Hi everyone,

Studying media has allowed me to see how complex it can be and how it works behind the cameras, theoretically. The media specifically picks what stories to share with you to influence your opinion and knowledge on specific subject areas. The media is also here to inform, connect and educate so everyone is aware and can participate in world decisions. Certain channels chose sides and views on politics and global affairs and influence those who are watching, so I see it to be important to explain and debunk how this all works and how stories are manifested in different viewpoints.

This post will mainly focus on Polish and English news and social outlets as this is what I have access to and surrounded by on a daily basis.

To start with, I want to discuss how media is focused on the negativity around the world rather than putting out more positive stories. The media has a tendency to do this as bad news sells and is more viewed than good news. Unfortunately, there is more reaction and popularity in negative stories as they are longer lasting and have more effect on a wider range of people. I will give you an example from the past few days of such news, as I watch Polish news every day on the channel TVN24, and I will now list what has been broadcasted for the past three days:

1. Two small aeroplanes crash at a local town picnic event.
2. Elderly man dies on a train from overheating, the train is delayed for 8 hours.
3. One train crash, due to a vehicle not stopping at train tracks.
4. People leaving their children in hot cars.
5. Two accidents on opposite sides of a motorway, one caused by slowing down cars to take pictures of the already existing accident on one side of the motorway.
6. A 10-year-old girl has been raped and found deceased on the side of a small town.

Now, firstly it is clear to see that these events are crucial to report as I mentioned earlier, to inform the public. It allows people to be more aware of certain situations happening and how to prevent them, to be educated on what not to do and to think about the families of the people involved. But what could be reconsidered is the repetition of the stories and the amount. Viewing such negative news on a constant basis is directly linked to people behaviour and self-esteem, which is degraded by the no break of negativity and rarely seen, positivity. The media need to re-construct the layout of the stories and break them up to have a more constant flow. Report the awful things happening in the world in order to educate and inform but also include all the good things happening in the world and the advancements we should celebrate.

Another area in the media that I would like to discuss, which most people probably already know about, is the severe focus on news coming from developed countries and ignoring any other news coming from less developed countries. By developed countries I mean the US, UK and certain countries in Europe. It is constant that all we see in the news is from the UK or occurrences in American and that’s it mostly unless you look deep into media webpages and reports then maybe you will find something there, but not on the main pages of publications.

Not long ago there was uproar on social media as news broadcasters were focusing on big current news in areas that they wished to report or that have bigger stories associated to them, but meanwhile, no one was speaking about the government massacre against civilians in Sudan, where a peaceful protest were supposed to give them freedom but ended in hundreds losing their lives. It was up to untrusted sources of many social media accounts on Facebook or Instagram to share such news to us and finally get it reported on some accredited media journalist platforms, but still not media giants on television. This is just one of the many examples that occurred during this time and is not in the knowledge of the public.

The media unfortunately picks and chooses what we see and how we react, we are not made aware of smaller countries with bigger issues than Donald Trump visiting the UK, and there is nothing we can really do about it unless there is active involvement in the media. We wish to know world news, not chosen news and how we can help as a population. We need more information so we can be attentive to others who may really need our help, not just economically developed countries.

I do not mean to discredit any negative news in developed countries, I am simply trying to bring light to the issue at hand. The aim of the news is to deliver knowledge on current affairs everywhere, not where they choose.

Love, Kasia x