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Mass Media Journal Entry #1

The thing I have been thinking about the most is the ability the media has to influence. It’s one of those things that I won’t really understand. It is known as the fourth branch of government and what a fascinating thing that is too. Something that I feel was once only there to entertain is now a forceful use to influence and change ideas and the way people look at the world. It is interesting to me that in today’s society we have handed the media the opportunity to tug on our heartstrings. “The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” (Malcom X.) I found this quote and found it completely relatable to what I have been thinking about. The media gets an idea about something and if enough people think and hear about it people are so easily swayed. The question I have about this is, is this entirely negative? I know that in the news we hear all about how they only report the bad news, and that is probably true. I am sure that it sells better, and more. And personally the good things are great, but I think that it’s sometimes the bad things that motivate us to change and move forward. I also think that if we had the power to change the media to be somewhat negative then we also have to power to change and influence it for good. Maybe it really is a good thing that there are so many communications majors here at BYU-I. I don’t know the world is a funny thing that’s for sure.