what is the role of media in society essay

The Significance and Impact of the Media in Contemporary Society

• First Online: 10 March 2018

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• Faith Gordon 3  

Part of the book series: Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies ((PSLS))

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This chapter explores the significance of the media and the impact it has on the meaning-making processes in contemporary society. It draws on key national and international academic literature and previous studies on the role and functions of the media. This includes the key theoretical debates on deviancy amplification, folk devils and moral panics. It assesses the media’s impact on criminal justice policies and on public opinion of, and support for authoritarian ideologies and policies. In particular, it will focus on exploring how the media can influence popular culture and the impact of media portrayals of crime on societal perceptions, responses and reactions directed towards social groups, in particular children and young people ‘in conflict with the law’.

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It has long been acknowledged that the media are difficult to capture and define (Craig 2004 : 3). As outlined in Chap. 1 , the terms ‘media’ or ‘mass media’ refer to the traditional definition of the media, as consisting of newspapers (the print media), radio (broadcast media) and news bulletins and programs (televised media). While choosing to focus on the contemporary media, this book acknowledges from the outset that there is an extensive body of work existing on the historical origins of the media; mass communication and its impact, and the role of technological development (see Downing 1980 ; Frost 2000 ; Curran 2002 ).

There has been much criticism of pluralist theories on the media, including the arguments that pluralism is an ideological justification for the media and that the basis of the theory is not grounded in evidence. Rather the pluralist model assumes that the content of the media is diverse, without presenting evidence to reinforce or prove this theory (see Blumler and Gurevitch 1995 ).

Rupert Murdoch’s ownership of a range of media outlets in the United Kingdom (UK) and United States (US) is a prime example of the concentration of power and the influence of owners on media content (see Golding and Murdock 1991 ; Horrie 2003 ; Cole 2005 ). Further to this, academics such as Barker ( 1999 : 46) argue that conglomeration has aided a general concentration of media ownership, with research such as Bagdikian’s ( 2004 ) stating that the US media were controlled by 50 corporations in the 1980s, and by 2003 this had been reduced to five controlling the majority of the 178,000 media outlets. Significantly as Tait ( 2012 : 518) observes, the ‘scale and intensity’ of the phone hacking scandal in 2011, saw the resignation of the chief executive of one of the UK’s most influential newspaper groups, the resignation of one of the UK’s most senior police officers, the arrest of Andy Coulson, who had acted as the then Prime Minister, David Cameron’s head of communications, the resignation of two senior executives from key companies in the Murdoch empire, as well as the collapse of the takeover deal in relation to BSkyB and the closure of the News of the World (see also Keeble and Mair 2012 ; McKnight 2012 ; Watson and Hickman 2012 ).

As Barrat ( 1994 : 61) notes, the majority of media organisations are influenced by ‘a variety of commercial influences’, including the need to be profitable and also obtaining revenue through ‘advertising’. Some media outlets are part of the public sector, such as the BBC and they have the requirement ‘to provide a public service’, by ‘informing, educating, and entertaining audiences’ (Barrat 1994 : 61).

Tait’s ( 2012 : 520) analysis of the phone hacking scandal asserts that it has ‘revealed some fundamental issues in British political communications, the political system and the practice and regulation of journalism’. His analysis also documents ‘a secret history’ between Murdoch and British politics (Tait 2012 : 520–523).

Semiology provides a suitable vehicle for studying the meanings behind media content (see O’Connor 1989 ; Hall 1997 ; Berger 1998 ; Barker 2000 ; Schirato and Yell 2000 ). In contemporary literature it is now referred to as semiotics and was first developed by the Swiss linguist, Saussure, who proposed that meaning was ‘produced through … language systems’ (Schirato and Yell 2000 : 19). He focused on the ‘linguistic sign’, which he divided into the ‘signifier’, ‘the signified’ and the ‘sign’ (Schirato and Yell 2000 : 19).

As the findings of a number of content analysis studies highlight, the media exaggerate the levels of crime, in particular violent crime in the UK (see Ditton and Duffy 1983 ; Schlesinger and Murdock 1991 ; Williams and Dickinson 1993 ; Callanan 2005 ; Greer 2005 ; Reiner 2007 ).

Dorfman and Schiraldi’s ( 2001 ) research found that 76 percent of the public said they formed their opinions about crime from the media, whereas 22 percent reported that their knowledge of crime was formed through their personal experiences.

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Gordon, F. (2018). The Significance and Impact of the Media in Contemporary Society. In: Children, Young People and the Press in a Transitioning Society. Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60682-2_2

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1.3 The Evolution of Media

Learning objectives.

• Identify four roles the media performs in our society.
• Recognize events that affected the adoption of mass media.
• Explain how different technological transitions have shaped media industries.

In 2010, Americans could turn on their television and find 24-hour news channels as well as music videos, nature documentaries, and reality shows about everything from hoarders to fashion models. That’s not to mention movies available on demand from cable providers or television and video available online for streaming or downloading. Half of U.S. households receive a daily newspaper, and the average person holds 1.9 magazine subscriptions (State of the Media, 2004) (Bilton, 2007). A University of California, San Diego study claimed that U.S. households consumed a total of approximately 3.6 zettabytes of information in 2008—the digital equivalent of a 7-foot high stack of books covering the entire United States—a 350 percent increase since 1980 (Ramsey, 2009). Americans are exposed to media in taxicabs and buses, in classrooms and doctors’ offices, on highways, and in airplanes. We can begin to orient ourselves in the information cloud through parsing what roles the media fills in society, examining its history in society, and looking at the way technological innovations have helped bring us to where we are today.

What Does Media Do for Us?

Media fulfills several basic roles in our society. One obvious role is entertainment. Media can act as a springboard for our imaginations, a source of fantasy, and an outlet for escapism. In the 19th century, Victorian readers disillusioned by the grimness of the Industrial Revolution found themselves drawn into fantastic worlds of fairies and other fictitious beings. In the first decade of the 21st century, American television viewers could peek in on a conflicted Texas high school football team in Friday Night Lights ; the violence-plagued drug trade in Baltimore in The Wire ; a 1960s-Manhattan ad agency in Mad Men ; or the last surviving band of humans in a distant, miserable future in Battlestar Galactica . Through bringing us stories of all kinds, media has the power to take us away from ourselves.

Media can also provide information and education. Information can come in many forms, and it may sometimes be difficult to separate from entertainment. Today, newspapers and news-oriented television and radio programs make available stories from across the globe, allowing readers or viewers in London to access voices and videos from Baghdad, Tokyo, or Buenos Aires. Books and magazines provide a more in-depth look at a wide range of subjects. The free online encyclopedia Wikipedia has articles on topics from presidential nicknames to child prodigies to tongue twisters in various languages. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has posted free lecture notes, exams, and audio and video recordings of classes on its OpenCourseWare website, allowing anyone with an Internet connection access to world-class professors.

Another useful aspect of media is its ability to act as a public forum for the discussion of important issues. In newspapers or other periodicals, letters to the editor allow readers to respond to journalists or to voice their opinions on the issues of the day. These letters were an important part of U.S. newspapers even when the nation was a British colony, and they have served as a means of public discourse ever since. The Internet is a fundamentally democratic medium that allows everyone who can get online the ability to express their opinions through, for example, blogging or podcasting—though whether anyone will hear is another question.

Similarly, media can be used to monitor government, business, and other institutions. Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel The Jungle exposed the miserable conditions in the turn-of-the-century meatpacking industry; and in the early 1970s, Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered evidence of the Watergate break-in and subsequent cover-up, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. But purveyors of mass media may be beholden to particular agendas because of political slant, advertising funds, or ideological bias, thus constraining their ability to act as a watchdog. The following are some of these agendas:

• Entertaining and providing an outlet for the imagination
• Educating and informing
• Serving as a public forum for the discussion of important issues
• Acting as a watchdog for government, business, and other institutions

It’s important to remember, though, that not all media are created equal. While some forms of mass communication are better suited to entertainment, others make more sense as a venue for spreading information. In terms of print media, books are durable and able to contain lots of information, but are relatively slow and expensive to produce; in contrast, newspapers are comparatively cheaper and quicker to create, making them a better medium for the quick turnover of daily news. Television provides vastly more visual information than radio and is more dynamic than a static printed page; it can also be used to broadcast live events to a nationwide audience, as in the annual State of the Union address given by the U.S. president. However, it is also a one-way medium—that is, it allows for very little direct person-to-person communication. In contrast, the Internet encourages public discussion of issues and allows nearly everyone who wants a voice to have one. However, the Internet is also largely unmoderated. Users may have to wade through thousands of inane comments or misinformed amateur opinions to find quality information.

