Charles Wright identified four media functions:
(1) Surveillance- information
(2) Correlation- analysis and evaluation
(3) Cultural transmission- education and socialisation of receivers
(4) Entertainment- enjoyment and gratification
The above four media functions can be seen through an article published on the front page of The New Paper on friday the 31st of October. The headlines read " Singapore Teacher Sparks Debate: Show and Tell" and the sides read: she almost bares all in pictures for online bikini contest. Its an article about a teacher in a unnamed Singapore pool school who has a private blog and discusses about issues in school and her personal life. In her blog she included details like getting a tatoo and talking about her everyday going-on in life. The main issue of the article was her sending provocative pictures of her dressed in skimpy bikinis for a online bikini contest held in Australia called the Wicked Weasel. The article goes on discussing on what happened there on and after her blog and her participation was discovered and debates whether what she had done was it a professionally right action.
In the article we can see the media performing all four of its function. "Last thursday, Shin Min Daily News reported that pictures of Tina (not her real name) in her skimpy bikinis had appeared on the internet" here the media has performed its role of surveillance by providing information of the person involved, what was going on and even revealing pictures of the person.
Next on the later part of the article there was an analysis of the issue whereby the New Paper interviewed some parents over the issue. Some of them like homemaker Audra Chow, 36, said the pictures showed a confident person who was comfortable with her body but added it turned her off knowing she was an educator. There was a few other interviews on the issue but they were only one-sided and non had given any support in any sense to the teacher involved. Here the media had provided correlation but it was a one-sided, biased analysis of the issue.
In the article there is also cultural transmission or education of the readers of the paper. Included was an excerpt of the spokesman of the Ministry of Education who said that teachers may create or participate in a blog or other types of online publishing or discussion on matters not related to their work, such as their hobbies, provided they do so in their personal capacity, act in a responsible manner and do so on thier own time. This excerpt educates the readers on what the teachers are permitted to do and whats not, hence the media has performed its role of educating the public.
Lastly the article has also provided entertainment to readers who love such gossips and news. The more and vivid information provided, the more entertainment it would provide to the readers especially such exclusive and rare news.
Now is for my own views on the article. True the media did perform all its functions by bringing the information, analysis, education and entertainment on this article. But what i question is whether have they gone a step too far by blowing this whole matter up and putting it on their front page and even showing the provocative pictures of the teacher involved. I reckon the journalist of this article would not take into consideration how much his or her article would disrupt the teacher involved life in many ways as their main objective is get as much attention on the article as possible. And if they felt that her taking those provocative pictures and posting them online was wrong, didnt they go a step even further by publishing some of the pictures on their people? i am sure it provides entertainment for some who sees the picture, but have they forgotten that their paper is easily accessible to kids and teenagers? in ther first place they might not have seen those pictures at all but by publishing those pictures the media has made a wrong move. What do you people reading this post think about the media? do you agree that the media has taken matters too far?
9 comments:
well the new paper is a tabloid rather than a broadsheet and hence it more focused on sensational news than, say, the straits times. i feel it is acceptable for a newspaper to report on such an occurrence, as it would be a good point to spark public debate on the role of teachers and how far their private and public lives should be kept separate, especially in the digital age. however, i feel that in publishing the pictures, the newspaper has taken a step in the wrong direction. no doubt it would be easy for computer-savvy teenagers to find the pictures on the internet after reading about the news, but still, publishing the photographs effectively forces readers to view the pictures when reading the reports. we would not want to over-expose the children and teenagers in our society to such provacative pictures.
I agree with many parents that teachers are indeed role models to students, but it doesnt mean that teachers are not free to express themselves.
expecting people in different professions to act in a way that society expects them to can be stressful to a person. there is no way we can say that when you become a teacher, you have to be a teacher 24/7. otherwise there is no privacy for them.
in a developed country like singapore where many of us are educated, why not open up our minds and create an open society rather than be so critical of every little thing
i am disheartened and outraged at how backward some singaporeans are, as well as how the school has handled the Wicked Weasel affair, and the statement issued by the Ministry of Education's spokesman.
as we move into the new century, with rapid globalisation and integration with cultures from all over the world, i feel it is important for singaporeans to move with the times.
i strongly believe in the importance of morality, that morality should never be compromised by any modernisation. but at the same time, i believe in the importance of respecting individual rights and freedom
i think that as a nation, we are still young and often too immature to handle issues which force us to think and challenge the status quo, in this case, what defines morality and a role model.
we conveniently write off anything that is different as bad or threatening
It's milder than what media in say Taiwan or the US would have done. we live in a nation state governed by a democratic Socialist party, and this entails rather stringent laws on media promulgation. I do believe however, that the state, although doesn't openly express support for making an example out of others to drive across a message, has sort of a secret penchant for it. sad as it sounds, this is often one of the most effective ways of deterrence, for Singaporeans, being Singaporeans.. you get the picture.
Besides, I see no reason why teachers should have to live surreptitious secret lives, hiding who they really are and like. Their lives don't belong to the state, nor to you or me, much less your child. If you demand for them to put on a squeaky clean, idealized charade of the 'perfect teacher', then shouldn't it be demanded that parents always be the 'perfect' parent and never committing anything derogatory for that matter? ludicrous argument I'd say.
I feel that the media should keep the teacher's profile confidential. It is only right and fair that they do that so as to respect that particular individual no matter what she might have done.
I meant to protect that particular individual.(:
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