Nowadays, the mass media do not report the news; they make the news. Discuss this with references to recent events

The mass media includes the Television channels, radio stations and newspapers. With the entire world population dependent on them for information, it wields a huge amount of power and influence over how the people think and the perspective they have on various news around the world. The mass media reports recent events that happen around the world, including both fact and fiction in their reports. Recent events are not those that happened within 2 or 3 years but instead those that happened within 10 years as they are considered recent when taking into account how long the mass media has existed. I strongly believe that the media not only reports news but also makes news. Recent news report contain evidence of this.

Firstly, recently in singapore, there was a scandal involving the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) in which the chairman and members of the board were found to be using company funds for personal reasons like purchasing first class tickets for overseas trips and installing gold plated taps in the chairman's office. This caused a uproar from the public as they felt that they had been cheated of their money that was meant for the patients in need of aid. The media repeatedly reporting on the scandal as the public were very interested in it, meaning that newspapers that reported on it sold out quickly and news that reported on it had high viewership ratings. This meant that the media made a decent profit out of the scandal, disregarding the fact that they had damaged the reputation of the NKF and other charities so much that some members of the public even refused to donate to other charities when asked to.

Secondly, Just a few weeks ago, the government announced a increase in the salary of ministers and the prime minister. This led to much debate in the public if the ministers' pay are actually too high and if they should serve the country because they are willing to serve the country and not for the high salaries. The media gave the issue a constant high level of coverage, ensuring that they would enjoy a handsome profit out of the issue. I personally believe that the issue was blown out of proportion as a day or 2's coverage on it would have been enough and not for a week.

Hence, these days, the media make the news as well as they are driven by profit and not by the desire to report factual news.

1.“YouTube has no ethics, it's been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money.” Do you agree?

I agree that youtube was created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money but only to a certain extent.

I believe that youtube was created for entertainment due to a few reasons. It allows users to post all kinds of videos, from soccer matches to home made family videos that have no meaning at all. This can cause opposition from countries and other relevant authorities when youtube hosts a video deemed offensive by them. An example would be in Thailand where the viewing of youtube is actually banned due to the presence of a video clip insulting the king of Thailand who is much revered in Thailand. Youtube has refused to remove the clip despite a request from the government of Thailand to do so. This clearly shows that youtube is created for entertainment as it refused to remove the clip which is seem as offensive to Thailand just for its entertainment value that gives viewers more viewing pleasure.

I also believe that youtube was created to earn profits for its creators. This can be seen from the many videos it hosts that are actually the work of other companies, thus violating the copyright laws. However, youtube does not remove these videos as they are immensely popular among its viewers, increasing the number of users accessing Youtube. This large number of viewers on youtube appeals greatly to companies who want to place their advertisements on a website where there is constantly a large number of users viewing the website.

However, youtube was also created for other purposes other than entertainment and making money. Youtube also hosts videos that help users like medical videos that help users deal with medical problems like autism and teach viewers how to sample sugar levels and use inhalers.

I would have to say Youtube was largely created to provide entertainment and to make money as it was with these goals in mind that the creators Steve Chen, Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim started Youtube to provide entertainment to the internet users. They knew that if their website provided so much entertainment until the extent that it becomes very popular, advertisers would come knocking hence bringing income for them.

The teenage years are the best years of one’s life.’ Would you agree with this view?

The teenage years are the best years of one’s life.’ Would you agree with this view?

I agree with this view.

The teenage years are usually the most memorable years of one's life.This is during this time that we find our identity, experiment with new things and maybe even experience our first love or relationship.It is during this time that we experience major examinations like the Cambridge Ordinary levels or the Advanced levels.It is in school that we make friends and spend many days off studying with best friends at the library or watching movies.

The teenage years are also the time when people do daring things. Many teenagers have tried bungy jumping,kayaking , roller coaster rides and other daring “adventures”. These activities not only bring joy and fun to teenagers, they also develop the mental attributes of these teenagers.

I believe that the teenage years is a period of trials. The trials are not only in the form of examinations but also in the form of physical trials and mental trials. It is during our teenage years where we realise our identity. We would have also realised our sexuality , our ambition and our interests. Many people realise the career they wish to pursue while they are about 16, 17 years old.

However, there are also bad things that make our teenage years less enjoyable.

It is also during our teenage years that we follow trends fervently. There has been harmless trends like wearing ankle length socks but there has also been trends that are harmful like being “emo”. Being “emo” is to be expressive of one's feelings like angry, depression, loneliness through writing poems on one's suicide attempts or cutting's one's wirst to express emotions within oneself. I believe that following harmless trends is fine but following trends that causes us to harm ourselves is completely ridiculous and foolish thing to do. People follow trends to look “hip” which means modern but is hurting ourselves an worthwhile sarcifice in order to look “hip”?

I certainly do not think so and it is trends like these that causes dark patches in our otherwise colourful teenage years. Stress can also lead to us having a less than enjoyable growing up period. These days, we hear news of students crying at the A levels for “only” getting 3 As and students in various countries killing themselves as they are unable to cope with the overwhelming stress. Where does this stress come from? It actually comes from many sources, namely the parents, society and the school. Parents and schools encourage students to get good grades in studies. However, this encouragement comes in the form of extra practices or constant monitoring of students. This actually give additional and unnecessary pressure to the students resulting in many of them having unhappy teenage years.

Despite all this, the teenage years in my opinion is be one of the most enjoyable periods of one's life. Problems can be solved through effective time management, self motivation and the ability to balance both work and play, ensuring that one can still have fun and enjoy these teenage years while under stress. These are actually skills and ability that most teenagers have learned these days as they develop ways and methods to cope with the stress associated with growing up.Therefore, i agree with the view that the teenage years are the best years of one's life.