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The media

I don't quite enjoy the style of media nowadays in Singapore. Media is starting to feel a tad too "entertainment" now with the rising of citizen journalism in the form of stomp and xin.msn. I don't enjoy the way that news get spun up into a huge story which captivates people for a few days, or maybe weeks, and then have everyone on to yet another piece of enthralling news. This i observed since the times of Mas Selamat, which was yet another sensational news that tided over and everyone forgot about. I hope that the news gets forgotten, but not the lesson though.

Now, don't get me mistaken; reading the news is not wrong. But the style of journalism nowadays seem to go along the lines of feeding public interests, and solely that. Having the media start to stray away from the actual news and enter into the lives of the people involved to use them as news, in a bid to captivate readers' attention- that, i think is wrong. And with more and more empowerment of the individual's ability to air their views in public, i see a trend of people passing open judgements on the people involved. That, i think, is wrong too.

I was telling Jiahao yesterday that i was adamant not to discuss the teen slashing with people, because i don't wish to feed the media anymore. I think there is a certain limit where the media should be going with their reports, and i think they are crossing it. Reporting on the lives of the teens involved, reporting on the notoriety (pardon me for lack of a better word haha =D) of the gang and the "good" of the boy is directly influencing reader opinions. And anyways, why does anybody think that we are in a position to pass judgements? How sure are we that the media is reporting the whole truth such that our judgements based on what is seen, is sound?

it's been a week since the news came out. And i happened to see this ranking on the news website that i always read.
Most popular
  1. Teen slashed to death
  2. Teen's murder: 4 nabbed
  3. 3 charged with murder
  4. Murder suspect in ICU
  5. Teary farewell to Darren
  6. Teen hacked to death
  7. Body found at park
  8. 4 charged with murder
  9. NSF admits sex with minor
  10. Teen murdered at Pasir Ris

Tell me now, aren't there better things to read about? Things that have a larger impact on everybody's lives, like the midterm elections for example? Do we realise that That, is going to impact the world? And we are all wrapped up in the orb of little Singapore, and our Home sensationals. Let me reiterate: there is nothing wrong with that, but we must learn to strike a balance and enforce a limit on this.

This entire incident reminded me of a particular less-known movie that i saw. It's called the untraceable. In the show, the coolest idea is that a murderer captures a victim, and goes on a spree of webcasting the victim on a "live" streaming video that he posts on the web. The idea is that if nobody watches the video, the victim will survive. but the more people watch it, the faster the victim will die. For eg, he inscribes an X on a man's chest, and infuses him with anti-coagulants. If nobody watches it, there will be no anticoagulants infused. but the more hits there are on his site, the higher the concentration of anti-coagulants will be. And guess what? Every victim dies in the show. So is this what's gonna happen to us? I hope that our curiosity will not allow us to ignore our responsibility and morality as people one day.

The last thing i want to say. Here's my favourite comment about the slashing, which i quote from a friend: "surprisingly the bystander effect kicks in when there are a lot of people around and causes witnesses to shed the personal responsibility of having to help the victim." Well said. It's already been done once, so let's not do it again. No, this time we're not watching somebody get hacked, but we are watching somebody's life get torn apart. And yes, we are the ones empowering the media to do so by feeding them with a news demand that they will strive to supply.

It's time to stop.

sk

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