Sociology Research Literature Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sociology Research Literature Review - Essay Example There is no doubting that terrorism is a 'hot topic', in recent times it has come to dominate global media coverage almost to the point of socially damaging saturation. It has been a long held belief amongst academics of all persuasions that an individual's perception of social reality is often based on the information available to them. As a highly influential medium both print and electronic media is an important source of information within the global society. The individual factor of writer, reporter or journalist influences the presentation of ideas in the media. News provides information the reader, on the basis of his or her own knowledge, perception and level of analytical skill; help them form opinions or beliefs about a given set of circumstances. Many factors influence this process building a social construct of reality in the society, such as, the level of understanding that a reader has for the language, tone, pictures used, context and time of the appearance of the news . News published on terrorist activities during sensitive time like war is likely to have more impact than it might during peace. The use of words, language and pictures in that particular context impacts dramatically on the perception of the masses. A series of recent terrorist activities have been largely associated with religious militant organisations, in the name of faith, god, religion and religious responsibilities young minds are being trained to get involve in terrorist activity. Derrida suggests that deconstructive faith has to be distinguished from a particular order of messianic faith (a faith within a determinable horizon) (1998, 8). The September 11 attack and London 7/7 Bombings are current examples of Derrida's notion of destructive faith. This news has presented by media groups around the world as being the product of Islam, Islamic faith, terrorism and Al-Qaeda. Linking these ideas together creates an ideology in the mass media that automatically presumes that these individual variables are synonymous to each other; this ideology created by the media then becomes problematic. The role of ideology then, requires consideration; defining 'ideology' can be difficult in itself. Chomsky (2002) raises various issues on the way media represents various issues of war, trade union issues and terrorism. The issues ranged from the presentation of these events by media and control of powerful groups over these mediums to control thought process of mass. Various other issues are raised in Said (1996, 44) on his work "Covering Islam". These were related to the partial knowledge of the people in West about Islam and questioned the interpretation based on this partial knowledge. Crelinsten (1989, 167-198), Slone (2000, 450-520), Weimann and Winn (1994, 51-89) explained in their works the emotional effect of the media stories. According to them media stories are highly sensational and selective. This is apparent from the news appearing on various media sources. The stories about pain, killings and inhuman activities sell more than other constructive stories. The appetite of society for the bad stories has been largely commercialized by several media groups. (Altheide