How Much of your life does Mass Media Control?

Question

The mass media, which is owned by a small number of individuals with an even smaller point of view, dictates what you the viewer understand about the rest of the world. So in your opinion how much stock do you put into the world view that is sold to you every night on the evening news? Where else do you find your world news, and how do You determine your world view?

Answer 1

I try VERY hard- to look at the News, with a "critical eye"- that DEMANDS proof of what I'm being told. Just because CNN says it, or I see it in my Newspaper, or I hear it on the radio- I want several "verifications" of the SAME information, over a significant period of time- before I'll accept something as being "likely". I want my World View to be as BROAD as possible- & to encompass as many variables as it realistically CAN- before I'm comfortable enough to accept it as reasonably accurate. This is WHY we all have brains- to figure things out for OURSELVES...-NOT automatically swallow what we're "fed".

Answer 2

I quit watching television over one year and a half ago and I do not read newspapers. The only thing I do read is National Geographic and the books I'm assigned at college. So mass media has no control over me in the market of stupifying. I determine my world view by thinking critically and logically along with the experiences I've gained in travel.

It is unavoidable to be forced to watch television at times, today I watched maybe 1 hour of CNN and realized it was stupifying me with stuff about Anna Nicole Smith.

I didn't participate with the 4th of July this year either which is totally unrelated but related at the same time.

Answer 3

The way to deal with the ubiquitous mass media is to ignore them and not buy the products that advertise on/in the mass media. Your boycott of their advertisers is similar to voting. Not buying their products will shut them down or cause them to change.

Unfortunately, most people spend hours of their life in front of the television screen soaking up propaganda and a diluted popular culture not even suitable for 12 year olds. The aim is confusion in the mind which produces an inability to act--and it's working.

The best way to accomplish an independence from mass media is educate yourself and that requires online searches and trips to a good library and bookstore. If you do this, you will turn yourself into an independent thinker. No public school system in Western culture, any religion, or the media wants you to be an independent thinker capable of making your own decisions.

It's easier to make more money and influence the vote of a docile and indoctrinated human. Don't let any institution or entity do that to you. Free yourself from these control mechanisms in your life, including mass media--educate yourself, make your own informed decisions!

Answer 4

i like this question, makes me think. i guess i would have to say MOST of my world view is dictated by the media because thats the only way for me to know whats going on in the world, a small percentage comes from word of mouth and an even smaller percentage from direct exposure (like being online talking to someone concering news or life in there part of the country or world) as far as how much stock do i put into the information i get from media?...very little, i am intelligent enough to realize that it is all slanted for one purpose or another,i would say that because of this i feel very in the dark about whats going on in the world, i dont feel that i have a very reliable source of information. your question in itself is confusing though because you bagan with "how much of your lfe does mass media control" and thats not quite the same subject as the rest of your question which is dealing more with world veiw, though i would say my world veiw is almost completely relient on the media i can honestly say that mass media does not control my life much, even though im force fed commercial advertisement and the media does its best to brainwash me into thinking one way or another about a multitude of different topics, i have an awareness of this and a strong dislike for the fact that the media has so much power so i make every effort to avoid being "led" by it. instead i try to just "observe" and take what i can of truth and useful information from the garbage i see and hear on radio t.v. and the internet.