L'influence Des médias (document en anglais)

« Whoever controls the media, controls the mind. » said Jim Morrison, the famous american singer. Nowadays, the media have such power that they have a real influence on society. The influence of the media on society is exercised in several ways: by influencing the general opinion, by the norms and values ​​they define, or by the violence it engenders in society.

It can’t be denied that media have a considerable impact on the society, they build the society.

First and foremost, media have a real power, in the point to be able to influence the public opinion.

At first sight it would seem that media have for only function to inform, to keep abreast of the news, but only, the media are not generally neutral. It’s what think especially Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States who said that "In the press, only the commercials tell the truth." For example, a journalist can favor a subject to an other one, insist on a point of an affair when another journalist will press on another point. Indeed, even in trying to keep a neutral tone, it is very difficult to be objective when you have an opinion on the subject. The media are not neutral, some show even openly their bias, in particular newspapers.

We may as well mention the fact that polls influence public opinion. Polls are never completely reliable, there is always a 5 % margin of error approximately, at the most. To some extent, it is understandable because polling organizations question only 1000 people, so, even by trying hard to represent the society as possible, the results cannot be the same that in reality. But the problem is that most of people are influenced by the soundings, they change their point of view by seeing of what the majority of people think. By seeing that the majority of the people are favorable to a law, for example, they are certainly going to change their opinion on this law.

The information goes only to a sense, of the media to the conductors, they thus receive information already interpreted and not presented as the facts passed. People do not think for themselves by seeing the information. The media prevent from thinking freely and thus have an influence express on the society.

On the other hand, the media transmit ideals in which we tend to become identified which modify the way we judge people, and, in general, the media set the standards.

Indeed, by looking at our television, we learn that we should not be too big, too thin, to have a nose of this shape or the ears of that one, it is at least what we retain of an emission of makeover of the type " Extreme Makeover ". This kind of broadcasts is very popular in the United States and was exported in France. We cannot deny that this genre of emissions has a direct influence on the society. Let us consider the advantages and disadvantages of this influence. This influence can be positive: for example, the media expose the obesity as a major problem, they have allowed to become aware of the obesity and the health problems which this engenders, but on the contrary, the impact can be negative, indeed the spectator will tend to become identified with these personnnages idealized as we see it in musical clips, and can see in him defects which are not. It can be said that the media contribute to the development of the anorexia.

Worse even,

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