Throughout history, many different types of social and economic theories have developed as a direct response to the problems a given philosopher observed in society. With this in mind, it is interesting to analyze is how two different people can observe similar problems within society and develop different solutions. For example, in the 19th century Karl Marx identified many problems within his society and developed his socialist theories to address these issues. On the other hand, Scottish author and government reformer Samuel Smiles saw similar problems and developed different solutions. His solutions helped Samuels become a recognized “zealous advocate of material progress based on individual enterprise and free trade” (2).…
The film Rich Media Poor Democracy asserts that journalism in the United States does not serve the interest of the public, instead they serve the interest of media corporate bosses. Moreover, the film points out the media corporate bosses are to blame for the absence of choice and diversity in the media which stems from a shortage of competition created through mergers. Rich Media Poor Democracy proposes that citizen involvement can and should rescue the media, otherwise corporate bosses will maintain their stronghold and riches providing and even poorer democracy. Opponents of company mergers is not a new concept. In fact, Medoff and Kaye note that since the beginning of the century, consolidation of station ownership began to raise issues…
We learn about other people and the way the world is through media. Media not just being technologies and devices but also corporate entities. “Since the distribution of information is tied to financial gain, there's a problem” (Chris Bell) The problem being that there is six companies that own 90 percent of American media. If six companies control 90 percent of American media, how much influence do you think they have over what you're allowed to see every day?…
Imagine living in a world where no human oppresses another. Imagine living in a world where no one is poor and no one is rich. Imagine living in a world where the social class system is non-existent. Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, foresaw the image of this apparent communist utopia forming in every society; he expected the maltreated working classes to fight back against those who have immense, misused power. He believed that material possessions have a powerful enough influence on our lives to be considered the sole reason of historical change.…
The video ‘What Would Jesus Buy’ is about a performance activist group, The Stop Shopping Choir, which denounces consumerism. They encourage people to be more conscious of their shopping habits and how it affects people all over the world. Reverend Billy, the organizer of this group, argues that overconsumption and debt will bring about the end of humankind. He refers to this idea as the ‘Shopocalypse’. The group is particularly active during the holiday season because of the commercialism and consumerism now associated with this time of year.…
Both Rupert Murdock and Alfred Harmsworth were known to be prodigious journalists in Great Britain. However, Rupert Murdoch was seen to be an immoral baron who wrecked the atmosphere of London’s journalism centre, on Fleet Street. Whereas, Alfred Harmsworth became known for his notion that popular media empires were very much reliant on expansion and evolution. He later became known as Lord Northcliffe.…
Herman. Chomsky’s main focus is the media and how the media is no longer a free network of information but rather a business interested in making money by selling audiences to advertisers (Chomsky, 2002). Chomsky looks at 5 filters he believes are put on mainstream media and therefore make it impossible to produce completely unbiased information. The first filter Chomsky discusses is size and concentration of ownership; he states that due to the size and profit seeking nature of dominant media corporations create bias (Chomsky, 2002). Because mainstream media outlets are currently large corporations, information presented to the public is swayed in respect to their interests and protecting financial interests.…
It 's essential for us to understand every one of the parts that media has in our lives and to what degree we are affected by it, on the grounds that the media is additionally in charge of our social generalizations and…
Throughout the years, America has gone through a great revolution involving technology. With the technological revolution taking off news outlets have increased the various means by which they distribute information to the people. Increasingly a few media corporations took charge of a majority of the news the general public can access. As a result they controlled most of one’s ideas and imagination about the world. This control allows these conglomerates to influence the media they want the public to see, and in doing so much of society is blinded to issues that are of importance.…
Since wealthy business men own many private corporate media outlets, as well as private educational institutions, they have control over societal beliefs (Parenti, 630). “Mainstream ideas are the ideas of the ruling class” (Parenti, 630). For instance, corporate media outlets manipulate society’s thoughts by presenting bias information. “The media provides us with prejudice stories about welfare, cheats, drug addicts and greedy panhelders” (Mantsios, 512). Therefore, corporate media owners are responsible for negative attitudes towards people living in poverty.…
The economics of UGC Humans are rational and therefore will make decisions that will advance their interests (Siebert, Peterson, & Schramm, 1963). This rationality will make individual decisions that will be good for themselves and also advance the cause of civilization (Siebert, Peterson, & Schramm, 1963). The libertarian concept argues that journalism is an economic enterprise and in addition to informing and entertaining the masses should financial independence (Siebert, Peterson, & Schramm, 1963). Many newspapers, at all sizes, operate as big business enterprises that are impervious to any sense of social responsibility and are often unyielding to any level of public opinion (Christians, Ferre, & Fackler, 1993). This corporate nature has created media outlets that are designed based on certain demographics and creates questions…
As today’s world continually grows to be obsessed with the media, the influence that media has over society is also growing. Today’s society is obsessed with knowing things growing the interest of today’s people in the media. Whether it is social media apps or networks, media websites, websites or media television networks, people today constantly want to know what is going on in the world. Due to society’s has a constant need to know what is going on in today’s world the media, in all of its many forms, plays a crucial role in informing the average American person, however, due this media bias this influence of the media is not always a positive one.…
Journalism, according to likes of Altheide and Snow (1991), is dead. As society makes its way into the “post-journalism era” (Bolin, 2014, 338), more of the news is becoming saturated with sensationalism and with an influx of, according to Nguyen (2012), lifestyle journalism. Which is, as believed by Nguyen (2012) the entertainment oriented “marginalisation and trivialisation of public affairs” (Nguyen, 2012 p. 1), that is the catalyst in “...the ‘dumbing down’ of news” (Nguyen, 2012, p.1). For the past decades the blurring of entertainment and information has been on the rise (Fursich, 2012) so much so that it has cultivated the term ‘infotainment’. Although lifestyle journalism has perpetuated a negative image in the eyes of journalists,…
The media is present around us everywhere we go, may it be in newspapers, advertisements, social networking or magazines. Our mind ingests and registers these images without us having a say in it. Whether we want or not to view these images our subconscious uses them to build our social behavior. Not only do these bias images invade our minds but they also shape the way in which we see the world. Media plays a meaningful role in entertaining, informing, and introducing values to diverse audiences in society.…
Journalism works like a bridge that links readers to corporations, governments, and other entities that are out of reach to the normal public. It announces mechanisms, news, and exposes the truth –or at least attempts to do so–. In many respects it is a tool that mantains the people informed, and that arises ethical questions such as: Who is the story written for and why? Who is behind the story? And who decides what is printed and what is not? The truth is that journalism is a big part of the globalized world, and its business model has to keep up with the demands of a capitalist environment.…