Category: News

The print medium is the oldest form of media in India, the first newspaper that was published in India was the ‘Bengal Gazette’, in the year 1780. Print medium has played an important role during the freedom struggle movement be it in the in the form of newsletters, notices, journals etc. it helped inform people, educate them and propagate the ideas of patriotism and nationalism. Most leaders used newspapers as a medium to put their message across to create awareness. Keval. J Kumar (1994) For a long time newspapers have been in the highlight when it comes to fighting for rights and societal causes, in India newspapers are also available in vernacular languages making it easily available in regional areas. Edmund Chukwuma Onwuliri (2019) One of the most prominent instance of newspapers fighting for their civil rights is when ‘The Indian Express’ and ‘The Statesman’ left their editorial page blank during emergency in India in 1975.Dr Jhumur Ghosh (2016) Newspapers are one of the most reliable source of information which comes at an affordable price thereby making it accessible to people belonging to the lower income strata . Newspapers maybe an important asset to the society as source of information but there are certain things that newspapers need to pay heed to in order to retain its place such as branding, according to the article on Media Brands and Branding (2008) newspapers need to have a unique and strong brand value and image in this cut-throat competition. The newspapers have to make sure that they are reliable and a trustworthy source of information in the eyes of their readers. It is vital for newspapers to retain their brand value and pay attention to branding so as to maintain consumer loyalty and increase readership of their publication. Aaker D.A, (1996)They not only have to maintain engagement of the readers but also have to curate their content in accordance to their consumer’s preference.Media Brands and Branding (2008) In today’s age as per the research done by Anna Maria Jönsson and Henrik Ornebring (2011)newspapers have to be eye grabbing especially in terms of their visual designs such as fonts, colours, layout, choice of images and textual choices to be understood which would help in newspaper commercialisation. According to Businessline (2006) newspaper can be divided into three categories the first is breadth which includes different channels and formats, the second is length and lastly depth which revolves around new revenue aspects by using information as products and services. Another important aspect of newspaper branding is business to business branding which means marketing advertisements of various companies(brands) to consumers ultimately alternating newspapers as a helpful platform for advertisements According to Keller (2008) “a brand’s power depends on what is in the consumers mindset”. Whether it is the value of the newspapers’ brand value or equity it is vital to maintain its distinctiveness and should be according to the consumer’s preference. There should be clear understanding as far as advertising to consumers are concerned as the consumers should always be given preference whilst maintaining quality and value claims Duncan and Moriarty (1998)

As far as new challenges and lost opportunities are concerned it is evident that literacy is the major factor affecting the circulation of newspapers as according to World Association of Newspapers (2008) only about sixty percent of Indian can write and read from which even lesser can read the issues published by newspapers as per the research conducted by S Kumar (2015) the cost of production, printing, marketing is higher than the revenue generated through this. According to V.V.S Sarma (2015)The major source of revenue for newspapers are advertising and brand extensions however this has also become problematic for newspapers as due to excessive publication of advertisements the quality of the content has decreased and readers tend to lose interest in the newspapers if half the front page is covered in advertisements. Also other sources of media like television and radio also provide information to the consumers thereby rendering brand extensions less effective as per the research conducted by Gautam . P , V.S.S Sarma(2011). Timeliness has always become a hindrance for newspapers as its competitors like television and radio have the ability to provide the latest updates and can continuously edit their reportage when telecasting or broadcasting breaking news whereas newspapers have to wait twenty four hours to do so Keval. J Kumar (1994). Among many challenges the fact that most consumers now are against wasting paper affects newspapers as that reduces newspaper circulation to a large extent . When discussing challenges and lost opportunities one must not that forget that the subscriptions and staff also pose a threat as major publications usually add gifts and offers to attract subscribers and for some time subscribers were also considered as a source of revenue but with the decrease in circulation there has been a downfall of subscribers as well as per the research done by S. Kumar et al(2015) While the cost of retaining staff has increased marginally due to the increase in competition it also leads to loss of staff as employs continue to shift their focus to newer brands and organisations. Michael Gawenda, ‘ Do Newspapers have a future? Furthermore, the most threatening and challenging factor that affects print media such as newspapers is the advent of new media, with rapid advancement of technology there has been a plethora of alternatives as far as newspapers are concerned as per the research conducted by Sen and Nielsen (2016) it could be in the form of internet, websites, mobile devices like cell phones, tablets or even social media. Consumers tend opt for their cell phone devices to access information as it is cost effective, they can get information in real time about anything while sitting anywhere in the world. Wan-Infra (2016) Digital media has completely taken the Indian traditional media landscape by a storm, according to Piya Chhabra (2015) in fact some of the traditional media sources depend on digital media for the news source. The increasing development of digital media has affected print media publication and readership by a large margin.

However, as per the paper written by there is a strong belief that no media can completely replace another media in fact there is always room for all type of media to co-exist especially in the Indian market if they adapt to the new methods of technology and reinvent themselves so as to combat the threats posed by the competition and maintain readership states Dr Kati Forster, Dr Rohn (2013).Publication of regional newspapers in vernacular languages remains stable due to recent increase in literacy in India. Also the reportage of local news in the form of print and websites which includes categories like finance, sports and entertainment have helped newspapers endure the overwhelming impact of digital media claims the research done by Edmund Chukwuma Onwuliri (2019) The growing rate of newspaper websites is a contributing factor in helping newspapers find a solution to the threat of digital media according to The Capstone Report (2011) “Almost all Indian newspapers have their websites wherein each morning their publish their daily edition with compelling visuals and textual content in time which has helped newspapers maintain their stance in the market while retaining their authenticity.” FICCI-KPMG Reports. (2009-2014) “ Indian Media and Entertainment Industry.Some of the media houses are also converging their mediums and venturing into television and radio, media houses like the Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar and The Hindu, etc have their own television channels. The Newswire (2011) Adapting itself to advancement in technology newspapers can easily disseminate news about local, national and global magnitude at a cost-effective price and increase its readership. Chattopadhyay, Saayan. 2012. ‘Online Journalism and Election Reporting in India’. Moreover, unlike other western countries, Indian newspaper don’t really need to fear the impact of digital media as 70% of the newspapers’ revenue is dependent on advertising rather than subscription and circulation solely. In fact in the downfall of circulation, supposedly in terms of advertising, which depends on readership, if newspaper circulation was to be supplemented by readership it would help boost the revenue of newspapers even on the digital platform. Sanjay Kumar, (2015) However the fact that advancement in technology has only recently been introduced to the Indian market and that the growth of internet is still at its developing stage can further assure the fact Indian newspapers are not exactly going to be threatened by digital media . Even if it does it’ll not be a major blow as people in India still opt for newspapers for detailed information as compared to its counterparts, nonetheless targeting the youth would also ensure in becoming one of the major solution to combat the threat of digital media and increase readership as they are the leading consumers of digitals media according to the report written by Rasmus Klieis Nielsen (2018) ‘ The future of India’s newspapers has to be digital and it has to be Now’ Therefore it is safe to state that if anything, Indian newspapers are moving in the upward direction and may only increase their presence in the Indian market. According to World Association of Newspapers (2017)Indian newspapers industry could increase by 17.9 percent in the following five years.

