Do you believe what you're told by the media?

Toay there are lots and lots of news channel, moreover they are 24X7... so for 7days a week n 24 hours a day, its too difficult to get the sensational news so that people dnt switchover to other channel.Now wat ever news is there they add some spice n add few of their view point.Now its a sensational news..!!! No one is more powerful than media n news so why not make a wrong use of it.Thats what is all news about.I hate to watch news channel.Its just hype,hardly any fact.There are lots of important news to be telecasted,but the problem lies-its not sensational. Let me tell you something ,in india recently two very big stars got engaged,media coved this news for unlimited hours.I m saying unlimited hours because still they have'nt got married and mediaa is covering what they are going to wear on wedding,how much it costs n what not.Still its going on n on.It makes me sick. Media has got a very important role to play in society.And they should understand it.

Hell no. The media lies all of the time, that is why research and technology came around, you have to find the truth for yourself.

There is a rat race among the journalists of all kind to capture the news first and in their enthusiasm, they feed the press with stories which are half truths and some times wild guess. Habitual news paper readers or TV watchers know that no news is conclusive. Because next day there is another news, no one bothers to dig the old news, because it becomes stale. I personally do not believe all, but there are reliable news agencies like BBC.

Of course i believe but not all?

You are right. All news is slanted toward something. I don't believe most of it. In fact I don't watch the news and hardly read the paper. So what if I don't know every little thing going on in the world? How do I know what I see and hear is the thuth anyway? Ans what can I do about all the crazies out there? If the world is coming to an end, I don't want to know. It is so refreshing not to see and hear all the negative crap that is presented in the news. My mind is free to think in terms of goodness and prosperity. I can create my own sensationalism.

I dont completely trust their spoken news because sometime its rumor and sometime the news seems to be truth. I try to find it from other people as well that either its a fact or its just a rumor which is spreaded by the newspaper's jounalist and its just a rumor spreaded by media.

I look for facts and compare, for example, the BBC with ITV and Sky and also what I can find on the 'Net. It is interesting to hear the slightly different ways in which BBC and BBC World Service handle the news. It's a matter of emphasis more than anything but it is salutary, nevertheless. I certainly don't believe everything I read or hear. In fact, if it's more than just factual news, I always find myself asking what the other half of the story is.

Let's face it the news media only wants to sell papers or get viewers to watch their TV shows or web sites. If it is not attracting the public then it is not news. How much "good" news do you see in the media from day to day? Oh sure they tease you with the occasional "puppy being saved" but for the most part, if it's not bad then it can't be news. Consider this; a chemical factory explodes in Anywhere, USA at 8 AM. Here are the facts as we know them; we don't know if this was caused by terrorists, we don't know if there are any dangerous chemicals involved, we don't know if anyone has been hurt, we don't know if anyone is still inside and we have no idea how long it will take to bring the fire under control. So basically at 8 AM we know nothing. Yet, the station you are watching and several others, will continue to report all these non-facts for the next several hours. Then at 11:30 AM we get a "News Alert"; just before the explosion a man was seen riding a bike near the plant and carrying something in his left hand, the hand closest to the chemical plant. This "News Alert" is now good for another 3 hours and every 15 minutes when they bring it up it is still "Breaking News". I only watch the news to get the "gist" of what is going on. I reserve judgement until I feel there are enough facts available to make a dicision. The only difference is when the reporters are "Live" at the scene and are talking to someone directly involved (not the neighbor who knows someone who used to be engaged to a guy who worked at the plant) or the President or some other government representative is speaking live.

modt of the time i accept what media is saying but on some of the news like saddam was executed . ilike to investigate so i can get the true picture

I believe it, but I only believe that we are getting half the story. There are three sides to every story, your side, my side, and the truth that lies somewhere in between. It's been said "don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see", this is the philosophy I follow as well.

to use an irish expression i take the media gossip news with a pinch of salt. that means i enjoy reading it and revelling in the awful things celebrities do but i dont believe the half iof it or take it serious . they are wicked people and its a cut throat business. anyone in the public eye has to be very careful if they do something we might take for granted . if they go to a bar and get drunk it is splashed all over the paper and they are portrayed as drunkards , child neglecters and suchlike. however a lot of ordinary people do this every week but not a word is said as they re not famous .

angelicEmu, Totally excellent and interesting question. I was impressed by your question. To begin with you are totally correct with your interpretation of what is going on in the media's. They certainly have their own agenda. In todays society I have found that the rule of thumb is what Corporate America wants. And as we both know media's are owned by Corporate America. As for me I watch CNN Headline News just to get a feel of what is going on at any given time. They do not bore you with their interpretation.

Yes sometime there are really news that have happend in the environment but sometime people uses media to disseminate wrong impression and wrong news about a person or on some topic. Like the coincidence of Afghanistan, U.S. took the support of median and disseminate wrong impression of Afghanistan and after that it did the same with Iraq just to capture the oil fiellds of Iraq and to capture the territory of Afghanistan just to take Eastern countries under control. well sometimes media helps a lot to get news of current affaires so that people can be upto date that what is happening in this world.

no and yes but it depends on your intake if you think it is a really serious problem then you would believe it but if you think its nothing to importsnt thsn you wont believe for example paris hilton fell down, who cares life on mars damn believable.

Money leads the media today. It was there earlier but not this extent. They want to take the readers for granted. They make a mountain out of a molehill.still poor readers believe the whole story. Then the discussion and so on. They eye on the circulation, readership or presently viewership. See what happened in the Big Brother episode. Ultimately the channel succeeded in getting their pie.

I do believe the media puts a spin on news stories or leaves out pertinent information. That's why I use the internet. It really is the "information highway." I research topics and news stories to find out all of the information.

Yes I do believe the Media news but not all of it coz they make it up with a lot of spice to make it sensational which will add to their TRP ratings.

everything u hear from the media, should be taken with a grain of salt. the media reflects the opinion of the people covering the story. it may not necessarily b the truth. also media people can be bought to distort the facts. so the best thing to do would be to get the story from as many sources as possible and then form your opinion

Well i can only tell abt wat is happening in the news channels n news papers in India. Well most news Channels are disgusting news is much more like a tele serials(we call them Mega serials in India). And news papers well most of them are advertiment based. But i still prefer newspapers or internet to TV. And i am least bothered abt wat the media says,as there is always an element of doubt in everything. I analyse everything and go ahead

For me it really doesn't matter if the news is rumor, true, or anything else for that matter, because I would not make a opinion on someone on the basis of what I hear or see in the public domain. According to me the truth is always what one percieves. It entirly depends on you how you react to a particular thing. You may be right or wrong. According to me no on the planet has the right to decide what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad, because time is the only thing that can decide what is wrong, bad, and what is right, good.