The article that i read is "Decision to broadcast US gunman video sparks controversy". Cho Seung-Hui,a Korean gunned down 32 students at Virginia Tech last week. The massacre shook the world dramatically. No one knew why the Korean fanatic did this. All we know is that Cho was an autistic and that he was extremely unhappy with the way his schoolmates treated him. After he gunned down 2 students in the hostel, he sent a package to NBC News and continued his rampage at Virginia Tech University. This article shows the public's opinions on the broadcasting of the video that the gunman sent and whether the NBC networks had crossed the line by airing the disturbing video.
NBC executives reportedly spent hours agonising over whether to broadcast the video and justified its broadcast in a statement that said the network would exercise restraint in how often it broadcast the material. Most of the public opposed the airing, saying that the airing didn't serve any purpose except to make them angry. The police commented on the broadcasting that the public should be shielded from these disturbing images. A former president of NBC News said that the public ought to have the information of the gunman and the decision to broadcast the video would be to publish, to allow people to see what kind of person the gunman was. He said of police comments that the public should have been shielded from such images.
In my opinion, i think that the NBC news should not have broadcasted the video. I feel that they have neglected the victim's families' feeling. They are adding to the trauma to the families. They should spare a thought for the people who wish to get over this incident as fast as possible. By airing the video, yes it did help to answer some people's curiousity but overall, it just terrorise the public with those disturbing images.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Is the use of torture justified?
I feel that the use of torture is justified when it is against terrorists and in some domestic criminal situations,especially when it concerns saving innocent lives. For example,a murderer has buried an innocent girl alive,it is neccessary and justified to use torture on the criminal to find the girl's whereabout when he refused to disclose any information. Or in other case of terrorism,we need to torture the captured member of the terrorist group in order to save a couple of millions lives. In these conditions,i feel that it is neccessary to use torture although there were no gurantees that torture would work.
However,i feel that torture should not be so severe that it paralysed the criminals. The torture should be of an acceptable conditions. If the criminals refused to leak out any information after several tortures,i think it is useless to carry on the torture as the criminals are determined to "sacrifice" rather than to cooperate with the police. At such cases,i feel that the authority should use a different approach to obtain the information that they want. For example,the police can try to encouraged the criminals to repent through religious methods if the criminals are staunt religious man.
Overall,i feel that to a certain extent,torture is justified in dealing with criminals and terrorists provided the tortures are not too severe.
However,i feel that torture should not be so severe that it paralysed the criminals. The torture should be of an acceptable conditions. If the criminals refused to leak out any information after several tortures,i think it is useless to carry on the torture as the criminals are determined to "sacrifice" rather than to cooperate with the police. At such cases,i feel that the authority should use a different approach to obtain the information that they want. For example,the police can try to encouraged the criminals to repent through religious methods if the criminals are staunt religious man.
Overall,i feel that to a certain extent,torture is justified in dealing with criminals and terrorists provided the tortures are not too severe.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
New Media
After reading the articles, i feel that new media threat to stability.
According to the first article, today we are fighting the first war in the era of e-mail, blogs, blackberries, instant messaging, digital cameras, the Internet, mobile phones, talk radio, and 24-hour news. The new media has allow terrorists skillfully adapting to fighting wars in today’s media age. The terrorists know that communications transcend borders, and that a single news story, handled skillfully, can be as damaging to our cause and can be as helpful as any military attack. Thus, they are able to act quickly with relatively few people, and with modest resources compared to the vast, expensive bureaucracies of democratic governments.
Media outlets in many parts of the world often serve only to inflame and distort, rather than to explain and inform. For example, al-Qaeda and extremist movements have used their forum for many years, further poisoning the Muslim public’s view of the West.
Not only that, media often produced false allegations For example, the false allegations of the desecration of a Koran last year. First published in a weekly news magazine, the story was then posted on Web sites, sent in e-mails, and repeated on satellite television and radio stations for days before the facts could be discovered. That false story incited deadly anti-American riots in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
While the second article focusses on blogs. Blogging has exploded in popularity to the point where there are now more than 20 million blogs being tracked around the world. Bolgs allow people to post theur comments ans share their point of views with people all around the world. Blogging do help people to voice out their comments, but it also teaches people to be less sensitive over certain issues, for example the religous issues. Many people in different countries have been jailed for criticizing official corruption, posting material deemed offensive to Islam and etc.
Hence, i feel that new media is a threat to the stability.
