How ‘publishers’ and the media can manipulate our viewpoint

How ‘publishers’ and the media can 

manipulate our viewpoint

Stes de Necker

Our opinions are normally informed by articles and publications that we read or see in the media. (television, radio, newspapers, magazines as well as social networks like Facebook) These media can also manipulate and alter our viewpoint for the better or for the worse.

We have access to everyday news through the internet, social networks, television, newspapers, and so on. Most of the news we see every day is strongly opinionated in order to manipulate the people’s views in favor of the agenda of the ‘publisher’, and it is vitally important to ensure that we obtain a balanced view by consulting all possible sources before we reach a conclusion.

The articles we read, the images and clips we see, are all products of authors and organisations that have strong opinions on certain political and social events. Although an article we read might look like a completely objective story that just tries to explain to us what happened, it usually is very subjective and supports a specific point of view.

Through the media and social networks, many people aim to change the society’s views on things.

The picture below is a great example of how the media can manipulate our viewpoint.

On the right side of the picture, CNN shows the good part of the picture, it shows a soldier helping a man in the war.

The far left of the image shows the opposite: a U.S soldier threatening to kill the same man.

This shows how different news agencies manipulate the image and change our point of view, and we cannot even notice it.

‘Publishers’ use the effect of media to make the society think what they would like them to think.