Informed Citizenship and the Use and Impact of Newspapers
Introduction
An informed citizen is one who seeks to know knowledge of the various political sociological, economic and geological conditions which are prevalent in a given state and how they influence them. For citizens to be informed continuously with the happenings of a country, various media channels can be used to help one in being knowledgeable. For instance, watching news of 24-hour channels that talks of the position a country is in currently and reading of newspapers daily. Desensitization occurs when a country faces a tragic event. The government bodies can help in desensitizing victims of tragedies through NGO’s and developing new perceptions of the current ones as compared to the previous ones. This can be done through the use of newspapers. For this matter, this essay will describe the essence and functionality that a newspaper plays in societies. It will also elaborate on how they changed over time and their impact on the community and individuals at large. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
A newspaper plays several roles in the community. Being one of the oldest forms of media, they have played a key role in maintaining communication between the citizens of a country and the government. It is a platform where views of organizations, government bodies and even individuals in the society are aired. Furthermore, the political, economical nature of a country is always elaborated in newspapers. Apart from communication, newspapers can assist a person or company in decision making. For instance, the presentation of the positions of other organization in the market place in the financial section of the paper helps the management off n organization, firm or company in deciding to partake in.
Moreover, they can be essential in changing perceptions or rather desensitizing people off a trauma that may have occurred in a nation. In the occurrence of a disaster, the use of media sources such as newspapers assists in developing a positive mind towards the situation it might be facing. It helps governments perform its tasks of leading the citizens and bring a peaceful coexistence between people. It can also be used to spread popularity and fame for a well renowned or upcoming athlete in the field of sports. This also demonstrates the appreciation of media producers and the government at large have of given talents in countries.
Change of newspapers with time
Newspapers have changed with time. Even form the appearance itself, we can all witness a shift in the way they have been modified. For instance, decades ago, newspapers printed and displayed the pictures in them in a black and white appearance. There was colourization of the papers, and it wasn’t very easy to distinguish one thing form the other. Nowadays, newspapers have a robust display of the information and pictures shown in them.
Moreover, in most cases from the past, governments used to control what media houses used to write and print in the newspapers. Writers did not have the freedom of writing and airing their views about a situation in the country. Some would even be arrested for publishing against the government’s proposal and way of thinking. Currently, media houses publish what they deem to be ethical to the readers in newspapers and not what the government prefers. Also, on previous occasions, publications used to be lengthy and had too much information relayed in them. In the current state of media production, they publish brief and direct to the point information some even highlight the situation and redirect for further reading. More differences have risen over time from newspapers that can only be explained from the in-depth knowledge and study of the position of the publication.
Impact of newspapers
The introduction of newspapers brought a sigh of relief to many people and societies in the world. People could get informed of the happenings of one part of a geographical segment that they are not situated in or even close to. This has fostered the improvement of the economic status and increase of people, societies and even countries participating in the world’s economy. Moreover, they have created employment opportunities to unemployed individuals and improved living standards of people worldwide.
Newspapers have also shaped the society in the means through which law and order are assembled to them. Enacting a new law requires a platform to communicate it through and newspapers being a stable and standard platform, it gives governments the ability to talk to the public of a bill before passing it to become a law. This has changed the cultural perspective of the societies as some laws need reformation to be implemented. For instance, the female genital mutilation program in Africa has been propagated mostly through this media platform. Therefore, newspapers have influenced the changing of norms, taboos and cultural approaches to certain principles in one way or another and they are not in any way going to stop anytime now.
In my own opinion, I would reconsider linking newspapers production into any political affiliations. This is because media houses will have to lean one side of politics in the country and forego the impact that the other would have on people. Newspapers have been long designed to bring illumination to people on the political, economic, social and even the environmental concepts. Therefore for them to engage in such grounds means that the other aspects of that the country is experiencing from other institutions (political, social, and economical) are degraded.