25 April 2007Nowadays, the mass media do not report the news; they make the news.Discuss this with references to recent events.
Mass media has been everpresent in our lives ever since technology has attained our current level of efficiency. Day in day out, the media has been keeping us informed about the daily headlines and groundbreaking news. However, the question remains whether these news is factually reported or a matter of fiction. I would be discussing this with reference to some recent events, defined as matters that happened just some time ago and still lives in everyone’s memories.
I believe that the media have been active in both reporting and lying. Taking the recent Virginia Tech. massacre case for reference, certain statistics and information like the death toll and the process of which the gunman carried out this rampage were truthfully reported. This was because these information have been based on hard rock proof and evidence. However, as the gunman had shot himself in the face, resulting in difficulty in unveiling the identity of this killer, CCTV of China had already broadcasted to public that it was an American who was responsible for this carnage. This conclusion was made despite being the identity of the killer still unknown.
Not to mention, Taiwanese celebrity, Rainie Yang, recently commented on a popular variety show that the war between China and Japan lasted for “ONLY” eight years, offending millions of citizens of China. While it may be a slip of tongue, the media magnified the impact of this slight error. They made a mountain out of a molehill, making claims that set out to put her reputation down. The mass media could not admit that it was only because of a poor knowledge of history and not what they claimed her to be as unfeeling, unsympathetic and insulting.
The media has its reasons for doing such a malicious act. When simple news has a twist added to it, it gives the entire story several new plus points, making it newsworthy, inducing the public to take notice of this saga. There would be higher profits made by companies involved. Thus, it doesn’t take a genius to understand why making up stories is common
The media has a license and the responsibility to publish only the truth so that we can trust it to be a reliable source. Hopefully, this situation would cease to exist in the near future.links : http://www.pekingduck.org/archives/004625.php
# posted by ^Ic0n^ @ 4/25/2007 09:02:00 PM