The media is corrupting our society. Do you agree?


I agree to a certain extent that the media is corrupting our society, because it is a powerful tool that can be used both in a good or bad sense.

http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/cgi-bin/tw/tw-mag.cgi?category=Magazine22&item=1104159913

This article about how media molds the world states that a researcher, James Hamilton, said that ‘laboratory evidence firmly establishes that violence on television causes children to be more aggressive… children learn scripts of behavior from television that lead them to be violent in later life’. There is also an increasing trend of younger children ‘killing their peers and others who get in their way—then laughing and bragging about their exploits.’ ‘Press reports repeatedly document the direct link between violence on the screen and human behavior.’ This shows that the media does play a part in influencing behavioral outcomes and may corrupt the mindset by excessively exposing children to violent acts. Furthermore, to increase viewership or readership to gain profit, the media may just give the public what they want, which is entertainment, but in this process unfortunately, does not consider the consequences on the society.

Some magazines promote promiscuity and frequently feature pictures and articles with adult themes which are not suitable for the young. These erode moral values and encourage young minds to explore adult issues. They glamorize sex and often encourage promiscuity, for example pre-marital sex.

In fairness, the media is not always as bad as we think it is. It still does try to promote proper moral and social values through its various ways of distributing information to the public. Commercials advertising the ill effects of certain habits such as smoking and gambling on the individual as well as the society aim to the welfare of the general public. Television drama serials which carry family values are shown during the peak periods in the hope that these values will be picked up. Thus, can the media be said to be corrupting our society?

http://www.progressiveu.org/190000-media-the-new-scapegoat-of-society

This article states that while people blame the media for corrupting youths, it is not necessarily responsible for everything because there are other things such as the role of parents in educating children about the correct moral values. While this may be true in a way, often the media does have a hand in promoting negative influences as shown above.

Thus, to conclude, the media has the potential to corrupt out society.