The 1960s media theorist Marshall McLuhan took these ideas one step further, famously coining the phrase “ the medium is the message (McLuhan, 1964).” By this, McLuhan meant that every medium delivers information in a different way and that content is fundamentally shaped by the medium of transmission. For example, although television news has the advantage of offering video and live coverage, making a story come alive more vividly, it is also a faster-paced medium. That means more stories get covered in less depth. A story told on television will probably be flashier, less in-depth, and with less context than the same story covered in a monthly magazine; therefore, people who get the majority of their news from television may have a particular view of the world shaped not by the content of what they watch but its medium . Or, as computer scientist Alan Kay put it, “Each medium has a special way of representing ideas that emphasize particular ways of thinking and de-emphasize others (Kay, 1994).” Kay was writing in 1994, when the Internet was just transitioning from an academic research network to an open public system. A decade and a half later, with the Internet firmly ensconced in our daily lives, McLuhan’s intellectual descendants are the media analysts who claim that the Internet is making us better at associative thinking, or more democratic, or shallower. But McLuhan’s claims don’t leave much space for individual autonomy or resistance. In an essay about television’s effects on contemporary fiction, writer David Foster Wallace scoffed at the “reactionaries who regard TV as some malignancy visited on an innocent populace, sapping IQs and compromising SAT scores while we all sit there on ever fatter bottoms with little mesmerized spirals revolving in our eyes…. Treating television as evil is just as reductive and silly as treating it like a toaster with pictures (Wallace, 1997).” Nonetheless, media messages and technologies affect us in countless ways, some of which probably won’t be sorted out until long in the future.

A Brief History of Mass Media and Culture

Until Johannes Gutenberg’s 15th-century invention of the movable type printing press, books were painstakingly handwritten and no two copies were exactly the same. The printing press made the mass production of print media possible. Not only was it much cheaper to produce written material, but new transportation technologies also made it easier for texts to reach a wide audience. It’s hard to overstate the importance of Gutenberg’s invention, which helped usher in massive cultural movements like the European Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. In 1810, another German printer, Friedrich Koenig, pushed media production even further when he essentially hooked the steam engine up to a printing press, enabling the industrialization of printed media. In 1800, a hand-operated printing press could produce about 480 pages per hour; Koenig’s machine more than doubled this rate. (By the 1930s, many printing presses could publish 3,000 pages an hour.)

This increased efficiency went hand in hand with the rise of the daily newspaper. The newspaper was the perfect medium for the increasingly urbanized Americans of the 19th century, who could no longer get their local news merely through gossip and word of mouth. These Americans were living in unfamiliar territory, and newspapers and other media helped them negotiate the rapidly changing world. The Industrial Revolution meant that some people had more leisure time and more money, and media helped them figure out how to spend both. Media theorist Benedict Anderson has argued that newspapers also helped forge a sense of national identity by treating readers across the country as part of one unified community (Anderson, 1991).

In the 1830s, the major daily newspapers faced a new threat from the rise of penny papers, which were low-priced broadsheets that served as a cheaper, more sensational daily news source. They favored news of murder and adventure over the dry political news of the day. While newspapers catered to a wealthier, more educated audience, the penny press attempted to reach a wide swath of readers through cheap prices and entertaining (often scandalous) stories. The penny press can be seen as the forerunner to today’s gossip-hungry tabloids.

The penny press appealed to readers’ desires for lurid tales of murder and scandal.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

In the early decades of the 20th century, the first major nonprint form of mass media—radio—exploded in popularity. Radios, which were less expensive than telephones and widely available by the 1920s, had the unprecedented ability of allowing huge numbers of people to listen to the same event at the same time. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge’s preelection speech reached more than 20 million people. Radio was a boon for advertisers, who now had access to a large and captive audience. An early advertising consultant claimed that the early days of radio were “a glorious opportunity for the advertising man to spread his sales propaganda” because of “a countless audience, sympathetic, pleasure seeking, enthusiastic, curious, interested, approachable in the privacy of their homes (Briggs & Burke, 2005).” The reach of radio also meant that the medium was able to downplay regional differences and encourage a unified sense of the American lifestyle—a lifestyle that was increasingly driven and defined by consumer purchases. “Americans in the 1920s were the first to wear ready-made, exact-size clothing…to play electric phonographs, to use electric vacuum cleaners, to listen to commercial radio broadcasts, and to drink fresh orange juice year round (Mintz, 2007).” This boom in consumerism put its stamp on the 1920s and also helped contribute to the Great Depression of the 1930s (Library of Congress). The consumerist impulse drove production to unprecedented levels, but when the Depression began and consumer demand dropped dramatically, the surplus of production helped further deepen the economic crisis, as more goods were being produced than could be sold.

The post–World War II era in the United States was marked by prosperity, and by the introduction of a seductive new form of mass communication: television. In 1946, about 17,000 televisions existed in the United States; within 7 years, two-thirds of American households owned at least one set. As the United States’ gross national product (GNP) doubled in the 1950s, and again in the 1960s, the American home became firmly ensconced as a consumer unit; along with a television, the typical U.S. household owned a car and a house in the suburbs, all of which contributed to the nation’s thriving consumer-based economy (Briggs & Burke, 2005). Broadcast television was the dominant form of mass media, and the three major networks controlled more than 90 percent of the news programs, live events, and sitcoms viewed by Americans. Some social critics argued that television was fostering a homogenous, conformist culture by reinforcing ideas about what “normal” American life looked like. But television also contributed to the counterculture of the 1960s. The Vietnam War was the nation’s first televised military conflict, and nightly images of war footage and war protesters helped intensify the nation’s internal conflicts.

Broadcast technology, including radio and television, had such a hold on the American imagination that newspapers and other print media found themselves having to adapt to the new media landscape. Print media was more durable and easily archived, and it allowed users more flexibility in terms of time—once a person had purchased a magazine, he or she could read it whenever and wherever. Broadcast media, in contrast, usually aired programs on a fixed schedule, which allowed it to both provide a sense of immediacy and fleetingness. Until the advent of digital video recorders in the late 1990s, it was impossible to pause and rewind a live television broadcast.

The media world faced drastic changes once again in the 1980s and 1990s with the spread of cable television. During the early decades of television, viewers had a limited number of channels to choose from—one reason for the charges of homogeneity. In 1975, the three major networks accounted for 93 percent of all television viewing. By 2004, however, this share had dropped to 28.4 percent of total viewing, thanks to the spread of cable television. Cable providers allowed viewers a wide menu of choices, including channels specifically tailored to people who wanted to watch only golf, classic films, sermons, or videos of sharks. Still, until the mid-1990s, television was dominated by the three large networks. The Telecommunications Act of 1996, an attempt to foster competition by deregulating the industry, actually resulted in many mergers and buyouts that left most of the control of the broadcast spectrum in the hands of a few large corporations. In 2003, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) loosened regulation even further, allowing a single company to own 45 percent of a single market (up from 25 percent in 1982).

Technological Transitions Shape Media Industries

New media technologies both spring from and cause social changes. For this reason, it can be difficult to neatly sort the evolution of media into clear causes and effects. Did radio fuel the consumerist boom of the 1920s, or did the radio become wildly popular because it appealed to a society that was already exploring consumerist tendencies? Probably a little bit of both. Technological innovations such as the steam engine, electricity, wireless communication, and the Internet have all had lasting and significant effects on American culture. As media historians Asa Briggs and Peter Burke note, every crucial invention came with “a change in historical perspectives.” Electricity altered the way people thought about time because work and play were no longer dependent on the daily rhythms of sunrise and sunset; wireless communication collapsed distance; the Internet revolutionized the way we store and retrieve information.

