effect of media on society

8/7/2019 Effect of media on society

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Effect of media on society:-Every coin has two sides. There are both positives and negatives of one single givennotion. The media, known as the fourth pillar of democracy, has a huge impact on thesociety. The effects are of course, positive as well as negative. It is upto the people to

decide which effect they want to bask in. Media is such a powerful tool that it literallygoverns the direction of our society today. It is the propeller as well as the directionprovider of the society. Opinions can change overnight and celebrities can becomeinfamous with just one wave by the media. Read how media affects the society today byreading its effects. The Bright SideInformation on the latest happenings reaches people in just a matter of minutes. Thevision of media reaches even the remotest corners of the country and makes sure thateveryone is aware of what is going on in the country. The easy and swift availability ofany given information makes media one of the most reliable sources for forming public

opinion. It bridges the gap between the leaders and the masses by becoming theirchannel of communication. It brings into open the innumerable achievements that are going on in the country.Media gives ordinary people the power to reach out to the society as a whole. It canmake heroes out of ordinary men. The media acts as a deterrent on corrupt practicesand keeps a check on the working of the government. Media has significantly promotedsocial causes like literacy, health management, anti-dowry practices, discouragingfemale feticide, AIDS awareness, etc. On the ContraryMedia can adversely affect the thinking capability of individuals and instill negative ordestructive thinking patterns in the society as a whole. As already said before, mediahas the power to form and alter opinions. This means media can portray an ordinarything so negatively that it may force people to think or act in quite the opposite way.Media glorifies violence and contains graphic descriptions or images. When viewed bythe vulnerable portion of the society, i.e., the children, it can have grave effects on theirupcoming and thinking patterns.

The media can sometimes go out of the way in advertising or glorifying certain issues. Usually, abad or detrimental message is packaged in a glorious way and is made accessible to the public.Movies that depict filthy rich thieves who dont bat an eyelid before killing someone or extortingsomeone and the getting away with it, sure give entertainment to people. At the same time, itencourages them to act in a way that promises adventure and thrill in life. This way, mediaglorifies the bad aspects of people and encourages them to act in forbidden ways.

Media influence ormedia effects are used in media studies, psychology, communication theoryand sociology to refer to the theories about the ways in which mass media affect how theiraudiences think and behave.


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Connecting the world to individuals and reproducing the self-image of society, critiques in theearly-to-mid 20th century suggested that media weaken or delimit the individual's capacity to actautonomously sometimes being ascribed an influence reminiscent of the telescreens of thedystopian novel 1984.

Current theories present a more complex interaction between the media and society. The mediagenerate information as a network then publish information using articles, videos, and photos to

a group of consumers, in turn influencing individual interpretations of the information providedwhile potentially influencing unrelated cultural and personal beliefs, as per the propagandamodel. Mass media content created for newsworthy events and those stories that are not told allhave consequences on the consumer and therefore the culture supposedly being influenced.

The media have a strong social and cultural impact upon society. This is predicated upon theirability to reach a wide audience with a strong and influential message. Marshall McLuhan usesthe phrase the medium is the message as a means of explaining how the distribution of amessage can often be more important than content of the message itself.[1][2]

Television broadcasting has a large amount of control over the content society watches and thetimes in which it is viewed. This is a distinguishing feature of traditional media which Newmedia have challenged by altering the participation habits of the public. The internet creates aspace for more diverse political opinions, social and cultural viewpoints and a heightened levelof consumer participation. There have been suggestions that allowing consumers to produceinformation through the internet will lead to an overload of information.

Contents

[hide]

y 1 Media Influenced Violence o 1.1 Politicalo 1.2 Priming and Framingo 1.3 New mediao 1.4 An instrument for social control

1.4.1 Government and Mass Media 1.4.2 The public sphere 1.4.3 Mass Media in a free enterprise society

1.4.3.1 Mass media, mass culture and eliteo 1.5 See also

o 1.6 Referenceso 1.7 Further reading, etc.

[edit] Media Influenced Violence


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Many studies illustrate that consuming mass media does not lead to violence. However, this is acontentious issue.

Of the millions of people who watch violent films, it has never been proven that any have carriedout acts of violence as a direct result. People regularly exposed to violent media usually grow up

to be completely normal people. If there are any ill effects from violent content in the media,they only affect a very small number of people. David Gauntlett, professor of media andcommunications at the University of Westminster, proposed ten criticisms of the Media.

