The importance of the media in modern life. The role of the media in society
Information. Television, newspapers and magazines, radio and the Internet - all this is so familiar to each of us that we tend to trust any written word. In turn, people who need public support do everything to make this word sound as profitable as possible.
"Fashion" for information
There is an opinion in the world that a leader is a person who owns information. Can we then assume that each of us has the opportunity to become such a person? Not at all. And all because possessing information and taking into account what journalists write are two different things.
Unfortunately, today's trends tend not to develop the once rare and unusual craft of journalism, but, on the contrary, to use this profession for selfish purposes.
By the way, writing various articles, filming advertisements and other marketing videos, and broadcasting on the radio may not work at all to provide people with important information. Most often, they exist to ensure that as many people as possible buy a certain product. In fact, journalism can quite easily move away from the medium of information to the sphere of propaganda and advertising. However, this is exactly what can be observed quite often now.
Efficiency
The role of the media in modern society has reached a fairly high level. No company, no politician, no entrepreneur becomes successful without the influence of the media. People's trust is earned through numerous articles and broadcasts. The consciousness of almost every modern person is possessed by a certain force that forces them to believe, go vote, and support this or that representative.
Indeed, the manifestation of the role of the media in modern society has greatly increased. Again, we see how journalism and mass media become a way to “advise” as large an audience as possible to use a particular product.
Types of media
It is very easy to notice that people choose a certain category of media. Each of us uses one or two sources that we trust and that are preferable to us. Why is this happening?
The role of the media in the life of modern society is to satisfy its needs mainly in two directions: informational and thematic. Let's give a simple example: in the “Cooking” section the percentage of women will prevail. While on football channels the viewers are mainly men. This is due to the interests of each of them; if a person is not interested in watching the game, he can switch the channel to a more favorite one - for example, culinary.
Information needs are much easier to determine. These are simple news channels, urban or rural public pages and pages on social networks. They aim to provide you with daily information about what is or is not happening in your city or country. In addition, with the help of such information sources you can learn about events from all over the world. Thus, we again see how the role of the media in modern society is increasing every year.
Source of knowledge
Today's information technology system is difficult to underestimate, you will agree. It's hard to imagine life without the Internet, television or popular magazines. However, is it possible to use the media to your advantage?
The age of technology has brought us to the point where we don’t have to spend money and time on tutors to learn any language in the world. It is online portals and electronic resources that help us learn something or find the necessary information.
What can we say about the possibilities of various courses and programs that we learn about through the media? Naturally, we do not always receive knowledge from the media, but it is thanks to them that we can do this in a variety of ways.
Influence on behavior
Have you ever noticed how much people's psyches change? It’s worth paying attention to the videos or posts of your favorite blogger, how he becomes an object of imitation, his habits become generally accepted, people try to copy his behavior and even buy things like his.
One can easily conclude from this that both the media and electronic information sources have a huge influence on the human psyche. It becomes easy to subjugate him and force him to buy the advertised product, imitate the idol, and in some deplorable situations the media (usually Internet sources) became the causes of tragedies.
What is the role of the media in modern society and what exactly do they influence? First of all, information affects the worldview of every person. How he will behave in life depends on what exactly he reads, hears, and watches. This can be quite easily compared to the behavior of a child. After all, the habits that parents have are almost always adopted by their children.
Let's take a simple example: if a scientist appears on TV every day with “proof” that the color black turns out to be pink, sooner or later people will believe it. The familiar can very easily become strange and unusual, and the information that we had about some things can become completely irrelevant.
What is really important to note in this situation is that worldview directly affects the future decisions that a person makes, helping to determine how to move in life and in what direction to go.
Manifestation in society of the media
Three manifestations of the role of the media in modern society are to provide reliable information, entertain people and shape their opinions.
So, let's look at through what sources the media so strongly influences our worldview:
- First of all, these are newspapers, magazines, brochures, etc. Of course, modern society is not used to reading newspapers as much (and reading in general) as our grandparents did. However, they are still a means of conveying certain information.
- Radio. Sometimes we are just preparing dinner or doing any other thing, and the radio is playing in the background. However, although we mostly do not pay attention to it, we inadvertently listen to some news.
- Well, where would we be without television and the Internet? Advertisements, clips, films, TV series, news channels, entertainment and scientific channels. Almost any information in the world comes to us from these sources. But in what version exactly?
