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Roles and functions of media in influencing public opinion on selected issues
Arguments on media bias
Roles and functions of media in influencing public opinion on selected issues
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The Braindead Megaphone is essentially an essay about media’s affect on our culture and how technology has created a numb opinion through constant bias perception. The way we portray our own culture is much different now with the availability of technology and although that can bring us a lot of important information, we are receiving it in a way that is causing us to form our own opinions based on the way media convinces us we should think. Our perception of concepts through media is very skewed because of the careless agenda driven side of media and business.
Today in the media, the information that we receive is condensed into what they want you to see verses complex and thoughtful information. Over time we see less and less real life concepts and more poorly perceived ideas and it causes us to become numb and thoughtless about these ideas because they aren’t being brought to our attention. This fits very well with the idea that ignorance is bliss because our media is constantly feeding us ignorant useless information versus something complex that allows us to contemplate our own ideas and how we perceive opinion.
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“What had gone dead was the curious part that should have been helping us decide about the morality and intelligence of invasion, that should have known that the war being discussed was a real war, that might actually happen, to real, currently living people.” There are parts of our minds that we use to create in depth and original thought and media is quickly becoming very good at paying more attention to latent information that has little to no actual
The mass media has an essential role in today’s society as a channel of valuable information. Lots of people rely on media as the epicenter of information and as the yardstick on which they form their decisions and opinions (Agner, 1999). Any selection of messages in the mass media would have a profound impact on the entire society, this is according to Cultural selection theory. In the short story “Gray Noise”, Rojo uses this story to express his annoyance toward technology, but more specifically his most effective critic is on how society has overpowered valuable news with “dramaturgically crafted news” (Vettehen) and competition while desensitizing their viewers. Since competition has also stiffened up in are of mass media as the attention of readers, TV-viewers and listeners are fought for by every journalist. For this reason, every news media has turned to other strategies such as scandal-mongering and entertainment as tools of making a profit since a large audience is assured of such news even if they are not correct. Rojo’s views on critics of technology are widely shared among many people including the authors of the following studies, “Research Note: Sensationalism in Dutch Current Affairs Programmes by Paul Hendriks Vettehen
She gives an example by describing the photo Kenneth Jarecke photographed of the Iraqi man burned alive and in which he thought it would change the way Americans saw the Gulf War. (73) But Unfortunately the media wouldn’t run the image because no one knew the true story behind the picture, not even DeGhett and she tried describing her perspective saying, “At one point, before he died this dramatic mid-retreat death, the soldier had had a name. He’d fought in Saddam Hussein’s army and had a rank and an assignment and a unit. He might have been devoted to the dictator who sent him to occupy Kuwait and fight the Americans. Or he might have been an unlucky young man with no prospects, recruited off the streets of Baghdad. Or he might have been an unlucky young man with no prospects, recruited off the streets of Baghdad.” (74) As a result, the media didn’t want to publish Kenneth Jarecke photo because the photo is deceiving plus the media tries to shield the public from grim images of the war. It was possible that viewers would contradict the image. The United States did not people seeing these types of event occurring or the possibility of them thinking it was an American
The literal truth, or some of the things that happen during war, are so horrible that you don't want to believe that it could've actually have happened. For instance, "[o]ne colonel wanted the hearts cut out of the dead Vietcong to feed to his dog.... Ears were strung together like beads. Parts of Vietnamese bodies were kept as trophies; skulls were a favorite... The Twenty-fifth Infantry Division left a 'visiting card,' a torn off shoulder patch of the division's emblem, stuffed in the mouth of the Vietnamese they killed," (Fussell 655). While we don't want to believe these things because they sound too atrocious, soldi...
In George Saunders’ essay “The Braindead Megaphone,” he argues that the dumbing down of media is a problem in our society. Megaphone Guy is person in a party with a megaphone who lacks intelligence and experience (2). Megaphone Guy is just blurting ideas to entertain the other guests and jumping from topic to topic without much consideration to what he is trying to say (3). The other guests’ train of thought veers from the activities that they are supposed to be involved in and react to what Megaphone Guy is saying (3), thus putting “an intelligence ceiling on the party” (4).
For example, when Norman Bowker returns to his hometown he explains that “ The town could not talk, and would not listen… It had no memory, therefore no guilt. The taxes got paid and the votes got counted… It was a brisk, polite town. It did not know shit about shit, and did not care to know.”(137) Not many people are willing to listen to unscripted Vietnam stories because they are saddening and destructive to our ideals of America’s standpoint. It is simple to imagine the destruction of war but not so easy to pinpoint the cause of said destruction, when we are forced to accept the blame we run away. Scared of experiencing the ‘shit’ that we inadvertently
“One man’s dream is another man’s nightmare”, and perhaps one nation’s war is a potential Hollywood movie. While many Hollywood filmmakers have deemed it their true calling to present the war topic to the public in creating pictures which, according to McCrisken and Pepper, allow them to “critically engage with complicated questions about what constitutes ‘America’ domestically and internationally in the post-Cold War world.” A subject which leaves room for little to no debate is the perception that Hollywood directors, along with their pedagogical and informative topics, usually resort to films in order to convey messages and inform their viewers of the “bigger picture” they might seem to have glanced so quickly at. Such is the case with the two high-profile war movies, which are the subject of debate in this thesis, Oliver Stone’s Platoon (1986) and David Russell’s Three Kings (1999). Upon their release, with the emphasis on the former, they have both created quite a buzz which attracted the attention of many historians and created controversy which would be put under the microscope and thus promoting historical inquiry which the Americans would soon want to unravel (McCrisken & Pepper, 2005). In order to better understand the topic at hand, it is of extreme importance to tackle the perceived motive behind the advancements of the American army in the Vietnam War, and their involvement in the Gulf War. (thesis statement here?)
