“Does the media merely reflect society or is it instrumental in constructing it?”

In this essay I will be answering the question, “Does the media merely reflect society or is it instrumental in constructing it?”

I think that the media is a big part of everyday life, as we are surrounded by TVs, newspapers, radio and the internet, all of the time. Newspapers are a very good example of reflecting or constructing the media as papers such as, The Daily Mirror, The Sun and The Star, tend to blow all stories out of proportion to make the viewer have an opinion on that certain matter. For example, knife crime is a very popular matter in the media; this makes people believe that all teens carry knives around with them and that all they are yobs and thugs. The media is enticing society to consume stories to make them believe that, their story is the actual truth of the matter.

The media leads people to believe matters are bigger than they actually are, this makes the public follow what they believe is relevant to society at that time. This is a scare tactic which works so well because the public do not tend to argue with what is on the news, they believe most things they are told and trust it because it is shown on the TV, the internet, newspapers and the radio. This helps to sell newspapers and fill the time slots as news is now available 24 hours a day. The media controls the public to do what is put across as being right.
TV shows like “Eastenders”, is a perfect example of constructing society as it is a take on real life with different storylines and situations that maybe controversial in the media such as, teen pregnancies, homosexual relationships, and drug taking. This reflects stories from the real world and shows them the effects they have on people when they are involved in those certain situations.

Reality TV shows, like, “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me out of Here!”, “Big Brother” and “The Family”, show the actual real lives and the goings on of normal people in certain situations and in normal everyday life. I’m A Celeb, is a show in which washed up celebrities go into the Australian jungle in a bid to come out more famous and popular again. BB is a show where desperate members of the general public audition to become a contestant with others and live in a house all together, and tensions arise and there is normally arguments and romance in the house. The Family is about a normal family form the UK and their everyday lives are being filmed.