The transatlantic telegraph cable made nearly instantaneous communication between the United States and Europe possible for the first time in 1858.

Amber Case – 1858 trans-Atlantic telegraph cable route – CC BY-NC 2.0.

The contemporary media age can trace its origins back to the electrical telegraph, patented in the United States by Samuel Morse in 1837. Thanks to the telegraph, communication was no longer linked to the physical transportation of messages; it didn’t matter whether a message needed to travel 5 or 500 miles. Suddenly, information from distant places was nearly as accessible as local news, as telegraph lines began to stretch across the globe, making their own kind of World Wide Web. In this way, the telegraph acted as the precursor to much of the technology that followed, including the telephone, radio, television, and Internet. When the first transatlantic cable was laid in 1858, allowing nearly instantaneous communication from the United States to Europe, the London Times described it as “the greatest discovery since that of Columbus, a vast enlargement…given to the sphere of human activity.”

Not long afterward, wireless communication (which eventually led to the development of radio, television, and other broadcast media) emerged as an extension of telegraph technology. Although many 19th-century inventors, including Nikola Tesla, were involved in early wireless experiments, it was Italian-born Guglielmo Marconi who is recognized as the developer of the first practical wireless radio system. Many people were fascinated by this new invention. Early radio was used for military communication, but soon the technology entered the home. The burgeoning interest in radio inspired hundreds of applications for broadcasting licenses from newspapers and other news outlets, retail stores, schools, and even cities. In the 1920s, large media networks—including the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)—were launched, and they soon began to dominate the airwaves. In 1926, they owned 6.4 percent of U.S. broadcasting stations; by 1931, that number had risen to 30 percent.

Gone With the Wind defeated The Wizard of Oz to become the first color film ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1939.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain; Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

In addition to the breakthroughs in audio broadcasting, inventors in the 1800s made significant advances in visual media. The 19th-century development of photographic technologies would lead to the later innovations of cinema and television. As with wireless technology, several inventors independently created a form of photography at the same time, among them the French inventors Joseph Niépce and Louis Daguerre and the British scientist William Henry Fox Talbot. In the United States, George Eastman developed the Kodak camera in 1888, anticipating that Americans would welcome an inexpensive, easy-to-use camera into their homes as they had with the radio and telephone. Moving pictures were first seen around the turn of the century, with the first U.S. projection-hall opening in Pittsburgh in 1905. By the 1920s, Hollywood had already created its first stars, most notably Charlie Chaplin; by the end of the 1930s, Americans were watching color films with full sound, including Gone With the Wind and The Wizard of Oz .

Television—which consists of an image being converted to electrical impulses, transmitted through wires or radio waves, and then reconverted into images—existed before World War II, but gained mainstream popularity in the 1950s. In 1947, there were 178,000 television sets made in the United States; 5 years later, 15 million were made. Radio, cinema, and live theater declined because the new medium allowed viewers to be entertained with sound and moving pictures in their homes. In the United States, competing commercial stations (including the radio powerhouses of CBS and NBC) meant that commercial-driven programming dominated. In Great Britain, the government managed broadcasting through the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Funding was driven by licensing fees instead of advertisements. In contrast to the U.S. system, the BBC strictly regulated the length and character of commercials that could be aired. However, U.S. television (and its increasingly powerful networks) still dominated. By the beginning of 1955, there were around 36 million television sets in the United States, but only 4.8 million in all of Europe. Important national events, broadcast live for the first time, were an impetus for consumers to buy sets so they could witness the spectacle; both England and Japan saw a boom in sales before important royal weddings in the 1950s.

In the 1960s, the concept of a useful portable computer was still a dream; huge mainframes were required to run a basic operating system.

In 1969, management consultant Peter Drucker predicted that the next major technological innovation would be an electronic appliance that would revolutionize the way people lived just as thoroughly as Thomas Edison’s light bulb had. This appliance would sell for less than a television set and be “capable of being plugged in wherever there is electricity and giving immediate access to all the information needed for school work from first grade through college.” Although Drucker may have underestimated the cost of this hypothetical machine, he was prescient about the effect these machines—personal computers—and the Internet would have on education, social relationships, and the culture at large. The inventions of random access memory (RAM) chips and microprocessors in the 1970s were important steps to the Internet age. As Briggs and Burke note, these advances meant that “hundreds of thousands of components could be carried on a microprocessor.” The reduction of many different kinds of content to digitally stored information meant that “print, film, recording, radio and television and all forms of telecommunications [were] now being thought of increasingly as part of one complex.” This process, also known as convergence, is a force that’s affecting media today.

Key Takeaways

Media fulfills several roles in society, including the following:

• entertaining and providing an outlet for the imagination,
• educating and informing,
• serving as a public forum for the discussion of important issues, and
• acting as a watchdog for government, business, and other institutions.
• Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press enabled the mass production of media, which was then industrialized by Friedrich Koenig in the early 1800s. These innovations led to the daily newspaper, which united the urbanized, industrialized populations of the 19th century.
• In the 20th century, radio allowed advertisers to reach a mass audience and helped spur the consumerism of the 1920s—and the Great Depression of the 1930s. After World War II, television boomed in the United States and abroad, though its concentration in the hands of three major networks led to accusations of homogenization. The spread of cable and subsequent deregulation in the 1980s and 1990s led to more channels, but not necessarily to more diverse ownership.
• Transitions from one technology to another have greatly affected the media industry, although it is difficult to say whether technology caused a cultural shift or resulted from it. The ability to make technology small and affordable enough to fit into the home is an important aspect of the popularization of new technologies.

Choose two different types of mass communication—radio shows, television broadcasts, Internet sites, newspaper advertisements, and so on—from two different kinds of media. Make a list of what role(s) each one fills, keeping in mind that much of what we see, hear, or read in the mass media has more than one aspect. Then, answer the following questions. Each response should be a minimum of one paragraph.

• To which of the four roles media plays in society do your selections correspond? Why did the creators of these particular messages present them in these particular ways and in these particular mediums?
• What events have shaped the adoption of the two kinds of media you selected?
• How have technological transitions shaped the industries involved in the two kinds of media you have selected?

Anderson, Benedict Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism , (London: Verso, 1991).

Bilton, Jim. “The Loyalty Challenge: How Magazine Subscriptions Work,” In Circulation , January/February 2007.

Briggs and Burke, Social History of the Media .

Briggs, Asa and Peter Burke, A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet (Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2005).

Kay, Alan. “The Infobahn Is Not the Answer,” Wired , May 1994.

Library of Congress, “Radio: A Consumer Product and a Producer of Consumption,” Coolidge-Consumerism Collection, http://lcweb2.loc.gov:8081/ammem/amrlhtml/inradio.html .

McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man , (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964).

Mintz, Steven “The Jazz Age: The American 1920s: The Formation of Modern American Mass Culture,” Digital History , 2007, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?hhid=454 .

Ramsey, Doug. “UC San Diego Experts Calculate How Much Information Americans Consume” UC San Diego News Center, December 9, 2009, http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/12-09Information.asp .

State of the Media, project for Excellence in Journalism, The State of the News Media 2004 , http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2004/ .

Wallace, David Foster “E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction,” in A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again (New York: Little Brown, 1997).

Understanding Media and Culture Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Essay on Media: Short and Long Sample Essays

• Updated on  
• Dec 18, 2023

Media plays an important role in shaping our perceptions, influencing public opinion, and connecting individuals across the globe. The role of media in today’s modern world is not limited to just providing information. There are three basic purposes of media; inform, educate, and entertain. A society with free media allows it to have a social and cultural impact on it. Media offers us information about every activity going on in the world. Our smartphones, laptops, televisions, radios, and even public transportation have access to media, where we can watch news anytime and anywhere. Media not only influence our thoughts but can often manipulate our understanding of a particular topic. Continue reading essay on media to know more. Stay tuned!

Also Read: Social Media Bane or Boon

Also Read: Essay on Colonialism

Short Essay on Media

‘Media plays an important role in shaping our perceptions, influencing public opinion, and connecting individuals across the globe. Media includes different platforms such as television, radio, newspapers, and the internet. Media is considered a powerful tool to disseminate information and have social, cultural, and political influences on the masses.’

