The Mass Media

With reference to the article titled " Singapore swimmers in hot water" on 3 April 2007.
How does the media and its subjective perception affect he way this incident was handled?

I believe that the reporting of events in the mass media more accurately reflects subjective perception rather than objective truth. Since perception involves all the senses and also giving meaning to all information a person takes in, different people can get different meanings from the same media. Perception is also affected by our belief systems, attitudes and needs.
In this incident, just a smile which the media perceived as a sign of mockery caused much controversy around the globe. It was even published in Sports Illustrated magazine, Californian newspaper Whittier Daily News and The Statesman in India. This matter became so serious that should the boys be found guilty, an official apology would be submitted. The reputation of Singapore and her friendship with America were put at stake.

However, we have no one to blame but ourselves for all these “false” reports. We are all guilty of wanting to know juicy news and more often than not, accurate information provided rarely satisfies the public. To worsen the situation, this industry has grown to become profit-driven due to the strong competition. Hence, journalists may well owe his or her professional regard for truthful reporting to everyone’s need for news – a critical element in a democratic society. So, instead of basing journalistic ethics in the fashionable moral philosophies of the modern era, it is better to argue that it grows out of the special nature of the craft, as imbedded in a more venerable notion of self fulfilling social responsibility.

Different people have different ways of expressing their emotions and reactions, let alone interpreting them. My stand is that one should not jump to conclusion but instead gather more information from different sources in order to learn the “whole” truth.