To explain the problem of violence in society, researchers should begin with that social violenceand seek to explain it with reference, quite obviously, to those who engage in it: their identity,background, character and so on.

Gauntlet goes on to criticize studies that focus on children by stating that they do not utilizeadults as a control group, and that the studies are conducted primarily to further a "barely-concealed conservative ideology." He counters the premise of these studies with the concept that

not all depictions of violence are even bad to witness. USC

ProfessorHenry Jenkins, forinstance, suggested in his speech to congress that The Basketball Diaries utilizes violence in aform of social commentary that provides clear social benefit.[3]

Gauntlet explains further that objects defined as "violent" or "anti-social" may not be judged assuch in the minds of the viewer and tend to be viewed in artificial circumstances. These objectsare furthermore based on previous studies with flawed methodology, and are not grounded intheory. Additionally, he claims that the effects model makes no attempt to understand themeanings of media.[4]

y Historical criticisms situate the 'meta-narrative' of effects theory within a long history of

distrust of new forms ofmedia, dating as far back as Socrates's objections to thedeleterious effects due to the written alphabet.y Political criticisms pose an alternative conception of humans as rational, critical subjects

who are alert to genre norms and adept at interpreting and critiquing mediarepresentations, instead of passively absorbing them.

Supporters of effects theory contend that commercials, advertising and voter campaigns provethat media influence behavior. In the 20th century, aggressive media attention and negativecoverage of trials involving celebrities like Roscoe Fatty Ar buckle orMichael Jackson haveinfluenced the general public's opinion, before the trials effectively started[citation needed]. However,these critics do point out that while the media could have an effect on people's behavior this isn'tnecessarily always the case.

Critics of the media effects theory point out that many copycat murders, suicides and otherviolent acts nearly always happen in abnormal upbringings. Violent, emotionally neglectful oraggressive environments influence behavior more than watching certain programs, films orlistening to certain music. Most people who carry out these acts are also mentally unstable tobegin with.


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Also there are other thinkers who criticize effects based research, such as Terry Flew and SalHumphrey, Barker and Freedman.[5],[6], [7]

-Martin Barker (2001)[8] criticised Elizabeth Newson who alleged link between media violenceand real life violence in her report in 1994, Brooke (200307),for example talks about this in

details.

[9]

[1], and the report gained media attention when it claimed the horror filmC

hild's Play3 had influenced two 10-year-old boys' behavior and led to the Murder of James Bulgerin Feb.1993. After examining and assessing Newsons report, it was apparent that there was no clearlink between the film and the crime. Critics pointed out that Newson's case studies were relianton press accounts and opinions rather than independent research. However, Newson's report wasinfluential, and has led to more censorship of videos and more concern from the British Board ofFilm classification on the psychological effects of media violence. The attention and questionbecome whether they were watching violent media.

But Barker (2001) [8] doesnt agree with Elizabeth Newson. He reject her claim about theconnection between media violence and real life violence, in his argument he justifies his

position, he indicates that there was not a scrap of evidence that the boys had seen the movie andChild's Play 3 is a moral film. He also criticized anti media campaigns and described them asignorant and disguised political campaigns. He states that these claims are represented by mediaand most of people have no chance to check the credibility of them, he also points out that thesefilms including Child's Play 3 are often attacked because they deal with political issues.Moreover, he lists real cases, for example a man takes a gun and shoots his entire family afterwatching the news, arrested and tried, he explains his actions on the basis that the world newswas so bad there seemed no point in anyone going on living. Barker suggests that this case forexample is no different that other putative cases of media a causing violence, Barker said that weshould not always blindly blame the media because people are not copycats, instead we shouldbe aware of someone's mental state and take other factors into account before making suchclaims. For example, in his case he states that the man's reaction was abnormal. Therefore, hisbehavior could not be explained by suggesting the effects of the news. There are other socialand cultural factors in criminal acts in which the media are not the basic influence. Barker alsosuggests 'that we must look beyond a specific film to think about the specific context in which ithas been consumed, and the wider social background of the people'.[10],according to Barker thereis no such thing called violence in the media that either could or could not cause violence, weshould rather pay attention to how social factors and background make some people consumemedia in specific way.[11], for instance, even the news also show lots of violence, so peopleshould rather pay attention to how social factors and background make some people consumemedia in particular way. In addition Barker (2001) proposes further research, he suggests that thetheory of media violence connection must be tested because identification with particularelement in a film is not something can be seen. He also noted problem with campaigners treatingdelinquents as normal people who become influenced by the media. Therefore, he suggestsfurther research on how these people understand and consume media.

