'Nowadays, the mass media do not report the news; they make the news'.

'Nowadays, the mass media do not report the news; they make the news'. i sgree with this statement to quite a large extent. When we talk about mass media we mean all sorts of mediums that spreads messages to the masses. this would include the newspapers,internet,television and radio etc. When we talk bout recent events i imply that it refers to events that are reported from within a few days to about a year as news are contantly updated an changed and and should not be too far back in time.As we can see with the advancement in technology the number of mediums increase as well. Thus the information is more easiily obtainable and reaches out to a larger audience,so the mass media has become more influencial to people's thinking and must report news accurately.

However, this is not what is witnessed throughout the world today.Espacially in other countries where there is freedom of press,unlike in singapore where the press is controlled by the government to a certain extent. these usually include the more open societies like Hong Kong,Taiwan and of course most of the western countries like America and Britain. In these countries they have the tabloids and paparazzi which have almost full authority to write whatever they want about celebrites,politicians and other public figures. these stories that they write are mostly speculaton, or are obtained by "sources that are close" to the publiic figure. For example in Taiwan a female celebrity claim to leave for the USA because of love as her boyfriend was there, however the tabloids speculated that she was pregnant. till now there is still no evidence of her being pregnant yet the tabloids could still say what they want. this goes to show that some media do not report but make news that are juicy in order to sttract readership.

“YouTube has no ethics, it’s been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money.” Do you agree?

i do not agree that the sole purpose of entertainment and money. yes it is true that the creation of youtube has made multi-millionaires out of its creators-3 young teenagers who are now only in their 30s, however earning millions of dollars was not their sole purpose.

In fact YouTube was born when the founders wanted to share some videos from a dinner party with friends in San Francisco. However they could not find an easy way to do so. Emails would reject it because of its large size, while uploading videos on the internet were just to troublesome. Thus they thought up a simpler way to do so YouTube. This goes to show their main purpose of creating YouTube was convenience, to create a medium that allows a simple and idiot-proof way to share one's videos with others around the world, the millions of dollars were their just rewards of their contribution to society.This view has been shared by many as YouTube has received many awards and good reviews around the world.

It is true that YouTube has a very high entertainment value, with humour, thrillers , dramas , home-made videos and many more genres among its videos. However it also contains many educational videos, since all sorts of videos are posted, this include documentrys and directional videos teaching prople all sorts of things like exercise, cooking and many more. The existence of Youtube has created another free source of education for the masses.

It is not fair to say that YouTubes has no ethics. In the first place, YouTube was created to help people, however there are always a few people who choose to abuse this. Since YouTube is for the public, people can practically upload whatever they like, and all YouTube can do is to screen out offensive and copyright material. However some of this material do make it on the net. This goes to show YouTube trys to allow only healthy and legal content on its website and that they are not unethical.

‘The teenage years are the best years of one’s life.’ Would you agree with this view? (CAMBRIDGE NOV 1994)

Yes, to a certain extent i do believe that the teenage years are the best years of one’s life. At such a young age one hardly has much to worry about when it comes to politics, taxes and being a breadwinner for the family, although there are few exceptions. The teenage years are also probably the only few years where one can make true friends. Once they step out into the real world they never know what kind of people they would meet. As teenagers mostly people would not make a friend because of an ulterior motive, however as an adult there are people who stop at nothing for example pretending to be your friend only to stab you in the back just to rise to the top. Therefore, teenage years are the best as one has to worry less.

However, being a teenage is by no means a bed of roses. Teenage years consists of its own its troubles and pains. Being in a competitive society like singapore, even teenagers are not spared. For their whole life till they become an adult, they are constantly competing with their peers. In this society what is most important is the piece of paper called a degree. So for their child's 'own good' parents push their children all the way through their academic life hoping one day they may be somebody. However, this constant pushing since a young tender age takes it toll on people, especially teenagers as this is when they start to have thoughts and opinions of their own. Teenagers start to ge 'emo' feeling the world is a painful place, although not totally because of studies but other social problems they may face as well. Thus teenage years may not be the best of one's life as just getting through it unscathed may prove to be a tough job.