The “Mainstream Media” and its Effects on Society

Mainstream Media

What is the “Mainstream Media” or MSM?

We are all familiar with the term “Mainstream media” or MSM which is used to describe the large mass news media that influences large groups of people. Most of the big companies in the world own roughly 90% of what we watch. These companies are GE, Newscorp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS. While the mainstream media may be a good place to get the news, there are often some problems that we run into when dealing with these sources. 

What are the effects of “Mainstream Media” on our lives? 

The mainstream media plays a large part in the dissemination of “Fake news” and according to a journal I found, there are four different reasons that they cover it. (Tsfati  et al., 2020) I want to include these reasons found in this journal because it really was interesting to try and uncover how they think as journalists. 

Here is the link to the article itself; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23808985.2020.1759443

1. Journalists role perceptions: The role and ability to uncover what is fact vs. fiction and present that to the public. 

2. Traditional news values: Fake news is newsworthy to them and is worth sharing whether to uncover it or deliver it. 

3. Psychology of news decisions: Journalists pay attention to other journalists and the information that they are sharing. 

4. Infrastructure for covering what is in the online world: Their ability to locate fake news and look into the web to uncover it. 

Although journalists spend lots of time trying to correct the information given, that is not often always the case and I think that is seen now more than ever. Although I still check in with the mainstream media, that is not the only place I look now for my news because I like to see all sides of one story. Often it isn't the story itself that is strewed, but the headline that is. I tend to think that because some mainstream media like to deliver false headlines, it funnels down to other smaller media sources until it is out of control. The mainstream media has the power to make an impact on the world both in positive and negative ways. This in particular ties into the four different reasons and the fourth one in particular about covering what is in the online world. Because while they can see what it happening in the online world, they often are also the cause for these stories. 

Do you think that we will see a shift with the mainstream media and a transition to more alternative forms of media? How much trust do you have in the mainstream media for your daily news? I think often we could see similar answers to these questions with the recent events in our world. I certainly have lost more trust in the media recently because I think their four reasons that they cover a story has changed and I think the shift is now more to shed fear amongst their viewers. As we all get our news now it is important to understand that although we still may turn to the mainstream media for news, we must check numerous sources in order to ensure we are getting the correct news. 

Sources

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23808985.2020.1759443

https://ochen.com/the-mainstream-media-is-rigged-msm/

https://techstartups.com/2020/09/18/6-corporations-control-90-media-america-illusion-choice-objectivity-2020/