-Critics of effects research see no connection between exposure to media violence and real lifeviolence, because humans are not copycats and can realize what is wrong and what is right.Although some research claims that heavy exposure to media violence can lead to more


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aggressive behavior, it has been suggested that exposure alone does not cause a child to commitcrimes.[12]

-Flew and Humphreys (2005) said that the assumptions of effects researchers are frequentlyflawed. According to Flew and Humphreys, Freedman (2001) and Goldstein (2001) the number

of studies on games and violence is small and the research suffers from flawed methodologieswhich do very little to prove a direct link.[13] Terry Flew and Sal Humphreys also state thatdiffering context of consumption will always mean we need to take account of the particularitiesof players and how and why they play, effects researches often give insufficient account to therelevance of cultural contexts and the way in which media are actually implicated in thecirculation of meanings in our cultures'.[14]

-Freedman (2007) [15] is another thinker who rejects this idea, in reference to the FCC theFederal Communications Commission in US report that suggests link between media violenceand real life violence, Freedman indicates the lack of discussion and states that the FCC does notmake a sufficient distinction between peoples opinions, intuitions and musings on the one hand,

and the hard scientific data on the other, and he indicates the lack of discussion of one of thestrongest arguments against the idea that media violence causes aggression. According toFreedman the rate of violent crime in the United states increased sharply from 1965 to 1980 andsome people blamed that increase on media. The rate of violent crime leveled off until about1992, since that time, television continued to have violent programs, there was also more scenesand media showing more violence, if exposure to violent media cause real violence one wouldsurely expect the rate of violent crime to have increased sharply, yet, since 1992 there has been adramatic drop in violent crime, it seems clear that media violence did not cause the earlierincrease. Therefore, it is widely accepted that there is no convincing evidence that prove thatmedia violence cause violent crime or any type of real life violence

[edit] P

olitical

Certain groups tend to argue for media effects in an effort to promote a political cause. Demandsfor the banning of certain songs or the labeling of obscene albums came specifically fromconservative political groups in the United States. However, Tipper Gore, the wife ofAl Gore,was the founder of the Parents Music Resource Center, and was the main figure in pushing forwarning labels on music although she does not fit into the conservative demographic. Theyargued that such material had simple and identifiable effects on children, and thus should bebanned/labelled. Political factions use the media to influence possible members into joining theirgroups.

[edit] Priming and FramingMain articles: Agenda-setting theory and Framing (social sciences)

The agenda-setting process is an almost unavoidable part of news gathering by the largeorganizations which make up much of the mass media. (Just four main news agencies AP,UPI, Reuters and Agence-France-Presse claim together to provide 90% of the total newsoutput of the worlds press, radio and television.

[citation needed]) Stuart Hall points out that because


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some of the media produce material which often is good, impartial and serious, they are accordeda high degree of respect and authority. However, in practice the ethics of the press and televisionare closely related to that of the hegemonic establishment, providing vital support to the existingorder. Independence (e.g. of the BBC) is not a mere cover, it is central to the way power andideology are mediated in societies like ours.

The public is bribed with good radio, television and newspapers into an acceptance of the biased,the misleading, and the status quo. The media are not, according to this approach, crude agents ofpropaganda. They organize public understanding. However, the overall interpretations theyprovide in the long run are those most preferred by, and least challenging to, those witheconomic power. Greg Philo demonstrates this in his 1991 article, Seeing is Believing, inwhich he showed that recollections of the 1984 UK miners strike were strongly correlated withthe media presentation of the event, including the perception of the picketing as largely violentwhen violence was rare, and the use by the public of phrases which had appeared originally inthe media.

McC

ombs and Shaw (1972) demonstrate the agenda-setting effect at work in a study conductedin Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA during the 1968 presidential elections. A representativesample of un-decided voters was asked to outline the key issues of the election as it perceivedthem. Concurrently, the mass media serving these subjects were collected and their content wasanalyzed. The results showed a definite correlation between the two accounts of predominantissues. "The evidence in this study that voters tend to share the media's composite definition ofwhat is important strongly suggests an agenda-setting function of the mass media." (McCombsand Shaw).

[edit] New media

Theorists such as Louis Wirth and Talcott Parsons have emphasized the importance of massmedia as instruments ofsocial control. In the 21st century, with the rise of the internet, the two-way relationship between mass media and public opinion is beginning to change, with the adventof new technologies such as blogging.

