Does the media merely reflect sociey or is it instrumental in constructing it?

There are many types of media such as, television, radio, newspaper, magazines etc. But they all play a different part in our lives. Television broadcasts information visually which helps us relate to people because we see facial expressions and the tone of voices. We also watch soaps which is supposedly a copy of reality. However, in my opinion this isn’t always true. In occasions, we do see things that relate to our lives, for example marriage, adultery, new life and death, but within soaps it is slightly exaggerated and can ‘construct’ our opinion on certain things.

The radio also does this but in a different way. Seeing as the main purpose of the radio is music and the main purpose for song writers is for the public to listen to the words of their songs. And this is what we do. Certain lyrics could change your opinion. Also, the presenter on the radio station sometimes tells stories about his/her lifestyle, this also constructs our society because it is seen that that is how we should live.

In addition to this, newspapers and magazines do this in another way, celebrities and other people in the public eye such as criminals etc. are always followed by the paparazzi. This constructs our opinion as if we see a certain person doing a certain thing it can change our opinion on somebody. For example, if we were to see a picture of Prince Harry in a nightclub overly drunk, the majority of the public would be shocked and disgraced. Certain things the public see in the media of newspapers or magazines can influence actions like a celebrity losing so much weight could cause someone to become anorexic over a certain amount of time because they think this is how we should be. I also have a strong opinion on the fact that ‘fashion pages’ definitely construct our society. It basically tells us what to wear and how we should look depending on our body shapes etc. If we see that a famous person is wearing a fashion item which is then sold in a high street shop, there is a large chance that more than half the public that see this will then go and buy it.

I have noticed that throughout my essay I mention a lot about celebrities and how we see them and their lifestyles. We all do deep down wish to be famous, well known and looked at as an idol so it is the media that lets us in and shows us this. They construct society by giving the impression that that is how we should or should not in some cases, live our lives, look and act. We all have similar ideas to what is ‘perfect’ but who is to say that is what perfect is? It is only how we are taught to be. Who knows in another world perfect could have been seen as something completely different.