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Reagan Terral
English 4
Mrs. Patton
11/29/15
The Media and Public Opinion
The media can greatly affect individuals. Media forms public opinion by agenda setting.
The Third person effect influences people. Media is meant to be persuasive. A persons behavior
can be affected by media. Violent behaviors can be linked to media. The media has impacted
societal thinking by utilizing mass communication.
The media uses tricks to get viewers to watch their programs, so they gain more profit.
For example the media begins to form the public opinion first by agenda setting. The news
continues the formation of opinion by the use of framing or how the story is portrayed. Many
media providers will also play on social desirability. Most people will form an idea based on
what is popular at the time. This is known as social desirability. Television has played a big part
in forming the public opinion since the 1950s.
One situation that comes from watching media broadcasts or videos is the Third Person
Effect. The third person effect is the idea that certain events or media ideas will be more likely to
affect someone else than those ideas will affect themselves. This effect can range from politics to
media violence. The area where the effect was the largest was on the topic of media violence.
This effect was studied by asking media related questions and then asking for the subjects
opinion. When these questions were asked each subjects behavior was also monitored.

Much of the media is meant to be persuasive. People with an average education show the
largest effect from political media. The media can also be used to exhort support for community
behaviors. There were results that found those exposed to media persuasion and had higher
education are the most likely to be affected (Martines, Scicchitano 287-300).
Behavior and socialization can be affected by multiple media sources. There is an effect
that political media has on youth even if it is not direct. It has become possible to predict future
voting patterns of the youth by giving them the political behavior of their friends (Garramone
and Atkin 76-86). Exposure to broadcasts news will contribute more to knowledge regarding
current events than to fundamental knowledge as referenced by Chaffee and Tims 1982
(Garramone and Atkin 76-86). Visual media has been found to be a stronger source of general
political knowledge.
The topic of media violence has been one of great controversy. There is an idea that
people may resolve conflicts with violence after long exposure to images of violence. After long
exposure to this violence, people might assume that things are more violent than they are.
According to the National Institute on Media and the family, by the time a child is 18 years old,
he or she will see approximately 200,000 acts of violence on television, including 40,000
murders (Nakaya). Media violence can also be used in beneficial ways. Media violence may not
affect a person directly, but it could make them subconsciously question what is normal and what
is not.
The media is known for showing all kinds of information, and much of it is meant to be
persuasive. Through the media, peoples opinions can be molded in some ways. But not only can
their opinions be affected but so can their behavior. Exposure to media violence can also make
some more aggressive towards others. So through mass communication the media has been able

to shape peoples opinions, contribute to the third person effect, and persuade individuals and
affect their behavior.