▶ Your Answer :
Some people may believe that reading or
watching local media would help people have a better understanding of other
countries. However, after some reflection, it is evident that learning about
countries through media would create false knowledge and ideas about the
country. This is because media contains information in favor of their interests
and most times lack important details.
To begin with, I strongly believe that
books and magazines give their readers the wrong idea of the country. This is
largely because the media materials have a tendency to show information in
favor of their own benefits. They usually exaggerate stories and issues in
order to draw in more viewers. For example, when I was in Japan, I was not pressed
to find newspapers that said Dokdo – one of the biggest debates between Korea
and Japan- belongs to Japan and not Korea. They used a significant amount of
evidence to claim its ownership. However, the evidence was not based on real
facts, just speculations. If I were a foreigner who did not have any knowledge
of the situation, I would have believed Japan has the ownership of Dokdo. In
this sense, learning about the country by reading books or magazines is not a
good way to learn about a nation.
Also, interacting with others allows people
to get a deeper understanding of cultures and news of a country. That is, the
greater the number of people you meet, the more credible information you can
have. This way people would be able to learn the details that books or
magazines do not contain. The content of the conversation would be from their
firsthand experience. To take a personal experience, I was disappointed when I
went to China because I was got bored following the schedule I made by reading travel
books. However, after interacting with the locals, they recommended so many
interesting places to visit. Thanks to the local people, I was able to enjoy
the trip to its fullest. As you can see, magazines or books usually introduce
people just standard information or matters already popular.
In conclusion, I doubt that learning about
a country will be enough with books or magazines. People should approach the
locals to learn the true details about the country they are in or want to learn
about. In addition, media manipulates their information about a country which
leads people to have incorrect ideas or concepts of the country. |