Some of the roles played by the media are:

• Informing the public through newspapers, news channels, and online portals.
• At the push of a button, media can provide us with a large source of information.
• Media has a significant impact on public opinion by framing issues, influencing perceptions, and shaping narratives.
• Some media platforms are considered political watchdogs, scrutinizing the actions of government officials and institutions. 
• Several media platforms rely on advertising revenue, and in turn, they provide a platform for businesses to promote their products and services.

Media can have both positive and negative impacts on an individual and society as a whole. Understanding the role of media and its limitations is important when watching or reading news. Media is meant for informational purposes. Its influence can vary from person to person. Media is a double-edged sword, which can have a negative or positive impact on our understanding, depending on how we perceive information.

Also Read: Essay on Social Issues

Long Essay on Media

‘Media is a great source of information. Some watch media for entertainment, while others for information or educational purposes. The way we perceive media can have a great impact on our understanding of a particular topic or information. In recent years, the influence of media has significantly increased. The role and influence of media is not limited and can take different forms. Newspapers and radio stations are some of the old and most preferred media sources as compared to television and internet media sources. The choices made by editors, the emphasis given to certain stories, and the narratives crafted can significantly impact how we perceive the world.

Types of Media

There are different types of media, which determine our choices.

News media comprises various platforms like SMS, blogs, email, internet, etc. These platforms are used to access and disseminate economic, social and political information. It offers new ways to develop business relationships with telecommunication companies that are capable of disseminating critical information that can change people’s lives.

Mass media includes print (newspapers, magazines), TV and radio. Due to the fast-paced TV and radio media platforms, there has been a significant decline in newspaper readership all over the world. However, there is a section of a group who still prefer newspapers as the best sources of information. On the other hand, TV and radio stations offer live information from different parts of the world.

Community Media

Community media focuses on the development and issues of a particular community. Some journalists work for community newspapers and radio stations within their community. They have their geographical limitations and sometimes are poorly resourced with immature journalists and editors.

What is the Role of Media?

‘Media plays multiple roles, educating and informing us about different fields. Media is not only there for news but also produces some amazing stories, documentaries, magazine programs and articles through its platforms.’

‘Media allows us to raise awareness and public voice against any unethical activity or decision of the government. Apart from sharing information, media has the power to be a catalyst for social change. It serves as a platform for advocacy, shedding light on injustices, and human rights violations, and inspiring collective action. 

We have witnessed how movements for equality and justice have gained momentum through the amplifying effect of media. As responsible citizens, we should support and engage with media that contributes to positive social change.

Different Roles of People in Media

Different people play different roles in the media and mass communication sector. 

• Board of Directors – Their job is to ensure that everyone within the organization fulfills their responsibilities within the given framework. They are the real policymakers within the organization. They are not responsible for day-to-day media programs. Their job is not to influence the work of editorial staff and junior journalists. 
• Media Manager – They are responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies for employees. They keep a check on what their media covers, how they have to do it, and what resources are required for everyday media coverage.
• Editors – There are different editorial teams, based on their roles and responsibilities. It includes editor-in-chief, special projects, financial, business, assignment, entertainment, etc. They are the gatekeepers because they are the final decision-makers on what will be published. They also guide journalists on the sources they would like to see in the story. 
• Sub-editors – They are an important part of a media house as they determine the ‘End product.’ Their role is to edit stories of structure, measure lengths of stories, check factual details, etc. They are responsible for writing news headlines and captions for photographs. These people have to work under strict deadlines. Because of this, their decision can be detrimental to the published stories.
• Reporter/ Journalist – They are the news hunters and gatherers. They make decisions on which stories to cover. It is critical to identify which journalists cover your type of issues and develop a relationship with them. 

Related Articles

Ans: Media plays an important role in shaping our perceptions, influencing public opinion, and connecting individuals across the globe. Media includes different platforms such as television, radio, newspapers, and the internet. 

Ans: There are three types of media: New media, Community media, and mass media.

Ans: Several people perform different roles in a media house, including reporters or journalists, sub-editors, editors, media managers, and the board of directors.

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Essay on Role of Media in Democracy

Students are often asked to write an essay on Role of Media in Democracy in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on Role of Media in Democracy

Introduction.

Media is a pillar of democracy. It informs the public, promotes transparency, and encourages citizen participation.

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Media informs citizens about the activities of government. It helps people make informed decisions during elections.

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Media exposes corruption and misuse of power. It holds leaders accountable, ensuring they serve public interest.

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Through debates and discussions, media encourages citizens to participate in democratic processes. It gives voice to the voiceless.

250 Words Essay on Role of Media in Democracy

Media, often hailed as the ‘Fourth Pillar’ of democracy, plays a pivotal role in shaping a healthy democracy. It is the backbone of a democracy, as it helps shape public opinion and influence the direction in which a society progresses.

Media as a Watchdog

Media’s primary role in a democracy is to act as a watchdog. It ensures the government’s accountability and transparency, scrutinizing its policies and decisions. By exposing corruption, inefficiency, and injustice, it empowers citizens to demand better governance.

Media as a Platform for Dialogue

Media also facilitates a healthy exchange of ideas, opinions, and criticisms. It provides a platform where different viewpoints can be expressed and heard, fostering a culture of debate and discussion, which is integral to a thriving democracy.

The Role of Media in Elections

Media’s role becomes particularly significant during elections. By providing comprehensive and unbiased information about candidates, their policies, and their performance, media allows voters to make informed choices, strengthening the electoral process.

Challenges and Conclusion

However, the power of media also poses challenges. Issues like fake news, media bias, and sensationalism can undermine its role in a democracy. Thus, it is crucial to promote media literacy, ethics, and regulations to ensure that media continues to serve as a pillar of democracy. Despite these challenges, it is undeniable that media plays a critical role in the functioning and preservation of democracy.

500 Words Essay on Role of Media in Democracy

The role of media in ensuring transparency.

In a democratic setup, media acts as a watchdog, keeping a vigilant eye on the actions of the government and other public figures. It investigates, exposes, and challenges any instances of corruption, malpractice, or abuse of power. By reporting on such issues, the media ensures accountability and transparency, thereby strengthening the democratic fabric of the society.

Media as a Platform for Debate and Discussion

Media also provides a platform for public debate and discussion. It encourages the exchange of ideas, opinions, and perspectives, which is crucial for the democratic process. Through news, talk shows, and panel discussions, media allows diverse viewpoints to be heard, fostering a culture of tolerance and mutual respect.

Media and Voter Awareness

Media and social change.

Media can also be a powerful tool for social change. By highlighting social issues and injustices, it can mobilize public opinion and spur collective action. Media campaigns on issues like gender discrimination, environmental conservation, and human rights have played a significant role in bringing about societal transformations.

Challenges and the Way Forward

Despite its crucial role, the media in a democracy faces several challenges. These include issues like media bias, sensationalism, and the influence of corporate and political interests. To overcome these challenges, there is a need for stringent regulations to ensure media independence and objectivity. Media literacy should also be promoted to enable the public to critically analyze media content.

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Role of media in society

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Exploring the Pros and Cons of Social Media: A Comprehensive

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Free Media and Society Essay Examples & Topics

The role of media in society becomes more crucial with each day. We associate it not only with popular culture but also with receiving news and updates. The term “media” can have many meanings. In this article, we will refer to it as the communication channels through which we consume information. It can take many forms, such as music, television, books, games, etc.

The purposes of media vary. It is a source of information and education but also entertainment and fun. We use it to connect with our peers and as a gateway to explore the world. In many ways, media mirrors our society and reflects our cultural values.

If you are writing a media and society essay, you can address many problems and ideas. Here, our team has prepared advice that will help in writing your paper. You will also find essay topics on media and links to free samples.

The whole point of media is in relaying well-argued ideas. So, your academic paper is just another form of communication. That is why it is necessary to understand how to structure your media and society essay properly. Over here, we came up with some advice that will help you accomplish this goal.

• Concentrate on your task.

