Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Effects of media on society
Impact of media on society
What is media ethics
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Michael Parenti (2002) declares media in the United States is no longer “free, independent, neutral and objective.” (p. 60). Throughout his statement, Parenti expresses that media is controlled by large corporations, leaving smaller conglomerates unable to compete. The Telecommunications Act, passed in 1996, restricted “a single company to own television stations serving more than one-third of the U.S. public,” but is now overruled by greater corporations. (p. 61). In his opinion, Parenti reveals that media owners do not allow the publishing of stories that are not beneficial and advantageous. Parenti supports his argument very thoroughly by stating how the plutocracy takes control over media in multiple ways: television, magazines, news/radio broadcasting, and other sources. …show more content…
“Media owners do not hesitate to exercise control over news content.
They frequently kill stories they dislike and in other ways inject their own preferences.” (p. 61). Michael informs the reader how it is rare to see media portray attention to those who are poor and who are undergoing financial instability. In Mass Media: For the Many, by the Few, the author, Michael Parenti, persuades the reader by providing a variety of facts to support his claim. This article is persuasive because it has valid resources to convince that the media is mostly ran by higher corporations. After reading his writing, I was able to see that the media does not illustrate every side to every story. There is much more to nation/world issues than just rich politics, and private
enterprises. There are several examples where the author states that media could have chosen to warn the public about certain matters, but chose otherwise after realizing the negative impact the company producing would face. Warning the public was not a worry the wealthy corporations had in mind, rather the effect of their company’s well-being. In conclusion, after reading this article, I strongly agree that the media is not being as honest as it could be and is not portraying real social issues. The smaller media networks are the ones who are worried about the rich overtaking them completely, but are the ones who are showing the real world-problems and are not worried about how much money they are gaining and/or losing.
When discussing the media, we must search back to its primal state the News Paper. For it was the News paper and its writers that forged ahead and allowed freedoms for today’s journalism on all fronts, from the Twitter accounts to the daily gazettes all must mark a single event in the evolution of media in respects to politics and all things shaping. Moving on in media history, we began to see a rapid expansion around 1990. With more than 50% of all American homes having cable TV access, newspapers in every city and town with major newspaper centers reaching far more than ever before. Then the introduction of the Internet; nothing would ever be the same.
The media takes a biased approach on the news that they cover, giving their audience an incomplete view of what had actually happened in a story. Most people believe that they are not “being propagandized or being in some way manipulated” into thinking a certain way or hearing certain “truths” told by their favorite media outlets (Greenwald 827). In reality, everyone is susceptible to suggestion as emphasized in the article “Limiting Democracy: The American Media’s World View, and Ours.” The
Over the centuries, the media has played a significant role in the shaping of societies across the globe. This is especially true of developed nations where media access is readily available to the average citizen. The media has contributed to the creation of ideologies and ideals within a society. The media has such an effect on social life, that a simple as a news story has the power to shake a nation. Because of this, governments around the world have made it their duty to be active in the regulation and control of media access in their countries. The media however, has quickly become dominated by major mega companies who own numerous television, radio and movie companies both nationally and internationally. The aim of these companies is to generate revenue and in order to do this they create and air shows that cater to popular demand. In doing so, they sometimes compromise on the quality of their content. This is where public broadcasters come into perspective.
Tuchman, Gaye. The TV Establishment: Programming for Power and Profit. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., l971.
‘Self justification involves denigrating a person or group to justify maltreatment of them’ (506). ‘ The poor are blamed for their problems; stereotypes of the homeless as bums, alcoholics and drug addicts, caught in a hopeless downward spiral because of their individual pathological behavior are omnipresent in the media’ (318). By continuously portraying those who have less than the socially accepted norm the media creates a climate in which those who are struggling to survive are dehumanized and this depiction creates a self justifying culture of prejudice against these people. ‘The media socializes us to believe that people in the upper class are much better than we are. The media also suggests that we need have no allegiance to people in our own class or to those who are less fortunate’ (316). ‘Research has found that people who extensively watch television have exaggerated views of how wealthy most American’s are’ (317). Parrillo defines frustration as a result of relative deprivation, or lack of resources compared to others in society and since the media promotes the idea that many Americans are living the economic stratosphere of the rich it is not surprising many Americans feel frustrated with their current socioeconomic position (510). Prepared with the knowledge of
The significant question regarding this consequence is whose version of the world is being portrayed in the media content and are there any political or economical reasons behind that. Even more significant is the ideological implications of the media ownership concentration, which is especially relevant nowadays, in the time of new ideological conflicts in the world. Regarding the Time Warner example, the media concentration consequence of growing political and economical influence is also evident in that case. This media conglomerate had been accused of being politically biased several times. Time Warner is claimed to be liberally biased and thus received a lot of critique. It is perceived as a media corporation which deals with particular types of content better or worse depending on the provider’s political and financial relationship to the Time Warner Cable and the established power over it. (Sirota,
The media has consistently taken advantage of those in need, only to increase their wealth and viewership, all while negating the harsh reality and feelings of hopelessness those in need
One of the fundamental roles of the media in a liberal democracy is to critically scrutinise governmental affairs: that is to act as a watchdog of government to ensure that the government can be held accountable by the public. However, the systematic deregulation of media systems worldwide is diminishing the ability of citizens to meaningfully participate in policymaking process governing the media (McChesney, 2003, p. 126). The relaxation of ownership rules and control, has resulted in a move away from diversity of production to a situation where media ownership is becoming increasing concentrated by just a few predominantly western global conglomerates (M...
One way in which government achieves this objective, is by its ability to misuse the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, media is in fact an enormous hegemony. In fact, separate independent news organizations do not exist. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of their own, generally lesser smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media functions in adherence to the characteristics of a hierarchy.
Stromback, J. and Esser, F. (2009) Shaping Politics: Mediatization and Media Interventionism, in Lundby, K (eds) Mediatization: Concept, changes, consequences. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc, pp. 205-223.
Adam, Candeub. 2008. Media Ownership Regulation, the First Amendment, and Democracy’s Future. University of California, Davis
The need to address government control over the state-owned media, both print and broadcast and to either privatize t...
In reality, the media can write whatever stories they want about the poor and have no affect on the actual people living in poverty, but as soon as the public and the public’s opinion gets involved, it changes everything. The media is nothing without the public. The majority of people only look at poverty second-handedly, in other words, they only look at poverty when it is coming from the media. Some people don’t even realize that they are surrounded with poverty but instead choose not to actually look at it. As Mehta states in her article, “The public sees images from the media such as “third world women” and “welfare queens” and those images are fixed into everybody’s minds.”
...ntent” (McChesney, 73). Whereas Robert McChesney’s approach on political economy of communication in his essay “How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy” concentrates on the “structural and institutional factors and assess what types of pressures exist that will shape the content” (73). For instance, McChesney focuses on how media content is affected by the government in how they “condone and encourage” advertising which shapes an “ever greater commercialism in our culture” (78). Cunningham’s approach is essentially observational and is limited in that he fails to provide a critical edge to his argument as McChesney, who urges a critical impulse for “institutional and structural” change within these media industries. An approach that encompasses both Cunningham and McChesney’s arguments would provide a well-rounded understanding of media industries.
There are three main ideas relating to questions of ownership and control of the mass media. Firstly, leading-on from the outline of technological development, we need to consider the extent to which ownership allows powerful individuals and groups to explo...