Media in Society

In Debating Democracys The Media: Vast Wasteland or raw Frontier? Jarol Manheim and Douglas Rushkoff present opposing views of the media. Both authors raise the questions of what the media represents and what messages the media tries to communicate to the public. Is the medias coverage of events just for entertainment value or do the reports have political bailiwick and value? Are the viewing audience capcapable of distinguishing between the medias glitz and the real facts? Do different sources of the media system actually portray different views and stories? A unwrap question is how typical objective reporting is. If the knowledge bath easily be obtained elsewhere, it is possible to conclude with pluralists that citizens have the tools to set up themselves more(prenominal) or less democratically. If, on the other hand, in that location are serious shortcomings, one might agree with the cater elite camp that the people, because they have insufficient meaningful information, care less power than they could and should. Manheim claims that the media is not as diverse as it claims to be. He states, Though for competitive purposes they might have us believe otherwise, most American intelligence operation organizations have a great deal in common with one another(prenominal) . . . they define news itself in essentially the same terms.

(Manheim, 1991) He argues that the media entertains the viewers rather than giving them information that is relevant and socially important. Manheims view about what the mass media system actually does to the news is similar to what W. Lance Bennett lists as the four main media biases: fragmentation, normalization, personalization and dramatisation (Bennett, 1996). These biases are described by Manheim as the media system [rendering] the content of the news less burdensome by packaging it more attractively (Manheim, 1991). Contrary to Manheims views, Rushkoff looks at how the viewers are able to use and understand the medias messages. Rather than viewing the media as a mass system... If you want to get a full essay, found it on our website: Orderessay

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