Important facts of The Role of Mass Media in Society

In the last 50 years, the influence of media has grown exponentially with the advance of technology. At first, there was the telegraph followed by the radio the newspaper, the television and now the internet we lived in a society that depends on information and communication to maintain transferring within the proper direction and does our daily activities like paintings, entertainment, health care, education personal relationships traveling and anything else that we have to do. A common person in the city usually wakes up, checks up, checks the tv news or newspaper goes to work makes a few phone calls, and makes his decisions based on the information that he has gathered either from their co-workers, news, tv, friends, financial reports, etc.

However, in state-of-the-art linked society it is the media, which has to grow to be the primary supply of information. Yet, the role of media is a controversial issue. It is being debated what is the functions of media in a society and what is its impact on an individual. Of all the media in a society and what is its impact of an individual. Of all the media distribution channels, the most influential has been television. we are constantly exposed to thousand of the image of advertising stardom, violence, sex and much more. in fact, it is known that a child is exposed to about 40.000 advertisements a year.

The media makes billions of dollars with the advertising they sell and to which we as consumers are exposed to. we buy what we are told to be good, after seeing thousands of advertisement. younger humans are in a degree of existence wherein they want to be prevalent through their peers, they want to be loved and be successful. the media create the proper photograph of a beautiful guy or women and tell you what the characteristics of a successful person are which we can see it in movies and on tv. it is a subliminal way of telling us that if we are not like them we are not cool yet so it is the time to buy the stuff they buy and look like they look. Another negative influence in teenagers that has to grow the last years is anorexia and obesity. There are tens of millions of young people preventing weight problems, but at the identical time, they are exposed to thousands of advertisements for junk food while the ideal photo of a successful character is informed to be skinny and rich. in the era of commercialization, media house is also concerned with the means to gain more and more profit rather than focusing on reality and morality.

which the power od influence the masses, also comes the power to corrupt many times, the reports and coverage of media are unauthentic and fabricated which often confuses people and leads to the formation of false perception regarding certain incidents or situations. Media also play the role of a manipulator to influence the minds of people. Many news items are tampered with in such a way that a major part of reality is not revealed and our opinions and ideas are formed on the basis of such false truth. Moreover, during the election, the political parties are taking the assistance of media to garner the support of the masses. Moreover, media has the power to publicize anybody and at the same time, it can defame anyone. At times it may hype a person's achievements and his deeds, at the same time it can reveal such negative things about another person that it may become difficult for him to survive in the society. Media also considered being the mouthpiece of political parties. Each political parties has an associated media house which is biased towards it. It will always try to glorify the achievement of the particular party and belittle the opponent parties. It helps in spreading that party's ideologies and always points out faults of the competing party while covering up its own weaknesses.

Media has also been misused to a large extent by criminals and terrorists. Terrorists are taking the assistance of the internet to create an aura terror all over the world and mold the minds of the youth. They convince and recruit susceptible individuals through the internet.pornography and other cybercrimes are also on the rise because of the increasing use of the internet.

however several positive aspects are also attached to the media. Apart from disseminating information and entertaining the people media in the present day has a huge responsibility to shoulder. In a democratic country, media is considered to be the fourth arm of the government, other than the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. It generates political ideas, mobilizes political and social action groups and helps to shape public policy agenda and priorities. in this respect, it acts as a check on the government and limits it from going beyond its bounds. it plays the role of political accountability and checks and balances by keeping eye on public officials and institutions and challenging them constantly through reports, interviews, debates, etc. Moreover, the media also keeps an eye on the private sector and NGOs ensuring that they do not harm public wellbeing.

Media also helps in promoting and strengthening the culture and tradition of the society. for example, Doordarshan India's national channel which reaches almost every corner of the country airs programs dealing with sensitive issues like education of a girl child, preservation of forests, problems od population explosion, etc. thus bringing them into public attention. Media has also played an important role in blending the various culture of the world. Media sometimes, act as a direct political actor as in the case of watergate scandal in us when media reports resulted in a political crisis and illegal actions. Media also act as the distributor of justice as the Jessica Lal murder case where the media took charge by coming to the forefront, gathering mass support and assuring that those responsible for the crime were penalized.

Thus the indisputable fact remains that media enjoys immense power over the society. in this respect, it has been rightly said by William Bernbach, an American advertising executive that, "As of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. vulgarise society. We can brutalize it. Or we will assist carry it directly to a better degree".

Therefore if the power of the media is rightly used for the welfare of the society, it could become the strongest weapons of society