Print vs. Press

Print vs. Press In today's elections the Media is one of the biggest influences in most elections. Throughout the years the Media has changed quiet a bit. As in most cases, today's technology has revolutionized the Media and the way we get our information. Not only do we hear about elections through the media, we learn of updated news pertaining to our everyday lives. There are two types of Media that presents different stimuli, which vary substantially from nature to content. The two types are the Printing press and the Electronic press. Both play major roles in educating and informing our nation. The Print media is best known for it's "excel in conveying factual details (graber189)." Graber goes on to add that the print media is generally credited with conveying more knowledge that audiovisual media does. One Critic by the name of Neil Postman says that if our nation is exposed to too much television, we might turn into a nation of dilettantes who avoid the serious issues of the world. I think that we are seeing some of that now. Look at Clinton for example, our media has not been as involved in how well our country has been doing. Rather the media is steady telling the nation who he sleeps with and what he has for breakfast. On the contrary, the newspapers and so on are giving us facts. They are telling us more about the health care reform, and about issues over seas. We as a nation need to care more about our country and set aside some of our amusement. One on the major down falls of the printing press is that, most times the news we read is that of old news. If there is an attack in Russia on Wednesday, then it will not be until Thursday or Friday until we read it in the paper. Another example is that of Time magazine. Subscribers of Time usually receive their magazine a week or two later that the latest news. I think that the printing press is for the more informative group and should not be left in the dark. The Electronic Media is however convenient and has the ability of reaching millions of people within a matter of minutes. Think about someone hiking in the woods. If there is a global matter and the president needs to address the nation the hiker could hear about this through a cellular phone. Without technology, the hiker hears about the problem hours later. Technology has made reaching people inexpensive and extremely convenient. I can get on the Internet at any time during the day or night and read what has happened minutes before. Most of the time I can see the news as it's being done. Lets suppose there is a tornado in my surrounding county. With television, I can be sitting in my home watching a movie and see an alert interrupting my show that lets me know to get out of my territory. Without this technology I am in grave danger. This is one way the electronic media can and is helping our nation. One problem is that we do not get all the factual information we should. With all the ratings and money being made by television most broadcasters are interested in getting viewers. Unfortunately most Americans are not interested in what is going on in the world; rather they want to be amused. This is why the media tells us that Clinton has slept with his secretary and that his kids are gay and so on. The people want to laugh and be amused without the bother of worldwide issues. While the electronic media is a great resource for educating the people, something has to be done about the mischief in creating stories and not facts. As I have discussed in the previous paragraphs, the media plays a great role in the influence of people. There are good points about the printing press as well as bad. The same holds true for the electronic media. A crucial fact is that without the forms of media present today, we would me ignorant as a whole society on worldly events. However, there must be some control on the stories and news that's allowed to be expressed through each type. Every citizen in the world should pick and choose for him or herself the fact of each story.