How Media Affects Attitudes and Behaviors.Communications & Media Essay

How Media Affects Attitudes and Behaviors
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How Media Affects Attitudes and Behaviors
The media plays a significant role in relaying information to the public on what happens around the world. In cases where the audiences do not have any direct knowledge or experiences of the things going on, they may rely on the media entirely for the information. The media has a great impact on different aspects of human life including people’s beliefs, views, and opinions about different things. With the surge in the cases of corona virus in different parts of the world, the media is largely relied upon to help in creating awareness, informing attitudes and public opinion about the virus as well as coercing people into actions that would help in preventing the spread of the virus (Liu, 2020). So far, many people depend on news that they hear from the media to know how best to respond to the virus. For example, from the video, CNN news talks about the role of masks in preventing the spread of the virus ( HYPERLINK "https://edition.cnn.com/profiles/chris-isidore" Isidore, 2020). The audience would respond to this news by wearing masks because of the trust that the public has on the media. From the way media package their stories, it is evident that the media purposes to mobilize attitudes, behaviors of the public.
Media holds an immense power in changing people’s attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and behaviors. For example, linking ignorant behaviors such as not wearing masks and not washing hands to the spread of the Corona virus has seen many people turn to cautious measures and paying attention to the guidelines issued by W.H.O. While some of the information may not be accurate as portrayed by the media, the public tend to believe and subsequently dissociate themselves with ignorant behaviors (Liu, 2020). Like in other cases of public interest, the pow...