The mass media, including TV, radio and newspapers, have great influence in shaping people’s ideas. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Every day we get numerous information from all over the world in different ways including newspapers, radio, tv or websites. Considering the fact that the sources of all these media should be properly verified, we tend to believe what we hear or read.

Therefore

, our opinion over whatever is happening often depends on the way it is shown to us. Clearly, in the time of globalization, we have constant access to news about what is surrounding us thanks to smartphones and computers. I remember when I was a child, not too long ago, that at lunchtime it was normal to hear the news on tv.

However

, we now know that many media are not free from conflicts of interest.

For instance

, Silvio Berlusconi, former Italian prime minister, was

also

the owner of a big tv company. For

this

reason, the development of the internet has given us another powerful option when we want to get thorough and up-to-date data.

Although

being very accessible for the younger population, the internet still remains difficult for the elderly who continue to prefer to use conventional channels.

Moreover

, when gathering information online everyone should pay attention to the origin of that since it is easy to display fake information. In spite of that, the internet allows us to see different opinions rather than only one.

For example

, if we search about the conflict between Israel and Palestine, we could have completely different points of view. Anyways, no matter how we keep ourselves informed, our opinion will always be partially shaped by how it is interpreted by the media we are using. To sum up, I believe that we shouldn't be too superficial when we hear or read something but that we should investigate more and see the story from different standpoints.

However

,

this

is sometimes difficult considering that after a long day at work we may don't have enough time to do that. Clearly, I think that when we get something from the news we tend to stick with opinion only because we don't know a different one.