Manders theory is related to Jean Baudrillards concept of hyperreality. We can take the 1994O.J. Simpson trial as an example, where the reality reported on was merely the catalyst for thesimulacra (images) created, which defined the trial as a global event and made the trial more thanit was. Essentially, hyperreality is the concept that the media are not merely a window on to theworld (as if a visiting alien were watching television), but are part of the reality they describe.Hence (although additionally there is the question of navel-gazing) the medias obsession with

media-created events.

It is this which led Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s to say that "the medium is the message", andto suggest that mass media are increasingly creating a "global village". For example, there isevidence that Western media influence in Asia is the driving force behind rapid social change: itis as if the 1960s and the 1990s were compressed together. A notable example is the recentintroduction of television to Bhutan, resulting in rapid Westernization. This raises questions of


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cultural imperialism (Schiller) the de facto imposition, through economic and politicalpower and through the media, of Western (and in particular US) culture.

[edit] An instrument for social control

Social scientists have made efforts to integrate the study of the mass media as an instrument ofcontrol into the study of political and economic developments in the Afro-Asian countries. DavidLerner (1958) has emphasised the general pattern of increase in standard of living, urbanization,literacy and exposure to mass media during the transition from traditional to modern society.According to Lerner, while there is a heavy emphasis on the expansion of mass media indeveloping societies, the penetration of a central authority into the daily consciousness of themass has to overcome profound resistance.

[edit] Government and Mass Media

They include licensing in advance; censorship of offending material before publication; seizure

of offending material; injunctions against publication of a newspaper or book or of specifiedcontent; requirement of surety bonds against libel or other offense; compulsory disclosure ofownership and authority; post publication criminal penalties for objectionable matter; postpublication collection of damages in a civil action; post publication correction of libel and othermisstatements; discrimination in granting access to news source and facilities; discrimination anddenial in the use of communications facilities for distribution; taxes; discriminatory subsidies;and interference with buying, reading and listening.

[edit] The public sphere

It is an objectionable matter that the Government always tries to harass the Printers, Editors aswell as making many media laws, but sometimes it is needed. Now a question might arise,when?..... Nowadays, most of the Journalist are involved with politics and there report also madeunder there politic related. It is not finished every kinds of newspapers and others media isrunning under a political control. So where there is a political control there must be some of falseand fabricated news will be publish. For a developing country there are five sectors must be neatand clean means they must work not for the politics but for the peoples of the country, which are;

(1) Media:Media included all kinds of media namely; newspapers, TV,

Radio, Internet, Books etc.

(2) Education: It included all kinds of School, College and Universities

students and also teachers.

(3) Judicial: It included all the person related with judiciary namely;

Judges, Lawyers etc.

(4) Medical: It included all kinds of doctors Government or private.

(5) Defence: It included all kinds of members appointed for the

protection of a country internally or externally namely;

Police, Army, Navy, Air etc.

[edit] Mass Media in a free enterprise society


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Although a sizable portion of mass media offerings - particularly news, commentaries,documentaries, and other informational programmes - deal with highly controversial subjects,the major portion of mass media offerings are designed to serve an entertainment function. Theseprogrammes tend to avoid controversial issues and reflect beliefs and values sanctified by massaudience. This course is followed by Television networks, whose investment and production

costs are high. Jerry Manders work has highlighted this particular outlook. According to him,the atomised individuals of mass society lose their souls to the phantom delights of the film, thesoap opera, and the variety show. They fall into a stupor, or apathetic hypnosis, that Lazarsfeldcalled the narcotizing dysfunction of exposure to mass media.

Individuals become irrational victims of false wants - the wants which corporations have thrustupon them, and continue to thrust upon them, through both the advertising in the media (with itscontinual exhortation to consume) and through the individualist consumption culture itpromulgates. Thus, according to the Frankfurt School, leisure has been industrialised. Theproduction of culture had become standardised and dominated by the profit motive as in otherindustries. In a mass society leisure is constantly used to induce the appropriate values and

motives in the public. The modern media train the young for consumption. Leisure had ceasedto be the opposite of work, and had become a preparation for it.

[edit] Mass media, mass culture and elite

The relation of the mass media to contemporary popular culture is commonly conceived in termsof dissemination from the elite to the mass. The long-term consequences of this are significant inconjunction with the continuing concentration of ownership and control of the media, leading toaccusations of a 'media elite' having a form of 'cultural dictatorship'. Thus the continuing debateabout the influence of 'media barons' such as Conrad Blackand Rupert Murdoch.

