Out of the many different forms of media that we are exposed to every day, the news is most probably the one that most people rely on to get current information about many different things. Seeing as how this is true, it is important that the news media keeps us informed with up to date and accurate information; however, this is not always the case. Although the media does keep us informed on many topics, we are deliberately kept misinformed about certain topics – to an extent. Some topics that the news media keeps us fully informed on are topics that aren’t of much importance such as sports or the weather, and stories that have to do with crimes. It’s safe to say that the news media only keeps its audience informed on the topics of their choice and in their own manner. In some cases, news channels make sure to include just enough information to make the audience believe that they are getting the full story, however, it is extremely possible that there are many parts of the story that have been left out. By only giving the audience a distorted version of the full story, the news media is constantly constructing reality without retributions. We, as an audience, are deliberately kept misinformed on many different topics thanks to the news media. A perfect example of this would be the amount of power that women possess in this day and age. Nowadays, the news media as well as many other media texts convey women as mere objects rather than as humans who are equal to men in every aspect. The movie “Miss Representation” does an excellent job at exposing the media by proving that they are sending a very dangerous and misinformed message to people, especially children. This film proves to the audience that the media is sending a false perception of women to its audiences in many ways, such as by creating demeaning or sexually offensive advertisements. Miss Representation proves that by being bombarded with constant media texts that send out these types of messages, people start to look at women as objects rather than actual people who have brains, which isn’t right. As if demeaning advertisements weren’t enough, women in politics are also being seen as objects due to the fact that the news media focuses on telling stories about their figures or their appearances as opposed to focusing on their political career. One excellent point that this film makes is as follows. If the news media makes it okay to put down the women who have an extreme amount of power, it will lead to people finding it more than okay to demean an average woman. The amount of negative and false information that is given out about women in the news media causes women to feel insecure in the own skin, as well as encourages people to believe that women don’t have any power in this world. It was once said that “truth is stranger than fiction” and considering the constant misleading information that we are presented with every day, this is not hard to believe. The news media has made its audience so accustomed to focusing on women’s physical assets, that when accurate and positive information is given about something other than their looks, it can be considered strange.
Reem Jazi's Blog 