Is It Really You?
Beware and be aware!!!
There is great speculation on the role of the media in today's world. It is a very important medium for disseminating information. Newspapers and news channels bring the world events and happenings right at the door step of people. A person sitting in India gets to know about what is happening in America. People whole heartedly surrender themselves to media. Obviously what is written in the news papers or what is shown on news channels has to be correct!!!!!!.
There can be no wrong information. Yes it is true! But there is a great danger associated with it. Even basic information when it is passed on through words can create a wrong image among the people. There are so many subtle ways through which ideas can be literally drilled into the minds of people. Then people start mimicking the same opinions. And since people surrender completely to media their opinion on world events gets constructed through subtle ways. In fact on many occasions inadvertently the media can cause to construct public opinion. In one of the books I was reading on emotional quotient there was a very apt example of how subliminally the media can play a huge role in constructing public opinion. A news channel was covering the election campaign in a small town. That was the only news channel broadcast in that town. So they enjoyed a very high viewership in that town. The news reader had the habit of having a small smile on his face while talking about one of the parties contesting the election.
No wonder that party won almost 95% of the seats from that town. Here is a classic case of how subliminally the media has constructed public opinion. Another method of constructing public opinion is by what the media chooses to cover. If a country is very prosperous and doing very good socially and economically and the media chooses to focus just on the death cases in the country, just imagine how the public is going to feel about that country.
Every time the country is talked about all that the people are going to talk about is the deaths. Then the people will come to the conclusion that the particular country is unsafe. There is nothing wrong or untrue in the news but just that it has created a wrong impression in the minds of people. Humans by nature are very judgmental and are very quick to come to conclusions.It is this deficiency that can be used by people in general to drill ideas into their heads.
Therefore media should exercise great care and responsibility in passing on news to people. It is one of the dangers of a highly connected world. The opinions get passed on like fire and before you blink we have a thousand people who share the same opinion meagerly by mimicry. This Ayn rand in one for her books called it "UNITE and RULE". To drill ideas into people and then rule over them.
So in today's world you become famous not by doing great deeds but with the support of the media. A person on the roads can become a subject of prime importance if only the media chooses so. Such is the power of the media today that it can literally make or break people.
There can be no wrong information. Yes it is true! But there is a great danger associated with it. Even basic information when it is passed on through words can create a wrong image among the people. There are so many subtle ways through which ideas can be literally drilled into the minds of people. Then people start mimicking the same opinions. And since people surrender completely to media their opinion on world events gets constructed through subtle ways. In fact on many occasions inadvertently the media can cause to construct public opinion. In one of the books I was reading on emotional quotient there was a very apt example of how subliminally the media can play a huge role in constructing public opinion. A news channel was covering the election campaign in a small town. That was the only news channel broadcast in that town. So they enjoyed a very high viewership in that town. The news reader had the habit of having a small smile on his face while talking about one of the parties contesting the election.
No wonder that party won almost 95% of the seats from that town. Here is a classic case of how subliminally the media has constructed public opinion. Another method of constructing public opinion is by what the media chooses to cover. If a country is very prosperous and doing very good socially and economically and the media chooses to focus just on the death cases in the country, just imagine how the public is going to feel about that country.
Every time the country is talked about all that the people are going to talk about is the deaths. Then the people will come to the conclusion that the particular country is unsafe. There is nothing wrong or untrue in the news but just that it has created a wrong impression in the minds of people. Humans by nature are very judgmental and are very quick to come to conclusions.It is this deficiency that can be used by people in general to drill ideas into their heads.
Therefore media should exercise great care and responsibility in passing on news to people. It is one of the dangers of a highly connected world. The opinions get passed on like fire and before you blink we have a thousand people who share the same opinion meagerly by mimicry. This Ayn rand in one for her books called it "UNITE and RULE". To drill ideas into people and then rule over them.
So in today's world you become famous not by doing great deeds but with the support of the media. A person on the roads can become a subject of prime importance if only the media chooses so. Such is the power of the media today that it can literally make or break people.
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