Saturday, April 12, 2008
6:16 PM
New Media-Power to the people or threat to stability?
The New Media is an essential tool in people’s lives nowadays. Many people post their comments on the Internet, which is also called the social media, on platforms such as blogs, message boards, forums, pod casts, online communities and wikis. The effects can be deemed as beneficial or harmful, depending on the nature of the article.
The New media can be considered as a power to the people as it is the only platform where people can voice out their opinions can concerns freely without fear of leading to implications. In the first article, it states that some bloggers expose mistakes and biases in the MSM within hours or even minutes of an article’s release. This is actually beneficial as the power of the people’s freedom of expression can help to correct people’s errors.
It must be noted that there are certain blogs that advertise products. The Internet is a superb advertising tool as products can be advertised globally due to its large platform. People have used this power by advertising on blogs and forums, ranging from food blogs to health blogs.
The Internet has proved invaluable as a way for concerned citizens to offer support to each other, and to act together for political and social change. Take for example, the recent issue about Egypt bloggers preparing for a second strike on the regime. Egypt bloggers, who rarely conceal their real identity, have taken on the role of bridging the gap between civil society’s desire for democracy and worker’s demand for better pay and working conditions. Youtube has allowed the outside world to know about the disastrous casualties of the demonstrations in Tibet through footages taken in Tibet which was being covered up by China’s attempt to minimize the actual losses. Many concerned citizens voice out their concerns and sympathy for Tibet and lambast China’s actions online.
However, new media can also spirals the harmful threat to stability, such as the latest arrest of three young men under the Internal Security Act for their terror-related activities that signal the threat of self-radicalisation which is stated in article 2. The pervasive spread of extreme ideas on the Internet is a great concern for authorities and communities, especially Singapore which is extremely vulnerable due to its multi-racial community. As an open society, Singapore will continue to be exposed to this source of radicalisation. Terrorists have previously been exploiting the Internet for fund-raising, training and planning purposes. For now, they have realized that the Internet is the best and direct way to gain access to their audiences, from spreading radicalisation to recruitment purposes. It must be ensured that the new media will not be used as propaganda to endanger a regime’s stability.
In conclusion, I feel that the new media has brought a new power to the people by giving them a platform to voice their opinions freely, but it must be ensured that this platform will not be abused to such an extent that it threatens stability. New media is therefore important and should be protected so that it can be put to good use.
http://digital.asiaone.com/Digital/News/Story/A1Story20080408-58610.htmlComments on previous entry: New Media by Kia Woon
I agree with Kia Woon’s view that new media will be a complement to primary reports by professional journalists instead of completely taking over the role of mainstream media. Since most bloggers do not have the professional training as journalists, some of the posts they made are just filled with nonsense and are not constructive. In contrast, the mainstream media reports more factual news which are at least 80% true. Therefore, more trust should be placed on reports made by the mainstream media and not by comments and opinions of the new media. Occasionally, comments of the new media can be used to supplement the loop holes of the mainstream media so that actual news reports can be reported to the audiences in a clearer and more truthful way.
Jessie:)
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