Journalism is the fourth pillar of democracy. A worthy news story can tremendously impact the working in any respective field. Media is diverse. There are many mediums through which the whole world is informed about the current and past happenings. Mainstream media or the electronic media is one of those mediums that has a pivotal role to play in the development of a country.
News Channels are considered as the quickest form of media. One can tune into the channel with the help of their TV sets or mobile phones and get informed about all the major events. However, that is not only where the news channels are confined to. Earlier, the news channels only had the responsibility of stating the happenings to their audience but in the recent years News Channels have given themselves a huge transformation which has eventually led them to be an infotainment source.
Impact or influence of News Channels on the society
Moreover, the influence of news channels has grown up to a massive extent. The influence of mass media has an effect on many aspects of human life, which can include voting a certain way, individual views and beliefs, or skewing a person’s knowledge of a specific topic due to being provided false information. Influence of these news channels is the actual force exerted by a media message, resulting in either a change or reinforcement in audience or individual beliefs. Effects of this information source are measurable effects that result from media influence or a media message.
Whether a message provided by the mainstream media has an effect on any of its audience members is contingent on many factors, including audience demographics and psychological characteristics. These effects can be positive or negative, abrupt or gradual, short-term or long-lasting.
Positive and Negative Impact of News Channels
Although 24/7 news channels have helped the individuals in staying aware of the happenings around the world it also has its own flaws. Mostly news channels these days exaggerate and focus on giving major news as “Breaking”. Channels generally sensationalize everything mostly for TRP ratings. This is creating unnecessary panic among people.
Whichever leading channel one switches to these days show negative news majorly. News channels concentrate mainly on topics such as tragic incidents, crime etc. This impacts people negatively. What we consume has a direct impact on our happiness levels.
However, News channels might make routine news look interesting. Until a few years ago not many people were interested in watching the news. But these days’ news channels are as interesting as entertainment channels. Due to the major shift in the content served these news channels are losing the attention of citizens during the modern era.
There are great deals of awful things that occur on the planet, and it is correct that individuals should think about these things and the first source of receiving such news is through TV. Both good and bad news is aired on the TV and at times watching such terrible things incorporate wrongdoing, starvation, war, viciousness, political turmoil, and trauma, all of these affect the psychological process of an individual which has an adverse effect on their behavior and emotions.