For example, the UKO

bserver(March 1, 1998) reported the Murdoch-owned HarperC

ollins'refusal to publish Chris Patten's East and West, because of the formerHong Kong Governor'sdescription of the Chinese leadership as "faceless Stalinists" possibly being damaging toMurdoch's Chinese broadcasting interests. In this case, the author was able to have the bookaccepted by another publisher, but this type ofcensorship may point the way to the future. Arelated, but more insidious, form is that of self-censorship by members of the media in theinterests of the owner, in the interests of their careers.

Mass Media Influence

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 theinternet.

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


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A common person in the city usually wakes up checks the tv news or newspaper, goes to work,makes a few phone calls, eats with their family when possible and makes his decisions based onthe information that he has either from their co workers, news, tv, friends, family, financialreports, etc.

What we need to be aware is that most of our decisions, beliefs and values are based on what weknow for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we usually know what wehave to do based on our experience and studies, however on our daily lives we rely on the mediato get the current news and facts about what is important and what we should be aware of.

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 shouldknow how it really works.

How mass Media Influence works

Of all the media distribution channels the most influential has been the television, we areconstantly exposed to thousands of images of violence, advertising, sex, celebrities and muchmore, in fact a its known that a child is exposed to about 40,000 ads a year.

But who owns the media, which are the companies or people that shape our values, beliefs anddecisions? The media is basically dominated by five major companies they are:

y Time Warnery VIACOMy Vivendi Universaly Walt Disneyy

NewsC

orp

Those 5 companies own 95% of all the media that we get every day. They own the majorentertainment theme parks, entertainment movie studios, television and radio broadcast networksand programing, video news and sports entertainment.

They also own integrated telecommunications, wireless phones, video games softwares,electronic media, the music industry and more.

Years ago there was more diversity in companies, but they have merged so now they are just afew and they have the power to shape the opinion and beliefs of us and our kids. So its important

to be aware of what your kids are exposed to every day and you should also try to look at thingsfrom different perspectives and not just from the one the media gives you.

How does mass media influence young people?

The media makes billions of dollars with the advertising they sell and that we are exposed to. Webuy what we are told to be good, after seeing thousands of advertisings we make our buyingdecisions based on what we saw on Tv, newspapers or magazines to be a product we can trust


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and also based on what everyone else that we know is buying and their decision are also basedon the media.

These are the effects of mass media in teenagers, they buy what they see on Tv, what theirfavorite celebrity advertise and what is acceptable by society based on the fashion that the media

has imposed them.

There are some positive and negative influences in young people.

Here is a positive influence example, if there is a sport that is getting a lot of attention by themedia and gains popularity among your friends and society, you will more likely want to practicethe sport and be cool with all your friends. The result is that you will have fun with your friendsand be more healthy because of the exercise your are doing.

However a negative influence in teenagers is the use of cigars by celebrity movie stars, theconstant exposure of sex images, the excessive images of violence and exposure to thousands of

junk food ads.

Young people are in a stage of life where they want to be accepted by their peers, they want to beloved and be successful. The media creates the ideal image of a beautiful men and women andtells you what are the characteristics of a successful person, you can see it in movies and tv. Its asubliminal way to tell you that if you are not like them you are not cool yet so its time to buy thestuff they buy and look like they look.

Another negative influence in teenagers that has grown over the last years are anorexia andobesity. There are millions of adolescents fighting obesity, but at the same time they are exposedto thousands of advertisements of junk food, while the ideas image of a successful person is told

to be thin and wealthy.

Also more women are obsessive with losing weight even when they are not obese, there aremany thin women that want to look like the super models and thin celebrities so they engage ineating disorders which leads to severe health issues and even death.

Mass Media Influence on Society

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Mass Media Influence


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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 theinternet.

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, personalrelationships, traveling and anything else that we have to do.

A common person in the city usually wakes up checks the tv news or newspaper, goes to work,makes a few phone calls, eats with their family when possible and makes his decisions based onthe information that he has either from their co workers, news, tv, friends, family, financialreports, etc.

What we need to be aware is that most of our decisions, beliefs and values are based on what weknow for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we usually know what wehave to do based on our experience and studies, however on our daily lives we rely on the media

to get the current news and facts about what is important and what we should be aware of.

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 shouldknow how it really works.

