Role of Mass Media and Growing Problems in Pakistan and Develping Countries

Definition of Mass Media

Mass media consists of the various means by which information reaches large numbers of people, such as television, radio, movies, newspapers, and the Internet. Sociologists study mass media especially to see how it shapes people's values, beliefs, perceptions, and behavior.
In the late 20th Century, mass media could be classified into eight mass media industries: books, newspapers, magazines, recordings, radio, movies, television and the internet. With the explosion of digital communication technology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the question of what forms of media should be classified as "mass media" has become more prominent. For example, it is controversial whether to include cell phones, video games and computer games (such as MMORPGs) in the definition. In the 2000s, a classification called the "seven mass media" became popular. In order of introduction, they are: 1. Print (books, pamphlets, newspapers, magazines, etc.) from the late 15th century 2. Recordings (gramophone records, magnetic tapes, cassettes, cartridges, CDs, DVDs) from the late 19th century 3. Cinema from about 1900 4. Radio from about 1910 5. Television from about 1950 6. Internet from about 1990 7. Mobile phones from about 2000

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HOW MASS MEDIA IS RESHAPING OUR LIVING SPACE
Mass media in Pakistan has come a long way. From the earlydays of state controlled media, today Pakistani media has startedto exert itself and is well on its way to achieve a more meaningfuland free status. Steffen Cohen in his book ‘The Idea of Pakistan’has acknowledged the fact that the media in today’s Pakistan isperhaps the freest in the region and many other parts of the world.While the struggle for a free media continues against the odds, itseffects in reshaping of our society at large have already started totake shape. There are many known factors that have contributed to thesudden surge in the media development, but to give the devil itsshare, it had been the last authoritarian rule that perhaps gave themaximum liberty to the media ever in the country’s history. The media in the country Media having such an influence onour lives, it has both harmful and beneficial effects. Beneficialbecause it provides us all the information we need from all overthe world, it entertains us and at the same time it helps us findmore about a topic we are interested in. On the other hand, TVand the Internet destroy communication between the members of the family.Media nowadays is considered a window for learning and is alsoconsidered to be our main window to the world. Media has evolvedfrom simple text in papers, to voices in radios, to voices withpictures in television and movies, and off course now to aninternet. Media was primarily used to deliver news across the townand to beef up the people with the information they need for theireveryday life. Then, newspaper was the only form of media untilradio came into the picture. When radio came it became the mostpopular form of media. Then when television was born, it replacedradios and people turn to television for sources of information. Butbefore the end of the millennium, Internet was born. Internet isnow the most popular form of media not only to youngsters butalso to adults because of its diversity and usefulness. Media haschanged a lot since it startedNet work television reaches audience in the weekday evening. Andthe most people access around the clock, It obviously entertain us;and to advertise the products, in the area of information alone,mass media provide much careful reporting on a vast array of issues and events that are necessary to our lives every day. Theaction of our political leaders, the attitudes and opinions of peoplethe daily performance of the stock market, health news, weatherforecasts, sports. Infect we have come to know importantinformation provided every day by mass media, and off coursewithout which we could not exist as civilized society in the twenty-first century. We learned that even democratic governmentssometime lied and misled in order to achieve their ends. So this ismedia who is performing his job as watchdog and we relay on themass media who give us essential information about our leaders.What, then, should we be thinking about mass media are we theirvictims, or do they serve us well? Mass media enrich our mindswith essential information make our live easier with meaningfulentertainment and delightful diversion and help us achieve asociety where the good of all will prevail. There is just so much more information. And people have access toit anytime of the day; you no longer have to wait till the morningor evening to get any information and news, audience becomingmore knowledgeable, they know more about politics?, they seemmore knowledgeable about things like health, sports, they do knowmore about foreign policy, Health care policy but on the other sidebecause of the influence of foreign media “TV Channels” asMuslims we are going faraway from our custom ethics and themost important our religion. And it is might be the drawback of mass media. For example if we look at some of our PakistaniFashion or Music TV Channels can we say that its present ourculture or our moral values that one Muslim should have so Mediapresents unrealistic body types promoting people, especiallywomen, through TV shows, commercials, magazines or any form of advertising, the media enforces a certain body type which womentry to follow. The so-called perfect body type causes manynegative effects on women. Women start to feel insecure abouttheir bodies by looking at media images daily. This provokeswomen to diet more because they feel more pressure to be slim.Especially teenager girl are very influenced by that kind of TVShows, commercials etc. some TV Channel show a very valianttype of program who has a very bad impact on children forexample a wrestling show that brought bad effect to the children.Exposure to media violence cause increased levels of aggressionand violence in young people but the sources are not particularlywicked people who set out to delude and mislead us. So it willrequire bright young people with good motives to be attached tocareers in mass media. And it will require intelligent and educated audiences who understand the meaning of media, so they canmake proper choices about messages they receive.