SAT ESSAY: The Media..

The media has a huge and destructive influence to many people. As stated in the assignment, "... they [the media] transmit information and culture, they also decide what information is important." With that said, the media unfortunately gives them power to portray what ever they want out of their benefit of profit. If they were to show something bloody and violent or something sexual and "devious", the inimical truth is that people are going to want to watch that and the media is going to get good ratings so more money in the end. But does money justify the fact that the media can control our cultures and values based on what they portray?

I remember freshmen year, in a course called 9th guide, we discussed about the media and how the media has portrayed what "beautiful" is and how that affected the mind set of young teens. Our teachers began to pull out magazines with pictures of really skinny women that were modeling for top fashion designers. These images shown "brain washes" girls to think that they have to be skinny in order to be beautiful and so those images are the catalyst to bulimia and or anorexia. If the media has that kind of power to emphasize a point and to make everyone conform to that point, imagine what they could do with big issues like war in Iraq, natural disasters, or even our President. The media could brainwash society into believing anything.

The point is that the media has this unbelievable power to influence its viewers and consumers into agreeing with almost whatever they say. It is basically up to us whether should believe what they say or to take things into our own perspectives.