Nowadays, the mass media do not report the news; they make the news.Discuss this with references to recent events.

The mass media is means of communication like televisions that reach a large audience. There are so many media channels available nowadays that people have access to easily like radio, magazines and newspapers. They provide both entertainment and news for the public. People assimilate news through newspapers, news reported live on television or reporters reporting news over the radio. In the recent years, media bias in free societies has become an observable occurrence. Although the mass media has claimed to be impartial when reporting news, however when it comes to competition between journalist from different newspapers or television stations, what claims to be news may not seem so.

This is evident in the recent events that had occurred. For example, in Taiwan where the media market is grossly over-saturated, a popular TV station (TVBS) filmed and broadcast a gangster video that showed a gangster, Chou Cheng-bao sitting behind a table laden with rifles, brandishing a pistol and was threatening to kill his rival. One of its reporters admitted helping an armed gangster shoot a video. The station’s broadcast of the video before alerting the police sparked a huge outcry. This scandal had cast the spotlight on Taiwan’s free-wheeling media, which has long been criticized for sensationalizing news to shore up ratings. This incident is one good example to show how desperate these reporters are in getting firsthand “news” by using such methods.

TV stations in Taiwan have used many means to boost ratings even with news that were not verified or investigated properly. Just last year, the TV station had wrongly reported that farmers used asphalt to remove duck feathers, causing a panic among consumers and duck sales to plunge. The report was then later proven to be wrong. The power of the mass media to affect one’s thinking is so great. People just read newspapers blindly, thinking that the news reported is all true. Consumers should read news from different sources so as to judge for themselves how true or unbiased the text is.
(Source: Straits times)

Another instance is the recent news about the British sailors being captured by Iranians. British sailors were captured by Iranians and were accused of entering Iran’s territorial waters. When the sailors were released, Defence Secretary Des Browne allowed the sailors to sell their stories to the media. Different TV stations offered high price to buy their stories. Leading Seaman Faye Turney sold her story to ITV1's Tonight with Trevor Macdonald and the Sun newspaper - reportedly for a six-figure sum.
“They have been courted by the media, they have been the subject of massive media speculation, and the media have been camped outside each and every single one of their houses desperate to hear the stories.”
John Nichol
This goes to show that reporters will do anything to get stories, publish it and make profit.
(Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6537555.stm)

In this media age, the only way that the public can be access to information is through mass media. It’s appalling how facts can be twisted or slanted just to create news.