Yes, the Media is the most powerful organisation in any country...
The Media can totally destroy or create a person if they want too. Its one of those problems in a lot of country's where all the Media is ruled by only a few people. Things like that can be dangerous, can you imagine what the Media would do if they supported one particular politician? They would praise him into heaven make sure he does everything they want and they will keep on praising him. If he does something they do not like however they can burry him into the ground and completly destroy him.
The Media is one of the most powerful things in the world, and the only that keeps it from getting power over a country is that there are many of them and not all by the same person.
It's pretty obvious that the media isn't a power but a tool. The government are the power using the tool to it's ultimate effectiveness and spellbinding the masses as a result.
The media isn't really a tool. Rather they are an power institution. They are intricately connected to two other power institutions: government and economy.
The media is on the same level as the government. They can make or break a candidate. They shape people's views of events and personalities to their liking. And they literally control information.
Most country's do, and thats a good thing. But the media still has a lot of power. They can do pretty much everything a government can purely by pressuring them into doing it. Hypothetical situation:
All of the Media in the US would start attacking Bush, using all his faults against him constantly.. The support for Bush would drop drastically until eventually he would just be kicked out of office and somebody else would replace him, that somebody would make sure he would stay on the good side of the Media.
Now because the Media often has different idea's and they are owned by different people this won't happen, but the power they could have is incredible and supreme.
Gender: Male Location: Welfare Kingdom of California
What the media wants is controversy. And controversy sells! The hottest story is what people want. Even to the point of exaggerating the report is a key to get higher ratings. It works in every country. Don't give me that "the media in my country is not bias...." BS because is all the same all over the globe. They only thing they care about is ratings and about viewers. The more viewers the more sponsors they get. Is the media powerful? No, but it can turn into propaganda.
Exactly. The media gives the people what they want. Not what they need. Which is why the general US public is completely oblivious to what is going on around the world. Unless it concerns them.
Ratings are all the matter.
Not to mention the corporations such as G.E. (which produces military defense systems) also own a large portion of the media. Which suggests a conflict of interests. If media is private-owned, then a conflict of interests is sure to follow.
Of course the media is bias.. When did i ever say it wasn't? I just said that it isn't united yet and it isn't turning against one person purely for the sake of becoming more powerful, not because they wouldn't want too but because they can't.
Actually the media is becoming more and more concentrated. In other words companies are merging or buying out each other. A good example is AOL Time Warner. The media industry is becoming smaller but more concentrated.
Of course the media isn't on the same level as the government. The media are controlled highly by the government. Unless that's what you meant.
The government want control, we all know that. They also know we won't listen to them directly so they use the most powerful method there is, media. It works, horrifically enough.
Not really, the media serve several vital functions: they are agents of socialization, instructing people in the norms and values of their society and generally transmitting the society's culture; they are sources of information, supplying citizens with knowledge about their society and especially about the political economy; They function as propaganda mechanisms through whic powerful units of the government and economy seek to persuade the public either to support their policies or to buy their goods.
The governement is dependent on the media. They require the media to convey their messages and shape public opinion. However, the media can shape whatever information they receive to their own benefits. It is the media elite who are largely responsible for molding the public's conception of political, economic, and social events and conditions. The media has the ability to propagate dominant values and shape political reality through their items (i.e. books, magazines, tv, movies, video games, etc.) Their power is underrated and kept discret. For example, Dean the presidential candidate for election 2004 was massacred by the media. They stopped a potential canidate from becoming president. They control what is released to the public and what isn't. They are very powerful because they control society. Government can only do so much to limit them because the 1st amendment blocks most of their efforts.
Where do you suppose those "norms" and societal ideals come from then? Hmm? It's not created out of thin air. Mainstream Media isn't a collection of ideas thought up by random people, it's quite clearly there to spellbind the masses and to keep people stupid. The government need the media, yes, but the media don't need the government as much, because they are a tool that need to be used to be effective. Without corporate backing, government backing, media isn't very powerful at all. The government use the media to push all the products out there and convince people to give up their cash for shit they don't need or probably want, but without the media, they government would still be there. Which is basically what you said in the end of that quote....which is what I said at the start...they're a tool that gets used.
They don't need the media though. You're confusing need with accessibility. The media exist and happen to be a powerful avenue for the government to control. Media isn't as powerful without the government, hence why public access will never be as powerful as network television. To say media is as powerful as the government is silly.
Where do you suppose the media elite get their ideas? Government?
You're pretty much agreeing with me, but you are giving the media much higher credit in my opinion.
KMC Community Forums
Apr 29th, 2005 02:22 PM
like the nazis... they spend lots of money on making films on how the jews sucked... to get "publicity"
