126 Final Project Part Two Guidelines and Rubric *** DUE TODAY***

Both media and culture are connected and they are inseparable. Various levels of understanding influence the contents of the media; on the other hand, platforms and contents of the media have a big impact on the day to day and cultural practices. One of the practices influenced by the media is the health-related decisions of individuals (Georgiou, 2017). Therefore, media has measurable effects which come as a result of the messages given by the media. We can, therefore, say that media both reflects society and shapes the culture.

Media reflect culture

Taking legacy media for instance, for a magazine dealing with fashion, in determining what ladies should and should not dress, they need first of all to mirror the present-day society so that they will be able to establish what the women want. Without doing this, the magazine will be nothing than common sense within a typical mind of the woman. This, therefore, means that the media has to establish certain things to do or not do which means they are reflecting the society (Berger, 2017).

Secondly, Legacy media depend more on society than society depends on them. Even if without the mass media the society would struggle getting news broadcast and entertainment, the society will still be alive but without the society, the media will not be there. They, therefore, have to reflect what the culture of the society wants.

For instance, there is this radio show which conducted a publicity stunt which shocked the audience, what followed was unanimous public reactions of condemnation from the public. The culprits engineered the stunt which was to push the boundaries of acceptable decency, but the reactions of condemnation caught them by surprise. This is simply because they failed to realize that society is much more conservative than they expected. The stunt itself as something of a mirror, but the society did not like what they saw. They believed that the stunt crossed the lie and the society cried out. The line that marks out the acceptable and unacceptable things is still clear to society, and the media just reflects it.

Media create culture

In another sense, the media pushes the boundaries of values, therefore, contributing to the shaping of the culture. The media is capable of controlling a whole nation if the media barons or political parties manipulate it (Fiske, & Hancock, 2016). The media sometimes cannot be trusted in giving out facts without slanting them in one specific direction of interpretation. The reporting offered is based on some hidden agendas as they try shaping the people’s thinking, beliefs, and behaviors. Everything that is reported on TV news or appears on newspapers does not necessarily mean that all facts have been given out about that particular story.

Another way that media has shaped our culture is through media sexism which is constantly referenced to in almost every advertisement made. These advertisements perceive a woman as inferior to men, the women; on the other hand, replicate the image created by the media. Men have also been pressured into fitting into the image of masculinity through various advertisements such as those of health and fitness.

Lastly, the media has caused people to change their way of dressing, speaking, as well as their overall look so that they can represent their role models of choice. The reasons for doing this are to impress friends and strangers as well.

In conclusion, I have a feeling that media reflects upon the society in the determination of how it shapes certain parts of it. the whole society is not shaped by the media but rather most are affected making them change the way they act, speak or dress as part of their lie.

References

Berger, A. A. (2017). Manufacturing desire: Media, popular culture, and everyday life. Routledge.

Fiske, J., & Hancock, B. H. (2016). Media Matters: Race & gender in US politics. Routledge.

Georgiou, M. (2017). Mapping diasporic media cultures: A transnational cultural approach to exclusion. In Media, Technology and Everyday Life in Europe (pp. 51-70). Routledge.