Does society influence the media or does the media influence society? I personally think that both society and the media influence each other. This doesn't change the fact that media can be used to manipulate. The all great and powerful Bruce Redman established that reality, as we know it, is a social construct.
I found this lecture surprisingly interesting. The content was stellar and detailed; I learned quite more than I thought I would. I've always been interested in mass psychology and social movement. The lecture opened my eyes as to how important agenda setting is, within the field of journalism.
Agenda setting can efficiently disseminate information to the public, but also manipulate the public. Agenda setting is simply emphasising certain issues for the purpose of making the public perceive it as more important. This means that the media, rather than reflect reality, mould and present it to the public. Agenda setting was utilised during to the Nazi movement to sway public opinion in favour of the Nazi party. Today, mass media sets agenda's on topics such as terrorism, climate change and the global financial crisis. Agenda setting is also the reason why celebrities gets as much or more attention than global issues such as lack of aid in third world countries, civil conflicts, advancements in science and global politics.
I could talk about how agenda setting is immoral; but who am I to decide what's right or wrong when writing about the notion of perception. Overall, agenda setting, to me, is very important. I'm going to spend the rest of my life making my perception of reality as close to reality as possible.
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