The power of media on our lives is very vast. In the world of today, it has become almost as necessary as food and clothing. It is not only a source of entertainment but it helps in making us form our opinions on various major issues of social importance .The term media is derived from Medium, which means carrier or mode. Media signifies an item specifically aimed to reach a large audience or viewers. The term was first used with the advent of newspapers and magazines. However, with the change of time, the term broadened by the inventions of electronic media such as radio, TV, cinemas and Internet. The media has a strong social and cultural influence upon society. Because of its inherent ability to reach large number of public, it is widely used to carry message to build public opinion and consciousness. It is playing an outstanding role in strengthening the society. Its duty is to inform, educate and entertain the people.
Mass media can be used for various purposes. It helps us to know current situation around the world. The original idea behind the creation of various media is to entertain masses. Radio, TV, cinemas and magazines spend most of their resources targeting on entertaining items and programs. Because of the growing population and developing lifestyle, the demand for more entertainment is increasing. Every year billions of dollars is dealt in entertainment industry.
The most important duty of media today is to inform the people about the latest happening around them and the world. They cover all aspects of our interest like weather, politics, war, health, finance, science, fashion, music, etc. The need for more and more news has evolved into creation of devoted TV & radio channels and magazines. We can listen, watch and read latest news whenever and wherever we want.
Media plays a significant role in the era of politics. It is the administrator of the political system. If it plays its role honestly, it will be able to build the nation. It plays a great role in bringing common man close to their leaders. The media focus in bringing details of all major political situations, decisions and states. By this it gives an opportunity to the people for better understand their rights and make better decisions.
The power of media is very wide and huge. It can be used to educate people with very little cost. Now we can learn various things from YouTube, Internets whatever we need easily. Imagine a classroom in every city with thousands of students being taught by just one teacher. Various authorities and agencies utilize the power of media to spread informative messages to public. We can get rewarding against a storm or epidemic, delay in arrival or departure of flights and trains, etc. In some cases, it is legally binding to publish notices in newspaper like tenders, change of property ownership, etc.
The more attractive the advertisement, the more people will follow it. Almost all business concerns use the power of media to sell their products. They advertise in media for the development of business purposes. Huge amounts of money are invested in media for marketing of a product. Even though there are a lot of positive points of media but there are also many disadvantages related with it. Media has the bad effect of inducing baseless ideas through advertisements.
People are forced to buy harmful or substandard products. Sometimes, the Media develops unnecessary feeling and bias of truth to attract attention. Because of its power to build public opinion, the influence of media can make or break the government. It also has bad effect on our young generation. The children always spend most of their time by watching many bad programmes and are doing wrong activities.
To sum up the power of media on our lives is immense. Our life will remain incomplete without the media. The media has the power of educating people, the good and the bad. As it affects the eyes, the ears and the mind at the same time nothing can overcome the influence of the media. The media in the advanced society should perform a noble mission of enlightening people and discourage religious, communal and divisive leanings. The media persons should be cautious in giving unbiased news to the common persons. To increase circulation of newspapers, the media people should not publish false news. We should be careful about the wrong information of media and should make the best use of it.
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