Finding your focus is an essential aspect of your work. Your topic is the crux of your essay, so choosing one that you can delve into is imperative. If what you’re writing about is interesting to you, the work process will be smoother and faster.

• Research & collect references.

It is best to begin research as soon as possible. Keep your sources organized by noting them down as you go along. It will ensure that you won’t be at a loss when the time comes to craft up a bibliography.

• Outline your paper.

Creating a structure beforehand is a handy way of cutting down the time. When you have a plan in front of you, writing becomes more manageable. Make sure to jot down ideas for your introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.

• Stay on topic.

If you have created an outline for your essay, keeping on track shouldn’t be a problem. Remember that all your points and arguments should connect back to your thesis statement . Keep it short and exclude irrelevant information from your word count.

• Cite sources.

When you make a claim in your essay, it is vital to back it up with evidence. Citing your sources lets your professors see that you haven’t pulled your arguments out of thin air. Keep a good balance of quotes, facts, and personal opinions for an effective paper.

The choice of mass media essay topics is as expansive as the source material. You can choose to look at the newest social networking sites or explore how communication has evolved in recent years. You can check social media topics as well.

To make your life easier, we came up with a list of ideas for you:

• An analysis of the positive effects of social media in our life.
• How do we account for partiality in the news industry in a democratic society?
• The impacts of media on society in forging and maintaining long-distance relationships.
• War on Drugs : how journalism and media coverage shaped American mass panic.
• How do governments utilize popular entertainment media as a tool of propaganda?
• Navigating call-out culture and its development on Twitter and Facebook.
• The evolution of technology and the transformation of mass media in the modern world.
• How did TikTok become the fastest-growing social media website?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of realistic violence depiction in popular media?
• Exploring the world of Instagram influencers and their impact on today’s youth.
• How did advertising change the digital media landscape in the last ten years?
• The negative impact of mental health portrayal and their inaccuracies in Hollywood films.
• What constitutes media literacy, and how can it be promoted?
• Is there a correlation between video game violence and real-life crime?
• The role of journalists and media in the Black Lives Matter movement.
• Did video really kill the radio star? Discussing the popularity of podcasts as a form of radio renaissance.
• A critical analysis of Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent .
• Who controls the mass media, and what does this tell us about media bias?
• Exploring the meaning and execution of the indie genre in media.
• Lil Nas X – music industry revolutionary or yet another pop star?
• How does the prevalence of media in our lives violate social rights and individual freedom?

Hopefully, you managed to find something that caught your eye. If not, our topic generator can craft some new ideas for you.

Thanks for reading the article! We wish you the best in your future exploits. Now, feel free to browse through our essay on media and society examples found below.

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The role of media in society

Related Papers

Media and Development in Rural Kashmir

Dr. Pardeep Singh

Rural development is need of the hour for a conflict torn state like Jammu and Kashmir, which is on the threshold of being among the most developed states of India, despite the conflict of more than two decades. The quest for rural development must lead in the direction of empowering those societies who are in the need of being empowered. The rural Kashmir has witnessed bloodshed , rapes, molestation, harassment for decades, but issues remained suppressed due to immature media. No society can think of development, when its people are being killed, harassed and undergo inhuman treatment. To understand what role media can play in rural development, we have to understand media scenario in Jammu and Kashmir. This paper endeavors to present bit of the media reach and working in Jammu and Kashmir, especially rural areas.

IOSR Journals

Media refers to means of mass communication such as TV, radio, newspapers, etc. Media, be it any type, reaches the remotest corners of our country. As the literacy rate is increasing, Indians realize the need for more and more information. Newspapers, national and regional, focus on the various aspects of information : political, social, economic, sportive, etc. Radio is also a good source of information and entertainment. It helps a great deal during emergency or some disaster. Like radio, TV, too, is a very powerful media. With a continuous flow of news about business, sports, etc, TV has turned out to be a useful electronic media. Internet is an indispensable tool of our economic sector. In fact, it is required in public and private sectors. The use of computers for teaching is truly innovative which has benefited students of all streams. Whatever the type of media, its duty is to report impartially. But unfortunately media mostly focuses on catchy and exaggerated news to attract readers' or viewers' attention. Some newspapers indulge in the malpractice of " paid-news ". Besides, media highlights violence which has a negative influence on juvenile minds. Perhaps the spirit of competition propels it towards indulgence in malpractices. But the fact remains that media is a powerful and useful medium, if it is used with care and responsibility

The Perspective International Journal of Social Science and Humanities

saddam hossain

India has the largest tribal population in the world. They are mostly illiterate, undeveloped and oppressed sections of Indian society. This paper has carried out to assess the role of media in the social development of tribal society/people in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. Life is nothing without communication and communication is nothing else without media. The media is playing a vital role in the development and has taken some remarkable changes in the social life. Media can act as a social agent for social change and somehow they act as mediators to the tribes and providers of social, political and economic supporters. This is descriptive study of tribal areas of Vidarbha Region in Maharashtra state. The reality that will never change is the sense that media is a means of communication that plays an important role for information and community development. Today, all over the world, media is a connecting tool to each other in the country or between countries. Media has become an essential part of the life of human behaviour. Mankind and a day pass without it. Through media people can establish social relationship get knowledge and improve their living conditions. It is one of the means for development and change. The media brings the people together and helping for the globalization process in the Digital Era. Most of the complications are prevailing in tribal society in the world are developmental and all the problems in this world can be solved by more and better communication. Similarly most of the tribal problems can be solved with appropriate and effective mode of communication. Transport communication and mass media brings the isolated tribal communities into the limelight and integrates them into the main stream.

Rupali Chaudhary

With the passage of time as the technology got advanced, media influence has also increased to a large scale. Presently, media to a great extent forms our opinions and shapes our attitudes about everything from saas-bahu sagas to corruption and other serious issues. The omnipresent media is visible not only in urban households rather remote village areas have also got onslaught of media messages in a big way. The present paper studies the reach, access, exposure and impact of mass media on the people of Malana village in Himachal Pradesh. The study concludes that very gradually people of this remote village are succumbing to the media influences which are affecting their socio-cultural environment. They, however find that family influence is still dominating in the important matters/affairs of their life.

Dr Yashpal D Netragaonkar

International Journal in Multidisciplinary and Academic Research

Krishna Pandey

This paper analyses the mass media exposure of respondents in Latehar district of Jharkhand state of India.As the area of study was rural people of Latehar district of Palamau Commissionery of Jharkhand State so the respondent was found to have no access to the categories. Internet, TV, newspaper, magazine* cassettes/ CD's and hooks are the few popular media for accessing information regarding any activities which is going on around the development. Most of the respondents respondent have access to gram shabha due to non-availability of the above media in this areas. In case of exclusive movie channel IIBO and Set Max are equally popular with 5% while among Hindi channel ETV Hindi (30%) rated first followed by DD Hindi and local cable with (10%) each. It is followed by Zee Cinema (5%) Dordarshan (40%), Discovery (5%), National Geography (5% Animal plant (5%) and BBC world (5%). It is mentioned that news channel. Sports channel, movie/ music channel. Discovery channel and National geography channel is few popular among the respondents. It can be commented from the above study that there is a lot to be done for the cause of development of Latehar district. Many time this district comes in the news for violent activities as they have almost paralysed the development process

Lungsanliu Panmei

Whereas we are flooded with media messages through T.V, Radio, Films, Newspapers, etc. flowing in from outside, we lack the services and facilities to voice our problems and issues to the outside world. We become passive recipients of the mass media massages which are influencing our culture and not the other way round.

IMANKALYAN LAHIRI

ijifr journal

Mass communication is a very important institutional mechanism in social development. It encompasses every walk of life in which people, institutions, companies or organizations are communicated valuable information. In this era of knowledge-based society, life without the means of mass communication is practically impossible. Mass communication empowers the masses and nourishes the roots of democracy. It is vital tool to bring a vibrant and participatory democracy in a country like ours. The concept of development communication is not just reporting of positive events alone. It is also reporting of negative things about events which have failed or where not able to bring positive results. Mass media are supposed to act as agents of social change, especially in developing countries like India. In the NorthEast region of the country, the role of mass communication in development is pivotal. Manipur is geographically isolated from the mainland of the country and its lack of transport system hinders media growth as well as development reach. Moreover for the lack of advance information technology, the state is lagging behind other states in terms of media reach and access. Also the catalytic effect of mass communication in the process of development is not properly examined. This article brings a brief about the mass media access and reach in Manipur.

