Thursday, September 18, 2008

HI, HOW YOU DOING?

AIG (American Insurance Giant Group) is the parent company of local favourite insurer American Insurance Association, better known in its acronym form as 'AIA'. It is also the shirt sponsor of the prestigious Manchester United Football Club; happens to be my insurer of choice; and was also very recently on the brink of bankruptcy.



When I first heard that AIG was on the verge of collapse, my intial reaction was to immediately sell off all my shares (no wait, I don't have any) terminate my policy. Later, I chanced upon a news article that the US government was going to inject USD 85 billion (not sure how many zeros that is) to prevent this calamity, and that even our very own Monetary Authority of Singapore was confident of AIG's continued existence. I then felt assured of well, being insured.

This got me thinking. The mass media is one of, if not the most powerful form of communication today. Broadcasting corporations have the power to influence its audience to a certain extent, for they can subtly portray people and situations in a positive light or otherwise, with the omission or addition of certain keywords, presenters' nonverbal cues, etc. Since young, I have always thought that news reports in any form were objective and true, but I have realized that this is not always the case.

While I maintain that our local news companies are generally more credible and trustworthy compared to those of other countries, I feel that it is also important to remember that the very mechanics of media might result in occasional flaws in reports.

Take for instance, a journalist who has to rush an article within an impossible deadline; or one who has limited jurisdiction at a scene, and so he is unable to get the details that really matter.

Too much of salt is unhealthy, but a lack of it is just as detrimental. We should take whatever we see, hear (and eat) with a moderation of salt; and not just blindly consume whatever we're fed.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with your last conclusive paragraph, especially regarding reliability of news reports within our country when press freedom is restricted?

ok oops i hope i won't get handcuffed after saying this. jeez.

getting into the whole gist of your new academic course eh? putting it to good use i see. write more!


steffo mammo wammo hammo

Anonymous said...

hey josh!
haha, i read your post, (:
i totally that mass media's the most powerful form of communication, imagine if we had to send morse codes or what not.

and i absolutely agree that we have to be discerning in what we read, words used are subjective to the person using it.

so ya, as credible as i am, HAHAHAHA, kidding, ;) lets take things with a pinch of salt. ;)

keep up the good work!
(and stop falling down/tripping. HAHA)

SHUFEN said...

yup agree w you that media is the most convenient form of medium in manipulating pple's mindsets. is that good or bad? hmmmm debatable. more often than not im the easily manipulated audience that is gullible enough to take in whatever the media portray as factual. i should seek your warning on not being sucha blind follower huh :)

p.s: i wonder how many diff forms of hellos can you come up w for your upcoming posts hah!

Choice Education & Development said...

Hello josh. Yes. The media today is over-rated. I know people who actually get by without watching any television or listening to any radio or reading any articles. And they get by with more than enough.

Which brings to question is the media really a necessity. And do we really have to be "up-to-date" all the time? If so, why? Sometimes when we question what we do in our daily lives, only then will we realise how mechanical this world has become.

I mean every article you see is actually written by someone. So, in theory, you are only listening to this person's opinion. Am I right?

Anonymous said...

it's 9 zeros (=

We all know one. said...

Billions are at stake here... and josh i don't have stakes too... haha in anycase no one really knows what it is going to happen in the coming years..

more famine, more poor, more rich, less jobs, less money?

is that the repercussion of a US recession? right now the loss of the lehman brothers (i only just heard of them) is putting everyone concerned on the edge of their seats.. but we never know how much US influence is on us nowadays do we?

what we can be thankful about media is that events that have taken place, hundreds or even thousands of miles take just a few hours for us to know in the form of news, and i really appreciate it.

i also hope the media will warn us early if there was an alien invasion, and no i'm not referring to lindsey lohan...

and more power to local media! except mediacorp!
just kidding. =)

bOn said...

mass media is really powderful.. we take in any information we are fed with, without thinking if it is accurate or not.