The Role Of Media In Our Society In todays world, media has made a very special place for itself

in our lives. It would be no exaggeration to say that it governs a very important aspect of our living. In the words of Malcolm X, the famous American black militant leader who articulated the concepts of race pride and Black nationalism in the 1960s. The medias the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innoce nt guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and thats power. Because they control the minds of the masses. The world of media is irrespective of age and outlook as well as regardless of nationality and creed. Media has always been a very hu ge part of the society, where it represents the society as a whole and acts as a mirror to the society, reflecting each and everything about it. Its major duty is to educate,inform and entertain people, providing all the news that is requir ed by a layman for his survival. In a democratic country like India, media gives the citizens the power to express themselves boldly against the unjust policies of the Government, and even raise their voices against the corrupt politicians. Media may be of different kinds such as tele-media which includes television an d online media, or print media such as newspapers and magazines. Radio FMs and A Ms are also popular means of mass communication these days.The print media helps provide vital information to the people. Newspapers have become an integral par t of our day-to-day lives, catering to the tastes of readers of all age groups a nd interests. Besides being an important source of information about the everyda y world happenings, newspapers and magazines have become a tool for entertainmen t as well. There is news from the world of sports, there are job vacancies, adve rtisements, cartoon strips, astrology, matrimonials and various other columns an d pages, which are a real feast to the reading minds. People eagerly await the a rrival of the newspapers everyday and spend the early hours of the morning readi ng the news. Coming to tele-media, television has become an inseparable part of our lives these days. The emergence of the television has become the backbone of the global commercial development. Television contains the ability to produce m ultimedia content and thus has the immense power to change an individuals percep tion of reality. It is one of the most powerful of the many types of media that are available. It has got a lot of educative and informative channels, which we can use as a tool to groom the child. Let us now consider the Internet. The Inte rnet or the web media is one of the newest and largest forms of mass communicati on given that it has no precincts; it is available uniformly throughout the worl d. As it offers literally everything under the sun from online banking to shoppi ng to chatting and business networking. we have more and more people using the I nternet than ever before. Facebook, Orkut and Twitter have occupied such special place in our lives that if we are not a part of it, then there is something rea lly important that we are missing. With the advent of high speed Internet, it is possible to connect to our dear ones, who are miles away in another country alt ogether, in just a few seconds through media tools such as Skype and chat. Anoth er example of an extremely powerful form of media is the cinema. The movies mirr or the society and, besides providing entertainment, sometimes, convey serious a nd meaningful messages to the people. Films on the lives of great people can cha nge someones life for better, forever. Take, for example, our very own Father of the Nation, Gandhiji. It is said that he was spurred on by a play on Raja Haris hchandra which led to him take the stand of righteousness for the rest of his li fe. This started his journey towards becoming the Mahatma. Thus, if we just look around, we would find that there is no aspect of our life which is not touched or affected by media. However, we must not forget that there are always two sid es of a coin. Media has its own advantages and disadvantages. Today, people accu se media of a number of malpractices and regard it as an agent of misinformation . Media is charged with laying too much emphasis on sensationalising the public. T oday, television channels and newspapers are making fast money by cashing in on the news in the wrong sense and the wrong way. People complain that the televis ion channels are just airing programmes that give them high TRP ratings, and the y accuse every channel of being a mouthpiece of some political party or other. The present generation and the next generation are highly in use of and are addi

cted to the Internet.