All these means, in one way or another, shape our worldview, impose stereotypes and “advise” to act in a certain way and buy exactly these products.
Reason for media influence
Yes, quite a lot of people do not succumb to the provocations of the media, do not watch TV and are generally not interested in modern media. What's the matter?
But the fact is that the role of the media in the life of modern society has increased so much that they begin to play on emotions and feelings. It is quite natural, if you are a sensitive, sentimental, and also a trusting person, then it will be easier to instill information about a car accident in which this particular politician is to blame.
And vice versa, by rationally assessing the situation, based only on real eyewitness testimony or official statistics, you can draw your own conclusions that are not imposed by the media.
Excellent advice that can be given to especially gullible people, and to ordinary people too: all the information you receive through the media is spoken and filtered by people who are strangers to you. Would you trust someone you don't know at all?
Indeed, in modern society, the media acquire a huge role not because they have unique information or the way it is presented, but because they force people to believe, even by imposing false stereotypes.
Mental health
Yu. I. Polishchuk actively says that the media have an extremely negative impact on people’s mental health.
He is concerned that the population of Russia, for example, is already susceptible to disease. A large percentage of people suffer every year from various mental and other disorders. This is an example of the role of the media in modern society.
That is why an official request was made to the government. “Develop legislative and regulatory acts that provide for the responsibility of the media for the dissemination of information that is harmful to the moral and spiritual development of a child, for the promotion of cruelty, violence and all forms of sexual corruption.”
The need to counteract those media that harm the moral and psychological health of citizens was also pointed out.
Advantages
Let's still discuss the advantages of the role of the media in modern society. As mentioned above, the media are divided into newspapers, radio, Internet and television. Each of them has certain advantages, so let's combine them and determine our media advantages:
- The ability to return to what you read, saw, or listened to again, be it an article in a newspaper that can be cut out or a news broadcast that can be easily downloaded from Internet resources.
- Availability. Anytime, anywhere.
- If we briefly characterize the role of the media in modern society, it is the opportunity to receive any information, regardless of how busy you are. As mentioned above, this could be a banal radio that plays in the car.
- Efficiency. Not even an hour will pass after any incident before all possible media outlets will start ringing about it.
At the same time, it is necessary to remember that each of the above advantages has a downside, so it is impossible to speak unequivocally about the harm or benefit of the media.
Media in politics
An example of the role of media in modern society is none other than politics. Naturally, where would modern politicians be without the media? As soon as the elections begin, as one journalist put it, “a real storm in a teacup begins in the information sphere.”
Politicians promote their agenda and methods not only through television, newspapers and magazines, the Internet and radio. They manage to do this even with the help of cinema. To put it simply, political films are by no means uncommon these days. Yes, even in feature films you can quite easily come across a phrase with a certain background.
Thus, leaving home, we receive a lot of information about what is happening in the world of modern politics, who is running for the upcoming elections, and who is already campaigning.
Yet, how do politicians use our media? This method is called political manipulation.
Political manipulation - methods that are used in order to convey a certain kind of information, encourage residents to take certain actions, and conduct a kind of propaganda. This happens especially often on the eve of elections from those who are running for some post and are conducting a campaign program. Just look, you will find a booklet or two in your mailbox.
However, in addition to innocent booklets and custom articles, there is a whole range of actions that politicians are ready to take. This is where we see how big modern society is:
- Using false information about yourself and your actions (including promises).
- Frequent manipulation of facts.
- Dissemination of false information.
There are situations when, for example, a terrorist is called a “fighter for justice,” “a person who knows how to defend his rights and the rights of people,” thereby smoothing out rough edges and using beautiful vocabulary.
Using these techniques, many politicians actually reach the top by manipulating facts.
In addition, in addition to influencing the population through the media, the authorities often very actively monitor everything that journalists write about, imprisoning everyone who wrote something that was not exactly what was required, and anything “contradictory” and “offensive”, even if this was true.
From this we can conclude that just as the media has enormous influence over the population, so above the media themselves there is a certain “top” that dictates what exactly to write or broadcast.
The role of the media in society
You can write quite a lot of articles and publications on the topic of information, shoot endless reports and assign essays to children in schools. The role of the media in modern society is to influence people's opinions.
One can easily draw many conclusions about today's media. The influence television, magazines and newspapers, radio, even cinema have on us is truly impressive.
