The More Media The More Problems

Saying that all media content increases our media literacy is a far reach at best. The media today is like a circus in that it’s focused on the most outlandish stories that are willing to catch our eye rather then to inform us with knowledge that we and especially the younger generation needs. I think it’s easier today now then ever to get confused with the media if you aren’t already accustomed to it. From the early 2000’s onward it seems as if the media has taken a focus towards entertainment more then legitimate stories such as the media focusing on who will be the next president. Something that can have a great impact on the future of our country or as significant as the war in Iraq is seemed to be put on the backburner in some cases for stories such as Britney Spears’ younger sister being pregnant or Jessica Simpson jinxing Tony Romo by being in attendance at a Dallas Cowboys game.

For young people it’s hard to distinguish right from wrong, and important from non-important. If you’re younger of course you’ll pay attention to the stories that have more pizzazz and star quality. If you’re illiterate in today’s world it would probably be worse because immediately you’re likely to go to these stories if you can’t understand you can probably remember a celebrity or sports star rather then soldiers going into battle. This is bad because whether the country likes it or not it seems to take the focus a little bit off of the more important issues, unless we know how to distinguish between good and bad articles.

I think the United States is in a constant struggle with itself because where else can a network make fun of the president day in and day out for laughs and not have any repercussions. In most other countries actions would be taken. Sure their not as laid back and free as the United States but I guarantee their society isn’t flooded with junk news that we see today. I think with acts like this the “real” stories might lose credibility especially to those that are younger or illiterate. The media companies probably don’t mind people that are illiterate because they don’t distinguish the difference as easy not because they don’t want to but because they don’t understand.

We as a nation have to be smart to know what to understand and take in and what to filter out. Sure it’s good for entertainment to read some of these stories but we can’t focus on these stories. The media is not the best way to retrieve information as far as today being concerned. If we rewind 50 years to the 1950’s, their news and media then is far and away more credible to an extent overall then it is today just because of the explosion of the entertainment and shock factor to our society. Entertainment Tonight is not a valid source for news in my eyes but it seems to be very popular and is probably what most people watch on a daily basis and consider news. The most important step of increasing your level of media literacy is to distinguish the confusion between entertainment and news. Regardless of what the media is showing, There is a difference.