Aliou Cisse
Professor Sara Jacobson
FIQWS 10108 09/23
Media’s Role in Shaping Public Perception
In the age of information spreading, news, stories, and videos are all seeking attention. The media stands as an extraordinarily strong source of how we view the world. Whether through radio, television, newspapers, or even online news platforms, the media serves as our first source on how we receive information in the world. It has profoundly evolved to have a tremendous effect on how the public perceives things and its power is not only to inform us but to also shape our understanding of things; politics, culture, social issues, and more. This powerful effect promotes stereotypes and sometimes causes huge splits between societies. And without a doubt, the media’s crucial in influencing our collective awareness is beyond imaginable. It changes everything from politics to culture, gender roles to racial biases. But it is unbelievably hard to understand the depth and the complexity of this influence. In this essay, we will explore the media’s role in shaping public opinions. We will try to get a deeper understanding of how media forms the way we think and the role it plays in our society. We will try to find its power, limitations, and chances of both positive and negative influence. In the world nowadays, where the media reaches every aspect of our lives, it’s essential to comprehend its role and how it is shaping our values and beliefs. The media has an obvious and strong effect on our thoughts and points of view, changing how we understand things around us.
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For example, in 2015, research made by Kövecses Z. demonstrated the impact of metaphor by the media on public perception. The media was portraying immigration in a specific way with metaphors; however, metaphors are not linguistic tools, but they are tools used to shape public perceptions. According to the research “the words frequently associated with the phenomenon of immigration are the following: illegal, transit, undocumented, massive, uncontrolled, large- ca le, high, unlimited, significant, restricted, excessive, unchecked, massive, large, vast and big.” (FLUMINENSIA, page 148) These words show the media’s attitude and intention towards immigration. They are setting a limit on how immigrants should be regarded publicly by the media. These words demonstrate the importance of conceptual metaphors and their purpose for forming immigrant rhetoric. The analysis of phrases usually used for immigration, such as “illegal,” “uncontrolled,” “massive,” and “restricted,” shows the media’s thoughts and purposes toward immigrants. The use of these words could influence public opinion by showing immigrants in a certain way, either as threats or as victims. Words reflect policies and actions, so using these words, could really affect how the public would see immigrants and immigration policies. When the media uses language like “illegal” and “uncontrolled,” it portrays immigrants as lawbreakers and dangers to society, potentially creating negative emotions. The use of “restricted” and “limit” conveys the need for stronger immigration laws and to be stricter on immigrants, influencing public opinion in favor of stricter limits. Also, verbs such as “control,” “discourage,” and “protect” suggest that immigrants should be dealt with or viewed as risks, which contributes to the perception of immigration as a challenge or problem. As a result of the media’s representation, the public may adopt similar ideas, influencing
opinions and policies toward immigrants. It is important to understand that the media’s language
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reflects and shapes public opinions. Additionally, Cronkite, one of the most influential journalists during the Vietnam War, highlighted the importance of the media in shaping public views. Cronkite’s journey to Vietnam and later reporting on the conflict went against the main story and provided a unique perspective to the American people. He changed the U.S. public’s perception of the Vietnam War by publicly expressing his views on national television. He said, “It seems now more interesting than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in stalemate…is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy and did the best they could.” This statement demonstrates how Cronkite’s change of perspective, communicated through the powerful media of television, affected public views and presented the war as a stalemate needing negotiation. Cronkite’s willingness to cross the line to express his opinion marked an important change from the usual objectivity of news reporting at the time. It prepared the way for increased debate in the war, which caused a change in public view. The incident illustrated the media’s ability to challenge the government’s ideas and influence public debate. It showed that journalists could shape how the public perceives events, particularly during times of conflict and disaster. Cronkite’s story formed a key role in the public’s understanding of the Vietnam War, as it publicly challenged the government’s position and encouraged criticism of the conflict.
Thirdly, Albert Mangual’s text about the printing press, The Shape of The Book, describes many significant impacts that the media has in shaping public perceptions. In the text, he said “Of all the shapes that books have acquired through the ages, the most popular have been those that allowed the book to be held comfortably in the reader’s hand.” (Manguel, Page 249)
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This quote demonstrates the importance of the form of a physical book and how it evolves to help with readers’ preferences. He said in the text “The parchment codex quickly became the common form of books for officials and priests, travelers and students – in fact for all those who needed to transport their reading material from one place to another, and to consult any section of the text with ease.” (Manguel, Page 248) This quote highlights how manuscripts used to be carefully copied by hand, making them rare and expensive, but the printing press allowed the mass production of books, making information more widely accessible. This greater accessibility of books made it easier for knowledge and information to spread faster and get to various places. Mangual also brought up a point about how the printing press facilitated the production of identical copies of texts. He said, “The codex had other extraordinary merits: originally intended to be transported with ease, and therefore necessarily small, it grew in both size and number of pages, becoming, if not limitless, at least much faster than any previous book.” (Manguel, Page 248) This quote shows how the codex format, which was suitable for reproduction and distribution, allowed books to grow and a lot of numbers in pages. This decreased errors and mistakes in texts, keeping accuracy in the information delivered. So, printed materials were important in the growth of political and social movements. Independence movements, civil rights, and social reforms all used the media: newspapers, and manifestos to attract support. These media helped in the development of an understanding of your own community and in organizing and trying to know/gain public opinion. These media also helped to get their opinion and see what their standpoint is. All this causes information to spread widely, going to various places. This allows people to have opinions and ideas on different issues, and this can also harm societies, as it can cause conflicts among communities. According to Luhman, everything we know about the world
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nowadays, we know it through the media. He states, “whatever we know about our society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media.” (Luhmann (1996: 1)
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Karabuva, Željko. “The Role of Media in Shaping Public Perception of Immigrants.” FLUMINENSIA, vol. 33, no. 1, 2021, pp. 143–167.
Mangual, Albert. “Chapter ‘The Shape of the Book’.
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Santos, Carvalho, L. M., & Portugal e Melo, B. (2022). The media’s role in shaping the public opinion on education: A thematic and frame analysis of externalisation to world situations in the Portuguese media. Research in Comparative and International Education, 17(1), 29–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/17454999211057753
