The role of media in modern society and business

It has been said that “…mainstream media have evolved into the defining characteristic of contemporary culture and society.” This essay will discuss how the media construct social reality and are themselves socially constructed and will argue in favor of this statement.

Social construction is a term that is often thrown around, but what exactly does it mean? The core idea is somewhat straightforward, as something is socially constructed when it is dependent on the contingent parts of our social selves. There is much in our society that we could attribute to out own (social) doing (construction). Had we lived in a different society with different needs, we would socially construct different things.

[...] This places them in a powerful position within society and shows that power bases of media representation. The mass media has become the most prominent form of information gathering in our society, and this is especially true when it comes to politics. Media has done much to shape the direction of politics in our world, especially in Canada, the United States and other liberal democracies where election campaigns decide who will be chosen to govern. In fact, Communication and mass media has historically been linked to politics, and in this day-in-age, they rely on each other. [...]

[...] The entire election campaigns in liberal democracies are designed to use the media, as the media is the most significant tool in reaching the millions of voters that are scattered across a large country or even a smaller electorate. Unlike news coverage where the leader must always be on, and gaffes can be costly, advertising is carefully crafted to shape image in a deliberate way. Political parties and candidates can use advertising as a way of shaping the content of the media in ways that they would otherwise not be able to do. This is why television and the internet have changed politics. [...]