Nowadays, it is not surprising to hear that people don’t trust mass media anymore. According to the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer, there are over 60% of countries that distrust media; in Canada, people’s trust in media dropped from 58% to 47%. Meanwhile, the survey also shows Canadians’ trust in the business company has a sharp decline dropping from 62% to 47% too (Edelman Insights); in fact, these two phenomena might be related to each other. As everyone knows, those corporations, the sponsors or the advertisers of the media companies, always intend to control the content of the media, especially the news media, to protect their own profit. However, under the free market mechanism, with the growth of the civic awareness and Internet media, it is very possible that the audience can replace the corporations to decide the content of news media.  

             Is that really possible that the common people can overpower the large companies? To date, the ownership or the sponsorship of media is universal; for example, the World Herald newspaper is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Company, which is also holding GEICO insurance, Benjamin Moore paint, Fruit of the Loom apparel and Dairy Queen (Pew Research Center). There is more and more biased media coverage in the newspaper, television, or broadcast, like Sun News, the famous Canada media accused of biased reporting against environmental causes, racism and arts (The Bulletin). Nevertheless, the biased messages can’t be spread if there is no audience over there; as a matter of fact, no enterprises would fund a media company without any influence to public. To avoid this from happening, the media would do everything to catch readers’ eyes. Therefore, under the free market mechanism, people actually have the power to decide the content of media.

            At the same time, the maturity of civic awareness is the critical factor of achieving this media reform. Media is the mirrors of a country, and the public can see all the problems through it. Without the civic awareness, people only show the disregard and coldness to media even though they know that their opinions matter. The greatest philosopher Plato said, “The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men,” and it is exactly the same principle about dealing with the media effect. Therefore, the public should take more responsibilities and actions to correct the bias of media.

           On the other hand, the improvement of the communication tool to the media reform is important too. While the increasing usage of Internet, people read or watch news online too. The significant advantage of the online media is the high level of users’ initiative that users can pick the news that they concern and leave the news web page anytime when they find any biased report. Simultaneously, by analyzing the click through rate, average time on site, and even the number of sharing times, the media companies will get the feedback from their readers and redress themselves. Thus, be considerate before clicking a link, read the content carefully, leave the website if the news is biased, and share the news online with your friends, that is how you improve the media.

           Although one’s click movement looks like so insignificant, in the light of the Butterfly Effect (Lorenz), it can create a huge inference to the world, especially when each of us does the same thing. Moreover, there are so many signs showing that now is the perfect timing for the media reform. Not only the readers, but also some media companies have started to change their roles in public affairs spontaneously, like the citizen journalism that always provide the objective and complete information for citizens to help them make an appropriate decision. As a new generation of citizens, owning the freedom of choosing, availability of resource, and power of changing, it is definitely possible to change the world by selecting and eliminating the content of media.  

Works Cited

Edelman Insights. Slide Share. 2nd Feb. 2015. PPT. 2nd Apr. 2015.

Lorenz, Edward Norton. "The Essence of Chaos." Lorenz, Edward Norton. The Essence of Chaos. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995. Book.

Pew Research Center. State of the Media. 2012. 2nd Apr. 2015.

The Bulletin. Lefties Want Quebecor’s Harperite TV Channel Denied Low Dial Spot. 22th Apr. 2013. Document. 2nd Apr. 2015.