How do we find out what's going on in the world?

Whenever I open the Yahoo website, I can immediately notice the part of the website that’s about different news not only in the Philippines but all over the world. This part helps me find out the different situation or important events that are happening all over the world. Internet is one process of how information is delivered to the people in different countries or different times. And I think being able to deliver the information all over the world is one important fact about Globalization.

But how do we really find out what’s going on in the world? The definite answer to this question is media. Media has different forms and shapes but its main core is about gathering information and spreading the information to the people. Different information are gathered, constructed and sent through different forms of technology (Lisle, 2008). That’s why technology is also important for globalization because through technology, people are able to communicate and gain knowledge from other countries.

As pointed out, Media plays an important role for global politics. It is not only essential to study the direct objects or facts concerning globalization but also the process of which these objects and events undergo. Media helps people find out about certain situations and events concerning humanity but this doesn’t mean that people have the same opinion or outlook in interpreting the information sent by media. As I’ve said in my first blog, human beings can think for themselves and for others. So because we can think, we can evaluate and rationalize the information we gathered from media. But because we are also different, we also differ in how we interpret that information. According to Hall, there are three types of audiences; there are people who watch and read media without criticizing the message sent by the media, there are also people who watch and read media but only to a certain degree of criticizing the message, meaning they first accept the idea but not the entire story. There would be some part that he would disagree about. And lastly, there are people who are completely critical about the entire meaning of the story. The different classes of audiences signify that people are not incompetent when it comes to understanding media. This only means that people really give importance to media and the message it holds because the audience knows and feel that they have a say on whatever is happening to the world. This is another way of how globalization works.

I think Media plays a big part not only in my own community but also in every nation. I think because of media, people became more aware of their surroundings and these have helped them seek for more answers to their lives. Media has also played a big part when it comes to political issues; due to the message sent by the media to the community people become more engaged to the community. For example, here in the Philippines, the youth are influenced by what they see in TV’s, read in magazines and hear in the radios nowadays. That’s why presidential candidates use media for their own benefit to reach the community and gain votes. The media’s influence is also visible when it comes to more serious situations in politics. Media serves as the voice, sight and heart of the people. That’s why it is important that the media serves as a way for people to know what’s happening around them. But as said in the book by Debbie Lisle, the media is always biased. Biased in a way that we must always remember that the message media is trying to send to the people have been altered to different sides or opinions of those that have written or produced it. It is not possible to have a fact or event unbiased because people themselves are biased and different. We have different opinions and ideas and these influences the way we perceive and deliver media.

Media really plays many roles in our lives. It can be for entertainment, knowledge and also global politics. It is also very abundant and helpful for the lives of many. Through media, we gather information and we are able to analyze this information and make use of this information. But for us to also keep growing not only as a person but as a nation, we should always keep challenging ourselves and always ask questions. This way we will continue on finding out information outside our domain and at the same time progress.