Can the Media Ever Be Relied Upon to Convey the Truth?

577 Words3 Pages
Today, with the advancement of communication technology, we can no longer deny the influence of today’s media in our lives. In fact, most of us rely on the information and latest news from the media. As such, it is important for the media to be reliable and accurate. However, the surge of new media such as the Internet had brought about new controversies and problems to our society, Although the media mostly do report factual news and happenings, i believe we should not totally rely upon the media to convey the truth. The intense competition between media corporations and their goals for profit motivation may cause the distortion of truth. Most media today are controlled by giant corporation groups that are profit motivated. Unlike the past, the media industry is no longer dominated by a single company. In fact, there is a surge of new media companies and news agency in the past few years. This will thus drive up competition among the media corporations. Hence, in order to increase their profits and ratings, media companies rely on the market demand to attract advertising revenue. Some media companies sensationalize news to attract more people. One example is the recent scare on pork buns made in China earlier this year. Reports (where) claimed that flavoured paper was used in buns instead of pork. Even though this news was later found out to be fabricated, the reports were convincing The emergence of the Internet and the World Wide Web which allows the freedom for people to express their opinions freely had caused various discrepancies of truth. This is so as there are no regulated to control the news reported in the hundreds and millions of websites available. Even if there are regulators, it is very difficult for them to filter out the truth. Hence, we could not verify the credibility of most websites. Furthermore, other form of media such as You Tube
Open Document