Media on Transgendered People and Social Issues

In this, the 21st century, control over the masses seems to becoming more apparent from a hierarchy containing a handful of self-selected highly ranked, influential individuals. Controlling the views and beliefs of whole nations of people, by controlling what information they receive and how this information is delivered. Some of these people are highly respected, trusted and in positions of authority. Their words have the power to not only give hope to, but also scare and shape the beliefs of their followers who, unquestionably trust in their intentions. A prime example of this powerful influence on society is in the so-called democratic country of Australia, where one man, Rupert Murdoch, owns two thirds of the nation’s biggest newspapers. 75% of the remaining is owned by one other man, John Fairfax (Donavan, 2011). So then, the well-known saying ‘Don’t believe everything you read or hear’ is a good reminder to anyone subjected to receiving the news anywhere in Australia, to keep an open mind, be sceptical and seek out any other facts through further research before making up their minds on a reported situation. Just because something is broadcast through the media, or is said by an important person, it does not automatically make it fact or cover the whole truth. Very rarely are both sides of a story ever expressed unbiasedly, bringing forth all facts and information and then leaving it up to the individual to make a decision. Consequently, this paper will compare different media outlets. One stemming from great power and position, and the other from a small local community organisation, showing the different strategies and contexts in which they report, how and who they influence and what factual information they use to back up their statements on the topic of transgendered people.
Before examining these differences, it is important to mention that the term ‘transgender’ can be defined several ways academically, so for the sake of this paper