Mass Media Influence on Society

1. Intro

By Mass Media I mean the whole body of media reaching large numbers of public the major ones being newspapers, television and the World Wide Web also known as internet. The main purposes of mass media are to provide information, entertainment and advertisement. In this essay I will discuss the influence that Mass Media has in the general public and giving the evidence to support the statement “People are more influenced by mass media than they think”.

In the last 50 years the media influence has grown exponentially with the advance of technology, first there was the telegraph, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet.

We live in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships, traveling and anything else that we have to do.

McQuail believes that media is a "power source", "an arena" in which the affairs of public life are played worldwide, but also arbitrators of fashion, manners and styles of life.

We have put our trust on the media as an authority to give us news, entertainment and education. However, the influence of mass media on our kids, teenagers and society is so big that we should know how it really works.

2. What are the Effects of Media

Studies on the media system shown in the last three decades have proved to be preoccupied with its power and its effects at the societal level.

Scientific study of the communication process tends to be centered in either of the following questions: Who says? What he says? Through what channel? Whose? What is the effect?

According to researchers Lasswell, Lazarsfeld and Hovland, the media are part of the social, ensuring its important functions, such as information, education, entertainment, etc. The media institution is adjusted according to the society , continually meeting social needs and emergencies.

Although many people blame the media for invasion of privacy and even trivializing of news, we fail to realize that media is a mere reflection of the society we live in, the society we have created ourselves. Media has several advantages as well as disadvantages in day-to-day life. Here are some of the effects of the media :

Shaping the public opinion: The media is an important medium which informs the people about the latest news and happening around the world. According to the agenda-setting theory of mass communication, the media plays an important role in shaping the public opinion .