Abstract

BEGONA GUTIERREZ; RODRIGUEZ, MARIA ISABEL  and  GALLEGO, MARÍA DEL CAMINO. The Role of current Media in Contemporary Spain's Society. Signo pensam. [online]. 2010, vol.29, n.57, pp.268-285. ISSN 0120-4823.

¿Does tv today offer its audiences what they want to see or rather it offers the products considered most profitable? ¿Should we resort to ethics in order for them to offer quality products? Mass media is in the hands of huge communication groups which in turn have their own political and ideological bonds, and the fight among them in order to get the attention of the audience is tv's driving force. Nowadays, rather than speaking of 'information society' we need to speak of an "entertainment society". Power is not so much the power of doing, i.e. political power, but rather the power of telling, the power to narrate, the power of the media. Content is trivialized in the quest for discursive values that reach the biggest number of viewers, a quest which implies violating the fundamental rights of many other viewers. A population capable of manifesting a critical stand is less manipulable.

Keywords : entertainment society; fundamental rights; audiovisual literacy of the viewer; critical and independent platform; Media literacy; Information society; Human rights.

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