By How Much Exactly Does The News Affect us?

_Redrecords

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The world now moves at a fast pace, new information keeps coming up, things keep happening every second, and if we want to remain in the thick of things we must be up to date with the latest happenings around us.

One of the most profitable industries in the media industry is news. They are the ones that are charged with keeping the members of the public up to date with the most recent happenings in the area. They are meant to tell the news exactly as it is and as it should be told, with no bias or editing to try and change the meaning or cause the viewers to read something else instead of what they are supposed to get from it.

Normally, news channels are meant to deliver their news objectively. They are just meant to deliver the facts without letting the public have even an inkling of their own opinions because that can be seen as leading them on. They give the facts, cold and hard, and let the public come to their conclusion.

They are a very powerful medium because they hold the pulse of the nation in their hands. They know how they can structure the truth and it would plunge the country into chaos, and they can also structure that same truth and it will lead to peace. That is just how important they are.

So, why am I saying all this? I just want to ask, can our news agencies be trusted to give the news the way it should be given?

There is a popular rumor that flies around in my country that most of the time before a particular piece of news is broadcasted on live TV, it is first watered down so as to reduce the reaction of the viewers. And this is especially for the bad news. Take for instance, if it is reported that ten people were killed in an attack, then you should be sure that nothing less than fifteen to twenty people were killed in the attack.

Now, I have no proof backing this. I have already mentioned it’s a rumor and I have no idea if there is any truth at the bottom of it all.

_{Artem Malushenko}

And shifting from that, no matter how professional they may want to be, news agencies are run by humans, they are owned by humans and they also cater to humans. So, it is very possible for us to see them display human traits from time to time.

A news agency is not supposed to be bound to political affiliation, religious or ethnic boundaries either, they are meant to be objective in whatever it is they are delivering. But these days, thanks to just how powerful people in the government can be, news agencies are beginning to deliver the news they feel will work best in their favor and not in the favor of the masses.

There was a time when the news was being gathered because the people had a right to know, but now they are only told because it will help them get one thing or the other. The agency will find themselves leaning politically towards the political affiliations of their owners or those that are in charge of running them.

While they’ll keep on advertising that they are fair in news delivery, but meanwhile they are helping one group or the other to gain favors politically.

_Cottonbro

I’m not saying that news channels don’t deliver, they do. But they also deliver the news in a way that suits them and gives the image they want the masses to see. And each channel has its own method and style, they also have its own affiliations. So the masses will have to decide the ones that will be their favorite.

There might have been a time when the news was being delivered without any bias, but today I think those days are long gone. There are now other things in play and people are becoming less and less concerned about the rest of the world except their very own circle.

It is sad really, but these days the best place to get some updates exactly as they are is on social media. That’s how far the world has come in this. People go online and if there’s something major happening that they need to know, they can bet it that they would find it on social media. That means that they can resort to watching the news on TV and know everything before then.

The thing is, after knowing all this we’ll still watch the news because the world is currently moving at a pace that we’ve never seen before and if we are not careful we’ll be left behind.

So, from now henceforth, when you get news, try to look at it critically and objectively. Know if you are being played a tape so you would react a certain way, or if you are just getting it as it is. This can be a good tactic to remain at the forefront in this fast-paced world that we all are living in.

_{Ivan Samkov}

Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts, I’ll love to know what you are thinking. See you in the next post.

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_{Borderimage credit: @deimage.}