Media Affects Global Economy
Mass media is the central focus of media and it refers to a method of communication used to reach a large number of people. It connects individual society members to the world beyond their reach by informing and educating them on global issues. Given these broad parameters and such a wide area to operate within, it is no wonder that the media has the potential to affect one’s decisions and opinions. Just how much of an effect though, may be surprising. J.K. Iglehart, in his article, “The Role of the Media in Reporting and Shaping Public Expectations,” claims that the tools of the media have played a profound role in influencing the thinking and actions of people (Iglehart 15). This is how the media has affected people in general, (Herman, 2010).Media is the most influential thing in our current set up. Research shows that media has a greater effect on the public opinion because most of us rely on the information which we get from the media industry. For some one who is educated, it is evident that some media houses have some vested interest and thus they try to create stories which will influence the public. It is our right to be keen and think twice before we actually respond to any type of information we get from those media houses. It is true that media has a bigger influence on those who actually view and read those information which come from media houses.
Most of us have trusted media a lot such that we always rely on the information from media and even a conflict can arise if the head of the house does not see news when children are watching movie, (Chomsky, 2002).Economists recognize that the media affects global economy. An example is the countless number of advertisements that influence the choices individuals make. These choices range from food preferences, type of schools for children, and even political leaders to vote for in an election. By constantly seeing and hearing these advertisements, the opinions and preferences of individuals are often swayed. In fact, many believe that the media is the reason why many cannot think and act autonomously anymore. And, even though the media does not affect the stock market entirely, it has enough influence to disturb it. When the media posts news about any company’s impending loss, stockholders usually start to sell their stocks in order to avoid losses. Media also plays an important role in maintaining the economic dominance of some companies, (McPhail, 2010).In reverse, the economy can also influence the media.
The French newspaper, Lacroix, reported on the current economic crisis, and said that everyone is now afraid of the impact of the current crisis on the press, especially the written press. The number of advertisements has been reduced. It also would affect the future of democracy and freedom of opinion another survey performed by Lacroix studied the relationship between the current economic crisis sweeping the world and the media. According to the survey, 83% of the public believes that media diversity will be negatively affects the current economic crisis, (Albarran, 2009).Deterioration of economic conditions has forced businesses to search for ways to improve sales through advertising in any way possible, even if that way has a negative social dimension. For example, The New York Times decided to sell ads on the first page in defiance of tradition. Also, ads have appeared for the first time on the bottom of the front page of CNN Radio. The ad was a rectangular display on the first page, about six centimeters squared. Thus, for the first time in the history of this newspaper advertisements were published on the first page. Many object to this because they believe that the space taken up by these ads should have been devoted entirely to news, (Herman, 2010). Media have brought both positive and negative impacts on the global economy.
Research shows that most of the organizations and firms are going for employment branding other than the usual recruiting. Google is one of the successful firms which provide ads services to the organizations which mean that most of the firms are focusing on the long term strategy other than the current issues. The media have enabled most firms to cover wide area meaning that they are increasing employment to unemployed people and thus having a positive effect on the global economy because people are able to earn some living. Media have helped in the area of recruiting social workers. Most social workers are currently operating online which enables them to recognize investors of the firm and thus making it possible for the firm to grow in a rapid way, (Albarran, 2009).Of current we are living in a world of technology and this means that we can not live without media because it is the one which keeps on updating us what we are supposed to or what is around us. Our lifestyle have changed because we are able to communicate with our friends and family who are a distance in some seconds as compared to old days when we used to spend a lot of time to pass information.
Some of the negative impacts of the media is that some times it tends to changes readers decision because we have developed that aspect of anything which we see or read is correct. This is a bad approach because we are not able to make sound decisions and thus we do affect our activities which in turn affect our economy. It is true that some media provide us with misleading information which influences us to behave in a manner which is of great effect to the entire economy, (Albarran, 2009).Media has some effects on our global economy because it creates some trends. We are able to follow our economy trends because by the help of media, we are able to know what is going on our economy. When there is crisis or economic depression, media is on the front line to keep the society informed. When you want to know about current issues which are affecting our global economy, you only rely of media which greatly provides you with information which is current and valid. Take an example; are you going to know how the global economy will look like in the next ten years? Those who us technology actually have the ability to predict what is going to happen meaning that media plays a major role in providing relevant information, (Chomsky, 2002).
The fact is that some time media becomes biased of some information or a given story. Although we do rely on media to provide us with current and valid information, it have been discovered that some time we need not to rely on media because they tend to be bias. Consider the war on Iraq. The media of American had a great influence on the activities which were going on and they wanted people or countries to support what their army was doing. The current media which has a great impact on the global economy is this giant called the internet. The World Wide Web is a kind of network which connects people in different was. People from different parts of the world are able to connect and share more on improving their living thus having a positive impact to the economy.
One of greatest challenge with this kind of media is that it is very addictive such that one is not able to consider other things which contribute to his life. This is one of the major problems with internet although it has a lot of advantages which helps in the development of the economy, (McPhail, 2010).In simple terms I can say that whatever comes, media has positive and negative impact on our society. The reason behind my view is that media have turned to be our daily thought which means that we can not do away without media. What we should do is not to believe all what we get from our media because at time the information could be biased. We can say that media acts as our eyes because they do gather all of important information which they provide to us in a comprehensive manner.
Reference:
Albarran, A. B. The Media Economy: Media Management and Economics: Taylor & Francis, 2009
Chomsky, N. The Journalist from Mars. Third World Traveler. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Chomsky/Journalist_Mars.html. Retrieved December 7, 2010, pp. 69–100, (2002).
Herman, S. E. the political economy of the mass media, retrieved from http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/198901–.htm, on December 2, 2010
McPhail, T. L. Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends: John Wiley and Sons, 2010
Is this your assignment or some part of it?
We can do it for you! Click to Order!