How mass Media Influence works

Of all the media distribution channels the most influential has been the television, we areconstantly exposed to thousands of images of violence, advertising, sex, celebrities and muchmore, in fact a its known that a child is exposed to about 40,000 ads a year.

But who owns the media, which are the companies or people that shape our values, beliefs anddecisions? The media is basically dominated by five major companies they are:

y Time Warnery VIACOMy Vivendi Universaly Walt Disneyy News Corp

Those 5 companies own 95% of all the media that we get every day. They own the major

entertainment theme parks, entertainment movie studios, television and radio broadcast networksand programing, video news and sports entertainment.

They also own integrated telecommunications, wireless phones, video games softwares,electronic media, the music industry and more.

Years ago there was more diversity in companies, but they have merged so now they are just afew and they have the power to shape the opinion and beliefs of us and our kids. So its important


12/14

to be aware of what your kids are exposed to every day and you should also try to look at thingsfrom different perspectives and not just from the one the media gives you.

Gods of Entertainment: The Power of Mass Media to

Influence

Media Influence

It's Not The Media: The Truth About Pop Culture's Influence On ChildrenAmazon Price: $15.00

Outfoxed - Rupert Murdoch's War on JournalismAmazon Price: $4.22List Price: $9.98

Sexual Teens, Sexual Media: Investigating Media's Influence on Adolescent Sexuality(Routledge Communication Series)Amazon Price: $35.24List Price: $49.95

Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Mass Media and SocietyAmazon Price: $7.98

How does mass media influence young people?

The media makes billions of dollars with the advertising they sell and that we are exposed to. Webuy what we are told to be good, after seeing thousands of advertisings we make our buyingdecisions based on what we saw on Tv, newspapers or magazines to be a product we can trustand also based on what everyone else that we know is buying and their decision are also basedon the media.


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These are the effects of mass media in teenagers, they buy what they see on Tv, what theirfavorite celebrity advertise and what is acceptable by society based on the fashion that the mediahas imposed them.

There are some positive and negative influences in young people.

Here is a positive influence example, if there is a sport that is getting a lot of attention by themedia and gains popularity among your friends and society, you will more likely want to practicethe sport and be cool with all your friends. The result is that you will have fun with your friendsand be more healthy because of the exercise your are doing.

However a negative influence in teenagers is the use of cigars by celebrity movie stars, theconstant exposure of sex images, the excessive images of violence and exposure to thousands ofjunk food ads.

Young people are in a stage of life where they want to be accepted by their peers, they want to be

loved and be successful. The media creates the ideal image of a beautiful men and women andtells you what are the characteristics of a successful person, you can see it in movies and tv. Its asubliminal way to tell you that if you are not like them you are not cool yet so its time to buy thestuff they buy and look like they look.

Another negative influence in teenagers that has grown over the last years are anorexia andobesity. There are millions of adolescents fighting obesity, but at the same time they are exposedto thousands of advertisements of junk food, while the ideas image of a successful person is toldto be thin and wealthy.

Also more women are obsessive with losing weight even when they are not obese, there are

many thin women that want to look like the super models and thin celebrities so they engage ineating disorders which leads to severe health issues and even death.

How Subliminal Advertising Tries To Make You Fat

Effects ofviolence in the Media

When we watch Tv or a movie we usually see many images of violence and people hurtingothers. The problem with this is that it can become traumatic especially in our children as we seeit more and more. Our kids that are starting to grow and are shaping their personality values and

beliefs can become aggressive or they can lose a sense of reality and fiction of what they areseeing.

In the past years there have been some cases of kids carrying a gun at school and even hurtingothers with it. Those kids have been linked to excessive use of violent video games and warimages.


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Another problem is that real war is used as a form of entertainment by the media, we shouldmake our kids and teen aware that war is not a form of entertainment and that there is no win orlose like in video games, in real war everyone lose.

How media influence public opinion

As i have said above, the media has a huge impact on society and also in public opinion. Theycan shape the public opinion in different ways depending of what is the objective.

For example, after the attacks of 911 the media gave a huge coverage of the event and exposedOsama guilty for the attack as they were told by the authorities. This shaped the public opinion tosupport the war on terrorism, the same happened with the war on Iraq. The problem is that ifmedia received un accurate information then the public opinion supported a wrong cause, this isthe power of public opinion influence.

Other ways to influence are with polls and trends, especially in political campaigns. The

candidates that can pay for more tv and media exposure have more influence on public opinionand thus can receive more votes.

effect of media on society

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