Media Serve As a System for Communicating

According to the article Manufacturing Consent the Political Economy of the Mass Media “The media serve as a system for communicating messages and symbols to the general populace. It is their function to amuse, entertain, and inform, and to inculcate individuals with the values, belief and codes of behavior that will integrate them into the institutional structures of the larger society. In world of concentrated wealth and major conflicts of class interest, to fulfill this role requires systematic propaganda” (pg1)

Mass Media has a huge influence on society ways of thinking. Whether its television, radio or magazines, shapes the way society thinks about political view such as the war, elections and the difference between what is right or wrong. As a society we look for the media for entertainment, and to inform us what is going on in the world. In order for the media to inform society and shape the way we think is by using propaganda and persuasion. Propaganda is a form of communication that attempts to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of propagandist. (What is Propaganda and How Does It Differ from Persuasion? Pg1). Persuasion is other technique that is important that media using to gain interest of the people. In order to gain an audience, the media has to make whatever they are trying to put out there to the people is believable, so by using persuasion you “satisfy the needs of the both persuader and persuade” (What is Propaganda and How Does It Differ from Persuasion? Pg1)