The role of mass media in a democracy is to inform and entertain, while keeping the audience (our society) scared and controlled. While mass media may provide us with a large portion of information about the world around us, during the commercial break, mass media also tells us that if you don’t use the new Schick Quattro Titanium Razor you’ll never get the hot-girl-in-a-towel. It is interesting that mass media can provide us with important information, all while playing up our insecurities, keeping us scared and controlled. Mass media keeps society in need of otherwise unnecessary things.
That is not the kind of information that citizens need access to. Citizens should have access to unbiased news reports on everything that is happening in our country, in our hometowns, in our government, and in the world around us. Instead we see reports on events that someone (typically middle-aged white men) has specially selected for the public to see.
In this day and age, I think that corporate influence is much less of a threat to democracy than it has been in the past. I believe that that is due to the fact that my generation is much more interested in uniqueness and individuality than any other generation, making us less vulnerable to corporate influence. I would also agree that market competition helps to ensure a wider range of views.
It is difficult to come up with an answer for who should regulate media’s usage, if not corporations and government. It would be interesting to see the effects of completely unregulated media on a given society. However, I think we’re all aware that having absolutely no rules will rarely turn out well.
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