It's a Small World After All

        The media has really made the world a smaller place. People are now "closer" to each other than they were before. Media has certainly mad the the distance between people shorter and now people can communicate and relate with each other even they are not in the same place together. Before we had snail mail, a very time consuming way of relaying messages, now we have the e-mail. With the e-mail sending messages have become instant with the only problem to address is how slow or how fast your internet connection will be. E-mail has now become less convenient also with the creation of chat clients and chat rooms or instant messaging. Instant messaging is self explanatory. Receivers get the message as soon as you send it most of the time but your internet connection might be a problem again because a slow connection might delay your messages for a few moments. Cellphones have now also become an essential part of life. With it we can send text messages even without internet and we could also call anybody, anywhere, anytime as long as there is a cell signal wherever you may be. Television have also reinvented the way people get their news. Aside from newspapers there are news channels on TV. People just turn on the TV and then they can see what is happening around and they know about it instantly. The internet is the ultimate source of connection. It connects millions of people around the world and shows no sign of slowing down (except for a few ISPs that are really bad). With the internet people can talk to each other, purchase stuff, download software, book trips, find information and much more.

          Media has really changed on how people live and people rely heavily on the media. With the whole world being connected there is this concept called the global village. Everyone practically lives next door to each other with the media and we do not need to leave the comforts of home since every body and everything is so well connected.

Filtering, Censorship, Manipulation

            Censorship is not a very big deal in media or at least I do not mind it at all. Media gets filtered all the time and I am used to that already. Maybe that is the power that media has over its audiences. The audience cannot choose what will ultimately be shown on media. In the end the audience will have to cope on what will be shown. The ones that control the media would want to avoid any controversy as possible. Sometimes though, filtering can get out of hand and audiences can get false information and beliefs from the media. With the advancements in technology these days it has become too easy and very common to manipulate the media. One example I can think is Photoshop. One can simply get pictures and edit them using Photoshop to show something unusual. One famous picture was circulating emails a few years ago. It was a picture of a rescue helicopter with someone hanging on the rope ladder. The helicopter was hovering over a body of water and there was a shark cropped in leaping out of the water straight to the man hanging on the ladder. The picture was pretty realistic so I bought it for some time and then never heard of it in the news and I saw the helicopter and the shark were two different pictures that were put together.

             With media manipulation and filtering it is difficult to address a wide audience on sensitive issues properly. There are small communities though that are aware and are trying to make others aware also. An example I can think of is the band Rage Against the Machine, a rap metal band with songs often having lyrics addressing political issues. Their songs would almost always sound like a protest backed up with a heavy metal sound. The band has faced many controversies because of their songs that question political issues such as government oppression. The band is also censored in other countries.

              Media is easily manipulated and filtered so how can we be sure if what we see and hear from the media are what they really are? Since there are no other ways to get our information anymore we rely heavily on the media to get our information, but if we think about we cannot be too sure of what we get are really true. Such as is the power of media.