The mass media, including television, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping people's ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Give reasons for your answer.
Many of us like to think ourselves wise and unbiased because we are not gullible and view the world objectively. In fact, even for avid readers of books, 90 percent of their daily information comes from the mass media. The mass media has become the sole source of information for most people. No wonder we lack independent thinking.
Our reliance on the mass media is, to some degree, unavoidable. It is impossible for us to always acquire first-hand knowledge. In fact, there is often no such need. Knowledge is handed down from one generation to another. It is accumulative. This makes science possible. In fact our whole civilization is based on the cooperation and coordination of individuals who take care of their respective work. Thus, people in the mass media industry are entrusted by the public to provide and disseminate information. They are like an extension of our eyes, ears and hands.
The power of the media is more evident in democratic countries. In a country where freedom of speech and reporting is guaranteed, the mass media is often looked upon favorably. By and large, it plays a major role in promoting good causes and exposing wrongdoings of all sorts. Any decent organization, including the government, have to consider the public fallout before planning anything distasteful. Ideally, the mass media acts as a monitoring device, ready to expose any ugly business. Scandals such as the Watergate scandal would have been covered up without effective independent journalism. In the same way, momentum could be gathered for worthy undertakings.
Thanks to technological development, the mass media is becoming more convincing than ever. One may doubt something if he only reads it in the newspaper -- the author may write whatever he likes, but to see it on TV leaves little room for doubting. There will be interviews with relevant people, a neighbor, a relative or a police officer, collaborating each other's statement. Then again, all major news agencies run similar stories. The audience have no reason to doubt the authenticity. Thus, we form our 'informed' opinion based on what we gather from media reports.
As I said before, our opinions have to be based on facts, which are always second-hand information. The mass media is the biggest information provider for most people. For better or worse, our opinion is going to be shaped by the mass media.
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