There was much discussion in class about how the media influences our culture. There was also some discussion about how we as a society affect influence the media. So which is it? It is a combination of both. Here is an example that I have encountered about how the media influences our culture. In TV and movies, childbirth is often depicted as frantic, chaotic, scary, and painful. This has helped to foster an attitude of fear surrounding the act of childbirth. Instead of being optimistic about bringing their children in the world, women are thinking that it is likely that their waters will break in the middle of the grocery store and immense, blinding pain will follow. When the media sensationalizes something over and over again, the general public will begin to believe that the dramatized version of a real life event. It takes experience for women to find that childbirth is much different from what is depicted in the media and are often optimistic about the childbirth experience with subsequent children.
An example of how the society can influence the media is the plethora of stories about celebrities that show up on our local and national news stations. Everything from sex scandals to plastic surgery is on nightly news as if it is an urgent matter. This is because the consumer wants to see stories of that nature. It is the voyeuristic part of our nature that craves a peek into the personal lives of other human beings, such as celebrities. It's a part of the reason that reality shows are so popular. However, we must question whether or not news channels are an appropriate venue for stories of this nature. I believe that trivial stories like the ones I just spoke of have their place on entertainment channels and television shows that cater to entertainment news. Other would argue that these trivial stories pull people into the mainstream news channels that wouldn't normally watch and those people are exposed to issues that they wouldn't normally come in contact with. I feel that is a valid argument, but how many trivial stories are we going to allow to cloud our mainstream media? Do those who actually care about important issues have to sit through hours of nonsense before they get real news that truly affects the lives of citizens?
I think there are some really good (although few) alternatives for national and international news if you don't want the more trivial stories. In Local News, however, sensationalism and gossip have become endemic, and I would agree that we are forced to sit through a lot of what could be considered trivial to get to more important local issues.
ReplyDelete