MTV's Impact on World Culture - Essay Example

World leaders including Bill Clinton and Tony Blair have used its influence and to communicate to younger, impressionable voters. It also brought about fashion coverage, along with the cheeky cartoon Beavis and Butthead, and "stunt" series Jackass. However, the influence of MTV has not always been positive. It has had to endure criticism over the years. When it started, MTV promoted music the right way, with a host of talented performers in its programs. Over time, they realized that there were other avenues to get the revenue.

Sex and violence slowly entered the MTV scene, and it was a vehicle to unprecedented success. The talent was overlooked for better video productions and the raunchy video was the order of the day. While the influence of MTV on culture, especially the youth, has had its positives, the negatives are getting far too alarming to be dismissed lightly. It can be safely said that no news channel has quite captured the public imagination the way CNN has. BBC may claim to be a worthy adversary, but for sheer viewership and coverage, CNN has no equal.

Since the advent of cable television, the media has experienced a never-seen-before boom. Cable News Network or CNN has been at the heart of it. The Gulf War in 1990 was probably its high point. The coverage was at an incredibly broad level, with reporters and correspondents risking life and limb and reporting form the middle of the war. Its reputation as a news broadcaster soared subsequently. Today, CNN is the top source of news for countries worldwide. It has a responsibility that critics claim it has not always carried out.

Many say that the stories are told from a prejudiced western view. Notwithstanding the criticism, CNN has influenced the world more positively than otherwise. It has brought into the forefront the kind of coverage that was hitherto considered impossible. Its programs carry high intellectual content and many of its broadcasters are household names in media and entertainment, like Larry King and Christiane Amanpour. Hollywood movies are globally successful because they are simply popular. Films made in Hollywood can be absolute trash junk; yet, they can also be terrific.

While the latter obviously sells, the trash sells too - because they are so wonderfully promoted. While Hollywood movies may be pornographic or needlessly violent, it is the same with other cinema industries too. One reason for Hollywood's success is that their movies actually tend to promote liberal values of worldwide significance, like women's rights, the ills of tyranny, the worth of each human life, and the stories of individual success through sheer hard work. Hollywood cannot be regarded as typically American.

As a matter of fact, its richness in creative resources has rendered it an international center for entertainment production. Many of its most flourishing producers, directors and actors have in fact been outsiders, coming to America because they wanted the international audience which Hollywood could offer. Nowadays, with acclaimed directors from a diversity of non-English language film cultures bring a new outlook to Hollywood while at the same time producing super-hit movies.