Holiday homework!

Answer ONE of the following questions. Your essay should be between 500 to 800 words. NO crap please.

1) Are civil peace and freedom of press mutually incompatible?

2) ‘Freedom of speech is a basic right – as long as the speakers do not abuse it.’ Discuss.

3) Advertising encourages a desire for products which people do not actually need. Discuss.

4) Can the media ever be relied upon to convey the truth?

5) People get the media they deserve. Discuss.

6) The mass media today is too heavily influenced by commercial interests. Discuss.

You should use material at the following links. You may of course use other material you have found on your own accord. If you quote these material, please indicate the source(s) of your quotes.

Cultural Cacophany: These are noisy times in the arts and media, but it doesn't mean we are dumbing down.

Excerpt from Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman (1985)

“Screen-agers” and the perils of information overload.

Marshall McLuhan, the High Priest of Pop Culture: "The Medium is the Message".

Censorship struggles: The British courts seem to be getting it wrong about free speech on the internet.

Dialectics Of The Dais: Why is sport an appropriate avenue for the extolling of nationalism? What are some of the forms of nationalism that come through in the media depiction of sport and the Olympics?

For the Swazi media, HIV/AIDS is public scourge and personal demon.

Guardian forces government u-turn on freedom of information.

Journalists on the Controlled, Censored and Biased Media Coverage of the Iraq War. (This webpage collates articles from many different sources; you should check out the ones that pique your interest.)

Notes on the Construction of Reality in TV News Programmes.

The truth is out where? Honesty, media and politics.

Freedom from the Press: Why the media are the way they are (From Singapore: The Airconditioned Nation)

I want the essays in by the first GP lesson after the week's break.