In the past few years, online news starts to become a trend for people getting information in mainland China, but how can we tell some news that appears on online are reliable? Where reliability became the major concern of news. This essay will investigate more on the impact of online news, and how does it cause.

This essay is going to study the effects of online news culture to teenagers, it is valid for study, because at the modern society, it is not only important to read news every day but read the right news that is reliable and truly happened in the society will be more important. As a world, that information is spread out all around the world through the internet, online news is one of the major ways to get information.

But recently, there is a phenomenon happens all around the world, which people produce false stories and presented out as being factually accurate, and we call it “Fake News”. “Fake news” is a major issue, which makes teenager in China misunderstood different cases and can not determine what is right and wrong. This type of phenomenon makes me curious about why will people trust on “Fake News” and what can be the benefits of spreading “fake news”? With the development of internet and technology, more and more people are able to access the internet and read online news, unlike 20 years ago, where people can only get information through the newspaper. The exist of internet brings information for more and more people to know what’s happening around the world, but through the increase of number on accessing internet, “Fake news“ can still exist and spread out all around the world, whether for junior readers or educated readers, and I am getting more and more chance to use the news on the internet as the resources of my study, therefore it is important not only for me but also for teenagers in China, which will help me to have a better understanding of news while researching.

“Fake news” has a large influence especially for the teenagers that is too young and immature to determine the truth while bringing mental damage to the teenagers, and it also brings, negative impact on healthy growth on the teenagers. Even though people have realized how serious is the harm of fake news, but there is always news happened that is able to attract people, and overflow the wrong message around the society.

The methodology of investigation of this topic is that this essay will include primary and secondary resources to investigate teenage’s perspective on different types of news. And mainly categorise media into two types of the group; 1. tradition news company and state media & 2. Media from APPs. investigate on same case of news and see how the online news that created the tradition news company and the website news that we see through APPs and website affect the validity of the news, comparing the similarities and differences and makes a conclusion on the common characteristics of “Fake News” and the way that how media present it into a “fake news“.

Through my study of this essay, it will be looking at the effect of media effect on online news on a teenager living in China on their view, and see whether the news is valid or not, and how to determine validity news.

Body 1：

Traditional news companies and state media are those starts to publish the news on the long times ago, which reading news is the only way to get the information E.g (CCTV, People.cn, BBC). Most of the news is created by those tradition news company and is relatively reliable.

But there are also some cases that the media turns the information into incorrect information and creates “Fake news“. In the new “Where is the waste oil gone? Discover the black chain of the waste oil.” Which published by People’s network, and is developed by People’s Daily and owned by the government. This news is about a journalist exposing the black chain of the waste oil, but the journalist made a mistake, he reported the wrong factory that is using waste oil, which he reported a very famous factory that produces “JingLongYu” oil and is commonly used in China. The effect of the cases is that people stop using “JingLongYu” and the company lost a lot of budget on clarifying their product, as a result, it brings a negative impact for teenage, where they are the concern for their health by having “JingLongYu” oil every day before the news is released.

In addition, the news published by the people.cn not only affect their credibility in media, at the same time, it also increases the concern to the teenagers.

Nowadays, the internet has a great impact on teenagers and their time are mainly occupied by the use on the internet, as well as the news released by the media is also indispensable for them. Like the ‘Jing Long Yu’ incident, the problem may lead the communication and interaction between teenagers and their family members become worse and worse, and even cause an argument of using oil that is released on the news. Moreover, the interpersonal relationship between teenagers and their family might become increasingly apartness, which might reduce the efficiency of studying and having activity from teenagers. Deal to the news attraction of the media for teenagers is so catchy that some of the teenagers might even discuss with their classmates about the news around them for the afternoon. If this happens again, gradually they may not know what news is real and what is fake.

If the same rumour spreads repeatedly through the internet, especially spreads out in social media which most of the parents and teenagers will visit, men by men, as a result, more and more people will start to believe it even though it’s fake. Within a short period of time, there will start a trend which influences the view on society, which people might be questioning on a similar product that appears on the market and forms a strong pressure on public and affect enterprises and companies lost of consumers trust on market, and creates a vicious circle.

Body 2：

Media from apps and website news are those media that appears recently in a tabloid-style E.g(Tomo News, Yahoo News, Tencent News), part of the website news is unconfirmed and produced to cheat for click rate, and through the observations for recent, the common characteristic is that;

• It’s interesting and able to catch people’s curiosity
• It’s happened in a period that one breaking news happened.

The media used some wording that is easy to confuse the audiences.

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan is an accident happens on March 11, 2011, and directly caused a tsunami following and the Tōhoku earthquake. During the period, there was a map released by the media, introducing the effect of the nuclear explosion on the Pacific ocean.

Figure 1: A NOAA map of Pollution of the world after Nuclear Exploration in Fukushima

As we can identify, the black spot on the upper left corner is the place where Fukushima nuclear plant explodes, and the red, orange, yellow colours are the pollutants and radioactive spread out through this disaster.

The map was illustrated by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and NOAA is a government agency in the United States that mainly focused on the conditions of the oceans. Through the presentation from NOAA, the map looks pretty reliable. After a few types of research, the map is actually related to the case of Fukushima explosions, but the map has shown the hight of the tsunami wave height, not the radiation leakage levels of the explosion. In addition, the media ‘repack’ the map and released on the media, claiming that it is a ‘Radioactive Water Leak Chart’.

Even though the map was shown with a lack of details E.g (what the colour stands for and location), but there are still people willing to believe the media that it’s true. According to a Stanford Study finds, nearly four out of ten high-school students believed, the map of Pollution of the world after Fukushima is truth based on the headline and the photo, even though no sources are supporting the news, they still believe it.

Moreover, with the forwarding through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Weixin. There are media in China directly paste the map and claims the exact same message from the western, claiming it’s the nuclear pollutions after the incident. With several types of media release the wrong messages through different platforms, more and more people spread the wrong information to the people around them, especially in the teenage group, it indirectly affects the mindset in teenagers which is Japan is fully polluted by the radiation through that incident and affect the view on society as well as the cognitive development in Japan, with fewer travellers to Japan, people might lose their job and slow down the development in Japan. As a result, it will bring negative impact on psychological quality and society from a teenager’s perspective.

