MASS MEDIA AND ITS INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY
Posted on 18. Jan, 2011 by Raja Mujtaba in Opinion
By M A Mughal
In the last five decades or so, the media and its influence on the societies, has grown exponentially with the advance of technology. 
First there was the telegraph and the post offices, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet and the new media including palmtops, cell phones etc. There are positive and negative influences of mass media, which we must understand as a responsible person of a society.
Before discussing the influence of mass media on society it is imperative to explain the three basic functions of mass media; they are providing news/information, entertainment and education. The first and foremost function of the media in a society is to provide news and information to the masses, that is why the present era is some time termed as the information age as well. People need news/information for various reasons, on one hand it can be used to socialize and on the other to make decisions and formulate opinions. Entertainment would be the other function of the mass media where it is mostly used by the masses to amuse them in present day hectic environment. Educating the masses about their rights, moral, social and religious obligations is another important function of mass media, which needs no emphasis.
In present era of globalization, majority of people in the society depends on information and communication to remain connected with the world and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, socialization, travelling and anything else that we have to do. A common urban person usually wakes up in the morning checks the tv news or newspaper, goes to work, makes a few phone calls, eats with their family or peers when possible and makes his decisions based on the information that he has either from their co workers, tv news, friends, family, financial reports, etc. we need to be conscious of the reality that most of our decisions, beliefs and values are based on what we know for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we usually know what we have to do, based on our experience and studies, however on our routine life and house hold chores we mostly rely on the mass 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 should know how it really works. The media makes billions of dollars with the advertising they sell and that we are exposed to, every single moment. We buy what we are told to buy by the media. After seeing thousands of advertisings we make our buying decisions based on what we saw on Tv, newspapers or magazines. These are the effects of mass media especially in teenagers, they buy what they see on Tv, what their favourite celebrity advertise and what is acceptable by society based on the fashion that the media has imposed on them.
There are some positive and negative influences in young people of our society due to these ad campaigns in the media. Here is a positive influence example, if there is a quiz show on education that is getting a lot of attention by the media and gains popularity among your friends and society, you will more likely want to actively participate and watch these quiz shows. These activities are good for the society and will promote literary activities in the youth. However a negative influence in teenagers is the use of guns and ammunition by celebrity movie stars, the constant exposure of which would seduce the teen to replicate the same behaviour in the real life. When we watch tv or a action movie we usually see many images of violence and people hurting others. The problem with this is that it can become traumatic especially in our children as they see it 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 distinction between reality and fiction. Another problem is that real war is used as a form of entertainment by the media, we should make our kids and teen aware that war is not a form of entertainment and that there is no win or lose like in video games, in real war everyone lose.
Teens, youngsters 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 beautiful men and women with all the ingredients of a successful person, you can see it in movies and tv. It’s a subliminal way to persuade the masses that if you want to be successful and look like them then you have to buy that particular brand or product. Another negative influence in teenagers, especially in the USA, that has grown over the last years is obesity. There are millions of adolescents fighting obesity, but at the same time they are exposed to thousands of advertisements of junk food, while the ideal image of a successful person is told to be thin and wealthy.
The media has a huge impact on society in shaping the public opinion of the masses. They can form or modify the public opinion in different ways depending of what is the objective. For example, Pakistani media influenced the public opinion against the Taliban in Swat by repeated telecast of a video clip showing whipping of a woman by a Taliban. Before that the public opinion over the military action against the Taliban in Swat was divided, but repeated telecast of this short video clip changed the public opinion over night in the favour of the government to take action. 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 opinion and thus can receive more votes.
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Raja Mujtaba
MASS MEDIA AND ITS INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY | Opinion Maker | Media Point
18. Jan, 2011
[...] Here is the original post: MASS MEDIA AND ITS INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY | Opinion Maker [...]
19. Jan, 2011
Warning to Citizens of the World
FOR GOVERNMENTS AROUND THE WORLD :
There is a technological dimension of justice and element of consideration that nullifies the entire case of criminals who are manufactured and influenced to a degree and is ignored (perhaps intentionally?) by the press and media, not that LGBT itself should be persecuted either for those naturally occurring cases. The legal system and education system has failed to warn or protect us from such manipulations.
Human civilisation has fallen to a wretched state today, even religious institutions have used these things to profit off the suspecting citizentry. Be aware of what is happening and those with any ethics would work to expose the technology or methods used against our fellow human beings in this manner.
