How The Media Has Helped The Australian Society

Introduction

The media based in Australia plays a significant role in informing society and building an image of the community. The media has the power to reflect and construct underlying associations in people's lives (Robert & Roger, 1994).

Role of Media in Informing Society

Media has informed people on historical and modern occurrences. It is the key source of information formation and distribution. This media comprises newspapers, periodicals, and news broadcasts on televisions. These enlighten individuals on general and worldwide proceedings. Film and television programs provide stories concerning society, and these aid people in learning more about their culture. Students rely on the media for news about elections, public policy, and legislative procedures happening. Media aims to inform society with vital, analytical, and inventive skills that permit them to reflect independently and become knowledgeable citizens (Murray, 2007).

Moreover, media can enhance students' knowledge and appreciation of the role media play in shaping and spreading particular opinions of history and modern social life. It can assist in creating analytical and reasoning abilities.

Media and Racial Stereotypes

The media spread and encourage racial stereotypes. It had an inadequate understanding and awareness of indigenous and ethnic problems and took minor or no liability for the media outcomes it created. Studies in Australia have shown that the media encourage racial stereotyping and also regularly lack non-white influences. The media is controlled by elite actors, institutions, and companies, for instance, police, authorities, and universities.

Influence of Television and Movies

The media has a vast influence on individuals, and television is the most influential media channel. Television programs expose society to a lot of violent images, sex, and famous personalities. These can create different public views. For instance, after the rebel attacks on September 2011, the media offered broad coverage of the proceedings and depicted Osama as responsible for the attacks as the authorities stated. This motivated the public to support the terrorism war. The concern is that if the media has gathered misleading information, then the community follows a wrong cause (Clint, Felix, & Lena, 2003).

Another issue concerning media is movies that young people watch. The images displayed involve violent scenes of people hurting others. These can have a disturbing outcome, especially on children. There exist reported cases of youths going to schools with guns and hurting others.

Media's Role in Aboriginal Issues

The media is an influential and active instrument when conveying information across and spreading the news throughout the globe to reach society. The media plays a role in raising poor living standards of native individuals in the community. This results from unconstructive reporting concerning Aboriginal individuals (Elizabeth, 2001).

According to the analysis of two Australian main daily newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian, influential voices in society outnumber the Aboriginal ones. The white voices interceded for the indigenous voices. In the Sydney Morning Herald, it was acknowledged that each article comprising an indigenous voice was counterbalanced by three that comprised no indigenous voices. The Australian had a slightly improved ratio whereby one in three articles contained views of indigenous representatives. Even on matters considered indigenous, they did not attain foremost representation. Where indigenous voices happened to be considered, they were balanced by around three to five non-indigenous influential voices.

Challenges and Government Efforts

According to the National Symposium on Alcohol Misuse and Violence (1993), the predicament experienced by Indigenous people has been reviewed in many states' general and worldwide reports. The present level of violence and deprived living standards is hard to understand. There has been a huge assumption about the reasons behind the violence experienced. Deficiency, cultural disintegration, and marginalization have caused the current problems experienced by many indigenous individuals. Many individuals in society are unemployed, have poor health standards, and have low levels of education. In the front pages of media news, it's all about the violence being witnessed by communities. Issues of drunkenness among the youth are rampant in the indigenous society. Indigenous youths are using alcohol at a very early age.

The governments have provided funds to deal with the matter regarding violence in the lives of Aboriginal individuals. Aboriginal people suffering from violence and poor living standards felt nothing positive was happening, either through the deeds of administration or society heads to tackle their predicament. While several dedicated personnel had struggled for many years to provide crucial services to those individuals in suffering, their efforts were normally unrecognized and under-resourced.