In my opinion, the most important function of the mass media is to get important news stories out to a wide range audience of differing ages, genders, races and locations.  As a result of many global disasters, almost every news station, newspaper, magazine, radio station and internet news website will run multiple stories or write up articles about it, and follow the story for several days, if not weeks.  With the number of media outlets, important information is bound to reach nearly every person either by direct contact or by word of mouth.  By adding new types of media, news companies can keep up with the changing times and continue to be not only relevant, but essential parts of people’s lives.

          One thing that troubles me with the media is the speed at which information can spread.  Almost everyone would agree that the swiftness of modern computers can only be considered a positive, but there are certain things put on the internet that some people don’t want spreading as far as it does.  Examples of this are cyberbullying, and online stalking.  The internet works so fast now that it allows for bullies to attack victims online, as well as online stalkers to receive information quickly without being stopped.  Another example of the internet’s speed being a hassle is a personal one, just last Sunday (10 days ago) when my grandfather passed away, my aunt had called one of my cousins to tell her the bad news.  She went and updated her Facebook about this, and before my aunt could contact other relatives, our great aunt found out by another cousin seeing the status on Facebook.  This was rather stressful for my great aunt, and no one wanted that to be the way she was informed.