Body 3：

As we know MH370 is the aircraft that lost contact, it was a breaking news during 2014, most of the media are spreading news that is difficult to determine the reliability. Headline E.g ‘Vietnamese found the lost passenger aircraft signal?’ ‘Chinese Boeing President found the MH370?’ are frequently appeared in media.

Since most of the news are not been provided, also the details are limited and unreliable. So we can not blindly believe the news on the internet, we should read it carefully, because wordings like “on-site”, which MH370 does not find an on-site, but through different correction and update, the fake news become more trustable.

After years of investigation, Malaysia Airlines Flight has released a final report on MH370, unfortunately, the flight are still not yet found. With this report, we can clearly identify that all the news related to the MH370 has been found are unreliable.

Solution:

As the teenager, they should always be careful, and do not blindly believe all the news that happened on the internet, think with evidence, and consider the logistic behind it.

As the Government perspective, setting law to ban the fake news, prevent fake news to affect the social order and always provide the vitrified news to the public through media, so that the negative impact of online news can be limited.

Conclusion：

To conclude on both types of the news company, Most of the traditional news company that owned by the government has a higher credit than the media, but for those media owns website news, published more unconfirmed news with less reliable news and produce attractive titles for cheat for click rate. Especially, recent there is a frequent phenomenon for both types of company, they create a very attractive headline, but when you really click on it, the contents are not related to headline that attracts people.

As teenagers although we can learn new knowledge and discover more about the world through knowledge. But it will generate negative emotions, and affect social stability, as well as the view on society by reading fake news and spreading out from a teenager.

Most of the news released might be a biased deal to different perspective, but as a teenager, we should always be careful and do not blindly believe all the news that happened on the internet.

As a result, in order to minimize the effect on online news, when we are reading the news, we should check is the news been approved with evidence, as well as the pictures included in the news, is it provided by a professional agency or not.

Soft news, also known as market-focused broadcasting, is the category and reporting manner that diminishes the border linking amusement and information together. Despite the fact that the word soft news was initially similar to feature news put in papers or TV reports for the individual intrigue, the idea extended to incorporate a wide scope of news sources that gives greater character-focused stories. Customarily, presumed hard news connects the conditions of an ongoing occasion or occurrence viewed as of general neighbourhood, territorial, national, or global importance. On the other hand, soft news, as a rule, focuses on the lives of people and has nearly nothing, assuming any, apparent criticalness. Hard news, for the most part, is concerned with various problems, governmental issues, financial aspects, universal relations, welfare, and logical advancements, while soft news centres around the life and lifestyle of celebrities and human-intrigue stories.

Some studies have shown that there were more chances of female reporters being given the job of presenting the soft news stories related to culture, art, and entertainment as compared to male reporters. Such stories were additionally bound to include females in conventional, instead of expert, jobs. Media pundits and a few researchers communicated worry over the alleged media effeminization, demonstrated by a ‘family news’ declaration from well-known media channels that they were going to give more time to the news that a family, as a whole, could watch. There was an ascending pattern noticed in the volume of soft news conveyed in the three significant network broadcasts. Analysts, for example, Ex-Vice President of the United States of America, Albert Arnold Gore Jr. proposed that a de-accentuation on hard-news stories describes the fundamental and crucial frame of mind of media agglomerates that desire to augment benefits by fulfilling the most significant number of viewers and readers. Regardless, there is proof that the move to soft news from hard news has not halted the decrease in news spectators.

Some argue that soft news debilitates the establishment of democracy by reducing the knowledge of the public about open issues and its enthusiasm for political problems. And that soft news contorts the public’s impression of public affairs and politics. As enthusiasm for general issues decreases, so does their engrossment in the news, and, in this way, what is useful for majority rules system is equally useful for the press. Others have opposed that thought, proposing that the impacts of soft news vary, contingent upon the crowd’s level of enthusiasm for foreign affairs and politics. There are more chances that the least politically involved residents are likely to watch soft news shows more often as compared to someone who is more politically involved. The more politically involved a person is, the more likely he is to watch hard news and prefer it over soft news, and the less politically involved a person is, the less likely he is to watch hard news and prefer soft news over it.

Despite the fact that the impacts of soft news on political information and interest were discussed into the ongoing century, highlights, amusement, and way of life stories kept on being a significant piece in broadcast news material and print agencies. A report from a news outlet showed that, in the United States of America, lifestyle stories and entertainment or stories related to celebrities contributed to somewhere in the range of seventeen percent of telecast stories by time and about ten percent of stories in print by length while stories related to government and political issues such as elections contributed to twenty-one percent of stories in print and fifteen percent of stories viewed through telecasts. (Merriman)

Soft news gave rise to programs which were based on the magazine formats such as 60 minutes news programs which included informative news and entertainment news in equal portions. In the world of today, as there are hundreds of sources of entertainment provided to us through internet and other such platforms, the news agencies have developed their own ways of informing people without making the news boring so that more and more people can stick to watching news media programs instead of resorting to entertainment forums such as Netflix or Hulu.

People usually have jobs starting from 9 am and ending at 5 pm. So, the time slot after 5 pm is specially reserved for soft news as most people turn on their televisions at this time after calling it a day at their jobs. News broadcast agencies acknowledge the fact that people expect something good from them instead of hours and hours of dull and boring news after long hours of working at their jobs. So, to keep their audience from slipping from their hands, they devote the time frame of 5 pm to 7 pm to soft news so that people can have their fair share of knowledge, entertainment, and information at the same time. The programs broadcasted during the time of 5 pm and 7 pm are usually a mixture of hard news and soft news coming from both local and national levels. The mix of hard news and soft news not only lessens the graveness of information but also adds a twist of entertainment so that news media channels don’t lose the interest of their viewers and their ratings are also getting an increase with every program that carefully tends to the needs of their viewers and listeners.

The nature of the stories that the local news covers usually concerns with the issues happening at the local level so that people of that area are well-informed about what is going on in their respective areas and can rest assured that proper measures are being taken to tackle all the problems that have arisen or may arise in the near future. The nature of the stories that the national news covers concern the issues which have the potential to affect people at the national level. Sometimes the stories that the local news covers have also incorporated highlights of what is happening at the national level, but the opposite doesn’t necessarily have to be the case with the stories covered by national news networks.

Both the ABC and nine news networks are now an integral part of the radio, television and online production industries in Australia, in recent times both have played an important role in digital broadcasting and the introduction of new media services. The ABC being a national broadcaster has largely conformed to its service charter which requires its news to reflect on Australian national identity and diversity by requiring it to provide innovative and comprehensive broadcasting services of a high standard across Australia. It is also required to transmit news, current affairs and entertainment programs outside Australia.

