What is the role of media in the making of heroes?

Religion Essay “What is the role of the media on the making of heroes?”

What is a hero? A hero is someone that does things for others and doesn’t expect anything in return and would put their life on the line to protect others. Today, media has become almost as necessary as food and clothing. It is true that the power of the media plays an essential role in bringing out the awareness of heroes to a very broad audience. The media helps us to know what is going on around the world. Its duty is to inform, educate and entertain the public. It does not however, help in the making of heroes, but simply helps these “heroes” spread their stories. For example, Phoenix Jones is a real life superhero that recently became famous due to his videos going viral on YouTube. Yet, the media can also twist and distort some stories to gain more people’s attention making it hard to trust what you view, read or hear.
The media has also the power to present certain people in society, such as, celebrities or sportspeople to be heroes. Yet, apart from their notoriety, they are not actual heroes who have undertaken heroic acts. They can often be caught out doing unsavoury and immoral actions, for example, Shane Warne and Charlie Sheen who have both carried out numerous indecent actions in the public arena. The media is too quick to portray these types of people as troubled ‘heroes’. This distorts the meaning behind a true hero and also makes the term more loosely used. A hero does not have to be someone famous or in the media. He can simply be an everyday person that unselfishly helps others or who risks his life in the hope of saving others. The media’s role is to promote the heroic deed. It is not responsible for the making of a hero.
Phoenix Jones is what every small child would dream of becoming. Mr Jones is a real life superhero that goes out at night to protect the people of Seattle. Phoenix Jones, otherwise known as Benjamin John Francis Fodor was born in Washington, Seattle. On November 8 2012, he released a video of him confronting a suspected “racist assault suspect” filmed by an innocent civilian. Until early this year (2013), the video remained dormant until it became viral and now has 749,484 views. Mr Jones has also appeared on numerous news shows being interviewed. These include major shows such as Fox News and CBS, but also many other smaller local news. He is now known by a majority the locals of Seattle which would not have been possible without the role of the media. This shows the effect of the media in the making of heroes and how it would be tough to spread the stories of these people without it.
The media helps promote and educate people about heroes. None the less, the media can also do the opposite, whereby the truth can be distorted or corrupted to make a hero appear to be a villain. For example, Julian Assange, the creator of the highly controversial website, “Wiki Leaks” released government secrets and put them on his website for all of the public to see. He is regarded as a hero by people universally as he has risked his life to inform the world of various governments’ secrets. Assange released top secret government files and confidential surveillance footage displaying injustices of war. The surveillance footage that caused the most controversy was the video of American troops in Afghanistan killing unarmed and helpless Afghani civilians. However the media also portrayed him as a traitor and a terrorist to America’s government and its allies. It demonstrates the powerful hold of the media which can influence such a heroic action in a positive or negative light.
Undeniably, mass communication of the media has a vital role in the promotion of heroes around us. However, the media is not responsible for the creation of heroes in the true sense and should not be confused with high profile people that are labelled as heroes due to their wealth, fame or sporting ability. Being a hero is finding the potential within us to aspire higher, and act on our values. Heroes can be ordinary people living amongst us who may even go through life without public recognition. It is the media’s role is to find and promote these true heroes so it can restore faith in humanity in this unethical day and age.