions which to me is a load of crap. The media can be one-sided and particularly biased when it comes to certain topics. That’s why it’s important to research.
The media is usually seen to be very biased specifically when it comes to political parties. Ideological bias in a newscast I believe to be extremely common. I think we all know that the news can be very bias towards certain stories and issues. I think the level of bias that we see ultimately depends on the story and the organization or news station covering it. For example, when it comes to political parties you will see that certain news stations favor one over the other. CNN tends to favor more of the liberal side of politics while FOX news tends to favor the more conservative side of politics. These two stations in particular I don’t think try and hide their ideological biases at all in fact I think they try and point it out as much as possible. I think you can determine ideological bias in a newscast more on world news stations than you can on local ones. Although I think this, I am certainly not saying that local news stations don’t show it in their newscasts. An example I can think of recently is that a few weeks ago when the Kroger shooting happened. There was so much coverage on this incident on all the local stations, each talking about it for a good five minutes or so but I remember seeing a story just after they got through talking about the Kroger incident where a man was shot in downtown Louisville, west end area and all they had to say was just that “man shot in west end of Louisville earlier this morning, man in critical condition” and that was it. That is another example that media can have racism.
Social media has such incredible influential power over people and since the evolution of the Internet it has only grown to be more powerful. It started from being a simple way for people to keep in touch with each other into a gigantic global network. Social media is straightforwardly the easiest and fastest way to transmit and receive information. For me personally I hardly watch the television and when I do the last thing I am watching is the news. I don’t buy newspapers or magazines, I really never have in my entire life because I have always had the internet. Having a smartphone has allowed me to access social media applications and the internet in just a click of a button. I don’t have to be at home in front of a television or in my car listening to the radio to know what the latest news is about something. A lot of smartphone now give you the ability to download news apps where it will come across your phone when something important has happened. I know I have one on my phone and it keeps my updated with world news as well as local news because it can see my location which I think I cool.
Ultimately the medias job to change our opinions on certain things and make us believe things they we might not think is right. The media is very powerful in doing so I believe it’s best to do your research on certain topics and to fully understand things before you go and side with the media. I believe social media will continue to grow and will affect the way we continue to see things. The media is certainly powerful, I think it just depends on what you want to believe and what you don’t want to believe.
