“The more we read the news, the more misinformed we become.” Is this an apt description of the media in today’s world?
- Arguments for why this is an apt description of the media in today’s world\
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- Indeed, the media today has become increasingly unreliable as there is a worsening dissemination of fake news and misinformation in today’s world. Fake news blurs the line between fact and fiction, causing media consumers to be unable to evaluate the accuracy of information.
- Fake FaceBook accounts were created to impersonate certain Members of Parliament to disseminate misinformation.
- There was rampant circulation of fake news, following the bombing at Ariana Grande’s concert, regarding the identities of missing children and physical injury of the singer herself.
- Viral post indicating the Pope’s endorsement of Donald Trump’s presidency
- Indeed, the media today has become increasingly unreliable as there is a worsening dissemination of fake news and misinformation in today’s world. Fake news blurs the line between fact and fiction, causing media consumers to be unable to evaluate the accuracy of information.
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- The media sometimes misleads and misinforms the public because of the manipulation by the Powers That Be and political censorship.
- “The Great Firewall” of China has always been accused of restricting, censoring and regulating information pertaining to politically sensitive issues in China
- The Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong – media coverage about the Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement was tightly regulated in Mainland China
- The media sometimes misleads and misinforms the public because of the manipulation by the Powers That Be and political censorship.
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- The media can be manipulative as media corporations tend to be profit-driven, sensationalizing information at the expense of its accuracy
- Tabloids (eg. The Sun & The Daily Mail in the U.K and Apple Daily in Hong Kong) are often accused of sensationalizing information to increase their readership
- Unhealthy culture of paparazzi causes news and information to be exaggerated, fabricated and distorted in the name of profit
- The media can be manipulative as media corporations tend to be profit-driven, sensationalizing information at the expense of its accuracy
- Arguments for why this is not an apt description of the media in today’s world
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- Thanks to the power of investigative journalism, we can continue to have faith in the reliability of news and journalism
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- “Spotlight”, an Oscar-winning film, features the true story of how a group of courageous investigative journalists from the newspaper “The Boston Globe” exposed the scandal of child molestation in the Catholic Church of the US, challenging the censorship of the Powers That Be.
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- We can still have faith in the media because the power of citizen journalism on social media today can reveal alternative opinions which are otherwise silenced in mainstream media.
- Eg. The Online Citizen, Mothership.sg, The Middle Ground (enriches our diversity of viewpoints)
- The Arab Spring Revolutions in 2011 – role of social media (eg. FaceBook, Twitter) in exposing the political injustice of dictators
- We can still have faith in the media because the power of citizen journalism on social media today can reveal alternative opinions which are otherwise silenced in mainstream media.
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