According to the first article, today we are fighting the first war in the era of e-mail, blogs, blackberries, instant messaging, digital cameras, the Internet, mobile phones, talk radio, and 24-hour news. The new media has allow terrorists skillfully adapting to fighting wars in today’s media age. The terrorists know that communications transcend borders, and that a single news story, handled skillfully, can be as damaging to our cause and can be as helpful as any military attack. Thus, they are able to act quickly with relatively few people, and with modest resources compared to the vast, expensive bureaucracies of democratic governments.
Media outlets in many parts of the world often serve only to inflame and distort, rather than to explain and inform. For example, al-Qaeda and extremist movements have used their forum for many years, further poisoning the Muslim public’s view of the West.
Not only that, media often produced false allegations For example, the false allegations of the desecration of a Koran last year. First published in a weekly news magazine, the story was then posted on Web sites, sent in e-mails, and repeated on satellite television and radio stations for days before the facts could be discovered. That false story incited deadly anti-American riots in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
While the second article focusses on blogs. Blogging has exploded in popularity to the point where there are now more than 20 million blogs being tracked around the world. Bolgs allow people to post theur comments ans share their point of views with people all around the world. Blogging do help people to voice out their comments, but it also teaches people to be less sensitive over certain issues, for example the religous issues. Many people in different countries have been jailed for criticizing official corruption, posting material deemed offensive to Islam and etc.
Hence, i feel that new media is a threat to the stability.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Can the media ever be relied upon to convey the truth?
The media can never be relied upon to convey the truth.
According to the article,America does not truly have a “free press.” Fear of losing readers, viewers and advertising dollars actually control the decisions made by corporate-controlled news media. These influences can also be labeled the three “P’s”: Popularity, Prejudice and Profit.
To achieve popularity, America’s corporate-controlled media selectively only allow certain news and articles to be advertised.To achieve popularity in recent years, news and articles are often twisted in favour of the government or to the favour of the editors,Great lies were created along the way to make people believe that America has freedom of press
The second “P” spurring the corporate-controlled news media is prejudice. Americans journalists often twist and turn their news in favour of the Whites instead of the African-American.This can be proved by the O. J. Simpson and Robert Blake cases.Both of them killed their wives but were treated differently by one of the journalist.The White was of course being interviewed after his aquittance but the African-American was not as fortunate.
The final, and most powerful, “P” driving corporate-controlled news media is profit.To increase profits, corporate-controlled media have decided to “manufacture” and “market” news.Most television or radio interviews, unless they are aired live, are usually subjected to editing.Even though an individual may provide several minutes of intelligent and well-reasoned analysis, the words are often condensed into a few seconds of “sound bites” that can be manipulated to give a deceptive, and even dishonest, impression of what was actually said.Media sacrifices truth, impartiality and ethics for the sake of ratings and profit.
Hence,i feel that news are often published for the sake of profits and to show to the public something that they are interested in.News are often published as a "propaganda tool" to brainwash and instill new information on people's mind.For example:the Iraq war.The media only show America's victory and triumph to the public,they will never show the number of innocent people and soldiers sacrificed.This show that media is only a tool used by the government to show the "approved" news to the public and can never be relied upon to convey the truth.
According to the article,America does not truly have a “free press.” Fear of losing readers, viewers and advertising dollars actually control the decisions made by corporate-controlled news media. These influences can also be labeled the three “P’s”: Popularity, Prejudice and Profit.
To achieve popularity, America’s corporate-controlled media selectively only allow certain news and articles to be advertised.To achieve popularity in recent years, news and articles are often twisted in favour of the government or to the favour of the editors,Great lies were created along the way to make people believe that America has freedom of press
The second “P” spurring the corporate-controlled news media is prejudice. Americans journalists often twist and turn their news in favour of the Whites instead of the African-American.This can be proved by the O. J. Simpson and Robert Blake cases.Both of them killed their wives but were treated differently by one of the journalist.The White was of course being interviewed after his aquittance but the African-American was not as fortunate.
The final, and most powerful, “P” driving corporate-controlled news media is profit.To increase profits, corporate-controlled media have decided to “manufacture” and “market” news.Most television or radio interviews, unless they are aired live, are usually subjected to editing.Even though an individual may provide several minutes of intelligent and well-reasoned analysis, the words are often condensed into a few seconds of “sound bites” that can be manipulated to give a deceptive, and even dishonest, impression of what was actually said.Media sacrifices truth, impartiality and ethics for the sake of ratings and profit.
Hence,i feel that news are often published for the sake of profits and to show to the public something that they are interested in.News are often published as a "propaganda tool" to brainwash and instill new information on people's mind.For example:the Iraq war.The media only show America's victory and triumph to the public,they will never show the number of innocent people and soldiers sacrificed.This show that media is only a tool used by the government to show the "approved" news to the public and can never be relied upon to convey the truth.
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