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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 9 page research paper that examines the mass news media and its influence. The new media is enormously powerful, as it provides the main conduit through which the public learns of the state of current events. Research demonstrates that often journalism does not provide the public with sufficient background information to thoroughly understand a news event. The emphasis is on sensationalism and drama rather than on information content. Sociological, political and psychological research demonstrates both the relevancy and power of the mass media--where strengths exist, but primarily where its foibles lie. Bibliography lists 11 sources.
Page Count:
9 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khmsmed.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
in particular, is believed to be the "most pervasive source of public affairs information in western industrialized societies today" (Gunter 1). However, rather than addressing its responsibility to inform the
public in a comprehensive manner, the mass media often simplifies global news, reducing complex issues into a 30 second sound-bite that can be easily digested by the public as if
it were popcorn. Research demonstrates that often journalism does not provide the public with sufficient background information to thoroughly understand a news event. The emphasis is on sensationalism and drama
rather than on information content. Sociological, political and psychological research demonstrates both the relevancy and power of the mass media--where strengths exist, but primarily where its foibles lie. News
defined No one really knows all of the functions of the mass media, "for in their entirety these functions are probably so pervasive and so subtle" that they cannot be
adequately described by the methodology of social research (Mills 32). However, it can be said that "politics is about power," and, therefore, the global flow of news is definitively political,
as it "reflects and determines the international configuration of power" (Alleyne 3). According to a study commissioned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO), news is defined
as "the exceptional event," which makes "coups and catastrophes" newsworthy (Alleyne 3). However, there is also considerably discretion in news organizations between which "exceptional events" are worthy of news coverage.
For example, when genocide in the form of "ethnic cleansing" was going on in the countries that once made up the Soviet satellite of Yugoslavia, the world was informed
and action was taken. However, simultaneously with these events, a similar circumstance was going on in Somalia, which received very little news coverage. The Secretary-General at that time, Boutros Bouros-Ghalli,
...