The media’s influence over the masses of society is great. With every passing generation, the media’s ability to access and relay information to the general public with seemingly the greatest of ease continues to impress. Given the expanse of time that has passed since the 1990s, the media, even more so to this day, shapes our lives, our perceptions, and influences our opinions greatly. The 1990s served as an important decade in our country’s young history. Since the mid-1800s, and even before that time, our country has experienced its share of societal issues, from racism to sexism, to religious bigotry, and police brutality, to name a few.
Telling war stories is something Americans do on a regular basis, sometimes all true and other times all untrue. War stories from Vietnam are far different than the war stories told about the European campaign in both World Wars because the enemy we fought was in a vastly different situation. These Vietnam war stories depict a time in American history where we failed as a military and as a nation. Tim O’Brien, author of “The Things They Carried”, a book full of Vietnam war stories that he claimed as ‘fictional’. However, by comparing O’Brien’s book with primary sources from “Thinking Through the Past” by John Hollitz and “A Place for Stories” by William Cronon, fictional war stories are equally important as factual war stories because emotions
Schwartz, S. (2006) The arrogance of ignorance:Hidden away, out of sight and out of mind. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://nativevillage.org
As the mind matures and grows, new opinions are formed with the help of the revolutionizing consciousness of humanity. The human conscious allows humanity to develop individually and gain unique cognitive patterns and thinking processes. However, these opinions can be manipulated by environmental sources, like the media. The media’s puppet strings can be used to influence the minds of the masses and control their overall thinking process. It takes away an individual’s freedom to think for themselves and form their own opinions. Manipulation is a key ingredient in attaining support for a side of an argument. News networks have this ability to twist the minds of their listeners and unconsciously force them to believe in their words. Two of the
Propaganda is intended for those who are seeking a greater understanding of what goes on in the minds of those
David. "Mass Media and the Loss of Individuality." Web log post. Gatlog. N.p., 11 Sept. 2007. Web. 10 May 2014.
The cultivation theory suggests that “the cultivation of attitudes is based on attitudes already present in our society and that the media take those attitudes which are already present and re-present them bundled in a different packaging to their audiences” (Griffin, p.366). The Truman Show is an excellent example of the cultivation theory as it gives us an interesting insight into the effects that the media has on society. It is no secret that the media has altered our way of living. From the fears they can instill from the news we watch, to the clothes we wear, the music we listen to, the sports we watch and even our political opinions are all influenced in some way shape or form by the media.
Rather than being a neutral conduit for the communication of information, the U.S. media plays an intricate role in shaping and controlling political opinions. Media is extremely powerful in the sense that without an adequate functioning media, it is virtually impossible for a sophisticated social structure like the U.S. Government to exist. Henceforth, all known sophisticated social structure, have always dependent upon the media’s ability to socialize. The U.S. government generally will exploit the media, often times manipulating the enormous power of the printed word. Ultimately empowering the U.S. government, strengthening it with the ability to determine and control the popular perception of reality. 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 relatively do not exist. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of there 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. This simply means that media is structured in a way that it operates functioning from top to bottom. This is also identical to the hierarchical nature of the human body, in that from the commands of the brain transferred through the central nervous system, the body responds accordingly. In order for the U.S. government to control and determine the public’s popular perception of reality, the government must shape and oversee the information that the media reports to the existing populous. This particular process of democracy is known and referred to by political scientists as cognitive socialization. However, many of us, who do not adhere to the cushioning of political correctness, refer to it as the propaganda machine. Numerous political scientists consider cognitive socialization to be the most effective form of political socialization. According to theory, cognitive socialization is doctored up information, which is strategically fragmented in such a manipulative manner, that the probability of its rationalization is highly predictable. The manipulative properties of cognitive socialization are so diabolical and Machiavellian in nature, that I consider it to be the ultimate perversion of the democratic process. In all seriousness, numerous intellectuals, and gentleman held in good stature agree, that cognitive socialization is the product of an evil genius.
One problem that plagues us everyday without us even realizing it is media bias. We see it in the news. We see it on our favorite sitcoms. We read it everyday in the paper. Yet, we really don't recognize it when we hear it or see it. Media bias is evident in every aspect of the media, yet the problem is that we don't even recognize it when it is right in front of our faces. Are the impressions that we form about individuals a product of the media? Do we form certain opinions about particular types of people based solely on the things we see and hear in the media everyday without even realizing it? The problem is not only that there is media bias present, but also that we can't recognize it when we see it.