Media

“Media”. A small word that is associated with considerable amount of power. The power provides them with the ability to change and influence our thoughts, views, opinions, and perspectives. They can make us fall in love with someone and detest the existence of something/someone. As you are reading this, you might be agreeing with me or contesting my thoughts. You might think that people are not that naïve to be so easily influenced by what we are told by the media.

Think about it again.

We see/read/listen to something on the news and believe it without question. The media tells us a story and how often do we actually question, “Wait a minute, there might be another side to it.” We are given one side of the story and we BELIEVE that it is the full story. But, do we actually KNOW?  Every morning/afternoon/evening we are informed about the big attention grabber, “BREAKING NEWS”. Have we ever considered that there might be significant news out there that we were not informed about? And I am using the word ‘we’ because I do the same thing.

Lets consider the power of the Media:

Consider the Schappelle Corby’s case (apologizes to everyone who is reading this and is not from Australia). Who doesn’t know about Schappelle Corby’s case in Australia? If you have lived in Australia for the past 6-8 years, you probably do know about this case.

This case involved an Australian importing drug into Indonesia. The media, when this matter initially commenced, had portrayed Corby as innocent. It was constantly and overly emphasized that Corby was not guilty and was just a victim of the circumstances. This was made a national issue, where a “simple, sweet Aussie girl” was just travelling with friends for fun and got caught in such a big misunderstanding. This portrayal heavily contributed in initiating a movement that insisted Corby’s freedom and return to Australia. As the case progressed, it was ruled in court that Corby was guilty of possession of drugs.

Media portrayed Corby as innocent.

On what grounds did the media conclude that she was not guilty? It was just hearsay. The media’s portrayal of her being innocent resulted in millions of Australian believing she was innocent.

The media made this is into a national issue where nation pride was involved. This evidently resulted in grabbing every Australian’s (okay, so maybe not every Australian, but most Australian’s) attention, resulting in them watching all the interviews and piece of news related to the case. Even I remember watching news about Corby. Even I remember believing that she was innocent and the Indonesian officials were harsh and lacked understanding.

Whether it was the interview of Corby’s mother or Corby’s best friend, Australians watched/listened/read it. Even the slightest thing that was related to Corby grabbed people’s attention.

In my opinion, this piece of news was not as significant as it was portrayed. Rather, this piece of news was made important by the media. It was used to increase the reader/viewer/listeners because a large audience meant more people were viewing the advertisements, which meant attracting more advertisers and charging existing advertisers further.

This portrayal of Corby’s case resulted in influencing everyone’s views. Despite Corby’s sentence, many still believe that she is innocent. This is a great example of the influence that the media has.

Lets consider the influence of the media in other example:

Prior to the Commonwealth Games in India, all media channels in Australia (again, apologizes to those who do not live in Australia) had continuously shown one thing over-and-over again. This was that India was not prepared to host the Commonwealth (Cwlth) Games as the infrastructure was not complete, there was a lack of security, and existing infrastructure was inadequate. This resulted in some athletics not participating in the games because they were concerned about their personal health and hygiene.

Commonwealth Games India

My question is that were the Commonwealth Games in India a success or not? Were there any reported health or safety concerns for the athletics or tourists that relates to the above issues?

Did the media personals every post a retraction apologizing to India and all those workers who worked day and night to ensure the comfort of the “guests” in their country?

No.

The influence of the media in this case was so significant that tourists and athletics were not going to India. Do you still believe that the media is not so powerful and influential?

Okay, so why am I telling you all this. Well, I am just asking you to consider the other side of the coin. When the media informs us of something, do not automatically assume that it is set in stone. Do not use the glasses given by the media to see the world.

I apologize and thank all the journalists out there who are true to their profession and are focused on presenting the world with facts. It is only because of you people that the news is actually newsworthy.

I thank all of those who actually read this post. If you have different views, have suggestions or comments then please do voice them…

Thank you

=)

Posted in: Media News Fact Fiction