In today's society, mass media is at the top of the food chain. Everything we see and read in the new as well as everything we observe from our roll models such as artists; it is all able to affects the way we view things. Nowadays, mass media has become so easily accessible to the public. Take the entertainment industry for example, it has become such a big part of our economy and everyday lives. The mass media effects the way we act, dress and conduct ourselves. Going through our everyday lives, what we currently think the world is right now through the window of mass media. Our generation is a perfect example of how the influence from mass media has grown tremendously. For example, a musician like Miley Cyrus is a perfect example of how mass media is effecting our worldview. Personally, I know a lot of girls that look up to her, not only as an artist but a person as well. Now we have young teenage girls dressing and acting similarly like Miley does on stage simply because the mass media has convinced them that its the new 'cool' thing to do. Look at any young teenage under-dressed girl; and you would be looking at a perfect example of how we only see things through a tiny, filtered mass media window.
Another example is the release of the article of the article in Tibet about a group of policemen repulsively beating on a monk. Obviously right away people would think that it is police brutality. A little later on they released a photo that was slightly zoomed out. Evidently, it turns out a crowd of monks was beating on cops. the cops were not being brutal but instead they were actually trying to control a riot. This relates back to the seeing-eye window of mass media. As viewers, we only see what mass media publishes. They know they have the ability to control people's mindsets because they are so heavily relied on. Our view is formed by what we know; and what we know is filtered by mass media. However, sometimes what the media filters out is much more crucial to the story at hand. Before we form an opinion, we need to dig deeper into the subject looking at different points of view, collecting wider ranges of information so we can be less subjective to what the mass media publishes.
Thank you for your time,
Ernest Coetzee
