There is no denying that the mass media carries a heavy influence on society, whether it be on an extreme brainwashing scale or just by keeping us in a continued state of alert.  Within the past century, media has been used for many things.  Sometimes its simply to just cover the news, while other times its been used for propaganda, such as the case of prohibition and marijuana education.  This influence keeps growing exponentially thanks to the grown of technology.  The transition from telegraph to internet has been a quick one.

Our society depends on information to keep going in the right direction, to direct us to our daily activities such as work, relationships, education, etc.  Most people wake up, check the tv or newspaper, go to work, come home and eat with their family.  During all of this, information is what is motivating a person to choose all of these actions.  Our beliefs and values stem from not only what we know for a fact, but also from the values that the media feeds us, whether it be a violent show or current news, telling us what we should be aware of.

Media is undoubtedly a staple to our society.  The most influential of course is television, which exposes time and time again millions of images of violence, sex, advertising and much more.  The media, however, is mainly dominated by five major companies: Time Warner, VIACOM, Vivendi Universal, Walt Disney, and News Corp.  These companies own over ninety percent of the media.  Not only having their hand in television, these companies also own telecommunications, video games, software, and much of the music industry.  It can go without saying the level of impact these corporation have had on our society over the past several decades, affecting such things as clothing and morality.

The Mass Media influence doesn’t stop there.  After the 9/11 attacks, the media gave extensive coverage of the event and showed Osama guilty.  The public opinion to start this war on terrorism was astounding, which eventually led to the war in Iraq.  What if the information the media received was wrong though?  This would mean the entire public supported meaningless bloodshed.  

It’s always important to keep an eye on what is going on around you.  It’s even more important though to question.