Kapil Lamture

What is media? Common man think about that ,the definition of media is the plural of medium or ways to communicate information other words or definition is communication channels through which news, entertainment,education,data or promotional messages are dissemination not but also media includes every broadcasting and narrowcasting medium such as newspaper, magazines,TV radio,billboards,direct mail telephone , fax and internet. In India Media is consist of several different types of Indian communications ,and television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based Web sites. Many of the media are controlled by large, for-profit corporations which reap revenue from advertising, subscriptions, and sale of copyrighted material. India also has a strong electronic communication industry. it has more than 70,000 newspapers and over 690 satellite channels almost more than 80 are news channels, and is the biggest newspaper market in the world-over 100 million copies sold each day. The media are often referred to as the fourth branch of government because of the power they wield and the oversight function they exercise. The media's key role in democratic governance has been recognized since the late 17th century, and remains a fundamental principle of modern-day democratic theory and practice. Modern-day democrats are as hyperbolic in their praise of the press. Despite the present-day mass media's propensity for sleaze, sensationalism and superficiality, they are still seen as essential democratic tools. Contemporary democratic theory appreciates the media's role in ensuring governments are held accountable. In both new and old democracies, the notion of the media as watchdog and not merely a passive recorder of events is widely accepted. Governments, it is argued, cannot be held accountable if citizens are ill informed about the actions of officials and institutions. The watchdog press is guardian of the public interest, warning citizens against those who are doing them harm. A fearless and effective watchdog is critical in fledgling democracies where institutions are weak and pummeled by political pressure. When legislatures, and other oversight bodies are powerless against the mighty or are themselves corruptible, the media are often left as the only check against the abuse of power. This requires that they play a heroic role, exposing the excesses of presidents, prime ministers, legislators and magistrates despite the risks.We are amidst the 2nd decade of the 21st century , which can rightly acclaim to be the century of information and media explosion this would be appropriate to say that only those nations can survive and prosper in education , philosophy , culture , art and science and technology that have developed their print and electronic media.And Hindi Gujarati , Marathi , Bengali , and many more languages that define the essence of the Indian state and mark the character of the Indian media.Media is not only a tool of communication ,It is representative of the local culture ,ethics and beliefs.Language is a similar role is play by media, which in itself is a cultural parameter, language is bound to be a deep relationship between the way the Indian media works and the resulting effects it has on the development of Indian languages. The encontribution of the India language media in the growth and survival of Indian languages, the authentic city of the perceived threat by the English and western media to regional language and culture, the quality of content presented by the regional media the caretaker of the local identity.The paper will also suggest some measures that can be implemented by the regional media in their bid to promote Indian languages.

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Essay on “Role of Media in Society or Importance of Media” for CSS, PMS, Judiciary Examinations

• August 22, 2021
• Essay for CSS PMS and Judiciary Exam

This is an essay on “Role of Media in Society or Importance of Media” for CSS, PMS, and Judiciary Examinations. Media has always played an important role in our society. For a long time, media has been one of the methods of controlling, people and leisure. The media, both print, and broadcast are expected to inform the mass audience, educate them to entertain the people and mobilize them towards the desired goal. So here is the complete essay on “the role of media in the society or importance of media”.

Essay on “Role of Media in Society or Importance of Media”

Access to information is essential t6 the health of democracy for at least two reasons. First, it ensures that citizens make responsible, informed choices rather than acting out of ignorance or misinformation. Second, information serves a “checking function” by ensuring that elected representatives uphold their oaths of office and carry it the wishes of those who elected them.

In some societies, an antagonistic relationship between media and government represents a vital and healthy element of fully functioning democracies. In post-conflict or ethnically homogenous societies such a conflictual, tension-ridden relationship may not be appropriate, but the role of the press to disseminate information as a way of mediating between the state and all facets o(civil society remains critical.

The media plays an important role in our life. It has the power to speak boldly against wrong politicians . The media gives voices to the poor people. When nobody listens to a man only the media raises his voice.

Media plays a vital role in everyone’s life. It solves their problems. It gives them choices as many new media and channels are coming up. Yes sometimes it sensationalizes the news items but again I feel that media is something that is a must for today. It helps and provides vital information to the people.

Media is considered to· be the 4th pillar of society. The other three being legislative, executive, and judiciary. It definitely plays an important role in the welfare of society. The media plays a very important role as a source of information, education, and entertainment. It accommodates the world into a single village that is saturated with media information.

Media is a mirror of society. Its duty is to inform, educate and entertain the people but nowadays we see that media is not doing its duty honestly. Instead of giving important information and educative program, it is giving emphasis to sensationalize the public. They are only trying to attract people to increase their TRP rating. They raise the matter for 2 or 3 days then they forget that and never try to get the feedback of the cases.

Today News Channels and even some Newspapers are mouthpieces of some political parties . Their work then limits only to spread the ideology of the party rather than giving the correct news. People have to judge on their own by looking at different channels for the same news and then form a conclusion.

Media is the watchdog of political democracy . If it plays its role honestly it will be a great force in building the nation but nowadays due to great commercialization, it is not performing its role properly which is not healthy for society.

Its duty is to inform, educate and entertain the people but nowadays we see that media is not doing its duty honestly. Instead of g1v1ng important information and educative program, it is giving emphasis to sensationalize the public.

The media are so much part of us that to recognize their impact, we must step back and consciously think about how they shape our lives and what they are saying. The media affects people’s perspectives not only through television but also through radio and newspapers. In this way, even many messages with which we cannot agree, inevitably coming to us from a diverse constellation of media, will not hurt us. They can even be turned to our benefit by whetting our understanding and articulation of what we believe. The media plays on people’s fears.

It helps us to know current affairs on the spot. They put their lives in danger during a terrorist attack or a natural disaster. just to inform us about it. It is partly because of them that there is awareness spreading in society. This is how. many countries are able to contribute to the affected areas. Who are the people who tell us about corruption? Who are the people who tell us about the crimes? It is the media who tells us. It is the media that shape our lives. Without media our lives are incomplete. In conclusion, I would!d like to say that the media plays a very important role in our lives and in society.

Media is really an important object in society nowadays. Without the media. it would have never been possible for us to become so much advanced. Though sometimes it becomes too intrusive, still l think it plays a very important role in our society. It helps us to know about how the poor people are being exploited by the richer ones. how the students are being abused by the teachers. how the brutal fathers are killing their own baby in its mother’s womb as it is a girl. Had the media been not there we would have never been able to know a bit about all these.

The main important functions of the media are entertaining, educating, and informing society. For society to cope in this technologically dependent era. they need to be media-saturated.

Today, media is considered the fourth pillar of the state all over the world, first and foremost British Member of Parliament Lord Macaulay had given this status to the media. in any country, the governing body has a significant position, then religious leaders have a second position. after that general public has the third position and the media have the fourth position. In any republican government system. there must be three administrative bodies,

1- Parliament, 2- Administrative department, 3- Judiciary body.

In the absence of any of these three bodies, the government can not run systematically, but now it is felt that one body more is necessary to be with them, that is media, this body is considered more important these days, it plays an important role as an informative bridge between governing bodies and the general public, in absence of media general public cannot know about what kind of bills and acts are passed in the parliament, and what are their positive and negative effects in the society, if media person close their eyes the government officials will do what they want, so media plays a very important and impartial role between government activities and the general public, so much so that it is said that the freedom of media is the guarantee of success of republic government.

Mass Media is a unique feature of modern society. Its development has accompanied an increase in the magnitude and complexity of societal actions and engagements, rapid social change, technological innovation, rising personal income and standard · of life, and the decline of some traditional forms of control and authority. There is an association between the development of mass media and social change, although the degree and direction of this association are still debated upon even after years of study into media influence.

