How Can the Media Change the Face of a Nation - Essay Example

01 Feb. 2008 How can Media change the face of a Nation The World is developing with a rapid pace and while the developed countries continue to develop, the under-developed and some developing countries are left behind in the race. The mass media is increasing in its prowess every day and in some way or other it should play a big role in helping the Nations in distress. There are several ways to achieve this, like questioning the acts of politicians, spreading awareness on varied issues and on a whole, in helping people realize where they stand in global context. There are some democratic nations that are not truly democratic, in the sense that they are not 'Government for the people'. The politicians in power use it more for personal gain and indulge in vote-bank politics. The visual media should persuade in inviting such people for having face to face interviews and group discussions, with the happenings telecast live on air for the public. Although it is common in some of the countries, it still has a role to play in questioning the integrity of politicians who need to perform consistently over a long period of time. For example, the Network 18 channel group organizes interviews called 'Devil's Advocate' in India with popular figures being questioned. Many countries should follow suit by interviewing politicians in their locale. Of late, many environmentalists are spreading awareness about the Greenhouse effect. The media should help them in reaching out to the public, informing them the statistics regarding pollution, power consumption, etc. There is a team called 'Action network' formed by BBC news corporation where people can get guidance on starting campaigns, and discuss with others who have the same interest. It is for this reason that in 2005, Action Network was awarded top position in the World Forum on eDemocracy's list, highlighting the 'Top Ten Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics'. Many News channels all over the world should be encouraged like this to initiate such activities of public welfare. The mass media should also help the Government in getting the views of the public. It should also help the law makers by bringing out facts of how criminals get unscathed through the holes in the law. This could happen only if media takes the responsibility in analyzing the case and bringing the results to the public. Media should also bring out valiant attempts like using Hidden cams in places of suspicion, in uncovering bribery, scandals, forgery and record the incidents that they are confronted with. This would help the Police realize, where they stand in terms of protecting the law and would also gain in convicting the law breakers by the evidences received through media. While media brings updated information from all parts of the world, it is imperative for it to make people realize their global position in the field of Science and Technology. News reports of electronic gadgets, industrial equipments and scientific tools and methodologies should help people to upgrade themselves with the changing world. Computerization was a big factor in the world's development and most of which was possible only through the influence of Media. Media does and should help people to know about the satellites, defense equipments, infrastructure and functioning of other countries so that collective efforts can be taken to make their own Government to have such means. Of course, the challenge is big for the media to achieve such a big task because of pressure from politicians, police and some other people. All said, the media should continue to strive in its efforts to ensure public welfare. The public in turn should help the media in achieving the common objective of changing the 'Face of the Nation'. Expatriates in Bahrain - An Asset or a Burden All that is good does not come cheap. This can be compared with the situation in Bahrain. I have read from the news reports that Bahrain, an isolated kingdom in the heart of Middle East has a rapidly growing economy, and in order to answer the question "expatriates are need or not" we need to look into the virtues of either of these possibilities. As I had known through my neighbors and friends who have become expatriates in Bahrain, there is a huge requirement of people who work hard and can be paid cheap, so that it can sustain its financial situation. I feel more expatriates are coming into the nation and one can see all races of people working in Bahrain. It was easy for my friends and my neighbors to get a sponsorship and visa to the Kingdom. They really help us out in these official matters. People get paid well in construction companies. Bahrain has some beautiful buildings with beautiful construction work. So, even my friends working there have earned lot of money and respect for their hard work. Construction work is a big employer. My friends residing in Bahrain have settled down quickly in their life as a result of the free schooling provided together with an advanced educational system. So the Kingdom does encourage people who are coming to their country. The expatriates are definitely required to build even more beautiful buildings, to bring in new ideas in order to develop the Kingdom. But, when I asked my friends, they told that some of the natives have become jealous of them. The local people began to compare themselves with my friends and became jealous of their skills. Obviously, one can understand them, because they are afraid that they would be left jobless. The