What I've Learned Essay

Today, the entertainment industry plays a key role in American society. Television, internet, radio, music, and news are all the main forms of mass media. Mass media has overtime been sought to have a critical influence on society. I feel obliged to have this topic to research and find the true answer to whether the media has a positive or negative effect on society.
One of the most common and useful types of media today is the internet. With the advancement of technology and the computer the internet has become the world’s most productive and useful tool ever created. However, this useful tool has also been able to be manipulated by people for inappropriate use. Cybercriminals as they are called are usually sexual predators, porn addicts, and stalkers. The internet can be used to find your next job or your next crime victim.
The daily news media was sought for long to be the most innocent of media influence. The news media displays the events in society whether good or bad and has become more focused on selling the amount of views rather than focusing on the content itself. Today, newspapers and radio show’s gossip and exaggeration has shown to manipulate society’s images of our world. This results in aggression and disgust for American society.
The most influential type of media of all is music. This form of entertainment is the most embraced around the world. Music can bring pleasure or it can bring disgust. Today, it has an impact on society, especially in youth violence. Crimes among teens are sought to be cause by lyrics and messages in music. Jeh Jeh Pruitt says, “Music should remain an art form and not a way of life”. This should be brought back to reality as teens tend to emulate what they hear in music and allow inappropriate things to be accepted.
Early television in the “Roaring Twenties” was first developed to provide citizens with news in societal news. It then developed into a form of entertainment, airing shows centering the common image of American life. This day in time television goes beyond mirroring society and travels outside our imagination for new ways to sell images to us. Screen directors and creators sought to sex and violence to be money makers of the industry. This results in its viewers to act more aggressive and emulate what they see on TV. This soon problem soon became known as media violence.
This entire market has been able to sell even the most inappropriate types of media. Now, the media industry has become an unstoppable train that will continue through time to depict our images of the world and sell it back to us.

Interview

Mass media’s influence on society can be best opinionated by someone who works in the media industry. Knowing this, I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Jeh Jeh Pruitt, a news anchor for Fox 6 news of Birmingham. Mr. Pruitt provided me his sincere opinions and beliefs on the media’s influence on society. What was once myopic to me, Mr. Pruitt gave me valuable information on the subject as he allowed me to see what has seen over his years in the media industry along with his supported opinion.
“The media has the biggest influence of all, but it is up to the individual to allow it to have a positive or negative effect”, he said. I couldn’t agree more with this as we engaged in this conversation about the world’s largest and fastest moving industry. I have learned from Jeh Jeh that our American society is constantly being shaped each day by what the media displays. I enjoyed my interview with Mr. Pruitt as he gave me his valued opinion on the subject and enabled me to fully understand mass media’s influence on our society.

The News Media

News and events outside of one's home or neighborhood are brought to their area via the newspaper, magazines, radio, television, and the internet. The news cast depicts images about our world, influencing our thoughts on society. The majority of our learning comes from what we hear and see in the world. Local news stations on television and the radio updates us on main events. However, 75 percent of news information is about violence in our society. Some believe that the news media is harmless of any influence on society, while others believe that watching and listening to violence everyday depicts the images we have about our world at large. The average person who listens to four or more hours of the local news is found to be more aggressive, anti-social, and very low social skills among society from their disgusted image of the world. "It is the power that shapes and molds the mind of virtually every citizen, young or old, rich or poor, simple or sophisticated" (Sweet Liberty, 2000, 1). This quote mentions mass media, and its components, are very powerful and are capable of influencing one's mind, as well as their behavior.
I believe that network television news is guilty of negative influence on society. When I watch the local news and see the all of the violence and negative events that is portrayed about our society an immediate negative image about our world is displayed in my mind. I also find news networks guilty of exaggerating information which further evokes disgust about the information portrayed. The news media depicts the images we have of our world further influencing our aggressive and disgustful behavior in society.
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-182033215/influence-television-news-depictions.html

