How Does the Mass Media Affect our Perception of the News - Report Example

J209 02 December Does it matter where we get our news? How does the mass media affect our perception of the news? According to a recent survey conducted by Pew Research, public perception about the reliability of news stories is getting decreased as time goes on. They found that only around 69% of the Americans do not have blind faith in the accuracy of information supplied by news agencies at present. At the same time, only 55% of the Americans disbelieved the information supplied to them by the news agencies in 1985 (Porter). From the above statistics, it is evident that reliability of information supplied by the news media is decreasing day by day. The accuracy, credibility and reliability of news media are declining day by day because of unhealthy competition in this sector. Because of the intrusions of digital news media, traditional news media such as Newspapers magazines, monthlies and weeklies are facing stiff competition at the moment. With the help of digital news media such as internet and television, it is possible for the people all over the world to get news and information as soon as it occurs. On the other hand printed media is incapable of providing instant news because of the time required for the printing of news. At the same time, the number of television channels as well as internet news channels is increasing day by day. As a result of that, competition in the media industry, especially in the digital media industry is intensifying as time goes on. Because of the unhealthy competition in media industry, people are getting contrasting information about a particular incident. In the case of news related to politics, economics and culture, news media have their own agenda and preferences. Some news media may favour a particular political party whereas other news media have different political ideologies. As a result of that, people may get different information from different television or internet channels about a particular incident that was taken place at some parts of the world. Moreover, mass media have the ability to affect the perceptions of the public about different events. Therefore, it is necessary for the people to seek information from reliable media rather than going after popular media or baized media. This paper analyses two questions; 1) Does it matter where we get our news and 2) how does the mass media affect our perception of the news? Does it matter where we get our news? Americans get news from a variety of sources such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, computers, cell phones, tablets, e-readers, and devices such as an Xbox or Playstation. However, the most popular news source among Americans are television (87 percent), laptops/computers (69 percent), radio (65 percent), and print newspapers or magazines (61 percent) (American press institute). None of the other news channels enjoy the same popularity as the television channels enjoy now. Newspapers were the dominating news channels until few decades before. However, the arrival of internet and television channels caused severe damages not only to the news channels but also to the credibility, accuracy and reliability of news. It should be noted that the reporting styles of newspapers are entirely different from that of television channels or internet media. Newspapers companies have different departments in order to test the validity and reliability of the news they received from different sources. In other words, different types of editing of news will takes place in different departments of the newspaper companies before the printing and presentation of the news to the people. As a result of that most of the news that came out from printed sources such as newspapers was highly reliable. However, the arrival of digital media has revolutionized the trends in news reporting. Instead of testing the authenticity, reliability and validity of a particular news, television media has the tendency to report the incidents as it takes place. In other words, television media gives more importance to instant reporting rather than reporting after the testing of the reliability of news. Because of the unhealthy competition among television companies, this trend is increasing. At the same time, the case of improper reporting or faulty reporting is increasing day by day in television news reporting. Majority of the television channels operating in this world are not neutral. Many of them have their own agenda. Al Jazeera is believed to be protecting the interests of Muslims whereas CNN is believed to be protecting the interests of Americans. BBC on the other hand tries to protect the interests of the British. Take the case of CNN. It is world’s first cable news network. CNN claims that they are operating neutrally. However, CNN viewers have other ideas. CNN acts as a neutral medium at times and shows biases at other times. For example, CNN was at it very best when they live telecasted the rescue of Chilean miners. Around one billion people worldwide have watched this telecast. At the same time, CNN has spoiled its reputation as a neutral medium during events like the 2003 Gulf War. Moreover, many of the CNN reporters have some kind of prejudices while reporting news about Christians and Muslims. For example, “CNN as a global network has as its main foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour. Her reporting ranges from indifference to Israel to outright hostility bordering on anti-Semitism. Her series on “God’s Jewish Warriors” and “God’s Muslim Warriors” (she had a Christian series as well) attempted to create moral equivalence between Israelis trying to defend themselves and Islamist homicide bombers”(Golub). From the above description, it is evident that CNN behaves like a neutral medium while reporting the rescue of Chilean miners. The live telecast of the rescue operation has definitely attracted many viewers. In fact the rating of CNN has been increased a lot after this reporting. It should be noted that America’s interests will not be damaged while reporting an incident like this. Therefore, CNN tried to report this incident neutrally. At the same time, CNN has many biases while reporting issues related to Christians, Jews and Muslims. The reporting of 2003 Gulf War is definitely an indication of how biased is CNN towards protecting the interests of Americans. It should be noted that CNN like American