The problem with the modern media is they do not have a sense of social justice. Do you agree?
Firstly, before I state my stand, I would like to define the question. The modern media in the question would refer largely to online stuff such as blogs, online news, forums etc, but does not exclude the “old media” like newspapers, magazines, radio, televisions etc while the social justice would refer to the idea of a society which gives individuals and groups fair treatment and a just share of the benefits of society, as defined by Wikipedia.
My stand is that I agree with the statement that the modern media do not have a sense of social justice. Their main purpose is to provide information and facts but this is not the case every time. The media such as televisions, newspapers now not only report news, but because they are profit driven, they make sure that the articles they wrote attracts as many readers as possible and hence do not consider the feelings of those affected and involved in the article.
The first example I would like to illustrate on is the recent Virginia Tech Massacre that happened recently this year. As mentioned in previous blog entries, the mass media provided huge coverage of the event that shocked the world about a student who killed 33 people including himself at the university. Yes, the media is right to let the world know about the event and let the world mourn over the deaths of the students and staff involved. However, some of the news agencies like NBC chose to publish the videos and photos that Cho, the killer, made of him, before the killings and mailed to NBC. The move to let the media publish the videos and photos was actually a well planned move by Cho to make himself heard and “famous” even after his death. Although soon after, other news agency decided to stop publishing the photos and videos, the content have been released and the effects have been felt as shown by the copycat killings that followed soon after. The media, even though they have claimed to have considered very carefully on the decision to air the videos and photos, their ultimate decision is still to air them, as they, being profit driven, have decided that the photos would actually let them be able to increase the news readerships through the event. What follows was a public outcry from both the international community and the family itself. Has the victims not suffered enough, both emotionally and physically? Why the need to still “publicize” the killer’s video and photos showing his “glory” of why he chose to kill and how he prepared to kill? If the news agencies have a sense of social justice, they have considered the feelings of the victims and considered the impact and also educate the public on the killings. This shows that the media does not have a sense of social justice.
Another familiar article that I would like to cite as an example is the NKF scandal that happened last year. Even before the investigations have taken place, or the verdict for those involved in the scandal have been read, the newspapers have already portrayed a bad image for the accused already. One of those involved and also the one the media focuses on is Mr.Durai. He has been running NKF smoothly with lots of fund raising activities and the patients generally happy with the subsidies they received from NKF. The media have largely portrayed NKF as a large organization that is helping with thousands of Singaporeans on paying for their kidney dialysis and the organization who they called annually to support the fund raising concert held on TV with stunts and so on to raise funds. But once the reporter found out about the “gold tap” that Mr.Durai has in his office, the whole episode regarding the newspaper investigating and unfolding the story of the scandal began. The good things once said about NKF now turns into bad things about the organizations, Mr.Durai and those working with him “eats up the donations” etc. The newspaper also began to dig up a lot of bad things about the management, leaving them in a bad light. It moreover did not also portray their contributions throughout the years, and only caused the public’s opinions of the old management of NKF to be more and more negative, with letters sent to the forum. This again shows the lack of social justice by the newspaper. They only wanted to let the public know about eh scandal, and in this way, would let the readers buy more of their newspapers in order to find out more. They could have softened the anger by also showing the things that Mr.Durai has done for the organizations and his contributions, other than the fact of his scandal. In fact, there has been letters by former employees who have worked with Mr.Durai mentioning that he is actually a good person to work with, and he is one who cares about the staff and the patients.
Hence, I conclude by agreeing with the statement, as the media, being profit driven, have no sense of social justice.
