Introduction
Mass media has the strong social effect. This refers to the theories about the ways the mass media affect how their audiences think and behave. With the media on generating information from a network of relations and influences and with the individual interpretations and evaluations of the information provided, as well as generating information outside of media contexts. Mass media include all forms of information communicated to large groups of people, from a handmade sign to an international news network. There is no standard for how large the audience needs to be before communication becomes "mass" communication.
In the last 50 years the media influence has grown exponentially with the advance of technology, first there was the telegraph, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the internet.
We live in a society that depends on information and communication to keep moving in the right direction and do our daily activities like work, entertainment, health care, education, personal relationships, travelling and anything else that we have to do. A common person in the city usually wakes up checks the TV news or newspapers, goes to work, makes a few phone calls, eat with their family when possible and makes his decisions based on the information that he has either from their company workers, news, TV, friends, family, financial reports, etc.
We have put our trust on the media as an authority to give us news, entertainment and education. However, the influence of mass media on our kids, teenagers and society is so big that we should know how it really works.
Body
The shift of media and media industry over the past few years into new forms, such as DVD and the internet, right changes the modalities available for audiences to consume and receive media. The change has caused some media theorists to call into question the influence that the media has over attitudes and beliefs.
Mass media plays an important role in...