And the fact that with the help of the media you can easily control people’s minds and instill in them various thoughts and lead them to certain actions is sometimes even frightening. Many journalists believe that older people trust any information most. They are not inclined to think that there is deception in this simply because in their youth the media was not so actively developed.
It will take quite a lot of time to think about technology, human achievements and characterize the role of the media. In modern Belarusian society, for example, all media represent a single system. And although this does not help alleviate the sometimes harmful effects of these drugs on people, the information is in the same systematization.
That is why, before you trust what is said on TV, heard on the radio or read in the newspaper, remember that no one other than actual witnesses can give you accurate data and facts, and the presenters are only introducing you to a superficial course of the matter.
In the modern period of development of Russian society, the successful solution of political, economic and social problems increasingly depends on the action of such a subjective factor as the social activity of the individual. The media play an important role in shaping activism. The growing role of the press, radio and television in the public life of the country is evidenced by their rapid growth, prevalence and accessibility of mass information. The printed and spoken word, television images are capable of reaching the most remote areas in the shortest possible time and penetrating any social environment.
The media is a powerful force of influence on people’s consciousness, a means of quickly delivering information to different parts of the world, the most effective means of influencing human emotions, capable of convincing the recipient in the best possible way. This is especially clear in relation to electronic media. As technical capabilities expand, their role increases. And in terms of their emotional impact on people’s feelings and consciousness, they remain unsurpassed and gather the largest audience. In the media, and especially on television, issues of increasing the effectiveness of speeches are closely related to the level of organization of the creative process, forms and means of socio-political education of journalistic, artistic and technical personnel. First of all, this is the selection of problems whose solutions can be supported and suggested by the audience, and the creation of long-term plans for the work of the media that include them.
Currently, the influence of the media on personality has increased significantly. Television currently occupies a dominant position among the media. If in the late 70s and early 80s a television was considered a luxury, today television has become firmly established in the everyday life of almost every family. Gradually, television is replacing newspapers and magazines and seriously competing with radio. Competition with the press is explained by the emergence of new technologies on television.
The effectiveness of the media is inextricably linked with taking into account the needs of people, their increased social, spiritual and political demands. In this case, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts information needs And thematic interests audience. Information needs are social in nature and are determined primarily by the content and structure of a person’s daily activities, including the objective characteristics of his professional and social activities. Thematic interests depend on the content of the information offered and on situational socio-psychological factors (such as popularity, topicality, prestige of certain topics, persons, phenomena, etc.). Some information about the information needs of the audience can be obtained through a survey. The survey provides only a picture of the thematic interests of the audience. It must be supplemented with an analysis of the nature of the role activities of representatives of various population groups in work, the sphere of social and spiritual life, everyday life and family.
The modern audience is included in the entire system of social relations. Therefore, in order to achieve the goals of their activities, the media must take into account the needs, interests, motives, attitudes and corresponding characteristics of the audience, including a number of specific ones, formed with the direct participation of the media. With this approach, the audience is assigned an active, goal-oriented role, which is the result of the communicative process.
These days, television and print media are looking for new approaches to reach their audiences. Based on this, among the topics of newspapers and magazines, new, albeit not always “pure”, but at least attracting the reader directions appeared (“Yellow Press”, “Scandals”, “Top Secret”, “AIDS Info”, etc.) television massively promotes all kinds of “pro-American” quizzes (“Field of Miracles” - an analogue of the American “Wheel of Fortune” and others), as well as various talk shows on topical topics (“The Big Wash”, “Windows”, etc.). Well, the level of culture of the population largely determines the level of culture of the media...
In preparing this work, materials from the site http://www.studentu.ru were used
The media are an important component of today's society, which influences all spheres of life in the modern world. For a modern person, the media are one of, if not the most referent, then at least one of the most familiar sources of information. They act as a unique means of orientation in the surrounding reality and, as an institution of civil society, represent the cornerstone of a modern rule of law state.
Journalism in Russia has remained and remains a kind of platform for the expression of political views, even if we are talking about the publication of a purely literary work - a story or novel.
The tradition of this was laid by “Contemporary” by N.A. Nekrasov and I.I. Panaeva. For many years, Russian journalism and literature became a kind of Hyde Park for our compatriots. The only difference, perhaps, is that in British Hyde Park you can preach any views, but in Russia, for most of its history, ideological views were monitored by censorship, and as soon as the preaching of political views significantly went beyond the boundaries of the official ideology, there was an immediate reaction from the authorities.
