Can you imagine living in a country with absolute freedom? Everything can be done in the name of the right to speak without interference even though this may hurt certain individuals or communities. Individuals are free to say anything without the slightest awareness that what they say might impact others. The media are free to print whatever they feel important for the public to know. What they write may be based on profitability of running a business newspaper or based on objectivity in reporting an event. One would say this is a characteristic of a liberal country. Sensitivity is the least that the community would care for. We would transform ourselves into an individualistic society. Probably that is what half of us dreamed of having.
On the contrary, some of us might go against this, saying that nothing should be given totality. One of the justifications for this is misuse of power. Some individuals may somehow turn themselves into power thirsty monster whenever they are at the top. Therefore, control is necessary for some of us. Apart from that, it might be for the harmony of the society since we are living in a multiracial country. Media content must be controlled to avoid any discomfort among races as well as avoiding racial riot. One way to control the media content is to control the media’s ruling.
Both points of view have their strong points but lets do some reality check. First of all, most media control came by the government. The media is restricted from criticizing government’s policies and administration so as to drive the public attention from their flaws. However, what does this makes us as a society? We are misinformed and we are given biased points of view on certain events. Is this good for a critical thinking society? Would the creation of a critical society continue to reward? How about a rational thinking society? What about a rational thinking society? What would our children become in the future? They are the fruits of our seeds, we have an incumbent responsibility to mold them into a forward thinking, critical, rational and creative generation to lead this country. With control, we cannot expect this to be a reality in the near future.
On the flipside, what if the media is uncontrolled? The freedom to express will be exercised to its fullest. It is imperative to remember that we are living in a multiracial country. The harmony of our country is at stake if a party decides to blatantly exercise freedom of expression. The media undoubtedly is a business, hence, profit is crucial. Whatever sells, they will report. Being in a position where there is no single entity which can control them. The media people have the potential to go overboard with their reports especially when they are blinded by emotion and self-interest.
The solutions to this endless media control issues are merely idealistic if there is no cooperation to transform our media in to a transparent medium that the society can rely on. It takes the authority, the media and society to work together. External environment is undeniably influencing but we thinking human beings must know how to tackle this issue. It starts with education as a platform of individual morale development. The authority need not control the media but rather listen to what they have to say. The media must exercise their role of being a watchdog and be objective in reporting to the society as well as reporting to the authority. Lastly, the society need not be harsh on the government’s efforts but critique in an objective manner. Absolute freedom can be a bane instead a compromise between all parties would be better solution for the betterment of society.
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