Mass media are channels which current news can be made known to the public and it includes the Internet, TV, radio etc. We often learn of entertainment, sports or even political news via the mass media. Thus it is clear that the mass media is influential in our lives. It affects our beliefs such that we seldom question the stand of the mass media. Do the mass media take sides while reporting news and do they simply make news to attract attention?
I am skeptical to how the mass media relates the news as I believe that news that come to us have somehow being edited a umpteen times to the extent that it becomes a fiction report. So I have to agree that they make news instead of reporting them.
Recently, Britney Spears, an American pop singer has attracted worldwide attention with her stunning actions. On Feb 19 2007, Britney has been reported on shaving her head and checking in another rehab the next day.
It is also reported that her hair is being auctioned for at least 1 million by the hair salon. New York-based psychiatrist Gail Saltz has appealed for the media to limit the publications of Britney’ s shocking actions. She is suspected to be suffering from postpartum depression. Has her mismatched marriage with Kevin Federline led her to today’s state? Britney signs of self-destruction as certainly not improved with the mass publication of her fateful tragic. The mass media should be more sensitive and show empathy our fellow being. I understand that today’s mass media has become more profit oriented but aggravating Britney’s mental health for more profits to roll in is not an unethical move to start with.
Another example will be the sand ban of Indonesia to Singapore. Initially, the news reported that the Indonesians were concerned with the protection of their coastline that they have to stop supplying sand to us. Singapore was initially willing to work out a plan to conserve the natural environment of Indonesia, but when it was found out that the sand ban has got nothing to do with the conservation issue, the situation became tensed. The media repeatedly broadcast and follow on the news that Indonesia might have evil motives behind the sand ban. The media may have exaggerated the motives behind Indonesia’s sand ban that stirred up strong feelings among Singaporeans. I believe that the mass media is partly responsible for tension unless it had taken a more neutral stand.
China Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Japan has also made in to the headlines in the news. Articles have shown balanced views on how the Japanese and Chinese can improve their bilateral relations to corporate on projects. I feel that the successful visit to Japan means that the relationships between to two ministers have developed but the Chinese and Japanese may not still like one another. It takes a much more effort to build up the friendship so a mere visit to Japan is not enough to cause a drastic change in perspective of Japanese among the Chinese. Thus it may be a half-truth while reports say the Chinese and the Japanese have improved on their relationship. But I certainly understand the efforts by the media to instill a sense of togetherness between Japan and China. However, what said on the reports may not necessary reflect the whole truth.
I think that the events I have chosen are recent as they occur within this year.
In conclusion, readers or listeners to news today are expected to differentiate between the useful information and the least credible ones. News has evolved over the years and readers just have to be more intelligent to find out the whole truth.
Whoever controls the media - the images - controls the culture. Author: Allen Ginsberg
Britney
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17243855/
Sand ban
http://www.straitstimes.com/portal/site/STI/menuitem.5184b9e5238fb92293c89138e3a0a0a0/?vgnextoid=00f88490f045e010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD&vgnextfmt=vgnartid:c7fd6da190161110VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD
Japan and China ties
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/12/japan.wenjiabao.reut/index.html
Monday, April 16, 2007
Saturday, April 14, 2007
"The rich contribute to global warming while the poor suffer from it" Do you agree?
The world’s climate has undergone a major shift since human civilization began. Global warming is evident with the increasing temperatures each year and as the weather becomes very unpredictable. Major disasters had struck us and it makes me wonder if it is a signal to us that global warming is getting out of control. I have to agree that the rich has contributed more towards global warming while the effects of it are reflected on the poor- Third world nations and ELDCs.
A typical rich household consumes 20 times the electrical energy of a normal household. Yet the rich pledge to reduce carbon usage by buying personal carbon credits. It is a scheme that allocates a person certain amount energy to consume and if more usage is needed one has to buy it from the open market. I think that this scheme does not aptly inculcate the correct way to reduce carbon emission. It has only turned commercialized the sale of the carbon credits to thriving business. The rich could afford to buy additional carbon credits and they do not need to limit themselves to save on electricity. The poor on the other hand is restricted by the scheme or tries to save their carbon credits for the rich. This falls to a scenario whereby the rich are exploiting the poor.
Former US president Al Gore and actor Leonardo DiCaprio once made a speech on how to tackle global warming issues during the Academy Awards. I thought highly of them to suggest brilliant ideas. However, it turned out that carbon credits was bought to make the event possible. I feel that it may be a good start but not a solution to the real problem of global warming. They have just demonstrated on how to use their wealth to enjoy while some poor people have to cut down on energy usage for them.
