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Lara Hammoud
Valerie Fong
English 1T
25 April 2016

Roles of Media
The media plays a significant role in our society now. It is everywhere and all
around us, from movies and shows we watch, to music we hear, to books and
magazines we read and even signs on the street. The media is seen as either an
entertainment or a source of education. Some say that the purpose of the media is to
inform and bring awareness to global and local news. Others say that it exposes the
corruption of the world. And some believe that the purpose of the media is to watch the
government and discover the truth. However, with all these roles the media plays, there
are problems that come with it, such as trusting, different views on one topic and many
more.
The media is an important factor in which people learn about the changes
happening around them. It plays the role of informing people of changes, events and
issues globally and locally. It is a part of communication that provides people with
information that helps with making decisions about their life, community, society and
government. The media is our main source to knowing what is happening to the world
around us. Whether it was about a kid winning an award in Asia or a fire that went on
somewhere in Europe, or even a robbery in a convenience store here in California,
without the media we wouldnt be able to know about these news. Brooke Gladstone
said, in her book The Influencing Machine, ...if you don't inform yourself, you cant cry
about how things are going (34). The media notifies us with our surrounding in order to
bring awareness to corruptions that affect us and our world. It exposes the truth and
watches the government for any behavior that would benefit our society, and if we arent
aware of the issues around us, then we wont be able to fix and improve our world to a
better one.

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The government have released multiple laws to restrict the freedom of the media
as time goes. President John Adams signed the Sedition Act in 1798 controlling any
printing and publishing of anything against the government, congress and the President.
The Act expired when Jefferson became President. Then later, Woodrow Wilson signs
the 1917 Espionage Act, outlawing virtually any speech that could be deemed to harm
the war effort. (Gladstone, 22). [Woodrow Wilson] signs the sedition act--1798 all over
again. (Gladstone 22). In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt signed the Sedition Act again after it
expired making it a criminal offense to advocate overthrowing the government.
(Gladstone, 23). The government passed all these laws to privatize the media and
maintain control over what is being published to the public. These laws and regulations
are a way to make sure the media is passing the message that supports the
governments ideas.
The media is surrounding us from all around us. It is our first exposure to
everything surrounding us, causing a vast influence on our societies and the way we
view the world. Everywhere one turns, the media will be there conveying a message
about how the world is and how it should be. We live in a world where the media has a
strong saying in our lives, and its influence is mighty powerful. The medias ideal body
type is an example of media influence on our world. We have lived our entire life
believing that the skinnier women is, the more beautiful she is, and the masculine a man
is, the more sexier he is. The media set a specific idea body type to identify what is
beautiful, pressuring young boys and girls, even adults, to attain the perfect body type
the media displayed. Models, actresses and actors, and singers, even mannequins had
that perfect ideal body type. Up until now, we have believed in such thing, because the
media made it seem okay and supported the idea of beautiful being a specific type.
The medias influence on society is becoming a bigger and bigger problem with
the development of technology. Gladstone said Right now we are tumbling through
technological wormhole and when we come out to the other side, our thoughts will spill

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seamlessly into cyberspace with potential to influence minds everywhere (xxi).

Technology is increasing the chances of people, mostly young people to be influenced
by the media. Everyone now has access to the internet, and with the internet various
information is shared. This information can be educating to some us, as we learn more
about a homework assignment, a specific event and even a new topic that we arent
aware of. However, with such substantial amount of information, delusions occur.
Gladstone said, Anyone with a cell phone can now presume to make, break, or
fabricate the news. The media cant always be trusted because its sources may or may
not be true. Since technology now is available to everyone, people have the ability to
post anything they want into the media giving them the power to have a voice, but
sometimes this power is abused. People can fabricate and post lies which can confuse
readers on which is the real truth. Gladstone, in her chapter The American Exception,
talks about Samuel Adams, browers son and Boston Gazette editor, fabricating stories
for his own good. He concocts stories about British soldiers violating patriot women
(16). He was desperately seeking revolution, so he faked stories about the British to
start a revolution. Actions like Samuel Adams are reasons why the media cant be
trusted. News and information on the media can be fabricated with causing it to not be
the whole truth.
Media producers have one goal in common, and that is to sell, and with sell I
mean convince certain information to the people. Profit is something that combines all
media makers together. The more media being sold, the more profit is being made. The
media cant always be trusted because it doesn't cover everything. Each media source
has its own audience with a specific taste, and in order to sell, the media needs to
report what its audience want to see. Gladstone said, The American media are not
afraid of the government. They are afraid of their audiences and advertisers (xiv). The
media reports according to what the people want, because that sells and profit has been
the big goal to news makers. Because media makers are pressured to find news to sell,

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they sometimes end up making their own story that will sell. According to Gladstone,
Hundreds of mostly pro-union reporters sweep the battlefield in search of scoops,
freely inventing when they cant find any. (75). If reporters in 1864, who didnt have the
technology we have now, can make their own stories in 1864, then reporters in 2016
can obviously sugar coat their reports to fit the taste of the viewers, and thats where
bias comes into play.
There are many types of bias, and Gladstone dedicates a whole chapter talking
about the different types of bias in the media. She talks about Narrative bias and uses
the toppling of Saddam Husseins statue as her example. According to Gladstone,
pulling down the statue was not an act of Iraqis, in fact, it was a Marine gunners idea to
pull down the statue. He then gave the iraqis a rope and a sledge hammer as they ran
to the empty square. The media zoomed in to the iraqis and made it seem as a totally
different story than what actually happened. Gladstone said, They could have used a
wider shot, but the view wouldn't fit the narrative (68). The different types of bias affect
the credibility of the media and its sources, leaving us hanging on whether we trust the
media or not.
To me trusting the media is a complicated issue. I dont watch the news or follow
up with local or global news, but I do use social media and I always come up to find
some news while browsing instagram for example. I dont trust the news channel to
share the whole truth. Post reporter Walter Pincus quoted something the Senator
Eugene McCarthy once told him, which was, The press is a bunch of blackbirds -- all
on a wire. One bird will fly to another wire, and when it doesnt get electrocuted, all the
birds will fly to that wire. (Gladstone, 45). To me, the blackbirds were the media. If one
media source shared a piece of information and the government and the people
accepted it then all the other media sources will share the same information. If the
government and the people had a bad response to the report, then the other sources
will back off and leave the problem alone. Therefore the media cannot always be trusted

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because the whole truth isnt always shared. It all depends on the medias and
governments response.
There are many purposes to the media. It shines the light on issues that arent
talked about, it informs us with problems facing our world and brings our attention to
issues that affect our societies, and it also lets us know the latest trends to follow. Just
like the media has a positive side, it also has a negative side where it could affect us
badly. It can be bad influence on us and younger generation especially, in which it can
sell us false information so the media can gain profit and it could cover up and hide
some things and give us the uncompleted truth. In conclusion, the media cant always
be trusted to give us the right truthful information we need. Fabrications, lies,
censorships and profit are all concepts that construct an untrustworthy media.
The media doesnt report everything because not everyone is interested in
seeing detailed images of war, or hearing stories about problems in other countries not
related to us. We are like little kids who break something and say they didnt do it.
Kenneth Jarecke, a photographer, said, If were big enough to fight a war, we should be
big enough to look at it. So if we can live our lives in a world with corruption and
problems without facing them and fixing the issues, then what does that say about our
moral standards?

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Brooke, Gladstone. The Influencing Machine. New York: Norton & Company, 2012. Print.
Torie Rose, Deghett. The War Photo No One Would Publish. The Atlantic, Aug 8, 2014.
Print.