Power and Influence of Media

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Running Head: POWER AND INFLUENCE OF MEDIA
POWER AND INFLUENCE OF MEDIA
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Institution

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Introduction
It is quite important to note that media has become the most prominent part of our daily
lives. More than 96% percent of every household in Australia possess television or any form of
gadget that can be used to pass information to large masses of people. Media is something that
has even become common among the adolescent who spend most of their time on media either
socializing or reading articles on the net. This tool has both the power to influence positively and
negatively the society through viewing certain media. In relation to this paper, the Australian
media has notable power in transforming and shaping the discourse of health in the context of
multicultural health in Australia. In addition to this, this paper is going to analyze critically the
role and power of the current Australian media with further identification of the influence of the
media in relation to culturally safe care.
Power of the media
In Australia, media has proven to be a powerful instrument of all time given the fact that
it influences almost all areas of the lives of individuals starting from the adolescent to the old
generation. It power is majorly seen in its role of disseminating information and facts to the
multitude. It has effectively managed to contextualize the cultural health environment. Talking of
power, this refers to the ability of the media to structure and present ideologies and issues to the
public thus increasing the level of profitability. It is notable that power can be classified into two
with reference to media power (De Jesus 2013).
A media can be said to be symbolically possessing weak power if it does not have the
ability to weave the crowd due to auditoria decisions made in the course of disseminating raw
data. On the contrary, strong symbolic media power lies on the ability of the media being in

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control of the crowd through the fabrication of a strong information to the extent of it not being
questioned in by the society. Another form of power displayed by the media is persuasion and
manipulation.
Talking of media manipulation, this refers to a series of techniques that are related
through which the media tries to create a convincing image or form of argument, which, tends to
favor a particular line of interest. This includes the utilization of certain logical fallacies and
manipulating people psychologically. This may include the diversion of attention of certain
people or inducing groups to stop listening to a series of information given the fact that the
public has a limited span of attention.in this case, persuasion and manipulation are important
sources of power as they help the media to conceal the underlying goals of their stories. For
instance, power is shown by the media in the editorial process where it has the ability to choose
the information to keep and display to the crowd and which to omit is a form of persuasive
power.
McCool, Freeman & Tanielu (2014) denote that furthermore, the media also displays its
ability of power through the choice of words (diction) to relay the intended information to the
crowd in a language known to many thus placing them in the position of possessing intellectual
power. This involves the use of luring language to capture the attention of the readers or
listeners. Luring the crowd through framing issues which sustains the interests of the crowd.
Tension and interest in the crowd is developed from the captivating power and influence in the
information displayed by the media. The information displayed by the media can either be
positive or negative but both have the ability of influencing the crowd. The only difference
between power and influence of the media is it capability. Mostly, power refers to being in

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position to and capacity to influence while influence refers to the putting into action this power
(De Jesus, 2013).
The social conditions of individuals in both Australia and other parts of the world are
greatly influenced by their overall health conditions. When the media diverts its attention to
addressing the health issues in the society, it will be demonstrating its influence in the
perspectives held by the masses with reference social and cultural health. The media address
issues concerning health for instance giving out information on HIV/AIDS, obesity, drug abuse
among others. It is through not only television but also smartphone apps and pop up messages all
focusing on health issues thus raising the awareness and alerting individuals on healthy living
(Breton et al. 2016)
The considerable ability of the media to disseminate critical information concerning health issues
is quite positive to the public. It becomes an asset when it addresses issues pertaining public
health awareness and health campaigns and promotions. The current accelerating rate of chronic
illnesses makes it rudimentary for media to tale control in passing information to the public with
respect to healthy living and disease prevention. For us to consider a certain information
positively affecting the society in terms of health it should not stereotype anything it should
consist of facts and not propagate acts of ageism, sexism or any form of vice that may stigmatize
the society members. When it comes to health provision with media, the choice of language and
communication system is paramount with the aim of reducing power difference (McCool,
Freeman & Tanielu, 2014)
According to Javier & Belgrave (2015), when it comes to health awareness in Australia,
media has really acted as a powerful instrument and among the primary source in to support