Many of the consequences, either detrimental or beneficial, which have been attributed to the mass media, are almost undoubtedly due to other tendencies within Society. Few sociologists would refuse the importance of mass media, and mass communications as a whole, as being a major factor in the construction and circulation of social understanding and social imagery in modern societies. Therefore it is argued that the mass media is used as “an instrument”, both more powerful and more flexible than anything in a previous existence, for influencing people into certain modes of belief and understanding within society.

Through media, we can get information in few minutes. But we· should not see just one side of the coin as there are many good and bad things considering both sides of the same coin. There are even many Small children who get influenced by media and some things shown are bad for them. So media has a good side as well as a bad side none of the sides can be ignored.

The role .that has been played by the media in the present political system is immense. And it has rightly earned its position as the fourth pillar in any democracy of the world, more. so in a country like India. But it has been my personal belief, that with the no. of channels that are coming up, and each one seems to be more interested in the TRP rating and their commercial gains, rather than playing the role for what it is meant for. Now the media seems to be more interested in who is getting married where what is getting cooked there.

Somebody is cheating on the other, etc. My question is, are these matters of national interest? The media needs to get above these petty things of creating national issues of matters that should not be given so much importance.

MEDIA in a true sense acts as a connectivity bridge between people worldwide. It makes us aware of what all is happening in this world. It is only due to media which we are able to be safe from being involved in various dangerous activities.

Media is a very important aspect in a society where there’s democracy. The common people have the right to know the working of the government. People should be aware of the happenings around them. In a country where people don’t know the happenings around them & the working of governance, that country cannot progress. In the last 20 years, India has progressed so much only because of media. The British were able to win over us because at that time the common person didn’t know about the changes in their society thus Indians failed to unite amongst themselves to protest against the British.

Media does have a positive and a negative side. In the current epoch, there are many irrelevant things that should not be shown. I think the media should understand that news channels are seen by small children to old-aged people’. Hence they should understand what should be shown and what should not be shown. Whatever they do it should be under the limit.

The role of Media can never be neglected in society. It refers to the section of mass communication that focuses on presenting current news to the public. There is also some disadvantage concerning to electronic media, I think sometimes some channel also broadcast and publish the messages in such situation that the real messages are left beyond our hands. The other disadvantage is that sometimes they also publish or broadcast some vulgar news and sometimes un-essential activities are served as very important news and broadcasted again and again. This does not broaden the reach of media.

Indeed media is a very powerful weapon that is used to target not few but large masses. It is very essential for media to promote itself and others in the right manner because we must use media as an entertaining as well as an informative platform to make ourselves aware of things happening around us. And it is true that many times media gives undue coverage to issues that are really not important to a common man and neglects other important matters. It would be so good if media is used as a platform by the people and for the people to make our world a beautiful place by providing the important information and the right kind of entertainment.

The media is losing its original track & forgetting its real responsibility today. It has been dramatic & lost its reliability.

It’s true that media is considered the fourth pillar of the state and media is indeed doing a lot of good to society. But as they say, every character has grey shades, the same is true with media also. On one hand, media is educating people, on the other hand, media has adopted a self-imposed right of intruding into the privacy of people, be it common men or celebrities.

We live in an era today in which both journalists and the public in the United States are struggling to reach a consensus on what constitutes good journalism. It’s no longer enough for journalists themselves to think they are doing a good job. For journalism to continue to receive constitutional protection and continue to attract readers and viewers. Readers and viewers have to agree that journalism plays an essential role in our· democratic society.

Media can be used as a weapon against all social evils. It is instrumental in bringing about unity among the masses. The media has the power to pressure, criticize the drawbacks of democracy.

It is important for us to remember not just the pros and cons of media but also to be able to assure ourselves about the ways in which it impacts various shortcomings and crises throughout the world over various issues across domains of life Our question should be does it help, beyond just bringing things into our notice.

As just getting to know is not enough. Does it make a difference to vulnerabilities of life? It takes up a life span approach focusing on a child, a girl, an elderly, an adult placed in various contexts and situations. Thus it provides us a situational analysis of people and places. We are exposed to the dim and the hard realities of life. It widens our lens to acknowledge justice as well as injustice bridging the gap between people and policies and political processes. We should really be proud of its reach. But not to forget it is a two-edged weapon.

Today television channels and newspapers are making fast money by cashing on the news in the wrong sense and wrong way. In the race to become more popular and to make money, they have broken all the limits media must follow while serving to build a healthy and progressive society.

They have no respect for the sentiments and ethics of the people and land whom they serve, with their immense power to influence the masses they just make judgments like a true dictator rather than the good advice of a true friend as they previously used to do. If it will be going in the future then we people have to think about the role of media in our life.

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Harvard’s Institute of Politics Announces Fall 2024 Resident Fellows

Introduction

CAMBRIDGE, MA - The Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School today announced the appointment of six Resident Fellows who will join the IOP for the Fall 2024 semester. The fellows bring diverse experience in politics, elected office, polling, journalism, and economic development to address the challenges facing our country and world today.

"We are thrilled to welcome this Fall's cohort of Resident Fellows to Harvard to engage and collaborate with our students and community, and to get their thoughts and insight in the final few months of this year's historic election. Their diverse experiences will no doubt inspire our students to consider careers in public service and prepare them to provide essential political leadership in the months and years ahead," said IOP Director Setti Warren .

"We are excited to have such a remarkable group of Fellows at the IOP this Fall. They bring varied perspectives on how to best approach some of our country's most consequential challenges, and I am confident our students will gain important insight into the fields of politics, civic engagement, journalism, and more," said Michael Nutter , Chair of the Institute of Politics' Senior Advisory Committee, and former Mayor of Philadelphia.

"We are thrilled to welcome the incredibly accomplished members of the 2024 Fall Fellows Cohort as we begin the fall semester prior to the incredibly important U.S. election. As we close out the 'biggest election year in history,' our world remains in the throes of a major period of democratic backsliding. American voters, including many Harvard students, will once again face the possibility of reactionary backsliding and threats to fundamental rights. Closer to home, we are keenly aware of the threats to free speech on campus. While this semester will bring renewed challenges to and debates concerning those fundamental rights, we are hopeful that study groups will remain a source of vibrant, productive, and gratifying discussions on Harvard's campus. In that spirit, this semester's cohort of Fellows will bring in critical perspectives from the varied worlds of governing, policymaking, polling, reporting, and campaigning to equip students with the tools necessary to create a better tomorrow. We are confident that this cohort of Fellows will help this program to remain a bastion of freedom of speech and civil discourse on Harvard's campus," said Éamon ÓCearúil ‘25 and Summer Tan ‘26 , Co-Chairs of the Fellows and Study Groups Program at the Institute of Politics.

IOP Resident Fellows are fully engaged with the Harvard community. They reside on campus, mentor a cohort of undergraduate students, hold weekly office hours, and lead an eight-week, not-for-credit study group based on their experience and expertise.

Fall 2024 Resident Fellows:

• Betsy Ankney: Former Campaign Manager, Nikki Haley for President
• John Anzalone: One of the nation's top pollsters and strategists, and founder of Impact Research, a public opinion research and consulting firm
• Alejandra Y. Castillo: Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development
• Asa Hutchinson: Former Governor of Arkansas and 2024 Presidential Candidate
• Brett Rosenberg: Former Director for Strategic Planning, National Security Council and Deputy Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, Department of State
• Eugene Scott: Host at Axios Live, and former reporter who has spent two decades covering politics at the local, national and international level, including at the Washington Post and CNN

Brief bios and quotes can be found below. Headshots are available upon request.