Furthermore, the poor countries could not afford to undergo the effects of global warming. They mostly suffer from drought, famines and storms without the ability to protect them. They are not the most to blame for global warming yet they have to suffer the most just because they are poor.
Articles have started to report on various US companies that are willing to pledge to cut down on carbon emissions and this is the time where the finger pointing game begins. Some of the companies blame the state of the world to others who have contributed to a way or another. They refuse to cooperate as going green maybe incurs high costs. However, I believe that every single being in the universe is responsible for the mess we have made. It has taken us generations to start this mess and it may take us a long time to solve it.
In conclusion, everyone has a role to play to saving the world, not just the poor.
"In a decade, America's mighty rivers will have reached the boiling point." - Edwin Newman, Earth Day 1970
A typical rich household consumes 20 times the electrical energy of a normal household. Yet the rich pledge to reduce carbon usage by buying personal carbon credits. It is a scheme that allocates a person certain amount energy to consume and if more usage is needed one has to buy it from the open market. I think that this scheme does not aptly inculcate the correct way to reduce carbon emission. It has only turned commercialized the sale of the carbon credits to thriving business. The rich could afford to buy additional carbon credits and they do not need to limit themselves to save on electricity. The poor on the other hand is restricted by the scheme or tries to save their carbon credits for the rich. This falls to a scenario whereby the rich are exploiting the poor.
Former US president Al Gore and actor Leonardo DiCaprio once made a speech on how to tackle global warming issues during the Academy Awards. I thought highly of them to suggest brilliant ideas. However, it turned out that carbon credits was bought to make the event possible. I feel that it may be a good start but not a solution to the real problem of global warming. They have just demonstrated on how to use their wealth to enjoy while some poor people have to cut down on energy usage for them.
Furthermore, the poor countries could not afford to undergo the effects of global warming. They mostly suffer from drought, famines and storms without the ability to protect them. They are not the most to blame for global warming yet they have to suffer the most just because they are poor.
Articles have started to report on various US companies that are willing to pledge to cut down on carbon emissions and this is the time where the finger pointing game begins. Some of the companies blame the state of the world to others who have contributed to a way or another. They refuse to cooperate as going green maybe incurs high costs. However, I believe that every single being in the universe is responsible for the mess we have made. It has taken us generations to start this mess and it may take us a long time to solve it.
In conclusion, everyone has a role to play to saving the world, not just the poor.
"In a decade, America's mighty rivers will have reached the boiling point." - Edwin Newman, Earth Day 1970
Thursday, April 12, 2007
"YouTube has no ethnics, it's been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money." Do you agree?
YouTube was founded in almost 2 years ago and started as a small company in San Mateo. Now, YouTube is one of the fastest growing website in which 100 million clips were viewed daily. Youtube has certainly being an innovation of technology in which viewers can enjoy media entertainment free of charge. However, YouTube did not get to best of both worlds as the young business is being challenged by issues such as political peace and videos that imparts the wrong moral value.
Though Youtube is the leading business model in the economy yet it has also shown the ugly side of it -- its lack of ethnics. Videos of bullying amongst teenagers can be found on Youtube. The acts of violence are known as “happy slapping” where an accomplice record the whole act of bullying using a mobile phone or other means of recording. “Happy slapping” is now a very popular among teens in London and it also dawns on me that similar cases have actually took place in Singapore too. An assualt teenage girl was being surrounded by a group of girls who stripped her and slammed her head against the staircase last year. Having this unhealthy violent video posted on Youtube not only increases the trend of “happy slapping” but will hurt the assaulted teenage emotionally. Can we imagine how a teenager would react if he/she sees the footage of the bullying act posted on Youtube? I condemn such a cowardly act but I have to agree that YouTube has open up a channel for such videos to be broadcasted.
For the political side, tension between the Greeks and the Turks when both parties made videos that berate each other. Thus, YouTube was banned in Turkey for 3 days and YouTube was sued for such videos.
In conjuncture, Youtube did unleash users’ creativity for home video making. Users also enjoy making their own music videos with final fantasy or the sims character. Users who have done a great job in homevideo making are termed as “internet celebrities”. Some of them have even gained fame by signing contracts with production companies.
In conclusion, I believe that YouTube has done well in incorporating the TV with the computer. Its contributions have brought a lot of convenience to users as we approach this computer era. Perphaps mankind is still not matured enough to be given such freedom to upload videos on the net for sharing. The sensitive issues posted in the videos outlines the weaklines of YouTube to the extent that it lacks its social ethnics. I hope that people will have kind intention while using Youtube and not use it as a way to broadcast evil thoughts.
