Discussion on media?

I may request to all of you to take-up the following points for further discussion:

  1. What is the contribution of MEDIA to build the Country?
  2. Who educate the people? MEDIA, Bureaucrats, Political Parties OR
    Government?
  3. Is it possible for MEDIA to be always right?
  4. Is MEDIA pick all the news and same transparent in Public?
  5. Is MEDIA work independently OR under the pressure of ruling party OR under
    terrorism?
  6. If public issues are still under trial and police OR courts do not disclosed any
    result, can MEDIA have the right to speak about who is guilt?
  7. What should be rule of the MEDIA, specially in serious issues?

You are kindly requested to discuss the above issues in this forum.

Thank you very much.
Anwar Masihuddin

Hi, Anwar. I think you’re not getting any responses because the English in your questions is sometimes a bit hard to understand.

I’ll try to respond to the ones that are clear to me.

I’m not sure what you want to know here.

People are generally educated by their teachers and family members.

Of course, it’s impossible for the media to be right all the time.

In Western countries, where the government does not control all the media, and where the news is not censored, it is possible for people to get a good idea of what the truth is just by varying their media sources and reasoning things out.

In countries where the government controls and censors the media, it is hard to find out what is true and what is not.

People from countries where the government controls the media often make the mistake of thinking that ALL governments control their countries’ media, so they may see objective stories from foreign media as propaganda when they are not.

I can’t understand the English in that question.

In the US, the media don’t work under pressure from the government, but under pressure from the corporations that own them. This usually involves pressure to write and print the types of stories that consumers will enjoy reading, but not necessarily stories about information they should know.

Some American media – particularly CNN and the other major news networks and newspapers – agree with the Democratic Party almost all the time, and they seldom provide negative news about that party or its candidates. These media actively campaign against the Republicans.

Other American media – mostly radio stations, but also a few newspapers and the Fox News Channel – lean toward the Republican Party, but in my opinion they disagree with the Republicans more often than the other media disagree with the Democrats.

The US government runs a few media outlets, but they are not for a domestic audience.

Under the US legal system, suspects are considered innocent until they are proven guilty. Therefore, our media carefully use language that indicates that the defendant has not been proven yet to be guilty. However, they nonetheless often make the defendant SEEM guilty before his trial has ended, and this has ruined some people’s lives – especially people who are accused, splattered all over TV, and then found in court not to be guilty.

I don’t understand your question.

Hello Jamie,
I want to ask you about something. I once saw a video of American soldiers on a huge truck in Iraq showing some poor kids a bottle of water and the kids were running after the truck to get water because they were thirsty. Although the kids were with no shoes, they kept running and running. But the soldiers were laughing. I have no idea about the media there, but did they show such things there?

I didn’t see that particular video, but we did see the photos of the prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib, although that information was exposed first by the US Army, and not by the media.

I don’t doubt that there could be some soldiers who would tease kids in that way, but I would ask what happened before and after the footage was shot, and what the whole context was. Were the soldiers really teasing the kids, or were they playing a game with them? Did the kids never get the water, or did the soldiers finally stop and give them some? Did the soldiers have enough water to share or did it all have to be delivered to a supply post? Video editing can create any impression one wants to.

Personally, I think the fact that the kids ran after the truck shows that they had already been given gifts like that by American soldiers, and that they had a reasonable expectation that the soldiers would do it again. Kids who think the soldiers will just tease them aren’t liable to run after the truck.

There have, however, been numerous reports here of Americans passing out candy to children for some holiday, only to have an Arab suicide bomber blow up the soldiers and the crowd of kids. I would be much more worried about Arabs blowing up children than about US soldiers teasing them with a water bottle.

unfortunately, I could not find the video again to show it to you. I do not like the word teasing. It sounds like funny things happened. Actually, the soldiers did not stop, but they throw the bottle to the poor kids same as you throw it to a dog. What gifts are you talking about? after all that’s their water and their country. You’d better say stolen gifts.

Since you are talking about numerous reports Americans passing out candy to children, let me tell you that your media does not show the real images.

By the way, do you think American soldiers have the right to conquer Iraq or any other country?

Hi,

01) What is the contribution of MEDIA to build the Country.
I guess we may explain the building process of the country in many different dimensions media belong to the most important (same as religion for example in the past), free independent media are very danger and very powerful they may hit at will on anything even many times being wrong , I repeat many many times doing or being wrong and having no right at all.
02) Who educate the people? MEDIA, Bureaucrats, Political Parties OR
Government?

We are educated by everything what we encounter in our lives all mentioned above belong to these things.
03) Is it possible for MEDIA to be always right?
You see, if somebody says so I understand it that way that my boss has always right because as a boss he is right or … just right.
In real we know exactly that it is impossible to be always right we can’t expect this from anybody to be right , we learn everyday and to be right it is usually just the beginning of the right discussion on a subject.
04) Is MEDIA pick all the news and same transparent in Public?
No, media have very different access to particular news and some of them can’t be transparent at neither for media or for people,these " news" would be called profoundly just speculations.
05) Is MEDIA work independently OR under the pressure of ruling party OR under
terrorism?

I think media always work under pressure of something and even for open discussion in media could be very difficult to change that situation, media owners are also targets of media and media are often used just as different kind of weapon when fighting for economic or political aims.English spoken media are for example importing something what I would call cultural invasion , it is one of the most effective tools while trying to conquer the country or to gain some influence.
06) If public issues are still under trial and police OR courts do not disclosed any
result, can MEDIA have the right to speak about who is guilt?

I am afraid that even if they have not that right they still do speak about guilt.
It is a weapon in hands of accused people or entire political system.
07) What should be rule of the MEDIA, specially in serious issues?
We people with time will build the rules for media by executing our voting rights and practical support politics who are moral and just , we with time that way or another are basis for media Decalogue.

Jan