The media does tend to create rather than reflect the values of a society.

One example of this observation is the fact that the media is owned, controlled and used my a segment of the population that is usually out of touch with the realities of groups within the society it covers. . . For example, the gangster rappers have gained a reputation for being women hating, anti-authority, and violent. Before, the MTV and V-H1 and CNN provided coverage to these groups, they’re were limited to street sales and specific areas that w ere not mainstream. Thanks to national coverage in print and broadcast, these groups became more popular because it was "different" and taboo. The lyrics, dances, and fashion statements portrayed became big money items and suburbanite people were intrigued wither this counter-culture. They began to act, talk and behave like the lyrics expressed. Continued media frenzy contributed to kids wanting to become more familiar with this culture, thereby creating an atmosphere or arena for this counter-culture to legitimate. The media created these values but these values of the gangster rapper do not reflect the actual values of the society.

Another example of the media creating the values of a society is the coverage of the modeling industry. Clearly, most women neither want to or can look like Kate Moss. The typical Calvin Klein male models do not appear the way most men are naturally. This look is both unhealthy and atypical of most humans. Nevertheless, thanks to the media’s coverage, including magazine advocating, newspapers ads, and commercials to sell products, a large portion of this society has done everything from liposuction to becoming bulimic to attain a supermodel look. If the media does not cover the industry in such a manner, a growing number of people would not care about the skeletal look of Kate Moss or any other unrealistic physical attributes that are usually genetically or surgically produced. The media creates this image of how men and women should look thereby creating the values of this society. These values would be totally different without the media’s negative influence.

Lastly, when the media chooses to focus on perverse and negative, and unhealthy aspects of a society, then that part of society becomes the "values’ of that society. Gangster rap or anorexic models could not possibly have made it without the media’s concentrated coverage of either.