Nine news is a commercial free to air television network in Australia owned by Nine entertainment Co. Nine news has a biased approach towards its news with a specific demographic that it seeks to target. The demographic mostly comprised of people over the age of sixty five who most likely depend on TV as their main news source and perhaps audiences with right leaning views of the Australian society, whereas the ABC has traditionally been center in its views and approach.

Key differences could be categorized in terms of political and cultural ideology of these two respective media outlets. For instance nine news can be said in its approach to covering news affecting diverse people, lacks sensitivity to a multicultural and diverse audience that is the core of Australian society. A slight liberal approach in its editorial suggests its viewers are broad whereas the ABC has better researched stories that reflect the general public.

Careful research supports the idea that the ABC is truthful and accurate in its editorial. In its international news the ABC uses emotional headlines while taking a what seems to be critical approach towards the centre right government. Furthermore the ABC sources its information from reliable and credible sources such as the Reuters and associated press. Because it’s a national broadcaster and funded by the government, the ABC strives to discuss topics that affect all aspect of Australian society keeping in mind the ethnic and linguistically diverse population of Australia. At its core, it recognizes the importance of acknowledging diversity and how its news affects different groups of people. One would suggest that ABC has taken on the responsibility to give a platform to views that enhance a modern, progressive country and to push back on stories that are culturally insensitive and unaware. In this regard it could be said the ABC tries to represent the national and cultural identity of most Australians.

In many instances nine news could be argued is in a clash with a dynamic and rapidly changing modern multicultural Australia, its audience demographics and might perceive this as a threat in their approach to storytelling. Together with News Corp’s dominance in the overwhelming majority of Australian Print, broadcast, radio and digital news they have been able to control the narrative and the political landscape of Australian politics. The huge influence of its topics regarding the effects of multicultural Australia and the cultural war between the left and right of Australian society cannot be ignored. A closer inspection of its news reflects the manner in which it desires to steer Australian cultural narrative. More recently in their coverage of Bob Hawke’s death the ABC sought to highlight the group ideals of Australia as a nation capturing celebratory remarks of a life well lived with overlays and reporting to support and illustrate the communal spirit of love and togetherness within the community, in complete contrast nine news from the initial headline such as “the hatchet was truly buried.” “Friends, family and political foes.” Somber overlays, the speech from the current Prime Minister Scott Morrison being labeled as “Gracious words from a liberal prime minister” creating a sense of tension and conflict. The basis of their reporting one would say is to precisely emotionally target its audience who feel disenfranchised by a modern progressive Australia.

Nine news seems to give priority to its order of stories more so in its evening news bulletins focusing on news covering crime and violence. Because stories of fear and uncertainty gets the attention of disenfranchised members in its audience. Much like fox news, its stories largely seek to portray a weak and incapable government that cannot protect its citizens. And in turn its audience feels such media outlets connect with the issues they’re facing. Every effect used seeks to focus the viewer’s mind to a certain narrative in line with its editorial. One example is the’ African gangs’ hysteria and the talking points behind it which are all curated for a certain audience knowing very well that it works and connects with its demographics.

Its main focus on crime can be seen as purposefully putting forward a conservative voice to social issues and arguably using it as one of its models of operating.

ABC is as a national broadcaster and as such has to remain true to its charter, placing importance on traditional practices of journalism; which many people might find uninteresting, considering the demographic and the number of people who actively tune in to watch live news bulletins, on the contrary nine news has no such charter therefore their content heavily relies on their targeted audience and advertisers to generate a revenue.

The bottom line is the cultural shift and the increasing multicultural demographics of Australian society will continue to create new and emerging media, which will see the social and political landscape of Australia reflected accordingly. The question is not whether this will be a right vs. left ideology but one that will accurately tell our stories and struggles through an impartial lens.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C00300
2. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1314/Media
3. https://theconversation.com/australians-are-less-interested-in-news-and-consume-less-of-it-compared-to-other-countries-survey-finds-118333

“Most ‘news’ is just press releases and breathless exaggerations of isolated problems”

Being born right after the turn of the century, I grew up on the cusp of old-fashioned news and the transition into social media. I remember excitedly waiting every Sunday morning for the paper to arrive and get the youthful thrill of feeling like a well-informed adult – to the best of my seven-year-old ability. In my developing teen years however, I stopped reading the paper and turned to social media as a source of global news.

Evidently, social media has quickly become the main source of online news, as it is free and easily accessible. Facebook and Twitter especially, have become the primary informants to consumers globally. Whilst social media definitely has its perks – delivering news faster and more efficiently than ever before and covering stories that the news neglects – it is wholly unreliable. Despite this, people knowingly consume the misinformation delivered daily. The 2019 Digital News Report: Australia, shows that social media is the primary source of news for 47% of those in Generation Z, and 33% of Millennials (Generation Y). These figures are increasing, and these individuals are also neglecting to fact-check their news.

Whilst social media has its blatant issues, ‘genuine’ news – such as the New York Times –has faced a significant downfall. To keep up with the fast paced, exciting and dramatic delivery of news that occurs on social media, ‘genuine’ news sources have turned to developing, as Rob Wijnberg, the founder of The Correspondent says, “one crazy unrelated event after another”. He also states that today, news only focusses on the “sensational, exceptional, negative and current events”.

The sensational news focusses on stories or events that are scandalous or shocking enough to provoke their reading or viewing community to comment or react. This is, states Guardian journalist Joris Luyendijk, why terrorist attacks frequent the news more often than the occupation of foreign lands. This is why highly visible events, such as the attack on the world trade centre, make headlines more frequently than the slow yet continuous decline of the state of the natural world.

The exceptional news is an extension of that which is sensational. This surrounds events or issues that are not – to the news – naturally exceptional in any way, until something entirely outlandish occurs. An example of this is the financial crisis of 2008. What was ‘exceptional’ about this even was when eventually, the Lehman Brothers investment bank had to file for bankruptcy. However, this would not have been ‘exceptional’ if there was any record of what was happening – the continuous exploitation of risk until it backfired. This is what Rob Wijnberg calls the “fundamental mismatch between what is happening (gradual risk increase) and the way news commonly signals what is happening (event-driven sensationalism)”.

The obsession with that which is both negative and recent by the news is also without exception. The news constantly covers the negative aspects of the human race, such as the Neo-Nazis and terrorists, but are quick to neglect those that are making a difference. What about those cleaning up oceans and promoting love? The intrinsically good, law abiding, friendly, neighbourly people in the world? What is negative about the world is quick to trample on that which is good. Not only this, but the news is highly focussed on what has taken place at any immediate moment. The obsession with what is recent means that the global population misses out on developing news such as growing struggles with oppression, changes in society, the development of third world countries or the repair of a country after natural disaster – all events which are important.

