Do you think news have any influence over you, your behavior & thoughts?
This is actually a rather interesting question to raise especially considering the worlds situation today. I feel news today are full of violence. I think we may have become less affected by seeing violence by all this exposure to it, as it's now a part of our daily lives. Moreover todays news is easily forgotten tomorrow.
News & media is a money making business & 95 % of all media is controlled by only a few companies, such as Time Warner, News Corp & so on. News & media is in other words a competition & due to that news today are gone by tomorrow.. Years ago this competition looked a lot different because there were a lot more diversity in the news because there were more media companies. This is a shame because considering how much influence media has on us & its impact on our society such as public opinions etc. In other words the more media companies the better for us "consumers".
Media plays a very important role in our lives & influence virtually every aspect of our lives. So make sure you chose your news source carefully! News & media influence our thoughts, sometimes positively but a lot of the time negatively. Moreover due to the easy access to news & media in todays society we are also a lot more exposed to it, which I think have made us less emotional & sadly also reduced our moral thinking plus acting.
First news companies know most people have an urge to know what is going on in the world. Our world have shrunk & have become a global village due to media & its easy access. Secondly, due to the societies norms that following news is a part of life "education" & a must for higher ranked jobs in order to have "educated-work-conversation" in which people can show off their knowledge about the worlds politics & economy. What is lacking is the initiative to help, act & make a change. Lets take the global warming as an example. Most of us are aware about it but nobody really does anything. It is soon too late! We should start commuting by bus instead of driving our cars. We should be more conscious about eating local food, than keep eating imported products such as bananas from Philippines, tomatoes from Neatherlands, beef from Brazil & grapes from France. Back in the days most people only eat local & seasonal food products, which is actually better for us.
Back to the subject: news & media. It is partly the societies norms that make us feel we should all be aware of the daily news flow. But from my prospective news has kind of become just a subject for an "intelligent-work-discussion", where people choses to remain impassive & not act on what they see or hear. People seem to think it is enough to be informed, in a belief that it show that they care.
So we can see that news & media do affects our daily lives both negatively in certain ways such as that we see more violence & have become more "used" to it. Moreover what we read is very controlled by a few media companies, which themselves view news & media more as an money-making business rather than a channel to broadcasting "the truth" in the world.
Final conclusion: Yes I'm not an expert in the field of news & media but I do think we should be more critical & question media & news. Moreover we should of course discuss news (1) but also try to act more (2) & help (3) instead of just bringing it up as a subject over lunch. The positive side to news is the factual information & analysis of situations, etc. & that media can help, liberate and empower people if it's used the right way.
It is also the responsibility of us "consumer" of news & media to:
Ask
Question
Act
&
Help
Do you agree?
If you are interested in this subject & to learn more read:
Maria Armoudian
"Kill the messenger- the medias's role in the fate of the world"
“Maria Armoudian wisely and insightfully inspires us to look at the character of the messenger who delivers today’s news. This book should be read by anyone concerned with the fate of the world, which should be everyone.”
–Thomas M. Kostigen, Dow Jones MarketWatch Ethics Monitor columnist and New York Times bestselling author
“Kill the Messenger clearly demonstrates how media help to shape beliefs, societies, and policies that impact the fate of the world. It’s a must read for everyone who cares about the welfare of humanity and the planet itself.”
—Ed Begley Jr., actor and environmental steward
No comments:
Post a Comment