MEDIA PLAY IN SHAPING PUBLIC DEBATE ABOUT CURRENT ISSUES (WRITE A Essay

MEDIA PLAY IN SHAPING PUBLIC DEBATE ABOUT CURRENT ISSUES (WRITE A PAPER BASED ON BOOK) - Essay Example ributing to and reflecting public sentiments about immigration in the United States, largely because of how it frames arguments around the latter (Fryberg et al. 3) and people’s selective media consumption (de Zà ºÃƒ ±iga, Correa, and Valenzuela 599). Framing pertains to â€Å"the way that an argument is packaged†¦ so as to make accessible and encourage a particular interpretation of a given issue† (Fryberg et al. 3). The media has a significant role in affecting the public debate of immigration through its framing and slanting of news about it, although political ideology, exposure to different sources of news, and geographic location affects the framing perspective and public sentiments on immigration also. The media affects current immigration issues through its different ways of controlling information, as it builds and contributes to the formation of civil society through the informatization of the world. In reality, numerous news and media content compete for media coverage, and immigration is only one of many possible everyday topics. The media has the power to decide which topics to cover, how it can cover it, and how many times it can cover it, although their coverage also depends on what the public wants or what politicians what to talk about in the news (Fryberg et al. 3; Hayes 1). Some scholars have already noted that the media has become powerful in shaping civil society through influencing the availability of and access to different content of news and information. In Social History of the Media Asa Briggs and Peter Burke describe the rise of the information age, which evolved from the printing press to the radios and television to the electronic and digital media. They not e the informatization of civil society, as people in power and related to them understand that â€Å"[c]ontrol of information†¦would be the essence of wealth and power in the future† (Briggs and Burke 232). Whoever holds sources of data of whatever form has the power to sway the