The issue is however, that the people get what the people demand. Whilst news is becoming evidently toxic – to a degree – it is on behalf of the consumers. Taken from the 2019 Digital News Report: Australia, more Australian news consumers (34%) would rather invest in an online video streaming service than online news (9%). Not only this, but Australians appear wholly dissatisfied with the state of the news, with only 25% saying that the stories are relevant to them, 44% saying that it is too negative too often, and less than a mere 45% thinking that news companies hold the powerful to account.

The greatest issue is perhaps, that news companies believe that what they’re producing promotes satisfaction within their consumers. This is however incorrect, with current news making us weary of our neighbours and cementing stigmas and stereotypes. Ultimately, it is making us unhappy. The sensationalism of today’s news makes its consumers beg the question “why and how did we not see this coming?”, but really, it has been happening all this time and no one was told of the series of events that lead to one monumental event.

It can be argued that news has always been recording and reporting in this sensational, negative way, however, a new RAND Corporation report (2019) has revealed that over the past thirty years, journalism has shifted its content focus to more subjective, opinion-based pieces. They especially rely on triggering the emotions of their audiences, and argumentation. The most recent RAND Corporation report focusses on “Truth Decay”, defined as “the diminishing role that facts, data, and analysis play on today’s political and civil discourse”. This twenty-eight-year study proves that the factual and ‘genuine’ reporting of news has been lost.

With the thousands of news platforms that can be found at the click of a button, it is difficult to find a news source that is as ‘genuine’ and objective as the news was thirty years ago. Not only this, but the ‘fake news’ that is constantly circulating social media is making it difficult to know what to care about, and what to ignore. Accurate information is intrinsically vital and to become a better informed and free minded population, there needs to be an emphasis on what we really need and want to be seeing on the news.

News happens every day everywhere, from continents to regions, from states to people, which has proximity to our everyday life. As the era evolves, news has combined with the developed technology, transform itself from the old printed newspaper to the convenience online newspaper, which alters the way people engage with it through media convergence. The following will explain the topic in several aspects.

To commence with, with the developed technology, information nowadays can be accessed easily. In other words, news can be uploaded at once without the restrictions of areas, resources and time. Take the recent hot epidemic, COVID-19, as an example, confirmed diagnosis numbers can be immediately updated in government health or news websites (Australian Department of Health 3 May 2020). Information of regional epidemic can be shown on maps by colours on the media. People can get informed at any time. This successfully arouses public health concerns, which generates a trend of washing hands and wearing masks. Unlike in the past, epidemics such as smallpox (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, National Centre for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology (DHCPP) August 30, 2016) and the black death (A&E Television Networks, 17 September, 2010) , technology was not developed. Infected numbers could not be updated real-time and news could be only delivered through printed newspapers. Publishing newspapers was very time-consuming in the past as the process was so complicated. It took lots of time to collect data, be repeatedly edited by sub-editors and editors, enter contents by typewriter and finally print it out. Thus, printing technology was not completely developed at that time. Since news could not be delivered quickly, people could not be aware of the epidemic timely, they didn’t adopt the corresponding public health measures promptly. 75 million people were killed by black death worldwide due to the low level of hygiene awareness (Wikipedia). And now, although COVID-19 infects over 3.4 million people (Taiwan News 3 May 2020) and caused 240,000 deaths(CAN News, 3 May, 2020), the public has already practised anti-virus measures in the early times. Quarantines, self-isolations, social distancing are implemented. Even it is a worldwide epidemic, the infected numbers and deaths were much less than smallpox and the black death. This clearly draws the point that news has become the channel that people can receive current affairs timely.

Not only news has become an informative channel, but it has also become the cohesion of our society. Through technological convergence, news can be visualised through elements such as text, images, audio and videos. Unlike the old newspapers, news nowadays includes these elements and can be visualised, which can be more easily comprehended in-depth. Therefore, when there’s a social threat, people can have more communication and get closer to fight against the threat after news reports. For instance, in 2017, the Blue Whale Suicide Game was very hot, and many teenagers suicided under the instigation by those ‘administrators’ worldwide while over 130 Russian teenagers died from it (Wikipedia). Through the news texts, people can know that the game duration is 50 days, participants must finish tasks arranged by the administrators, such as waking up at 4:20 am, carving a blue whale image on arms (Gemma Mullin, 2 Nov 2019), listening to the designated horror music and finally ending up their lives (Ant Adeane, 13 Jan). Through news photos, people could know how horror the game is and be aware of this social threat. Through news videos and audios, people can understand how horror music and films affect teenagers’ growth (Tareq Aronnyo 22 Feb 2018) and corresponding solutions. After news released, close communications were carried out among many different stakeholders such as schools, parents, social workers and teenagers. For instance, schools regularly held anti-suicide and emotional management talks, parents spent more time to stay with their offsprings, social workers and relevant organisations held activities and got more in touch with teenagers. At the same time, the “Pink Whale Challenge” was born in Brazil and came as an anti-suicide solution against the “Blue Whale Challenge”, which encouraged people to play games and exercise more with their friends and families (New Delhi, August 2 2017). As a result, news has successfully become the cohesion of our society through media convergence. Pick another example to illustrate the point clearer. In 2019, the Anti-ELAB protest was held in Hong Kong due to the corruption of the Hong Kong Government (Young Post of South china Morning Post, 9 Aug 2019). Every day there were protests and protesters strolling around the streets. The police misused their brutality by throwing tear gases and arresting people randomly. The local news media and organizations such as Apple Daily, TheStandNews， South China Morning Post and Hong Kong Free Press, delivered news timely through mobility such as doing live news reporting and uploading the record on social media like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube. People from everywhere around the world could know what happens at once and they could do something to help with the matter. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Conflict is a case to explain the point, it occurred on 11th November, the police rushed into the campus and used unreasonable violence towards the innocent students by shooting rubber bullets, driving specialised crowd management vehicles and use the dyed water gun to hit the students(Kris Cheng & Holmes Chan 12 Nov 2019). Once the audience knew happened, they could take actions to help: the local people drove their cars out and tried to pick up the students; some people even transported supplies such as masks, towels, asthma medicine, gauze and alcohol, by cars to the university (Lo Ting Ting & Dai Ming, 13 Nov 2019); the non-local people forwarded the news to let more and more people know about what’s happening in Hong Kong. Finally, the police retreated on 15th November, and the conflict ended. Hong Kong Police Force was critically blamed by international academia and lawyers for attacking and invading the university. Since then, Hong Kong people were much more united and the foreign forces such as the International Court of Justice has closer cooperation with the local political parties (The Epoch Times, 23 Nov 2019). This obviously shows that news has become the cohesion of our society through technological and textual convergence nowadays.

