Media News Social

Understanding the Media’s Social Impact

You can think of the media as the ‘watchdog’ or ‘gatekeeper’ of democracy. The media has a very important function, and the influence of media on society is enormous. But the influence of media on society can also be abused. You can see that clearly in communist countries, and at the moment you can see it very nicely in the American presidential elections.We can now identify between traditional media such as: television, radio, newspapers and the ‘new’ online media through smart phone or iPhone thanks to developers like ‘apple app developer‘ we can use such as: websites, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and others.

The purpose of the media

The media has a number of very important functions in informing society. For example, the media has a:

  • Connecting function
  • Entertainment function
  • Educational function
  • Informing function
  • Socializing function
  • Agenda function
  • Comment function
  • Monitoring function
  • Opinionative function
  • Spokesperson function

It is important that the media presents the news as independently as possible, so that everyone can form his or her opinion on these facts. Any bias must be avoided in order to remain credible. For example, a newsreader is not allowed to express his own opinion during a news bulletin on television or radio, because otherwise society might think that the news channel is disseminating opinions instead of facts. Opinions may be expressed by people who make or write opinion pieces in their own name for the various media. It seems clear that facts must be separated from fiction. However, at a time when an awful lot of fake news is being sent out into the world, it is extremely difficult for society to keep these facts separate from fiction and it is more difficult than ever for people to determine what is really true and what is not true. The influence of media on society has never been greater and more important than it is now.

Fake news

Fake news is disinformation disinformed as news, which is spread through websites, social media and the traditional media. The purpose of fake news is to influence public opinion or make a profit. It is also used in the political arena as a frame against journalism for political gain. Nowadays, facts are sometimes dismissed as fake news, which can change the image of society.

Influence of social media on relationships

Social media has a connecting character. We should not confuse this with purpose. The goal is to make a profit. People can come into contact with each other with social media regardless of place and time. Show each other what you are doing and be rewarded with a like or new followers. The downside to this is that you can gather a group of people around you who think exactly the same about things as you think. Because you only hear one side of the story, you can lose sight of reality. Due to the algorithms of the large tech companies, they only show you what you want to see. The goal is that you stay on the platform as long as possible, so that you see advertisements that allow the platform to make a profit.