Fear in the Media- Why You Shouldn’t Believe Everything You Hear

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Fox, Msnbc, The New York Times… The news, in all its formats, dominates our lives. It’s where we get our information about what’s going on in the world. When we wake up in the morning, it’s what we leave our houses to collect; what we turn on the TV to see. We read it online, in paper, and on TV. It’s an inevitable part of life. The news the media feeds us… most often, it’s anything but hopeful. Stories about shootings in cities or children drowning in pools or terrorist attacks; sometimes, stories that haven’t even happened, stories labeled with a large ‘if’; these stories have a large effect on our lives in the fear they impose on our daily activities. We see these stories and assume that’s the way life is; a dangerous world where the wrong turn will get you killed. In America, as technology advances and culture adapts to an ever-changing society, one element, the element of fear, is being blown completely out of proportion; abused and manipulated by the mainstream media and large news networks to boost ratings and attract viewers. However, the media is not aware of the dire effect on the American people. Fear, in this dosage, can be deadly.

It’s true that the world the media shows us is not exactly reality. Elements are exaggerated; facts torn askew and threats dramatized. Life is shown as a hyperbole; everything exaggerated. From body image to potential threats in the nation, from the supposed fallout the nation is in to the reality of the situation, the news networks have a tendency to be blown out of proportion.

While, not necessarily present in news networks, other forms of media, such as magazines, commercials, and websites illustrate a body image that is nowhere close to reality. It’s a very present danger in people’...

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...normally not believe unless we were influenced by another person. But we can still choose not to believe them, by taking action or even simply by further researching the things we are told by the media to find out what truly is fact, and what is simply fiction.

Works Cited

Acosta, Judith. "Fear and The Media." Words Are Medicine. OpedNews.com, Oct. 2006. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

Becker, Gavin De. "Media Fear Tactics." Gavin De Becker & Associates. Gavin De Becker & Associates, Inc., July 2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

Galt, John. "Cultivation Theory and Fear in the Media, Page 2 of 8." Associated Content from Yahoo! - Associatedcontent.com. Yahoo!, 2 Oct. 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

Meter, Mallory, and Jacob Minnaugh. "Be Afraid, America. Be Very Afraid: The Effect of Negative Media « Neuroanthropology." Neuroanthropology. Scribd.com, 25 Apr. 2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

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