It is the need of the hour that the consumers of mass media are educated on the covert influence propagated to them
KARACHI: Mass media is one of the defining features of the contemporary world and undoubtedly has an effect on both, our unconscious and conscious. Its influences on the public cannot be undermined as history stands as proof. One of the biggest examples is of Edward Barney who used media and advertisement to propagate eggs and bacon as an all American breakfast; he even facilitated a successful overthrow of a democratically elected Guatemalan president. Other media influences can be identified by how media imposes gender roles, uses propaganda, influences, acknowledges and asserts certain actions on our unconscious. For instance, media can be credited with romanticising mental illness and physical violence in the name of action movies or romance. These heavily influenced ‘opinions’ of an individual are often presented as objective when they are in fact the opposite. The biggest example of media influence is observed in the political arena, where the ‘right words at the right time’ can build or demolish an individual’s preconceived notions, i.e. if media was unable to influence people’s opinions then Donald Trump may have not been the president elect.
As the aforementioned makes it apparent; media is an influential tool which have for far too long been use to assert the views of the powerful on the general population. The industry today presents the illusion of choice as 90 per cent is controlled by six media giants, namely; GE, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS. This is an illustration of how the ideologies of these six organisations are selectively imposed on the public, but it is the need of the hour that the concentration is divided and consumers of mass media are educated on the covert influence, which is propagated to them. The power is too great and capable of bearing good fruits if the right information is circulated.
Kashmala Tahir
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2016.
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