More than above, news is also the motivation of growing the culture. When there’s a trend, attractive and catchy words and phrases will be shown in news headlines so that people can easily remember them. This encourages more and more people to join in the trend and imitate it. Derivative works are hence created. In 2012, Psy’s Gangnam style blew a viral hit wave all over the globe, the official video has 3.5 billion views on YouTube and has been one of the most viewed videos for years. People started to imitate the horse-riding dance and create music with the familiar melody and beat. In 2013, Ylvis released his new song, ‘What does the fox say”, while Da Zhang Wei’s ‘Bei Er Shuang’ was released in 2016. In the following years, there are also familiar examples, such as The Chordettes’s “Mr Sandman” Challenge (2015), Pinkfong’s ‘Baby Shark’(2016), Vicetone’s “Astronomia” (The Coffin Dance) (2020) and Pikotaro’s “PPAP’ (2016). These songs have won popularity among the audience. Many news organizations from around the world, such as Apple Daily (Hong Kong)( Apple Daily 10 Oct 2016), SETN (Taiwan)(Chow Wing Sun 11 Nov 2016), BBC (The UK)( Heather Chen, 27 Sep 2016) and CBC (Canada)(Ken Moritsugu 28 Oct 2016), reported them. People make videos by copying dance beats or try to perform music in funny ways: the American famous pet key opinion leader (KOL), Maple Cat, made a video about a cat doing the baby shark dance (Maple Cat 14 Feb 2019); the Indonesia hot pet KOL, Mew_Pawmily took the “Mr Sandman challenge” and uploaded a video about ways to take the challenge (Mew_Pawmily 22 Sep 2019); Lord Vinheteiro, the popular Brazilian musician, performed Astronomia by various different instruments such as rubber chicken, piano, flute, MIDI keyboard and drum (Vinheteiro 25 April 2020). From this case, we can see a point that through media convergence, news can motivate people’s creativity and hence grow the culture.

Apart from being the motivation of growing culture, news is also becoming propulsion of developing technology with the benefits brought by media convergence. Whenever a new technology pops out, it contributes to form a piece of news, which can draw much attention from the public. Novelty content about the new technology attracts the readers to buy it, which means news can also act as an advertisement. Hence, more and more people buy products and generate a greater economy. Take Samsung Galaxy Note 10/ Note 10+ as an example, Samsung held its press conference in August 2019 and explained what’s new and why their new products are the lead. At that time, the products nailed the best-selling rank in many countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and China. This invisibly raises up the competitiveness in the industry field, which push the other rivals, such as Apple and Sony, to release products with more developed and convenient technology. Once Note 10+ came out, iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max were released, they came with a higher waterproof depth grade (4m (Apple):1.5m (Samsung)). We can see news can push human technology forwards through industrial convergence from this example. To illustrate the point clearer, let’s take a glance at Apple’s iPad, which was released in 2010. This reinvigorated the tablet market. Tablet devices were widespread after the news released. Since then, Samsung ran its Galaxy Series tablets in the same year while HP released its new HP Slate500, which could run Window 7 on it (Wikipedia). More developed and the latest version of tablets such as Xperia Tablet Z and iPad Pro were released in the following years. Once there is a new technological product, the news arouses the public attention, and this also impels other companies to strive for a more developed technology in order to beat down their competitors and to earn more interests. And this indirectly pushes the development of human technology forwards. There is no doubt that news acts as the main propulsion of evolving technology through industrial convergence.

Undoubtedly, through media convergence, news transformed its old form — printed newspaper, to a modern form with text, images, videos and high mobility. It has significantly altered the way people engage with it. But some people may see flaws in this statement. They stated that there are too many sources of news nowadays as the information is too easy to access. Fake news is everywhere as every news media and organisation wants to draw attention from the people and hence earn more money. People may not trust the news as its credibility is not high enough. Therefore, the news cannot affect people much, which means its influence is small through media convergence. However, this argument is not fully correct. In other words, it is one-sided. Fake news is everywhere, it may not be trustworthy enough to bring an impact on people. But this provokes people’s critical thinking, which has significantly changed the way people engage with it, from trust blindly to trust wisely. We are living in an informative environment now with the mobility of the Internet. Therefore, people used to think twice before they trust the news media and organisation. From this, we can see that news has significantly altered the way people engage with it through media convergence.

All in all, media convergence gives benefits to news such as high mobility, vivid content and convenience. These make news more easily a part of people’s everyday life. People can watch and read the news anywhere at any time, unlike in the past, they need to go downstairs and buy inky newspapers to know the old news. With no doubt, media convergence has altered the way people engage with news.

In just a few years, news consumption in the world has changed significantly. Information overload is an offshoot of such change. The first observation from this trend is that users are exposed to a sheer amount of information. The information available does not correspond with the brain’s ability to process information leading to information overload. This disparity in the amount of information and the ability to process it produces feelings of stress and overload in many people, and possibly reduces our capacity to fully utilize relevant and important information (Cogswell, 1985). We’re inundated with negative news stories daily. Conflicts, natural disasters and other upsetting events are routinely pushed to our news feeds on social media, in newspapers and through our electronic devices. Social media affordances create a way to filter information perpetuating Lanham’s claim that productivity is the new enzyme for self-awareness.

The concept of consumption is originally borrowed from an economic standpoint. The definition varies from scholar to scholar with equally diverging views. Chatzidakis & Maclaran (2020) describes consumption as a life where fulfilment is driven by consumption of goods and services. To meet certain psychological needs, people engage in social purchasing to spend time with friends and family and build social connection. Campbell (2010) traces the history of consumerism to the expansion of needs and wants beyond food, water and shelter; the increased economic capitalization created more disposable income which encouraged luxury purchases. People began to go beyond basic needs to wants. Chatzidakis et al (2020) explains that consumption is further advanced by the perceived illusion of freedom of choice which is fundamental to the practice of a free economy.

The increase of online news, particularly when presented via social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, has affected how we access and consume our news. (Evita March, 2020). When news was delivered via traditional one-way outlets such as television and radio, we were passive receivers. But on social media platforms, we’re active consumers. We sculpt and cultivate our news through immediate feedback, such as reacts or shares.(Evita March, 2020)

Social media holds new implications for news consumption. There is an increasingly blurring line between authentic and non-authentic news stories. Social media seem to be winning as the major source of news as a research from 80,000 digital news consumers indicate they get their news from social media (“Reuters Institute Digital News Report,” 2020).

