A good thing to come out of Mainstream Media is that it spreads awareness very fast. Prior to the internet, it would take about a week for news on the other side of the country and even the world to reach us. But thanks to mainstream media, we are able to get the latest news instantly without having to wait. A recent example of this would be the wildfires in Hawaii that happened 2 months ago. Without mainstream media, we wouldn't have known about the fires for at least a week or two after they happened because a reporter would have to get on a boat or a plane. go to California to tell them about the news, then the people there would call everywhere else in the country to write up a story about it. With Mainstream Media we are able to get that information very fast and keep up to date on the latest about the fires.
But Mainstream Media also has its disadvantages such as being very biased depending on which outlet you visit. For example, Fox News tends to be very conservative in its news while CNN tends to be liberal in theirs. These differences in views have caused the public to be divided which sucks because we shouldn't be fighting over who's right and who's wrong, we should learn to get along and agree to disagree with each other. Just because someone else has a different view than you doesn't mean you shouldn't be friends with them. It's healthy to debate and have a civil conversation without hating the other person's guts which is now a norm for us today. Another disadvantage of Mainstream Media is that with such a large outlet to post on, there's fake news that can be spread throughout it. This was a major issue a few years ago but as of recently, I feel, it has decreased substantially but there are some instances here and there. A big takeaway from fake news would be to do your own research on the article you are reading and make sure that it's telling the truth and that the sources are reliable and accurate.
Mainstream Media doesn't affect people my age and younger because we don't look at mainstream media at all, it's mostly TikToks, Instagram posts, and celebrities that are our priority, not what's going on in the world so that demographic is not to worry about. But other segments should worry because of fake news, which is misinformation spreads through mainstream media and people believe it, it causes people to worry and put thoughts in people's heads about stuff and gives them bad ideas. My message to everyone is to always do your research when you see something insane said, check if it's taken out of context to pose the person in a negative light, check if the sources are reliable, and if it's an echo chamber or not. Then you can form your own opinion about the situation because you now have all of the facts laid out for you. If the article is lying then find out the truth and base your opinion off that instead of the fake news.
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