Power of News Broadcasting

Power of News Broadcasting

Sources: War of the Worlds and See it Now

News broadcasting has influenced the average person and society as a whole since its first broadcast. Its presence is felt in the home, in the workplace, in our communities, and our country. News can inspire us, anger us, sadden us, and bring us laughter as well. Its influences are doubled sided, some being negative and some being positive.

News broadcasting, at the core, is produced and created in order to inform the public of events occurring in the community, state, or nation. This is a major upside of the power of news broadcasting, in that it serves as a major informant to the public which produces a more informed and aware society. This occurrence is heavily highlighted in politics, and an example of political news broadcasting would be the See It Now broadcasts by Edward Murrow. Specifically the broadcast that centered on Senator McCarthy's anti-communism trials. Murrow highlighted the facts for the viewing audience, providing a non-biased look at Senator McCarthy's claims and policies, which created a greater educated public.

Although it is true that news broadcasting's main purpose is to inform the public of events, when the occurrence of distressing news is broadcasted, things can become problematic. If the broadcast of these kinds of event is not handled carefully, it can spread nation-wide terror. For example, the original broadcast of War of the Worlds, a fictional show which told the story of an alien invasion, caused a misunderstanding by the public that this fictional story was really happening. The people who heard the broadcast took as real news broadcast and panicked. This a latent effect of news broadcasting, due to the large amount of trust the public has for the news, but it is still part of its power.