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How do newspapers influence public opinion
Impacts of mass media on politics
Impacts of mass media on politics
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"The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything. Except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands." –Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism, 1891. The quote above sums up the past and present influence of the media on human societies. Humans have a tendency to look for the justifications for their ridiculous actions whether for the benefit of a group, the spread of their ideology, or sheer greed. In creating these justifications, some form of media must be used in order for it to take hold of a given society. The invention of the printing press in the mid-fifteenth century, acting as a preamble, led from one event to another such as the Protestant Reformation and the Thirty Years' War. The latter conflict was the epitome of deplorable misery and death all fuelled by what was spread in printed manuscripts and books. My argument is that various media, particularly the newspaper, have led and will continue to lead political strife and misery. In addition, I will be arguing with evidence from the nineteenth century, such as a brief description of the rise of the media in 1860s United States, the Congo experience of Henry Morgan Stanley, and culminating with the beginning of the Spanish-American War at the end of that century. While the media did not have any spectacular influences apart from the Reformation, American and French Revolutions (particularly in the form of pamphlets to spread ideals), it was galvanized in the nineteenth century by improvements in technology. These improvements, which were brought about by the Industrial Revolution, harnessed the capacity of the printing presses to multiply their output geometrically. With ... ... middle of paper ... ...ions, due to improvements in technology, spread them everywhere with no consideration for consequences. This media, exploiting human appetites for new information and venturing into uncharted territory, unintentionally created a new world where lives were drastically changed forever. Works Cited Berenson, Edward. Heroes of Empire: Five Charismatic Men and the Conquest of Africa. Berkeley: University of California, 2011. Print. Key, Wilson Bryan. The Age of Manipulation: The Con in Confidence, The Sin in Sincere. New York: H. Holt, 1989. Print. Secunda, Eugene, and Terence P. Moran. Selling War To America: From the Spanish American War to the Global War on Terror. Westport, CT: Praeger Security International, 2007. Print. Summers, Mark Wahlgren. The Press Gang: Newspapers and Politics, 1865-1878. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 1994. Print.
Mazrui, Ali A. "The Re-Invention of Africa: Edward Said, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Beyond." Research in African Literatures 36, no. 3 (Autumn 2005): 68-82.
There are many ways the media influences society, but in the 1920’s the main source was newspapers. The New York Times was one of the most popular and prestigious papers of this time and also one of the most influential. Many people had fait in what they read and never second gu...
Martin, Geoff, and Erin Steuter. Pop Culture Goes to War: Enlisting and Resisting Militarism in the War on Terror. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2010. Print.
Today’s mass media has been molded by hundreds of years of reporting, journalism, and personal opinions. America’s mainstream media thrives upon stretching the truth and ‘creating’ interesting stories for the public. Tactics like this can be credited to people such as William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper mogul from the late 19th to the 20th centuries. Hearst greatly influenced the practice of American journalism through his wealth, short political career, and use of unorthodox reporting methods such as yellow journalism.
One of the first connections Wattenberg makes is raising the issue of whether or not newspapers are a dying habit when looking, not only at the adolescents of America, but as the country as a whole. Overall, he states that the number of people who consistently read a newspaper on a daily basis has remained on a steady decline as the years go by. Wattenberg brings up the topic that earlier on in history the newspaper was the means of information for people all across America, and it was filled with political news to keep the citizens informed. However, in today 's society not only has technology taken over this old time habit, the new
In response to James Fallows’ four premises in his “Learning to Love the (Shallow, Divisive, Unreliable,) New Media,” April 2011. I must say that while I want desperately to argue against his fears, as I am an optimist at heart, I cannot. I have turned this over and over and I have to say that with only a few points of specific contradiction, as a whole I agree. I believe that this is becoming an age of lies and idiocy. I agree that already there is a tendency for media to follow dollars instead of issues. I believe that we Americans are becoming more isolated. Finally, our ability to concentrate is not only undone by technology, but also by our own expectations to be entertained by the media. However, I do not think that the responsibility lies totally with the Gawker.coms of the world, but within ourselves. This is a trend that has been a long time coming. And, like a train down the track, it cannot be easily stopped.
Irving, Washington. “The Devil and Tom Walker”. Elements of Literature: Fifth Course. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2008. 175-185. Print.
During the early 1900’s and late 1800’s precipitated the first true form of American media. The daily newspapers have been a part of the United States for some time, but during 1880’s and 1890’s reports such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst began to transform the newspaper in order for it to become the first major stepping stone in mass media. These publishers, especially Hearst, took advantage of the American involvement in foreign affairs. Hearst convinced his audience that sinking of a U.S ship during the Spanish-American War obliged a military response. Although Hearst was not the initial cause of the war, there was proof that he had the power to distort information, images and options. By World War 1, the media involvement increase by a tremendous amount.
Trupin, James E. West Africa - A Background Book from Ancient Kingdoms to Modern Times, Parent's Magazine Press. New York, 1991.
Hellmann, John. Fables of Fact: the New Journalism as New Fiction. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1981. Print.
The media, including television programming, cartoons, film, the news, as well as literature and magazines, is a very powerful and pervasive medium for expression. It can reach a large number of people and convey ideas, cultural norms, stereotypic roles, power relationships, ethics, and values. Through these messages, the mass media may have a strong influence on individual behavior, views, and values, as well as in shaping national character and culture. Although there is a great potential for the media to have a positive and affirming effect on the public and society at large, there may be important negative consequences when the messages conveyed are harmful, destructive, or violent.
In today 's world the media has enormous power. Media industries are operating in a market increasingly globalized and more monopolistic. In addition, the media come daily in our homes, deeply affecting our way of seeing the world. Adults and children and youth spend many hours a day watching television, transforming this activity into a more in all daily activities. Even more powerful is the ongoing revolution such as the development that has had and continues to have a means of communication such as the Internet.
Much is being discovered when the public, also known as the consumers and recipients of the news, share their views on journalistic practices. One might suggest that traditional journalism has, in due course, come to an end. Although, there are definitely problems that the public runs into with public journalism taking over. A few of those arguments include their content, the journalists, and the effects that it has on their public audience.
On September 11, 2001, the destruction of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon changed the mindset and the opinion of nearly every American on the one of the most vital issues in the 21st century: terrorism (Hoffman 2). Before one can begin to analyze how the United States should combat such a perverse method of political change, one must first begin to understand what terrorism is, where it is derived from, and why there is terrorism. These issues are essential in America’s analysis of this phenomenon that has revolutionized its foreign policy and changed America’s stance in the world.
In general mass society ideas held a strong interest of social elites whose power was threatened by change. Media industries such as yellow journalism and penny press were criticizing the elites and system of capitalism. The media of that time was representative of a sick society that needed to go back to it old norms and values or to be force to go with a new system. In this time industrialist leader came up with favor of development of technology including mass media. According to their perspective advancement in technology would help them to expand the human productivity and generate new forms of material wealth. But it did not work like that and