Mass Media: A platform to give strength to the weak or a loaded gun in the hands of humanity? “The media’s the most powerful entity on earth…because they control the minds of the masses” (Malcom X, 2012). Media has responsibilities and these responsibilities need to be clarified and upheld by society. Unfortunately, media today does not abide by moral standards, which in turn sends mixed messages to our society. Often times these messages are demoralizing, desensitizing, and false. Young people and adults alike are trying to navigate through their lives and through the world with a broken compass. The role media plays in issues such as self-worth, bullying, and suicide need to be addressed and revised.
I will discuss media and its role and responsibility through the perspective of both a classical and contemporary ethical theory. The classical theory that will be discussed is virtue ethics, which is the study of the virtuous character of a person (Mosser, 2010, p.1.7). The contemporary theory that will be discussed is emotivism, which is basing one’s moral decisions on one’s feelings and emotions (Mosser, 2010, p.1.8). Concluding, I will discuss which theory is closer to my own personal view and why I chose that particular theory. While freedom of speech and personal connection are very important, age appropriate moral standards should be upheld in the media because media plays a significant role in suicide, bullying, and self-worth.
According to Mosser (2010), virtue ethics seeks to find “not what makes an act good but what makes a person virtuous” (p.1.7). Indeed, a virtuous person has and shows high moral standards. So if media plays the role of a super peer in multiple realms, shouldn’t media also exemplify these same high moral standards? Healthy balances with proper limits need to be enforced with mass media and society. One