Media Sensitivity: Towards a Responsible and Objective or Personalistic Mass Media Institution
For years, mass media companies have been considered both as businessand social institutions of the society. Born from the emergence ofindustrial revolution and capitalistic trade, mass media institutionsencompass all forms of media that involve information exchange, reception,and transmission. These forms are the print, broadcast (radio andtelevision), film, and online media. Each medium has specific functionsand characteristics that suit consumers' needs and tastes, as well as forthe kind of information received from each of these medium. As a result ofthe prevalence of mass media in people's lives, media institutions havebecome a lucrative business in the age of information technology.Moreover, mass media has also evolved into becoming one of the mostinfluential and powerful social institutions of the century. Mass media'ssurveillance function about critical issues concerning the political,economic, social, and cultural sectors of the society provides people withinformation that would have otherwise been left unknown to them without themass media. In effect, mass media becomes an influential determinant ofpublic opinion, and has the power to affect public sentiments regarding a
Eliminating sensationalism for news material to become appealing to theaudiences and looking for angles that center on the main idea of the newsreport are primary steps that must be implemented to ensure that mediasensitivity is practiced, which in turn, results to the achievement of aresponsible media. Mass Media Content and Audience As a social institution, mass media acts not only as a surveillancebody for the society, but it also has the vital role of providing peoplewith adequate solutions to problems experienced in the society andeducating the people about prevalent issues, be it in the economic,political, or social domains. This detrimental effect of mass mediareporting illustrate how lack of media sensitivity blur the fact thatmentally-ill individuals can instead become "positive role models. This example shows how the news itself becomesirrelevant, and what becomes essential to the media is how the news will betransmitted and become appealing and interesting to the audience. This ismanifested in the proliferation of news reports that tend to focus on sexand violence, two categories that reflect the mass media's preoccupationwith sensationalism. reporters think that comingacross a scene of incomprehensible sadness and grief by a homeowner comingback to their charred home is a prefect time to stick a microphone and acamera in their face and ask them how they feel. Sensational reporting of crimes or offenses committed by and lives ofmentally-ill individuals portray this sector as a group of dangerouspeople, eliciting fear from the public, isolating this group from theirsociety instead of helping them. Amid the reports of Al-Qaeda beingresponsible for the attack, the media focused its attention in coveringfootage of dead, mangled bodies of the victims, mainly to illustrateexplicitly the violence and brutality of the said Al-Qaeda attack. Privacy and use of essentialinformation pertinent to the news report have been sacrificed in favor ofsensational reporting and privy details about an issue that are no longerrelevant to the news' main point. This is because media practitioners decidewhat news material is objectively relevant for the public's interest, andmost often, this information do not personally affect an individual orgroup, since hard, objective information are never personalistic in itstreatment. The texts that follow are cases that illustrate the importanceof media sensitivity in news reporting, as well as discussions and analysesof consequences that may happen if sensationalism prevails over mediaobjectivity and sensitivity. Thismeans that news about disasters and political, social, or economic failingswill be relayed to the audiences. Through the mass media, the 'pulse' of the publicopinion is determined; oftentimes, public opinion is shaped by the massmedia, and vice versa.
Common topics in this essay:
Harold Laswell,
,
York September,
Stigma Clearinghouse,
Content Audience,
mass media,
media sensitivity,
objective reporting,
mass media's,
responsibility mass media,
effect mass,
media practitioners,
media institutions,
public opinion,
mentally-ill individuals,
sexual assault,
effect mass media,
mass media institutions,
media's surveillance function,
mass media's surveillance,
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Acceptance Essays