Betsy Ankney Ankney is a political strategist with over 15 years of experience on tough campaigns. She has been involved in campaigns and Super PACs at the national and state level and played a role in some of the biggest upsets in Republican politics. She has been an advisor to Ambassador Nikki Haley since 2021, serving as Executive Director for Stand for America PAC and most recently as Campaign Manager for Nikki Haley for President. After starting with zero dollars in the bank and 2% in the polls, the campaign defied the odds, raised $80 million, and Nikki Haley emerged as the strongest challenger to Donald Trump. Ankney served as the Political Director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee for the 2020 cycle. She advised senate campaigns across the country, working directly with candidates and their campaigns on budgets, messaging, and fundraising. Prior to her work at the NRSC, Ankney managed multiple statewide campaigns, including Bruce Rauner for Governor in Illinois and Ron Johnson for Senate in Wisconsin. For her work on Ron Johnson’s race, she was named “Campaign Manager of the Year” by the American Association of Political Consultants for 2016. Ankney got her start in politics at the 2008 Republican National Convention and served in various roles at the Republican National Committee as well as on multiple campaigns and outside efforts. She serves on the boards of The Campaign School at Yale and The American Association of Political Consultants. She is from Toledo, Ohio and attended Vanderbilt University.

"I am honored to be a part of the fantastic program at the Harvard Institute of Politics. As we enter the final stretch of one of the wildest and most unpredictable election cycles in modern history, I look forward to having conversations in real time about our political process, what to look for, and why it matters." – Betsy Ankney

John Anzalone Anzalone is one of the nation’s top pollsters and messaging strategists. He has spent decades working on some of the toughest political campaigns in modern history and helping private-sector clients navigate complex challenges. He has polled for the past four presidential races, most recently serving as chief pollster for President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. In that role, he helped develop the messaging and strategy that drove paid communications, major policy rollouts, speeches, and convention thematics. He has also polled for the campaigns of President Obama and Hillary Clinton, and has helped elect U.S. senators, governors, and dozens of members of Congress. Anzalone works with governors across the country, including current Governors Gretchen Whitmer (MI) and Roy Cooper (NC). He polls regularly for the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Senate Majority PAC, and AARP. With more than 30 years of experience in message development and strategic execution, he has been called on by key decision-makers, executives, and CEOs to provide counsel in a changing world and marketplace. He has extensive experience using research and data to break down complex subjects into digestible messages that resonate with target audiences. He grew up in St. Joseph, Michigan, and graduated from Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is married and has four children, two dogs, and lives in Watercolor, Florida.

"After a 40-year career in politics I am so excited to give back by sharing and mentoring politically active and curious students, but also to have an opportunity to learn from them myself. During the next three months we will be living the 2024 elections together in real time. There is nothing more exciting than that regardless of your political identity." – John Anzalone

Alejandra Y. Castillo The Honorable Alejandra Y. Castillo was nominated by President Biden and sworn in as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development on August 13, 2021, becoming the first women of color to hold this position. Ms. Castillo led the Economic Development Administration (EDA) between August 2021-2024 through an unprecedented moment of growth and opportunity. As the only federal agency focused exclusively on economic development, she guided EDA’s the implementation of over $6.8 billion dollars in federal funding, powering EDA and its mission to make transformational placed-based investments to support inclusive and equitable economic growth across America. Spanning over two decades of public service and non-profit work, she has served in three Presidential administrations --Biden, Obama and Clinton. Her career has also included a drive to shattering glass ceilings and providing inspiration to multiple generations of diverse leaders. Castillo is an active member in various civic and professional organizations, including the Hispanic National Bar Association, the American Constitution Society, as well as the Council on Foreign Relations. Castillo holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook; a M.A. in Public Policy from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin; and a J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law. A native of Queens, NY., the daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic.

"I am excited to join this Fall semester IOP Fellowship class and have the opportunity to engage with students and faculty members across the University. The IOP fellowship presents a great forum to discuss and evaluate the future of U.S. industrial strategy and economic growth in light of the historic federal investments in place-based economic development during the last three years. I am honored to join my colleagues in making this an exciting and informative semester for students." – Alejandra Y. Castillo

Asa Hutchinson Governor Asa Hutchinson is a former Republican candidate for President of the United States. He served as the 46th Governor of the State of Arkansas and in his last election, he was re-elected with 65 percent of the vote, having received more votes than any other Republican candidate for governor in the State’s history. As a candidate for President, Hutchinson distinguished himself as an advocate for balancing the federal budget, energy production and enhanced border security. He also was a clear voice for the GOP to move away from the leadership of Donald Trump. Hutchinson’s time as governor is distinguished by his success in securing over $700 million per year in tax cuts, safeguarding the retirement pay of veterans from state income tax, shrinking the size of state government, creating over 100,000 new jobs and leading a national initiative to increase computer science education. The Governor’s career in public service began when President Ronald Reagan appointed him as the youngest U.S. Attorney in the nation for the Western District of Arkansas. In 1996, he won the first of three consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his third term in Congress, President George W. Bush appointed Governor Hutchinson to serve as Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration and later as the nation’s first Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Border Protection. He is a former Chairman of the National Governors. He grew up on a small farm near Gravette. He and his wife, Susan, have four children and seven grandchildren. Governor Hutchinson is currently CEO of Hutchinson Group LLC, a security consulting firm.

"After 8 years as Governor it is time to teach and mentor. I am honored to have the opportunity this fall to share my experiences and perspective but to also learn from the students and my colleagues who will also be resident fellows at the IOP. The timing is historic with our democracy facing a critical choice this fall as to the direction of our country." – Asa Hutchinson

Brett Rosenberg Rosenberg is a foreign policy expert who has served in the White House, Department of State, and Senate. During the Biden Administration, Rosenberg was the inaugural Deputy Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, President Biden’s and the G7’s flagship program designed to meet infrastructure needs in low- and middle-income countries. At the White House, Rosenberg served on the National Security Council as Director for Strategic Planning, working on shaping and realizing approaches to issues spanning from international economics to Western Hemisphere engagement, as well as helping to write the National Security Strategy. Prior to her service in the Biden administration, Rosenberg was Associate Director of Policy for National Security Action, where she remains a senior advisor. Rosenberg began her career in Washington as a legislative aide to then-Senator Kamala Harris, where she advised the senator on a range of domestic and economic policy issues. Rosenberg is a Nonresident Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and her writing has appeared in outlets including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, and McSweeneys. She received her A.B. in History from Harvard College and her PhD (DPhil) in International Relations from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

"What a privilege it is to be part of this incredible community in this incredible moment. I can't wait to learn from the students, faculty, and other fellows as we dive in together to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing the United States and the world." – Brett Rosenberg

Eugene Scott Eugene Scott is a host at Axios Live, where he travels the country interviewing political and policy leaders. He was previously a senior political reporter for Axios covering 2024 swing voters and voting rights. An award-winning journalist, Scott has spent two decades covering politics at the local, national and international levels. He was recently a national political reporter at The Washington Post focused on identity politics and the 2022 midterm election. Following the 2020 presidential election, he hosted “The Next Four Years,” then Amazon’s top original podcast. He also contributed to “FOUR HUNDRED SOULS: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019,” which topped the New York Times’ bestseller list. In addition to writing, Scott has regularly provided political analysis on MSNBC, CBS and NPR. Scott was a Washington Correspondent for CNN Politics during the 2016 election. And he began his newspaper career at the Cape Argus in Cape Town, South Africa not long after beginning his journalism career with BET News’ “Teen Summit.” Scott received his master’s degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and his bachelor’s from the University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media. He is a D.C. native and continues to live in the Nation’s Capital.

"Learning from and with the professionals that visited the IOP during my time on campus was one of the highlights of my time at the Kennedy School. I am eager to help lead students in understanding the press and this country as we navigate the final weeks of arguably the most consequential election of our time." – Eugene Scott

Additional information can be found here .

About the Institute of Politics Fellows Program The Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School was established in 1966 as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy. The Institute’s mission is to unite and engage students, particularly undergraduates, with academics, politicians, activists, and policymakers on a non-partisan basis to inspire them to pursue pathways in politics and public service. The Institute blends the academic with practical politics and offers students the opportunity to engage in current events and to acquire skills and perspectives that will assist in their postgraduate pathways.

The Fellows Program has stood as the cornerstone of the IOP, encouraging student interest in public service and increasing the interaction between the academic and political communities. Through the Fellows Program, the Institute aims to provide students with the opportunity to learn from experienced public servants, the space to engage in civil discourse, and the chance to acquire a more holistic and pragmatic view of our political world.

For more information on the fellowship program, including a full list of former fellows, visit: iop.harvard.edu  

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