what is the exact role of the media in our society? is it to inform?is it to educate?is it to entertain?or is it just to make sure that its headlines are as sensational as possible and try to sell as many papers, or get as many 'likes' or retweets as they can? Yes,a public figure will always need to behave himself even in his private life, but we have to accept that public figures are not infallible. In fact, nobody is. So when rumours of an alleged affair of a public figure begin to surface what does the media do? Are they supposed to report it? Well, given that the media serves to inform, then yes, they are supposed to report it. However, the timing of the report can be very crucial in this aspect. Take a look at England before the World Cup. Had the John Terry scandal been responsibly taken care of, England might very well have a much more eventful tournament (which isnt a given seeing their abject and pathetic performances). That scandal, reported just months before the tournament suddenly threw Terry's credentials as a leader in question and the manager was forced to change captaincy. Reports of a split in the dressing room for those supporting Terry and those support Wayne Bridge would not have been far from the truth. What I am saying is not for these reports to remain hidden forever, because that would give public figures the extra power of being able to do anything and everything without the fear of being exposed. What I am saying is that the timing of these reports must be handled with responsibility. When the England squad failed to impress during the tournament, the very newspapers which published the scandal were also amongst those who blasted them for 'a lack of team spirit',among other things. Have they stopped to consider that it is THEM who caused this split? No, they didnt. Of course, an ideal world would be one where we do not have to live with sensational news dominating the papers (aka the number of mistresses that a single golf player had over the past few years) and instead read news that really matter. Poverty, global warming, terrorism, financial crisis, global health threat. These are the issues which really make a larger impact on the global community rather than scandals.
Another point that i would like to point out would be for media to be objective in their news reports and not to be biased. While some would argue that it is hard to do so, given that journalists have their own opinions on news as well, 'columns' in newspapers are invented for a reason. There, journalists can publish their own views, citing data which do matter for their views and make a case of their own. However, in other parts of the papers, newspapers should just print the facts and statistics from both sides and let the reader decide for himself/herself which viewpoint is more convincing. Take a look at the US Mid-term elections now. Many have started blasting the Obama administration for being 'big government' and being ineffective, especially in terms of improving the domestic economy. These are the very journalists who also complained about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Oh, and did i mention that these are also the very journalists who were up in arms over that Nigerian bomber who somehow managed to sneak onboard a commercial plane and would have succeeded if not for the heroic actions of the passengers? Be fair to the guy, for once. If history has taught us anything, it is that we should not judge the effectiveness of a government in the days that it was in power, but rather in the days when it has left power. Look at Harry Truman. His ratings when he left office were nothing but abysmal, but in recent polls, he was regarded as a top 10 president in the history of the US. So, please try to see things from the long-term perspective. Also, please publish data that may not support the viewpoint of the news that you are reporting. Take for example the Republicans call for less government action. Yes, that will reduce the deficit. But do you remember the last time when the government didnt act directly during an economic crisis? It was just a small matter known as the Great Depression. So, please 1) do not jump to conclusions too quickly and 2) publish data from all points of view, rather than from one which is the current public sentiment just so that you can sell more papers. The difference between news sources (aka news portals and newspapers) and blogs or opinion websites is that news sources let people think for themselves, while blogs publish THEIR opinion and try to convince readers to do the same. We are not idiots. Let us think for ourselves.
