Essay Sample on Media Manipulation: Distorting News and Beliefs

Introduction

The media mainly reflects on the current beliefs and also issues that affects society. Thus they work to ensure all the current news is publicized to the public. Through the media, the people in the community become updated on the various current affairs which are essential to their system of living. In some of the instances however, the media personality may end up distorting some of the news and stories they present to the public (Bain, 2009). This could arise due to the belief that exists about the faster sale of wrong and created stories and in some cases, the public has a more likelihood of consuming more of the unreal and exciting stories in comparison to the real ones.

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There have been many ways in which media distorts reality. For instance, the movie apologists and the TV always reveal that to the people that they have no business in their criticism since they are holding the mirror up to reality. Such explanations from the public media sway typically the minds of the people which should not be the case. Always the news needs to conform to the required standards of the integrity of the journalists. People should demand to take the right information flowing through televisions, social media feeds and radios at the true face value (Bain, 2009). In many cases, it has been noted that groups and even individuals produce the news by publishing material, which will be of more interest to them.

In some cases, the media exaggerates some of the realities particularly the sensational as well as the most outrageous events like in the case of the trials of the various celebrities. Hence the media have a great influence on the people's perception of reality. From research, the media remains to be an essential part of the multifaceted process within the society through which there is the production of the environmental meanings. With the use of the media, peoples' character as well as the stereotypes, are inclined into the categories and also thoughts expanded into the concepts of certain features negatively (Sotiriu, 2015). Also, the consumerism culture of the people implies that what they believe is what they read and thus, advertisements have a significant influence on the audience. The habit of the media of exaggerating stories leading to the development of the moral panic by the public distorts their idea of what the reality is.

The media also has a strong power in the reality whereby it is equipped with the mandate of naming and grouping people into their respective categories. The public society is only made to listen and also believe all that is produced by the media as the news concerning the current affairs is genuine and can be relied upon. The media mainly holds a huge amplifying element for the selection of realities including the sensational as well as the outrageous events happening daily (Sotiriu, 2015). They thus reveal the actions which are immoral as casual and normal but the behaviors' consequences are never shown.

The concept of changing reality by the media is what is taken as a defiant amplification. Hence the story holds that any changes in the reality of any story trigger something more significant. This is what conforms to the media's outlook that they only twist the stories' details into interesting readers; however, with the amplification, it means that the truth is subject to distortion or even loss. All the journalists who are known to be ideal reports what is always real in society. People nowadays never see any truth in what is presented by the media. It is taken as the true epitome where it should be a must that they are compelled into producing the least distorted reality (Luhmann, 2014). In the present day, the media has been reduced to a platform used to please the members of the public in various ways. In a bid to be ahead of their main competitors, the media personalities have been seen to lose their direction and essence. Notably, people can reject what they have no clue about since they subject them to feel a bit small which has affected the version of the truth. The inference that can be made is that every media report is filled with what can be termed as rumors and the media has also played a significant role in uncovering and exposing the wrongdoers and scandals across the world (Luhmann, 2014). To be precise, the media misuse our social issues for appraisals, feed us a consistent eating routine of degrading material, celebrate flippant conduct, and afterward have the audacity of blaming the teachers and parents for the social issues that arise.

Conclusion

In conclusion, just like any mother business enterprise, the media is also concerned with the making of profits. With this in mind, they have therefore been forced to fabricate and also exaggerate the reality. In essence, the media is an unreliable source of information. However, it does not mean that people should boycott all the media reports. Even though some of the people could reveal that the media exaggerate stories for the societal advantage towards creating more awareness to them of the various situations in their surroundings, it is depicted that moral panic is what is employed by the media for their benefit.

References

Bain, G. (2009). Gotcha!: How the Media Distort the News. Key Porter Books, $ cc1994..

Edwards, D., & Cromwell, D. (2018). Propaganda blitz: How the corporate media distort reality. Pluto Press. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264822298_Do_media_reflect_reality_a_quantitative_study

Luhmann, N. (2014). The reality of the mass media (p. 1). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. https://www.theguardian.com /media-network /2014/may/13/internet-confirmation-bias

Sotiriu, S. (2015). Digital diplomacy: Between promises and reality. In Digital Diplomacy (pp. 47-65). Routledge.