Jet Black

I was attending my college english class today, when a debate between the professor and a student broke out. They were arguing over whether the media influences and changes public opinion, or if the news is simply a reflection of what the public wants and feels. I think the arguement could go either way. What do you think?

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sdds

I think the media definitely has an impact on the people...I also think it reflects the people, in an over generalized sort of way...Unfortunately alot of people are influenced by what they see on tv and what they read in the news papers...

People aer very quick to act and very late to think...even in the news, People are only receiving part of the story, people need to slow down and form their own opinions before acting.

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ZeRoGravity

Not always, not mainstream media like CNN and...forgot the rest. When you say media you mean the news media? Well if it is then, its business and a form of entertainment. Some story is alter in order for it capture the audience attention, news that gets the most attention are usually the bad ones, 911, war in Iraq, the tsunami etc. Everyone was glued to their televisions. Media has the power to make you think the way they want you to think so don't believe whatever the news tells you about, especially from mainstream medias.

That is true. ah, i don't remember the example done in my world issues class about how the media brainwashed the US people about preparing for war in Iraq.

As for the other one, how much of that reflection is true? Anyways you can't always trust the media, you gotta question whatever you read or watch and not let the media control you.

Jet Black

I agree. I think the news represents a double-edge sword, in its way. It does show what the masses are thinking, in some ways (how could they stay in business if they didn't show what people wanted), but also it doesn't necessarily represent the opinion of the masses, only the illusion of what the general public wants. Any form of news is a filter. Even if a journalist tries to be wholly unbiased, that jounalist has to pick and choose the facts that he thinks are important. Therefore, no matter how detailed a report is written, it will always be incomplete, with facts that the origional journalist chose because he thought they were important. Therfore, by its very nature, the news is biased, and in being biased, shows it's own opinions but represented as the views of the general public. I think that in this process, many people forget that the news is invariably biased, and choose the media's way of thinking to be their own. So, yes, I think that the news represents public opinion, but it mainly represents its own opinion and thereby determines much of the public's opinion.
If you ask me, no one should ever take a news story at face value. People should take time to reflect on what they hear, and then come to their own conclusions.

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therebel

I fear my posting here will rattle some cages. The media is not a reflection of the people. The media is a business thang. Concerned with only one thing, what sells. We have become a society that lives for blood and violence, that is why that's about the only thing on the news now. There used to be a time when the media was like an institution, but now it is just about profit.

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Miroku4444

Hence why i dont watch that news crap.

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pigtaru

I think the media definitely influences people in general. Most of us are ignorant to alot of things going on in the world, or even in our own local areas. We rely heavily on the media to pass us this information unbiased. But most of the time, we get nothing more than a one-sided story, causing people to form ill-informed opinions on important topics.

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Priestess Angel

Media most definitely influences people whether it be a good or bad way. The bad thing about media is that usually it is not completely true. They either exaggerate or leave a part of the story out. They do it to catch people's attention and get them glued to their TV sets or newspapers. The main reason I think this is because of an event that happened in my county about two years ago. A Mexican was shot by a policemen. The Mexican community of course got enraged. Assuming that the policemen was a white person. Come to figure out, the policement was a Mexican himself but the newspaper never mentioned it. So I think that most of the articles and news you see is most likely not the public opinion.

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animaniac4life

agreed,i think that there is no point.

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_gwenibe_

I agree with you there. The media only really displays drama, violence and anything that is cute - anything that will sell. And often it will change people view and opinions. Often they are biased, they mis use what people say and basically cut and change things to what they want so that they can sell it to the public, they don't care about telling the truth only if it sells.

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