Death and dying in mass media aspects Cover Image

Death and dying in mass media aspects
Death and dying in mass media aspects

Author(s): Jerzy Smoleń
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Communication studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: dying; death; mass media; media death images

Summary/Abstract: We live in times when the mystery of human’s death and life becomes a big, almost every day’s subject to present means of social communication. The private observation of a media report shows us that this is a matter which is worth describing and discussing as it meets with great resonance on receivers not only due to writing it in periodization human’s development as a final stage but also due to prism of the issue’s commercialization. Each situation is a good opportunity to make the receiver associated with the subject matter. However, the way of its presentation makes a lot of objections in many scientific environments. The subject to death is given very rarely in mass media deepen by philosophical-religious reflection which is so important to proper human’s development. It is rather presented in violence images, murders, catastrophes, wars, conflicts or lately numerous terroristic attacks, which on the one hand arouses fear, on the other hand because of high mass media frequency makes the receiver accustomed to the view of death. And it leads to the receiver’s becoming indifferent. The man starts living as if death would be around him and using defense mechanisms tries to protect himself against accepting still painful for him truth about its finiteness and transience. Meanwhile, death is written in human’s existence independently of his worldview

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 1 (221)
  • Page Range: 142-150
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: English