In a rapidly changing world like ours, it can be difficult to find consensus about anything other than the fact that, we are living in a stressful time. While chaos and upheaval are nothing new, the way we find out about the world, has changed. Instead of struggling to gather information, we are inundated with a ceaseless flow of news, social media and questionable facts 0(Mary, 2017). Often times we feel anxious when we hear about distressing events and have empathy for those who are affected. But, did you know that according to psychologists, negative news could aggravate our personal worries that are not even related to the content of the news story? (Sara Lindberg, 2020)

Results show increased news exposure is indeed positively associated with feeling overloaded. Conversely, news enjoyment is negatively associated with overload. There is also a moderating effect of news enjoyment, such that, high news enjoyment reduces overload effects of high news exposure. These results imply that, while news exposure may have various beneficial outcomes, such as increased political knowledge, it simultaneously relates to greater psychological discomfort. (Chance York, 2013).

Psychological research suggests that the brain is predisposed to attend to negative information. When media content makes us feel angry, scared or sad, we orient toward the disturbing story to make sure we know how to protect ourselves. (It’s that fight-or-flight response again.) The problem occurs when the threat is far removed from us, amplified by the media and out of our control, all of which can make us feel helpless or hopeless.(Mary, 2017).

Amid an unfolding crisis such as a pandemic, news presented via one-way outlets might be less damaging than news consumed online. In early months of COVID-19, researchers found news consumed online and via social media was associated with increased depression, anxiety and stress. The effects weren’t as bad when news was consumed via traditional media such as television and newspapers.(Evita March, 2020)

This isn’t limited to the pandemic. After the September 11 attacks, young people who consumed news via online sources experienced more PTSD symptoms than those using traditional media. This effect was attributed to more graphic images online, and the possibility for extra exposure as people could watch the footage repeatedly.

Multiple studies have found the more we consume news during or after a tragedy, crisis or natural disaster, the more likely we are to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Why are we so interested in bad news, anyway? University of Queensland psychologist Roy F. Baumeister and his colleagues have noted bad is stronger than good. Humans have a “negativity bias”, whereby we pay more attention to negative information than positive.

Those who use social media largely for news, instead of social networking, show increased anxiety and depression. These results highlight the importance of being strategic about how you use social media, particularly during times of crisis.

“It can be damaging to constantly be reading the news because constant exposure to negative information can impact our brain,” says Annie Miller, MSW, LCSW-C, LICSW. When we experience a threat, Miller says our brain activates the fight or flight response, and the systems in our body react accordingly.

Consuming the news can activate the sympathetic nervous system, which causes your body to release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Then, when a crisis is happening, and we are experiencing this stress response more frequently, Miller says physical symptoms may arise. Some of the most common symptoms are fatigue, anxiety, depression, and trouble sleeping.

The case of the U.S.-Mexico border and how the region and its peoples are portrayed by the news media historically and contemporarily provides a striking, although sobering, explanation for why and how, the fearmongering dialogue resulted of more than 62.9 million voters casting their ballots in favor of a candidate who seemed ready at every turn to insult a wide range of non-white ethnic groups, practically any non-conservative community, and, in some cases, entire nations. Donald Trump’s now infamous statement about Mexican’s “bringing drugs, crime and they’re rapists” was far from original, rather it reflected a long-standing practice of politicians using fear to gather votes and to sway public opinion. In this case, national networks played right into the then-candidate’s hands, by allowing the now-president to spout hateful statements with little effort to fact-check or put the assertions into context.

For example, in January 2019, three weeks into the government shutdown, major networks interrupt primetime regular planned programming to air an oval office address where Trump warned national televised audience of the ‘security crisis at the southern border.” Over the course of his nine-minute speech, Trump painted a misleading picture of the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border (Rizzo, 2019). He threw out some numbers, exaggerated the public safety risks of immigration and repeated false claims regarding how to fund a border wall. Trump has relied on false and misleading claims to justify what has long been his signature political issue, and these major networks, along with social media have never stopped showing this type of rhetoric, which is lead to many dangerous accusations that have resulted in igniting fear and angry from American citizens, which is what Trump has always wanted to do.

Making claims that, U.S. border patrol agents encounter thousands of illegal immigrants trying to enter the country every day, over the years, thousands of American’s are brutally killed by these immigrants who have illegally entered the country, and thousands of more lives will be lost if America does not act now. A popular one he always uses is, all Americans are hurt by uncontrolled illegal migration because it strains public resources and drives down jobs and wages Also, of course claims about his “beloved wall” that is going to stop the trafficking of drugs and stop sex traffickers who are killing the children. (Gramlich & Gramlich, 2019). Those who agree with the wall being built believe that the crisis is, the U.S. is overwhelmed by illegal immigration. Their opinion is that people who come to live and work in the country, without official permission from the government, are taking advantage of the country’s privileges and freedoms.

Many feel the wall will prevent illegal immigrants from coming into the country as easily. Hainmueller, J., & Hopkins, D. J. (2013) examined in a research review, public attitudes towards immigration focuses on the attitudes of national majority groups about immigrants and other minority groups. It divides research into two broad areas of political economy, which looks at immigration’s economic impacts with reference to native-born citizens’ individual self-interests. The other area looks at political sociopsychological impacts in which these approaches emphasize the role of group-related attitudes and symbols in shaping immigration attitudes. Such approaches sometimes conceive of immigrant- native differences as similar to differences based on race, religion, perceived threats to national identity, and prejudice and stereotyping in combination with mass-media or local encounters. One study that was conducted identified anxiety as a mechanism connecting immigrant groups with concerns about immigration by manipulating the tone of a newspaper article as well as the featured immigrant group (white European or Latino). When participants were exposed to news that was about Latino immigrants and negative in tone, they responded with increased anxiety and became more concerned about immigration as a consequence. Anxious citizens disproportionately seek out and recall threatening information, a form of biased information processing that has the potential to raise anxiety levels further.

Another part of the review investigated what makes individual immigrants more or less likely to be supported for admission into a new county, participants were given a list of hypothetical immigrants who differed on nine randomly assigned characteristics, including their education, occupation, work experience, work plans, language skills, and country of origin. Even when participants had detailed information about an immigrant’s background, the preference for highly skilled immigrants continued within all respondents. The most preferred immigrant was one who is well educated, and in a high-status occupation, with plans to work, good English-speaking skills, and no prior unauthorized entries. These results illustrate the misconceptions of what immigration brings to America, and these beliefs that are constructed where U.S. citizens establish this thinking of who has the “right” to be in the country, and who does not, is dangerous. Trump talks about building the wall because he thinks about immigration in terms of symbols, and symbols are easy to understand and easy propaganda. “Build the Wall” and “Make America Great Again” are the key phrases he used to get elected, insinuating, that building the wall to keep “illegal aliens” out of our country, it will then be great again, this suggests that symbolic threats can be influential in shaping immigration attitudes.

