the media is less effective in cultivating public opinion
Answers
Public Opinion - The role of Media
Introduction.
There is a growing fear of the stranger, broad generalizations, and negative associations,
humiliating and dehumanizing labels attached to refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and
immigrants, more and more intolerance, xenophobia and racism are being fostered in host
countries towards these groups.
To make sure that extremism, discrimination and racism do not gain upper hand of the majority of
the populations, a culture of tolerance and peaceful living conditions a massive public education
program should be developed and incorporated in our schools, organizations and systems to
cultivate acceptance and better understanding of the reasons for the presence of refugees, asylum
seekers and migrants and creatively use their skills which they bring together to the host countries.
In this perspective formal and informal education on the rights and plights of the refugees and
asylum seekers and migrants should be integrated. Educational institutions, schools and
universities through their curricula, should integrate programs of refugee and migrant laborers’
rights and fight back racism and xenophobia. Through informal education, the mass media, the
newspapers and the electronic communication systems masses & communities should be
communicated a culture of tolerance and peaceful living with the stranger.
The Role of The Media
Media is the most powerful tool for the formation of Public opinion in contemporary times. It is the
Television, the press, the radio and the Internet. (Films, magazines, posters, studies, reports,
theater, art, dance, public speeches, hearings)
Talking about the media is like talking about a mission. A source of information and education that
will shape the daily choices in people’s life. That will shape the thinking, and the perception of
things. But Media is a political power and tool, occupied in a way by the big powers, international
corporations, big agencies using for their political and economic objectives that control and can
pay. Among the most powerful news agencies in the West are the BBC, CNN, Euro-news, Monte
Carlo, while, Al Jazira, Al Aarabia, LBC, Al Shark El Awsat are the news agencies in the Middle
East. The religious and political leaders of these media agencies are always around to talk, freely
and passing news, stands, and positions to their communities, to the public using them to serve
their political and economic ends.
By the development, advance and spread of technology the world has shrunk into a global village
whereby the remote villages of China, the Pacific island of Hawaii and the deserts of Arabia are on
our everyday screens at home at our dinner tables, telling their stories and worries. Unfortunately,
family, church and community issues at national or international levels are no more concerns for
the educational or moral shaping of the generations to come, it is the war in Iraq, the killings in
Sudan, the terrorist attacks in Israel and Palestine, the Talibans in Afghanistan, the Nuclear
weapons in Iran, the HIV- Aids and poverty in Africa, the boat refugees at the borders of Europe,
Australia or USA. The bloodier, the more violent and scandalous, the more apocalyptic, the more
captive and more popular the station is. The beautiful cultural, historical and musical programs are
no more interesting, who watches them anyhow? Why aren’t they popular, it is either war or sex on
the screens and in the papers, both have economic end purposes: to sell weapons to warring
countries or to sell human beings in the sex industry, the most rentable of all the businesses.
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It is important that the media redefines its goals and mission, for the rule of the jungle, “la raison du
plus fort” is the world order today. The role and the mission of the media is to commit itself to
values that are imperative for today, and it is possible to achieve this goal only if civil societies
commit themselves into risks and understand the need for it and encourage agencies that can play
this role.
Both poles of the world have misleading information and negative perceptions and misconceptions
of each other. The North does not know enough the South and vice versa, the South has negative
perception of the North and rejects every ideology that comes from it. Both need to understand
clearly that there are ways to understand & interpret Islam or Democracy, different spirit of
understanding religion, a spirit of peace and mercy, and Democracy, a spirit of human rights, and
respect for human beings. The South instigated with fundamentalism is burning in war, while, the
North generalizing all middle Easterners as terrorists and Africans as unskilled and poor people is
closing its doors in fear of an influx of refugees and terrorist attacks.