▶ Your Answer :
Some people think that the news media is a trustful source of unbiased information. However, in my opinion, the news media, such as television news, newspapers, internet news, can not be absolutely fair, not inclined to any side. This is because each news media companies have their own respective interests, and also many actors in society keep trying to use the news media as their instrument to pursue their interests. To begin with, the news media tends to be influenced by the company making it due to their own interests. The news media companies, such as broadcasts and publishing company, have their own specific position in political or economic field. Thus, although newspapers companies write about the same event, articles from different companies can describe the event differently and also assert different statement in accordance with their strategic stance. For example, in Korea, there are lots of newspaper companies. Among them, three major companies which are in the conservative position are very popular. Despite their reputation, these three companies often cause serious political problems due to their article's voice. They generally tend to write pro-government biased articles. Some people recognized it but most people are receiving the newses these companies provided without any criticism. As a result, these companies have acquired power that they can manipulate people's opinion into their interests. On top of that, reversely, main actors in society, like governmental institutions, parties, politicians and commercial companies, try to use the news media as their tool for interests. These actors make influence on the news media in order to pursue benefits. Generally, they tend to give money to the press, which fits the profit of the press. A study was conducted by the Department of Commercial in Korea to determine whether financial aids from sponsors influence on the voice of newpaper. The researchers monitored 200 news companies over a 2 year period. After the research finished, the results were intriguing. An overwhelming 70% had changed their own stance into the sponsor's one, while the remaining 30% adjusted their own stance. However, those 30% of companies are giant presses which don't need such aggressive sponsors. This study shows that the news media can be easily "contaminated" by other actor's power and voice. In a nutshell, the news media can not be just and fair provider of information due to interests of the news companies themselves and external tempts by other societal actors. In this regards, I firmly believe that people must not solely rely on the news media as their source of information, and have to find alternative sources in order to have a balanced opinion. |