As if individuals migrating to a country to survive is the only problem that America has. The most influential media platform with this administration, and also the most misleading for this immigration and southern border crisis is social media such as Facebook and Twitter because they have now become some of the most profitable providers of information. At the same time, the public and politicians can control these digital tools themselves allowing them to bypass traditional diplomatic channels and the news media, so that they can distribute their own messages for the world to see at all times and as quickly as they want (Bustamante, 2017). Trump uses Twitter to his advantage by spreading the false information to his base of supporters at all times of the day and night. His tweets have the ability to be seen by the whole world within seconds. With millions of followers who retweet his hateful messages. By using social media, he can then separate himself from the so-called “fake news” is any news that is not from Fox News other media allies of Trump.

However, it is true that not all news media reports misleading information about the crisis at the southern border because there is a crisis. The “crisis” at the border is not the numbers who are arriving but the system’s failure to respond in a humane, efficient, and orderly way in light of the government’s legal obligations and the number of migrants who are seeking protection (Frum, 2019). What not everyone seems to understand is, people migrate for the same reasons they always have, and that is to seek safety and opportunity for themselves and their children, laws and punishment won’t change that fundamental human survival instinct. And also, immigration is not a threat or a danger to our country or our values. At every point in our history new immigrants have been viewed with suspicion and hostility, and some political leaders have always tried to exploit and fuel those fears. But history also shows that in every case, new immigrants have fueled the American experience, have become part of the American people, have adopted English in every successive generation, and have contributed beyond measure to our intellectual, cultural, economic, and political life and success. (Gramlich & Gramlich, 2019).

References

1. Hainmueller, J., & Hopkins, D. J. (20134). Public Attitudes toward Immigration. SSRN Electronic Journal.
2. Bustamante, C. G., & Relly, J. E. (2017). Politics, Media, and the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. Digital Journalism,2(4), 507-523. doi:10.1080/2167081
3. Gramlich, J., & Gramlich, J. (2019, January 16). How Americans see illegal immigration, the border wall and political compromise. Retrieved June 2019 from https://www.pewresearch.org
4. Frum, D. (2019, March 11). If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/04
5. Rizzo, S. (2019, January 09). 11 false and misleading statements from Trump’s border wall address. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/

Representation is created by humans, and it is impossible for humans to be completely objective, which is why there cannot be unbiased representations of the world. Therefore, I agree with what Richard Dyer said that “representation never ‘gets’ reality” to a large extent. Representation only can show part of reality at most, and it can easily be seen from the news that media construct reality rather than depict reality. This essay will discuss the relationship between representation and reality, and also take the news of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement as an example to explain how media affect the truth of the representation.

The political background of the news producer is a significant factor when we consider the authenticity of the news. For example, Wenweipo is state-owned and controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central Government, there is no doubt that their news is biased in favor of the government. In the news of Wenweipo regarding the Umbrella Movement, we can see the heading ‘Occupy Central with Violence’. They used the word ‘violence’ to describe the Umbrella Movement, already showing their political stance, which is they opposed the movement and think it was a social disorder. In contrast, the founder of Apple Daily News, Jimmy Lai, who is a supporter of the pro-democracy camp, and the heading of Apple Daily News ‘Fearless of Suppression’. It appears that they are standing on the side of the protester and appreciate their demonstration. It can be seen that the same issue can represent the opposite viewpoint by different groups and either they are only able to show one aspect of reality. However, the reality is more extensive. The news is always a biased representation of reality.

All representations have gone through the process of construction and selection. The news that we received was the re-construction version of reality, such as it might be emphasized or omitted part of fact, and they would use different texts that are selected to represent ‘the reality’ and manipulate our perspective.

Some news tends to use exaggerated headings to attract attention and boost competitiveness in the market. For instance, the heading of Oriental Daily News ‘Tear Gas Flying in All Directions’ was overstated and that will mislead the reader to think the movement was in a state of utter chaos. The news should merely describe the fact to be more objective, as mention the actual number of tear gas fired by police. Also the news of Oriental Daily News, the heading ‘Reporter Got Shot Too, and Pass Out’ that makes people think the reporter was shot by the gun, but in fact, the reporter was ‘shot’ by the gas tear. It is obvious that they are intended to omit part of the fact.

In addition to the text, today’s news contains many photography elements. The image seems can present more reality, but those images have also been screened as well. Such as the Apple Daily News picked a photo of a protester suffering from tear gas in the news, whereas the news of Oriental Daily News chose to show a photo of a protester breaking a police car window. The reality that these photos attempt to represent was completely different, one of them shows the helplessness of the protester, and another one shows the violence of the protester. Both of these photos are surely fact, however, based on which photo the news is going to select and represent to us, can manipulate our viewpoint of those protesters.

It is dangerous that people blindly believe ‘the reality’ which represent by the image because it depends on how the news reconstructs the reality and which side of the reality they want to present to people.

Good news and bad news for the women of Australia, written by Ittima Cherastidtham, and published by The Sydney Morning Herald on the 16th of September 2018, discusses the prevalent issue of gender inequality in the workplace in Australia. Some of the language techniques utilized by the writer to explain his stands on the gender gap issue are rhetorical questions, statistics, and repetition. This text analyses the positive change over the years on the problem. She elaborates more on the issue of gender pay gaps faced by women in the Australian workforce. She claims the primary reason for this is that “women work fewer hours than men,” especially mothers.

One of the 3 language techniques that were used is a rhetorical question which is used to allow the reader to think deeply in regard to the issue and how they can be influenced by the problem at hand. The rhetorical question used in the text is “How can this be?” The second language technique used was statistics. Statistics give validity to the argument and introduce the author to the article. The example used in the text is “Female graduates earn 27% less than male graduates”. The last language technique is repetition It can emphasize the setting, highlight a character trait, and draw attention to seemingly minor detail.

The gender pay gap is where the midpoint difference between the salary for men and women who works. Most women are generally paid less than men between 78%-82%. In the article, the authors implement reasons as to how this gender pay gap has been limited. For instance, improved childcare policies allow young mothers back to work. The author stated that in the article “1950’s only a third of women aged 25-60 had paid work- and many many women were not allowed to work after marriage. Now, more than 60% of women work- the highest share Australia has ever achieved.”

In conclusion, the article ‘’Good news and bad news for the women of Australia by Ittima Cherastidtham, published by The Sydney Morning Herald discusses the importance of women’s getting less paid. It also has language techniques to help the reader get a better understanding of the text.