Warning to Citizens of the World
FOR GOVERNMENTS AROUND THE WORLD :
Mental Autonomy / mental Privacy likely to end with 2600 Mhz Telco Grids
While the infrastructure appears not much different, the technological levels have reached unbelievable levels, and thus the government needs to be HONEST alongside any with supposedly privileged knowledge that they would keep secret to control and suppress free enterprise and ultimately freedom of society and supress equality in man or to suppress those deemed too superior genetically and socially.
“” There must be accountability and preventive laws as well as counter measures and Technology expositions made to warn the public as well as aid in apprehension of criminals currently using such technologies to profiteer off ailments or attempts to destroy reputation and subvert society or end free enterprise as well. Civil society opt out zones (i.e. EMF/Satellite dish free zones) should also be available, or at least EMF shielding devices made available to the public.
Make the world a ‘Free Neutral Nation’ or you will find asylum seekers from all corners of the world suffering with no legal recourse from Human Rights Abuses by Neurotech and Psychotronics, help other nations set up the same laws. “”
Hopefully the handful of free souls left or those who managed to corroborate evidence and experience as I did will be able to create new and protective laws via landmark cases as I now work upon to ensure the freedom of society and freedom of mankind.
For example Anwar and Saiful Sodomy Case Malaysia, Malaysia’s Minister Maid Rape Case, Prince Saud Abdulaziz Bin Nasir Al Saud’s Gay Lover Killing Case, the Catholic Priests overcome with lust for children, I strongly believe that due to their strong religious and family upbringing and even some of us due to our station, political beliefs and political alignments, or threat of presenting too powerful a social or psychological, even psychic competition, or even intelligence, or even failed relationships with people having access to such devices – have been groomed into rape, murder, LGBT or even simulated mental illness specifically to weaken their voice. Let them seek justice and reclaim their reputations.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1346900/The-app-read-mind-iPhone-brainwave-detector-matter-time.html
http://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/big-brother-watching-you-billboards-emerging
http://myweb.cableone.net/mtilton/index.html
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-midlandodessa/iran-breaks-u-s-monopoly-on-bio-implants
(See even Iran has bio-implants already)
http://fedgeno.com/links/secretly-forced-brain-implants-explosive-court-case-national-human-rights-examiner-com
http://www.rense.com/political/weapons/nsa.html
http://www.rense.com/general92/elcs.htm
http://educate-yourself.org/dc/gwentowersbybyronweeks.shtml
http://ongangstalking.blogspot.com/2010/11/deb-dupre-article-in-examiner-actor.html
NASA Research: Reading Thoughts Using Electromyography
http://sigint.wordpress.com/2008/02/09/subvocal-recognition-using-electromyography/
Air Travel Privacy – FOIA Documents (EEG based mind readers)
http://epic.org/privacy/airtravel/foia/foia1.html
http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/140206
http://www.rense.com/general92/mile.htm
http://mindcon.wordpress.com/
There must be accountability and preventive laws as well as counter measures and Technology expostions made to the public as well as apprehension of criminals currently using such technologies to profiteer off ailments or attempts to destroy reputation and subvert society as well.
Criminals who have abused people with what are weapons BEWARE. Your days of abusing the voters are numbered.
Those with the knowledge, please investigate and prepare for a landmark case and exposition on electronic weapons with bills tabled for criminalisation of usage against civilians, that will exhonerate so many victims quite a few criminals as well for being victims of electronic manipulation.
Start investigating or tabling anti Telcoms Tower, 2600 Mhz or 700 Mhz pre-emptive laws, it already is very late!
Harris
19. Jan, 2011
great article………….parents must read it…..its an eye opener
Tweets that mention MASS MEDIA AND ITS INFLUENCE ON SOCIETY | Opinion Maker -- Topsy.com
11. Feb, 2011
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Andrea Traeger, Eleonora ?. Eleonora ? said: Opinion Maker https://opinion-maker.org/2011/01/mass-media-and-its-influence-on-society/ [...]
h56h56
20. Mar, 2012
I am doing a research paper on " How media influences opinion" and almost this entire article was copied from http://rayuso.hubpages.com/hub/Mass-Media-Influence-on-Society. click on it and find the similarities.
Journey to Journalism | Samantha Sigler
10. Sep, 2012
[...] that everyone can rely on to tell the truth about what is going on in the world. In today’s media driven society journalism is becoming increasingly crucial as people are becoming more dependent on these stories [...]
Poopy McPoop
07. Oct, 2012
Poop