“Ethics is a code of values which guide our choices and actions and determine the purpose and course of our lives.” — Ayn Rand, Russian-American novelist and philosopher (1905-1982)
Though Youtube is the leading business model in the economy yet it has also shown the ugly side of it -- its lack of ethnics. Videos of bullying amongst teenagers can be found on Youtube. The acts of violence are known as “happy slapping” where an accomplice record the whole act of bullying using a mobile phone or other means of recording. “Happy slapping” is now a very popular among teens in London and it also dawns on me that similar cases have actually took place in Singapore too. An assualt teenage girl was being surrounded by a group of girls who stripped her and slammed her head against the staircase last year. Having this unhealthy violent video posted on Youtube not only increases the trend of “happy slapping” but will hurt the assaulted teenage emotionally. Can we imagine how a teenager would react if he/she sees the footage of the bullying act posted on Youtube? I condemn such a cowardly act but I have to agree that YouTube has open up a channel for such videos to be broadcasted.
For the political side, tension between the Greeks and the Turks when both parties made videos that berate each other. Thus, YouTube was banned in Turkey for 3 days and YouTube was sued for such videos.
In conjuncture, Youtube did unleash users’ creativity for home video making. Users also enjoy making their own music videos with final fantasy or the sims character. Users who have done a great job in homevideo making are termed as “internet celebrities”. Some of them have even gained fame by signing contracts with production companies.
In conclusion, I believe that YouTube has done well in incorporating the TV with the computer. Its contributions have brought a lot of convenience to users as we approach this computer era. Perphaps mankind is still not matured enough to be given such freedom to upload videos on the net for sharing. The sensitive issues posted in the videos outlines the weaklines of YouTube to the extent that it lacks its social ethnics. I hope that people will have kind intention while using Youtube and not use it as a way to broadcast evil thoughts.
“Ethics is a code of values which guide our choices and actions and determine the purpose and course of our lives.” — Ayn Rand, Russian-American novelist and philosopher (1905-1982)
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Teenage years are the best years of one's life. Do you agree?
Life is like a photography; you need negatives to develop it. I'm certain that many of the adults have experienced failures during their teenage lives. However, it is apparently those unpleasant events that have molded them to be an upright person in the future. As a teenager, I must agree that teenage years are the shortest yet sweetest stage of one's life. Many changes take place during teenage years, we change physically and mentally without even us realising. It is the best to be a teenager because we are entitled the advanced entry ticket to the pre adult life. We are given the freedom and opportunities to explore the boundless universe to find what we are really interested in doing. Youth is the best asset that a teenager owns since more time can be allocated for us to try something new each day. Hobbies and interests will be cultivated if a teenager actively engages himself to non-academic activities. Hence it is never too late to try something new while we are young. It does not matter if we succeed in every endeavors that we undertake but the most important thing is that we remain open-minded to accept failures and befriend challenges.
From a child to a teenager, we have developed a stronger sense of maturity that gives us the rights to express our views and make decisions. It will be a whole new experience for teenagers to take charge of their lives and be responsible for their own acts. This is what a child could not do and yet adults find themselves too burdened by too much responsibilities and choices to be made. Hence I feel that a teenager gets the best of both worlds as they hold reasonable amount of responsibilities while they enjoy privileges of a child.
In conclusion, i strongly agree that teenage years are the best and i hope that all the teenagers will live life with passion and live life to the fullest!
Michael Jordan: I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot... and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why... I succeed.
From a child to a teenager, we have developed a stronger sense of maturity that gives us the rights to express our views and make decisions. It will be a whole new experience for teenagers to take charge of their lives and be responsible for their own acts. This is what a child could not do and yet adults find themselves too burdened by too much responsibilities and choices to be made. Hence I feel that a teenager gets the best of both worlds as they hold reasonable amount of responsibilities while they enjoy privileges of a child.
In conclusion, i strongly agree that teenage years are the best and i hope that all the teenagers will live life with passion and live life to the fullest!
Michael Jordan: I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot... and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why... I succeed.
Introduction.
Hi to all who are reading my blog. I am kai lin from 31/07. My secondary school is River Valley High School. In case you all want to know where it is now, it is at the former site of SAJC. My CCA now is Shooting and I will most probably get to shoot air pistol instead of air rifle. I am quite satisfied with school life in AJC and I hope to make lots of friends with my wonderful classmates!
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