The marketplace of ideas and media today
might seem overwhelming. Information on anything can be obtained anywhere
anytime since the World Wide Web provides sources of all kinds, the radio
broadcasts news quickly, and the print media remains widely available. This is illustrated by events like the electoral campaign of the
United States of America this year, which was monitored extremely closely by
the press and consequently the media attached to it.
Social media, e.g. facebook, serve to further disseminate media content to a
degree that individuals might find it hard to withdraw from news. Notably when accounts of events such as the terrorist attack in Nice
are being accompanied by actual footage, the question arises as to how much an
individual can process without feeling overwhelmed by the news. The same goes
for the widely publicized picture of the little refugee boy washed up on the
shore.
In the end, the media omnipresence runs a
risk of leaving people disaffected by news. While accounts of catastrophes (of
any kind) might have used to move someone to tears, the fact that catastrophes
are being reported on daily in all kinds of media can leave people dulled.
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