But in general, disregard for the legality of journalistic activity always leads to anarchy and impunity for the dissemination of defamatory information, which makes it possible not only to take part in the formation of public opinion, but also to manipulate it in one’s own interests, lobbying for this or that opinion. However, at the same time, any wrong step in regulating the activities of the media, in turn, leads to a rejection of transparency and openness, without which civil society is unthinkable. This is the specificity of not only the management of the media, but also the conditions of their activity in general.
Often trying to understand what changes have taken place in the media, we do not think or realize that the period of time in which we have been living for the last 20 years, during which many turbulent processes have occurred, is just a short historical period. Therefore, it is inappropriate to draw definitive conclusions about the essence of what is happening.
“An important innovation has emerged today: mobile phones have begun to demonstrate their integrating and convergent potential, whereby they are likely to become an important new element of the information space - as opposed to, or in addition to, the Internet. Global television has opened up opportunities for competition in news coverage and international relations, especially in the field of economics and finance."
The development of communication systems depends on at least six main factors - information needs, communication strategies and technologies, the needs of society, politics, economics and culture. Technological realities create opportunities for further development of the media, while political and economic conditions, culture, social and communication needs dictate what the content of journalistic products should be - news, commentary, advertising, entertainment, sports, and this in turn determines the journalist’s relationship with the society for which he writes, and with the state, for which he is both a mouthpiece and an oppositionist.
“Over the course of several decades, our country has passed the path from authoritarianism to democracy and freedom. In the era of authoritarianism, journalism was shackled, under the totalitarian, then authoritarian, and then liberalizing Soviet system, and during the period of perestroika, important changes took place.<…>As in other countries of the world, the media in Russia are beginning to play the role of the most important institution of social communication, forming a picture of reality , which, in turn, plays a central and determining role in the life of society."
The rapid development of market relations in Russia in recent decades has led to serious transformations, both in the structure of the domestic press and in approaches to its creation. The emergence of large media holdings, the arrival of foreign capital in the media market, the active inclusion of the Russian information space in the world confirm the opinion of many modern media researchers that globalization is today one of the main factors influencing the development of the media. The process of globalization has become an integral part of the modern world, but a generally accepted and universal definition of the concept of “globalization” does not yet exist, since this phenomenon manifests itself in the economic, political, sociocultural and media spheres, and, accordingly, we can talk about such phenomena as financial globalization, cultural globalization, information globalization.
The processes of globalization, of which the process of globalization of the mass media is a part, determine all aspects of modern journalistic activity, which inevitably affects the typological characteristics of periodicals, leading to the transformation of already established types of periodicals and the emergence of new ones.
In the “Dictionary of Media Studies” by N. Abercrombie, B. Longhurst, the following is stated: “Globalization is a process during which the world turns into a single global system. In science, there are three dimensions of this process: economic, cultural and political.” This definition, Undoubtedly, it should be supplemented by the media aspect, since the reflection of globalization processes in the media is of decisive importance in the formation of a modern picture of the world.
The modern order in the world is often called the information age, since enormous opportunities for sharing knowledge are open to people. Information is, first of all, the possession of knowledge about a real fact. And this is where the main role of the media comes into play.
The media presents humanity with options that were hitherto unknown. Therefore, today we can calmly know what is happening in China, living in Moscow, although just “some” eight hundred years ago Marco Polo spent almost half the years of his life traveling to the Celestial Empire.
But information exchange is a thing of the past. Current media technologies are developing through the Internet. This means that as soon as some event occurs in one part of the world, we can not only find out the opinion of official authorities or newspapers, but also read the comments of eyewitnesses, write them our opinion - and all this in real time.
Development of Russian media
The revolution in the Russian media began in the late eighties, when the usual slogans “the party, the will of the people, the opinion of the proletariat” were replaced by the slogans: “glasnost, freedom of speech.”
However, it is a controversial question what came first - the desire of people to speak out about painful issues, or the desire to randomly express thoughts. Therefore, initially Russian media developed on the idea of truth. But what is truth? Is it true in the media?
Any more or less discerning person understands that society is built on a system of knowledge exchange. That is, at the top of society there are people who have real information. The bottom is the crowd whose main role is the purposeful refusal of facts. However, does the crowd need facts? Controversial issue. The crowd wants a hamburger, a TV and an affordable discount at H&M clothing store.
