The problem with the modern media is they do not have a sense of social justice. Do you agree?


Social justice means a society that gives one the same rights and services as all other citizens. I agree to a certain extent that the problem with the modern media is they do not have a sense of social justice.

Firstly, the role of the media is to distribute news and entertainment to the public. They would obviously want to publish news that they think the readers would want, and this sometimes results in news sensationalization and perhaps the distortion of facts. However they may be doing so at the expense of others and hence in their relentless pursuit of news that ‘sells’ or helps to increase readership, they lose their sense of social justice.

Government-controlled media are also usually tightly regulated and can therefore only report in the favour of the government. In such cases their reports can be discriminating and not balanced, usually showing only one side of the issue. For example, in communist North Korea, the government vets all news reported and filters out most foreign news which they do not want the citizens to know. Media is tightly controlled and used as a propaganda arm for the government.

http://countrystudies.us/north-korea/64.htm

However, in fairness, the media still does have some sense of social justice, because most current affairs, humanitarian or societal news are usually reported as accurately as possible to the public. They are highly factual and there is little distortion or heresay.

A Straits Times correspondent heard about excessive spending at NKF, an organization which is funded by public donations. She decided to interview a contractor who had claimed he had installed gold taps in the CEO’s office, because she was horrified by the possibility that a charitable organization would squander money in such a manner. It was because of her strong sense of social justice that the whole NKF saga unfolded.

http://www.asiaone.com/a1news/rv_gen_20050717_story1_1.html

Thus, the media may or may not consider the equal interests of everyone, but it really depends on how one looks at it.