Mass Media and the Public

   The way media is portrayed in today's society makes it easier for the public to focus on things that do not necessarily matter and harder to focus on issues that should. The media is often concerned with giving society all the latest news about celebrities, such as, who is getting married or divorced, or who is in trouble with the law this week. The public loves to eat up this kind of information, however. The lives of celebrities and all these stories become very important to us. The quiz given in class shows that we are often quick to answer questions about the latest celeb gossip, but are not quite sure about the news that is happening in politics or in our own towns. Even when we do sit down to watch the news or read the newspaper, we are surrounded by the opinions of those journalists. They try to tell us what to believe and often they have little evidence to support their opinions.

    Walter Lippman and John Dewey made several arguments about the media and the public. Lippman believed that overall, the public did not care about actually learning the truth about most things and that the public would always be ignorant. However, Lippman did not just blame the public. He also believed that it was the journalists who were often subjective and imperfect, leading the public to base their thoughts only on those opinions that they received from the journalists. Dewey, on the other hand, believed that the public could become educated and would come to their own judgments about important issues (Debating "The Public"). 

    I can agree with certain ideas of both men. I believe the public is often ignorant and the blame can not rest solely on that of the media and journalists; however, it should also be the public's job to become educated and to make their own judgements about important issues. There is nothing wrong with knowing some of the latest celebrity news, but maybe we also need to educate ourselves about more important issues as well. Finally, the public should not just rely on the opinions of those heard in the media. We need to look for evidence and focus on the important issue at hand, not just what the journalists are telling us is important, because the public is capable of being educated.