expatriates do have higher education and are better skilled to work. So, this can be compared to a running race between an athlete and a handicapped. When you think about this as bad, you should also compare the work performed by my friends and other expatriates. They not only helped build the Kingdom, but also have educated people, given a new life to many locals who were suffering from hunger and poverty. So, my advice to the Bahrain Kingdom will be to allow expatriates to flow in, but they have to keep a check on the number of people flowing in. Otherwise, the locals will be left fuming. This will help them to continue to develop their country. The country seems to satisfy its present needs through the expatriates but is not minding the negative effects created. So, I feel that the country should visualize a long term goal in order to maintain its growing economy. We can be sure that the Kingdom does bring out policies in future to have less of foreign population while encouraging Bahrainis to be self sustained. Considering all these factors in mind, I would say that though there is a definite need of a good working force at present. The need for expatriates should be reduced in future so that a compromise can be made between the need for a good economy and the need for a peaceful society. Rationale In my opinion column "Expatriates in Bahrain - An Asset or a Burden" I intended to bring out the situation of expatriates in Bahrain and in more particular, on why they have been allowed in Bahrain and how they live their lives as a minority community. It was written because many of my friends had returned to homeland after having left for Bahrain over the past five years, hoping to eliminate their poverty and also due to the huge attraction to monetary promises in Bahrain as reported by some recruiting agencies. The opinion column is different than any other columns because, it reflects the personal views of the author and also the style of language used will be different. This is done because it will be easy to reach the target audience more effectively and stimulates second thoughts in them about the issue. Also, an effective opinion column would demonstrate the facts through real time occurrences. This had led me to convey my feelings through an opinion column. So, all through my opinion column, I have opined in a grieved tone while bringing out the truth prevailing there. I hope all that I have intended does reach my target audience which includes, the many people aspiring to go to Bahrain for a promising future; the despotic superiors who extract life from the working expatriates and the people of Bahrain who are unaware of this issue. So, my first objective was to show how people get into Bahrain as expatriates. My second objective was to show how on a longer run, the Kingdom as a whole and also the expatriates living over there tend to do to the Kingdom. I have also provided a comparison of the consequences suffered by the local people against the good deeds of expatriates. To achieve my first objective, I have shown the example of my friend who went as an expatriate to Bahrain seeing the educational concession that he could use for his children and the support from Bahrain Kingdom regarding the provision of visa. He was also attracted by the monetary offers from the construction companies and the sheer pleasure of viewing many such beautiful buildings constructed. To achieve my second objective, I used the same friend of mine who had grabbed the chances of the local population leaving them with a fear of losing their jobs. I have also presented an example of the generous behavior of my friends in helping out the local people. Finally, I have given a simple suggestion on what can the Kingdom do to meet the pressure of supporting the locals while furthering their economy with the help of the expatriates. While I had a big challenge in writing the opinion column because of different expatriates have varying experiences of life in Bahrain, I needed to express without exaggerating them. On a whole I think the opinion column has been effective in revealing the facts because of covering the wide range of factors involved in this issue. MEDIA Outline I am going to focus mostly on the issue of "How media can change the face of a Nation" To address it, I will discuss the following points, that make any form of media effective, Questioning the actions of politicians who are already in rule, through interviews, questionnaires, etc. Making people realize of their environment on varying aspects like reducing pollution, power saving, philanthropy and promoting activities of public welfare Educate law makers on how some criminals make use of holes in the law to escape from the serious offence committed by them Bringing out the hidden actions like scams, bribery, connections of politicians with underworld, etc through hidden cams and other means. Teaching the police of how ineffective they are in uncovering and solving many of the above mentioned activities Bringing out the News all over the world in the field of Science and Technology to help people know where they stand in their country as compared to others in the technological arena To support the above points, I'll use some facts and statistics like how some particular channels have made this happen in their country. I'll also give out concluding points of how the media could face many challenges from politicians, police and others while they try to achieve their objective of changing the Nation through handing over these people to law. Read More