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...provides the main conduit through which the public learns of the state of current events. Television news, in particular, is believed to be the "most pervasive source of public affairs information in western industrialized societies today" (Gunter 1). However, rather than addressing its responsibility to inform the public in a comprehensive manner, the mass media often simplifies global news, reducing complex issues into a 30 second sound-bite that can be easily digested by the public as if it were popcorn. Research demonstrates that often journalism does not provide the public with sufficient background information to thoroughly understand a news event. The emphasis is on sensationalism and drama rather than on information content. Sociological, political and psychological research demonstrates both the relevancy and power of the mass mediawhere strengths exist, but primarily where its foibles lie.
News defined
No one really knows all of the functions of the mass media, "for in their entirety these functions are probably so pervasive and so subtle" that they cannot be...