The role of media

The role of the press

The media plays a major role in society. This might have an effect on some policies that govern states, policies that affect people, influence certain issues in some countries, provide exclusive news, revealing the truth, cover important events, reporting crimes and conspiracies. The media has numerous different ways and methods to spread news, this could be via newspapers, magazines, online newspapers, websites, television channels and radio. The function of the media should be to search about news that tells the truth, discover the truth and not to publish news articles that have fake information. Interestingly, not every single news article that is published is truthful and genuine, it could be fake for many different reasons. 

One example of how the media could lead to logistical change is Al-Jazera. Al-Jazera is an arabic news channel which has played important role politically in Arabs spring. It has covered the revolution in Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, and Syria. First of all, nobody could imagine what happened would actually happen in these countries. Globally, Al-Jazera  is one of the most famous news channels and covers vital news and serious issues such as, sports events, political events, and a wide range of events around the world.

 

Al-Jazera have covered live broadcasts and reports about what is happing now in Egypt. They have also showed the violence caused by the Egyptian government and how they have prevented the citizens from staging a revolution.  Egypt's government has also stopped Al-Jazera from broadcasting live revolutions and has banned Al-Jazera staff from interviewing citizens. This shows how the media could have an affect on state policies and does not always have the power to broadcast free speech. However, if the media does not influence people and does not have an effect on them and their countries,  why is Al-Jazera  suspended in Egypt? Due to this issue Al-Jazera has a strong reputation and it is believed that AL-Jazera is one of many factors that help Arabs spring to continue widely.  However, it is claimed that not all news which is published on Al-Jazrea channel is factual and true. This example shows that media can be restricted by local authorities and this could affect the level of truth that is published.

On the other hand, magazines and newspapers spread a variety of news including news on health care, sports, food and celebrities. It is considered that magazines in general focus on celebrity news in order to attract a larger audience. However, when news stories are fake, it can lead to celebrities taking the media source to court for publishing inaccurate information. An example of the media not being truthful is the phone hacking scandal that was caused by the News of the Word newspaper in the United Kingdom. They got stories about celebrities by hacking their phones, which is illegal.  The Guardian (2014) reports that a journalist hacked thousands of celebrity phones after he was given a list of their mobile numbers, Dan Evans pleaded guilty to "intercepting voice messages at the News of the World".

The media softly influences the public and can make them change their views. An example of this is Lady Diana's death. It is believed that Lady Diana passed away in a normal accident ,but some channels and newspapers argue with this and say that there was a conspiracy to kill her. Once the media analysed the death of Lady Diana, they made the audience believe that there was a conspiracy. Since her death, there have been many theories published in the news in order to attract a large audience. The media still publishes news stories about Lady Diana today, a recent news story published by BBC News (2014) said that she gave the News of the World newspaper a list of telephone numbers that belonged to the royal family. The media will always split the opinion of the nation when they publish news stories about Lady Diana.

To conclude, the media plays a major role in influencing people although this can be in a range of different ways. There are different methods of media that can reach a wide number of people including magazines and radio which still remain popular, even with the wide reach and responsiveness of the internet. The media however, can still be restricted in some countries such as Egypt which does not support the idea of freedom of the press. It is recommended that not all news articles published in the media should be believed because there are many untruths that are published.

References

BBC News (2014) Phone Hacking Trial: Princess Diana 'gave royal phone book to NoW' Available at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26557920> Accessed: (16th March 2014).

   

The Guardian (2014) News of the World Reporter hacked phones a thousand times, he tells court. Available at: <http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/27/news-world-reporter-hacked-phones-dan-evans-simon-cowell>  Accessed: (16th March2014).