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In today’s day and age, media can have an enormous influence on our daily lives and media constantly effects our decisions. Through television, radio, magazines, advertisements, social networking sites and even in music, ideas can be inserted into our thoughts to influence our judgement. Whether these decisions be choosing to buy a particular advertised product or the decision to adopt a certain belief or ideology because our favourite celebrity promotes it, our minds can be easily swayed.

The media is forever projecting certain ideas in to our minds from which we are expected to agree with and adopt. Choices are seemingly presented to give us the impression that we are able to make up our own minds. While this may be the case on some television and radio shows, a specific agenda is often pushed through. Our society has become so obsessed with the latest celebrity news and all the latest consumer goods that we often do not have time to focus on important issues in our own lives.

Advertisements

People are exposed to hundreds of advertisements every single day. No matter where we are in the world, an advertisement is never too far away. Whether it be on television, the radio, magazines, billboards, posters or on buses, it is hard to escape commercial messages. The objective of these advertisements is simple, to persuade the consumer to buy the companies product because it is supposedly better than all the other products available on the market. The media and corporate world supposedly give consumers the power to select when realistically a consumers choices are normally fixed between two companies. For example, many large corporations like Coca Cola and Pepsi are in constant competition however in actuality they profit from each other and feed off one another’s rivalry. The same can be seen in the Microsoft and Apple rivalry as they both attempt to outdo each other to appeal to offer a variety to consumers.

Television

Watching television can become an integral part of our lives from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. Our minds are bombarded with product placements in movies and television shows as well as in the constant array of advertisements that are featured every 15 minutes. What we see on television can influence how we behave in our real lives whether we have the desire to become famous or whether we alter our beliefs because of something we have seen.

News

The news consistently broadcasts bad events in the world referring to violence, war, terrorism and political problems. The news rarely focuses on positive issues so instead leads us to believe that the world is hopeless and full of evil. It is important to note that this representation is not entirely true as there is much good in the world such as people who help create a more democratic and poverty free world.

Terrorism

The media's portrayal of terrorism as being a constant threat places us in a state of fear which in turn impedes on our daily lives. Barely a day goes by when we do not hear about terrorism in the news. When there has been a terrorist attack in the past, we become suspicious of everyone around us and may avoid public transport because of our fearfullness. While the threat of an attack is worrying, we should not let the media provoke us into a constant frenzy.

Celebrities

To many of us celebrities become part of our daily lives, we watch their every move whilst analysing their fashions and latest love interests. Young girls are extremely vulnerable to the celebrity culture as they endorse almost anything celebrities do. Girls see thin women as role models because they are always being praised for their beauty and receive so much attention for their skinny figure. This view of skinny being aligned with beauty becomes an influencing factor in anorexia nervosa, bulimia and weight loss.

Politics

The media implies choice by presenting only two political parties in news stories, the Republicans and Democrats in the U.S.A and the Conservatives and Labour in the U.K. This two party politics gives us anything but a real choice as these parties share so many similarities with each other even though they are regarded as polar opposites. There are alternative political parties and independent political candidates out there but unfortunately they do not receive enough votes and media coverage. If we all voted for the parties that promote fairness and equality, then our societies could improve dramatically. With politics today we are left with an unequal society where the wealthy bankers and corporations are allowed to take our money and they do not receive enough criticism in the media. An example of the media's hypocrisy, is that they almost always heavily criticise the political party in power whilst the party out of power is presented as preferable. When the current party looses power then the media begin to start supporting them again and criticising the new party in power. Thus the media presents a repetitive cycle and expresses argumentativeness which leaves us feeling trapped in a country where democracy is not truly exercised.

Activists

In the media, activists are often presented in an unpleasant light and most of the news stories refer to activists involved in court cases or activists getting arrested at protests. The media generally disregards the important reasons why the activists are campaigning. In reality, most activists are nothing like their media presentation and instead opt for peaceful demonstrations and campaigns to get their voice heard.

Islam

The media sets up the idea of two major religions, Christianity and Islam that are in constant conflict and disagreement. Because the media link terrorism with Islam, much Anti-Islamic sentiment is created resulting in prejudices and religious hatred. Of course it did not help that George Bush created a lot of hysteria about the Middle East by invading both Iraq and Afghanistan because he claimed they were full of terrorists and weapons, leading people to adopt the view that all Muslims were extremists when of course they are not.

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Image by Mate Eric J. TIlford

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Image by The White House