In todays society, we have a tight bond with the media. We depend on it day to day to supply us with information worth knowing. We wake up and begin our days by watching the news or some form of it or we end our nights by doing the same. However, what we have not stopped to acknowledge is the substance of the stories we read and what has become “important” information.
There is no mistaking that the media can certainly be relentless when trying to conjure up their next big stories but now a days, they are not only relentless, but ruthless. They do not just expose any longer, they also have a way of potentially bashing a persons entire character. Whens the last time we read a story and were truly interested in it without the story giving us dirt on someone or something? Stories content have changed in that, we are now more focused on gossip rather than hard hitting news. The new media seems to be very shallow and focused just on whats happening in the now, but not on the long term effects which was something that President Obama pointed out in the article “Learning to Love the New Media”.
Another thing about the new media, which i would say is the sweet part of the bitter sweet, is who they’re interested in. For example I am a celebrity gossip junkie. I either begin or end my day by watching E! News on the entertainment network and simply can’t get enough. But I know I don’t stand alone. Celebrity gossip has always been popular as long as Hollywoods been around, but now its not just about the celebrities. Now a days, anyone who may be in the public eye is an interest when it comes to “celebrity” gossip and this has become the new way of the media. Just because you’re not a movie star or model doesn’t mean that you’re safe from the media wanting to know about what you do on the daily. Put it this way, we now read full stories on what the first family did over the holidays compared to what new bill the president may be working on.
The last critique I have to make about the new media is that news these days can be very unreliable. We now have access to websites such as wikipedia and others like it where you can go in and change the content of a story. For those who do not know any better, they could be basing their whole opinions about something off a false piece of information. That however is not the only reason that the media now seems unreliable, the media also has been found to lie to us in a sense. Image plays an enormous part in this for example. The media has created a view of what is beautiful or sexy, etc. and we have unfortunately fell victim to their lies. We base our moods, actions and thoughts on what the media has told us our imperfections are and we have let it effect our entire way of being.
In the end, the new media has no doubt found what sparks our interests and looks like it may be here to stay for awhile.