The Soviet consumer was never spoiled by an overabundance of information. Communist society was passive and dreamy, watching the rise of a new star. In this sense, Western society has always been completely different. And the role of the media here was to periodically add more water to the pot. The water began to evaporate, steam appeared, and therefore people could never completely relax, remembering their true purpose of existence - the American dream and the unbridled growth of capital. In the USSR, the opposite happened. People got used to television as a kind of instrument of masochistic play, which poured out on them an even greater number of different kinds of “accidents,” and people began to believe in these accidents.
The fact is that journalism is a profession that implies an ethical and tactical basis. A journalist is not so much a person who has the right to express thoughts in a wide format and to the public, but rather a person - a social standard who is allowed to talk about many things. When the party school was destroyed, journalists began to focus on the Western way: to say what they want. And this was far from correct.
Therefore, the main dilemma in Russia today is not only the issue of “freedom of speech”, but also the culture of a journalist, media worker, as a person. Society should show the journalist the path of thought, but not limit him, but guide him based on fair interest.
Development of new technologies
It is not surprising that we talk so much about the media, because the media are not only a source of information, but also a colossal source of propaganda. Man in the 21st century differs little from man in the 12th century. Yes, we can go to Egypt and make sure that the inhabitants of other parts of the globe are not creatures with two heads or with dog paws, as the ancient Greeks believed, but we still receive the general part of information through wide sources. These are newspapers, television and the Internet.
An aspect of modern media is the breadth of their penetration into public life. Here we can give a simple example from the political struggle of the early 20th century. Newspapers had a tremendous influence on the electorate, but the main milestones were still laid at the meetings. Any party or public association, thought, etc., rested on a strong speaker.
Modern media have much more tools than ordinary newspaper pages. We are talking, first of all, about the potential of entertainment shows, although, in general, this is also yesterday. But don’t you notice how “Dom-2” is able to put values in your head? And although it does not lay the foundation, because its creators are motivated by something else - the commercial process and the creation of an exciting tool for entertainment, such approaches are also possible. After all, in the show the viewer does not just read an article, not live material. He sees a real person in real life conditions and sympathizes with him.
Social networks and the Internet that are developing today have even greater potential. It is not surprising that almost all Western developments in this area are constantly experimenting not with quantity, but with format. An example of this is the war between several blogging platforms, Twitter, Facebook.com (the Western analogue of Vkontakte.ru), Livejournal. If the Livejournal service professes the format of long, public commandments, Twitter has gone towards short micro-messages - statuses. And although social networks are not media, or rather, this is not their primary function, the situation itself is very informative from the point of view of the example.
This contradicts the original idea of journalism and the philosophy of information that a person is primarily interested in fact. Of course, the fact is important, because the message is built on it. But today the main issue is the presentation of information. Simplification allows you to make it even more accessible, which can be used for public political or propaganda purposes.
Russian media and society
In modern Russia in the field of information there are a number of problems that can be identified. However, they are rather more related to the problems of society itself - the absence of a clear vector of development.
However, Russian media have great mobilization potential. This is manifested in the fact that in Russia the lion’s share of the largest sites is concentrated in the hands of the state. The disadvantage is that this journalism, for the most part, works using old technologies.
The communist past leaves a certain imprint on the development of the media. An example of this can be the attitude of people towards Channel One: society is clearly divided into those who watch it and those who clearly do not believe it. There is a very small stratum of those who are truly captivated by television. This could be achieved through the development of new formats of communication with the audience and greater borrowing of Internet resources, because it is important to develop people’s trust in the media. Trust is important because it is what allows the main messages to be carried out quietly and smoothly: the fight against corruption, patriotism, the focus of the masses on success and other stimulating factors.
In the West, a fairly popular format is when famous public figures purposefully “condescend” to the crowd in order to get the maximum effect from presenting themselves in an unusual, entertaining way. Prince Harry goes to Iraq to visit the British garrison, as a private citizen, American politicians come to a comical and humiliating show. This suggests that Western media technologies are still superior to Russian ones. Because they understand the importance of accessible formats. However, extreme passion for this format can be more detrimental than beneficial. Therefore, it is important to master the golden mean, which has not yet been mastered in Russia, but, we hope, will soon be studied and accepted for practical work.
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