Media and Society

1. Introduction

Media originates from the word ‘medium’ , a way which one uses for communication with the others or with the masses and can be in the form of letters, emails, posters, public meetings and also does include other forms of mass media like TV, News, internet etc.
On one hand media expresses freedom to speech and expression and at the same time the media biases are actually much bigger than being liberal or conservative.
People or certain groups tend to manipulate the media for their own benefits. Written media which have been pioneered by newspapers do alter stories to make something appear good or bad in order to sell. Webster has defined media as a medium for communication (radio, newspapers, television) which is designed for maximum outreach amongst the masses. (Wikipedia.org, 2010)

2. Media’s Role in the Society

In today’s world, media has penetrated our lives to such an extent that is nearly as important as clothing and food. The media is definitely playing an impeccable and outstanding role to strengthen our society,   as it is a mirror for the society. The duties include informing, educating and entertaining the people. They make us aware of the whereabouts of our surroundings; put their own lives in danger like during natural disasters or attacks to just apprise or inform us about the situation. Media is the one spreading awareness in the society. In short, life would be totally incomplete without media. (Rayuso, 2008)

Media can be said to be the watchdog of our political democracy. It can truly prove to be a magnificent force in improving and building the nation. These days instead of providing important information, educative programmes and developing a sense of ownership among the society, we can say that there have been many instances depicting media being transformed into a commercialised sector which eyes only sensational news that can be sold easily and may be help in gain of TRPs (television rating points).

The effect... [continues]

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