I think the news media mainly plays two important roles in modern society – providing information and influencing public opinion – and I think its influence is generally positive. Obviously, the news media provides people with vast amounts of information in various forms. We can access it by listening to the radio, reading newspapers and magazines, watching television and by surfing the Internet. The ability to access news media is important for individuals and organisations because we make many decisions based on the news provided to us. Some of these decisions are mundane. We check the weather forecast to see whether we should take an umbrella to work. Other news, such as that about the business world, could influence whether we invest our savings in certain companies listed on the stock exchange. The news is often presented to us in certain ways, using specific words to try to control our feelings and thoughts. This can be the main negative influence of the news media. Very often, the news media portrays people in simplistic ways, giving us some facts, but not the whole story. In the USA, some news media tends to support the Republicans whilst others tend towards the Democrats and the portrayal of individuals can reflect this. This is somewhat inevitable, because the editors, journalists and owners of the news media have opinions and biases. So, I think that it would be better if people checked news stories from different sources instead of only using one source. Despite the fact that the news media can report events incorrectly or with bias, I think that the general influence on society is good. More factual information gives us the chance to make better decisions, both in our personal lives and in our working lives.

我认为新闻媒体主要在现代社会中扮演重要的角色，提供信息和影响公众意见，我认为它的影响是积极的。显然，新闻媒体为人们提供了各种形式的信息。我们可以通过收听广播、阅读报纸和杂志、看电视、上网等来访问它。访问新闻媒体的能力是非常重要的个人和组织，因为我们做了很多决定的基础上提供给我们的消息。有些决定是平凡的。我们检查天气预报，看看我们是否应该带伞去工作。其他新闻，如关于商业世界，可能会影响我们的投资是否在股票交易所上市的某些公司。这一消息在特定的方式中经常出现，用特定的语言来控制我们的感情和思想。这可能是新闻媒体的主要负面影响。很经常，新闻媒体用简单的方式描绘人们，给我们一些事实，但不是全部的故事。在美国，一些新闻媒体倾向于支持共和党，而其他人则倾向于民主党，而个人的写照可以反映这种趋势。这一点是不可避免的，因为新闻媒体的编辑、新闻记者和新闻记者都有意见和偏见。所以，我认为，如果人们从不同的来源看新闻，而不是只使用一个来源，那会更好。尽管新闻媒体可以不正确地报道事件或有偏见，我认为对社会的总体影响是好的。更真实的信息让我们有机会做出更好的决定，无论是在我们的个人生活和工作生活中。