Is reality based on the pictures in our heads?

Walter Lippman’s book, Public Opinion, was a very challenging read for me, but I happened to get a lot out of it. The main point in his book was that our reality is based on the pictures in our head, which is given to us by the media. This is closely related to agenda setting where the media sets the agenda for public opinion by highlighting certain issues. Lippman believes that the media decides what we think about issues. I only partially agree with this statement. I do believe that people have the power to make their own decisions but I also believe that the media has a huge influence on our opinions. Take for example the war in Iraq. The media covers all of the horror stories in the middle east but when I talked to my friends who are in the marines, they say there is not much going on over there right now. Yes, there are killings everyday but nothing to the magnitude that the coverage shows. But on the other hand, people have the choice to choose what source they will get their information from. People can get on the Internet, read the newspaper or watch television. Yet Lippman says “The size of a man’s income has considerable effect on his access to the world beyond his neighborhood. With money he can overcome almost every tangible obstacle of communication, he can travel, buy books and periodicals, and bring within the range of his attention almost any known fact of the world.” This poses a problem for people who do not have the money to get these means. At the same time, it is hard to avoid something that these sources are covering, if it is all that the gatekeepers are talking about. This leads into gatekeeper’s theory. This states that there are certain people who are in control of the flow of information. They can choose to accept or reject information based on their opinions. They also decide the level of priority it is to the public. I believe it is important to look into Lippman and all he has to say because I think he was so intelligent for his time. He came up with some idea’s that turned into theories in the future.