media have continuously reported that Saddam or Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction. In fact CNN has terrified the world while portraying Saddam as an enemy to global peace and harmony. Now it is clear that, neither Saddam nor Iraq possessed any weapons of mass destruction. Even after decades of enquiry and the execution of Saddam, American troops failed to capture any weapons of mass destruction from Iraq. It is evident that CNN like American media has reported the Gulf war incidents in order to protect the interest of Americans. In short, it is better to trust a news after viewing news telecasts from different news channels. If the news is against the interests of Americans, all American media will sink it, fabricate it or twist it. Same way, if an incident takes place against the interests of Muslims, the Al Jazeeras and other Muslim television channels will do the same. The Iraq War was justified by American media whereas it was criticized by many of the Arab media. Pro-American media and pro-Muslim media have cited many examples to substantiate their stands on Iraq war. It would be difficult for a neutral person to know the reality after watching either of these two media. It is better to watch a neutral television channel in order to get the real information about Iraq war or war on terror. However, it is a not an easy task since majority of the news media all over the world may be pro-America or anti-America rather than neutral. How does the mass media affect our perception of the news? In the most recent survey by Pew Research, 63% of Americans say news stories are often inaccurate, 70% believe news organizations “try to cover up their mistakes”, and only 59% of Americans see news organizations as “highly professional” (Porter). In other words, the public perception about news reporting is changing now. Public have realized that news channels are competing each other in order to increase their channel rating rather than providing accurate information to the public. As a result of that, many of the people all over the world currently view more television channels before, making a decision about the accuracy or reliability of a particular news event. “Americans trust the news they hear directly from news-gathering organizations, with 43 percent of people saying they trust the information acquired this way either very much or completely, 44 percent saying they trust it moderately, and 13 percent saying they only trust it slightly or not at all” (American press institute). The following illustration provides a rough idea about the trust shown by Americans upon different news channels. (American press institute) From the above graph, it is evident that news form social media and word of mouth are highly unreliable for Americans whereas news from electronic sources, news organizations and search engines are highly reliable for them. It is a fact that news coming out from social media need not be reliable always because of the lack of control over such media by the government or other agencies. Social media owners do not take any responsibility for the news that is spreading through their social networks. For example, there millions of unreliable and false information spreading through Facebook and Twitter like social media every day and the owners of these companies will never take any responsibility for that. At the same time, electronic news media or search engines such as Google cannot stay away from the accuracy of information spreading through their news channels. For example, CNN cannot stay away from the responsibility of providing false information to the public. “Dramatic advances in mass communication and transportation during the past 50 years have truly created a global village, a mass society. Things occurring anywhere are now quickly known everywhere. Mass media both overwhelm us with information, and help us to sort it out (Sylwester). Globalization has brought many changes in this world. It has brought many changes in news reporting also. Majority of the major news media are operating globally at present. Moreover, the rapid advancement in communication technologies such as mobile phones, internet and social network has influenced the reporting styles in one way or another. It would be difficult for a new media to report totally wrong information at the moment because of the easy access of different news channels to the public. “The Computer Age has revolutionized mass media. The Internet allows the universal inexpensive publication of ideas, whether it’s an email message sent to everyone on one’s list or a narrowly-defined website that’s available to anyone” (Sylwester). The arrival of Internet as well as cell phones has made significant changes in news reporting. It would be difficult for news channels to cheat the public anymore because of the arrival of different media as well as the easy access people getting to these media. It is easy for an average person to access thousands of news media with the help of his cellphone. “Its not unusual to wake up, check the cellphone for messages and notifications, look at the TV or newspaper for news, commute to work, read emails, take meetings and makes phone calls, eat meals with friends and family, and make decisions based on the information that we gather from those mass media and interpersonal media sources”(Dr. Curtis). Conclusions The sources of news are extremely important while a person decides about the validity and reliability of a particular news. Since majority of the news media have different types of biases and commercial interests, neutral reporting often stays on paper rather than in practice. Since mass media has the ability to affect public perception in many ways, politicians and business groups misuse media for different purposes. Such a scenario is not good for the development of a healthy society. News media should stay neutral while reporting news in order to construct a stable society. Works Cited American press institute. “How Americans Get Their News”. Published 03/17/14. Web. 02 December 2014. Dr. Curtis, Anthony. “Mass Media Influence on Society”. Web. 02 December 2014. Golub, Eric. “Why CNN Failing?”. The Washington Times. December 13, 2013 Porter, Jeremy. “Does News Accuracy Matter?”. Web. 02 December 2014. Sylwester, Robert. “How Mass Media Affect Our Perception of Reality — Part 1”. Motivation Emotion, Robert Sylwester, Thinking & Problem Solving |  04 December 2001. Print Read More