The Role of Media as a Reflection and a Creator of Reality

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 DATE \@ "d MMMM yyyy" 27 February 2022
The Role of Media as a Reflection of Reality and a Creator of Reality
Introduction
We live in a world undergoing significant political and social change and turmoil. The global issues forcing these changes include crises of pollution, global warming, and power, political, economic, and social struggle. While these changes are nothing new in the history of the world, they are taking place alongside the fourth industrial revolution, which is ideally the era of information, at the center of the exchange of information in the media. The struggle towards a more inclusive and prosperous society depends on how media shapes and disseminates information. Thus, solving these global crises depends on how media outlets shape global society's information. To this end, O'Shaughnessy and Stadler (42) pose the question: does media reflect or affect society? The role of media in modern society is two-facet because while it reflects society, it also affects society in many ways. Regarding this premise, the current paper draws from essays by William Lutz, George Orwell, and Jack Shaheen in exploring the double-edged nature of the role of media in society.
The Role of Media in the Face of Global Crises
In the face of global crises such as global warming, pandemic, immigration, and inequality, among others, solutions are hard to come by, given the extensive nature of stakeholders involved. The opposition, proponents and the status quo who seek to gain numbers behind their proposed ideas will increasingly rely upon media. Thus, the media will show people what is happening in reality. However, it will also be responsible for constructing reality depending on who is in control or who yields more control power. Therefore, the first role of media is to reflect society.
Media is a Reflection of Reality
The primary role of media is to show us what the world is like (O'Shaughnessy and Stadler, 35). In other words, media makes sense of the world for those who consume it. Without the media, a person living in the rural areas of the Chinese paddies, a village in Burundi, or a ranch in Texas is less likely to know that Russia is on the brink of invading Ukraine at the time of the current paper. In other words, media demonstrates hot button issues, and fads report what is essential in the world and what people want to hear. It, therefore, acts as a mirror through which people can make sense of society.
In its primary role as the mirror of the society, writes O'Shaughnessy and Stadler (37), media takes responsibility for representation, interpretation, and evaluation of information. In terms of representation, the press, television, radio, and social media have become the arenas through which most people are informed and entertained. Today, many people know about the issues of global warming, current and past military conflicts, climate change, and geographical or tourist attraction destinations. However, this knowledge does not necessarily come from an accrual experience of involvement or traveling. Instead, most such information is represented through the media: reading, hearing, and watching media stories. One significant way media has reflected reality is the visualiza...