Term 2 Week 3 Task 4

Can the media ever be relied upon to convey the truth? Discuss this in the light of the arguments raised in this article and substantiate your arguments with your own examples.

In this modern world, media has played a crucial role in our daily life. It is not only a source of entertainment but one to educate and enlighten the audience. The news media in Singapore is controlled by the government. The media is not free to comment on any political issues and all the criticisms are muted by the media.

Can the media ever be relied upon to convey the truth? I think that it can be relied only to a small extent. Here are the reasons for my argument.

The media has always been providing information to educate the public. They provide information and facts which are almost error-free. These messages will then be conveyed to the public in high accuracy. Through this, the public rely upon the media to feed them with news and facts. The working adults have a hectic schedule; they will approach the media to find out what's happening in the country and in the whole world. People generally invest high trust in the media. They seldom doubt about the level of reliability of the sources published.

According to the article, the author mentioned that the media can be labeled as the 3 Ps, Popularity, Prejudice and Profit. The source says that to avoid any arguments, the media has continuously ignored articles that could educate or enlighten. It has been keeping important news until it is safe to publish. Sometimes, when it is "safe" to announce to the public, those news may not be relied upon as there maybe some changes made. Thus the news will not be true to a large extent.

The journalists may be biased when writing news reports. They will add in their own opinions and comment on them. Some may even choose to publish only the good points of the celebrity but dilute the bad side. As a result, not the both side of an issue are addressed, this is highly biased. The media will not be true. This is prejudice. Thus the media cannot be relied upon for conveying truth.

The media also makes profit when the news is published. Sometimes, in order to make high profit, or to attract the public attention to the news, the media will try to fabricate news. Thus I think that the media is not fully reliable. The reporters may be hypocrites; they report news which they themselves do not like. However for the sake of the profit, they have to do it. This may cause unreliable in the sources as the reporters may be biased. Their articles may be subjective.

Interviews which are not aired in live are subjected to changes. The responder and the interview are able to change their lines if they find the answers offensive. This results in inaccuracy of the reports. The news is not original, they are not purely written. The truth thus cannot be conveyed through the media.

Some news is simply propaganda. There is no freedom of speech in Singapore. For instance, the news media in Singapore are not allowed to publish news about the politics and things which will cause harm to Singapore Government. Also in China, the websites criticizing China Government are removed from the Internet to ensure that there are no anti-government groups.

Reading from only one source is not enough as it may not reliable to get the necessary information one needs. We have to widen our reading horizon if we were to be fed with true news.