A draft of introduction

‘We live in a world in which we are dangerously influenced by media images.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement?

There is no doubt that media images appear in almost every aspect of our life. Media is used to reach a very large group of audiences through different type of channels such as television, newspapers, internet, etc. Due to the development of high technology, they are becoming more and more popular and have now been one of the most important factors in our life. According to the article ‘Media influence on politics and government’ of Caroline McAlister, she affirmed that ‘Unfortunately, media does influence not only politics but also many other areas of concern’. It cannot be denied that media is an indispensible tool which may affect on both society and individual. On positive side, media images bring human vast amount of information, entertainment. With the prominent emerging of advanced media communications like internet, people from every corner of the world can have access to information with lighting speed. Recent natural disasters like the quake in China or cyclone in Myanmar show us undisputable benefits of media. Nevertheless, there are so many controversies arising from media. For example, young girls decide their choice of fashion by stereotyping their own stars; kids tend to follow actions they experience on movies or games. Therefore, it is often argued that we are abusing media images and depending on it too much. Many theorists recommend, with evidence, that media images have had negative impacts on the audiences not only in terms of health but also attitude and life styles. However, this essay will prove that the images used in mass media, together with some clever marketing and promoting tips have brought about considerably positive influences.