MANIPULATIVNA MOĆ MASOVNIH MEDIJA I ETIČKE UPITNOSTI NJIHOVA UTJECAJA NA DIJETE
THE MANIPULATIVE POWER OF MASS MEDIA AND THEIR ETHICALLY QUESTIONABLE INFLUENCE ON CHILDREN

Summary/Abstract: One of the key issues today refers to the mass media and their influence on society, especially on its youngest members. The influence of mass media becomes greater as the content they mediate becomes more diversified on the one hand, and as technical possibilities of using mass media become more accessible on the other. Their activities are associated with the word manipulation in the sense that their mediated content is manipulated regarding its credibility, and that it is created in such a way to manipulate their users by imposing on them desired trends and opinions. To attract as many consumers as possible in the cut throat market competition, the marketing experts advertise their products and services using also subliminal influence on young people, trying to attract them for example by employing catchy phrases and intriguing images. In addition to the glare of the marketing world, reality show presents another great challenge for education as an ever more popular modern form of entertainment based on a false and artificially constructed reality. Equally challenging, if not even more, is the Internet, which besides informative content provides various possibilities of entertainment and communication. Besides parents, educators and teachers also have to face all these challenges and try to timely and adequately get in front of the pitfalls of mass media and their content. In order to prevent the influence of mass media and protect children and youth, it is imperative that all adults in whose care they are placed become media literate, and that media pedagogy, critically and analytically oriented, becomes quintessential to modern upbringing and education. Ethical questions about media and their manipulative power are an inevitable part of parental and professional upbringing.

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