The media remains a powerful presence. It entertains, gives people news of world and local events and it even works as a companion to children. What appears across its landscape actually may become people’s reality. That’s why the potential for distorting is high if the picture provides is unrepresentative of actual events.

Years of research alarmingly demonstrate the media’s powerful influence on aggressive behaviour (National Institute of Mental Health, 1982). For example, watching television is correlated with beliefs about the dangerousness of the world (Rule & Ferguson, 1986). By showing only a tiny and unrepresentative view of the world, the media may help to create the world it seeks to reflect.

Furthermore, advertising is one of the most blatant examples of media-induced opinion. Products that the public easily lives without become necessary. For instance, in 1983, Archer and his colleagues found out that men and women are portrayed differently in news photographs. People who appeared in close-up photographs were classified as more intelligent than the same persons viewed in more distant shots.

The media may also facilitate biased processing of accurate information by presenting that information with an emphasis on intergroup differences. In the real world, people are often exposed multiple times to new broadcasts. For example, discussion with in-group members often ensues after a big news story hits the public. Studies in group polarization (Myers & Arenson, 1972) predict that individuals’ opinion will become even more extreme following such discussion.

In summary, the media which disseminates information and creates social norms, has the power to build bridges as well as destroy them. 

 

Source: Current Directions in Psychological Science, vol.8, num. 5, Oct., 1999. US: Blackwell Publishers. Consulting date, 12 Decembre 2007