The presence of media in our society changed the world entirely over the last half of 20th century, and the changes are still occurring. In contemporary world, one can gain information anytime, anywhere and in some cases even for free. Knowing the matters of the world is not a problem anymore. One can easily gain information and adjust to the world accordingly, and with this come certain dangers. George Orwell’s words are: The people will believe what the media tells them they believe“. It is true because what is shown by media is not always true, yet in many cases people either choose to believe or they are left with no other choice than believe in what they read, see or hear.
The following essay is an attempt to analyze the phenomenon. No offence to the people described is intended, only analysis of the process that shapes the society and its general knowledge. Examples used here are based on recent events in Poland and therefore they may be hard to comprehend in full extent when one was not following their course, but this kind of knowledge is not crucial, what is, is seing the essence of the problem and its impact on the people.
Events presented in media such as newspapers, news broadcasts are considered to be pure facts. One does not feel obliged to do any research of his own, as it is simply put on the plate for him. Either because one’s lack of time or satisfaction of knowing anything on the subject without even checking credibility of facts presented. What is more, further analysis of an event is even impossible in some cases. Let us take for example the history of Katarzyna Waśniewska’s daughter death, which was the most reiterated story of the last year in Poland. At first the child was believed to be kidnapped, then the mother admitted that she had dropped her daughter by accident, causing baby’s death, and pointed the place where she had left the body. At the end of the day, she fled