Book Review: Violence and the Media

In Violence and the Media, author Victoria Sherrow explores the complex role that media violence plays in our lives. Sherrow discusses the roots, causes, and effects of media violence. Some may say that media violence causes societal violence and other problems. Others say the media are not to blame but merely reflect society. Sherrow outlines the research of theses viewpoints in her book by shedding light on the opinions of the public and giving factual descriptions behind them.
Victoria Sherrow researches the viewpoint that the media is not to blame for societal problems. For instance, in chapter seven psychology critics claim that people who imitate media violence are already mentally ill. Sherrow gives evidence to this perception after proving that violence has been around way before the media has. Psychologist Nicholas Johnson says, “Adults should be in control of what media influence goes on in their household”(103). Furthermore, Johnson believes that the media is harmless in cause and effect on society.
In contrast, critics say that television teaches false perceptions and values and may promote the illusion that complex problems can be solved quickly. The American Psychological Association claims that heavy viewers behave more aggressively rather than light viewers (92). Statistics on society prove that heavy media viewers believe that violence and aggression are acceptable due to its showcases on TV and computer screens. Even the news has been proven to influence the way we see our world today and how we act upon these believes. Victoria Sherrow is one of the many people who seek change for the way mass media affects us.

Music's Influence

“Music is well-known to connect deeply with adolescents and to influence identity development, perhaps more than any other entertainment medium,” says Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times Health. According to Tara, nine out of ten teen adolescents have music players which play key factors of influence in violence and abuse. She also claims that one in three popular songs contain explicit material of sexual content and use of drugs and alcohol. Her research has shown that rap music is the leading genre containing 77 percent of such material. The average teen listens to 16 hours of music each week compared with an average 4 hours a week of television. In addition, teenagers are exposed more to what they hear on music players and radio than what they see on television.

I believe that Tara's statistics are correct and that music plays a key role in adolescent teens. As a teenager I find it very common for the explicit music that we listen to today to influence our actions in society. For instance, if a song's message is to kill then the song's listener's obtain a perception that they can kill as like the artist they are listening to.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/under-the-influence-ofmusic/

Children and the media

The world today is moving at a much faster pace than ever. The media industry is rapidly growing everyday and the more it grows the more conflict it spurs with its programs. Media violence associated with children is the most debated topic among media violence and still is. Research has shown that television isn't the only suspect of media violence. David Pogue of the New York Times Technology argues that the internet is potentially dangerous for children."Kids online experiment with different personas, and can be a lot nastier in the anonymous atmosphere of the Internet than they would ever be in person (just like grown-ups)," Pogue says. He adds, "And their mockery can be far more painful when it’s public, permanent and written than if they were just muttered in passing in the hallway." He concludes that the internet plays a huge part in child adolescence now.

I believe that the internet is a wonderful advencement in our time period and is harmless to those who uses it properly. Unlike television and radio, the internet can be controlled from what is displayed on your screen. In addition, the computer only does what you tell it to and if you search for violence and other offensive things on the web then that is what you will be exposed to.

Violence and the Media

In chapters 1 and 2 of Victoria Sherrow's Violence and the Media, the cause and effect of media violence is vividly explained in its effect on society. Violence and aggression has always been apart of human history and some people think that since the advancement of television has upscaled these problems in modern society. Many cases have been proven to be influenced by media violence. The MTV show Beavis and Butthead was claimed to be the main factor in which a mother's two sons acted out a scene from the show that lead to them being burned alive from matches.(7) The cases also give evidence to the fact that the media has negative effects on peoples attitudes, which makes violence and aggression to solve conflicts acceptable.

Some people agree with these effects, while I believe the media is not to blame for societal problems.Some people believe that the media reflects merely on sociey allowing people to realease aggression through fantasies rather than acting out violent impulses. In children's cases I believe that parents should take more control of what their children watch on television. Advancements in the television industry have been made downgrade the use of violence and profanity. For instance, censorship, which deletes profanity is a very common tool on modern television shows today. These opposing viewpoints are on the rise today as the television industry and crime rates grow.