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Zhiyang Wei

Prof.Valerie Fong

ENGL 1S

Oct. 18, 2017

The Purpose and Value of a Free Press

Recalling the past world of free media, not so much the development of society, as it is

human liberation. From the initial newspaper, television and other people from the one-way mass

communication in the liberation of the blog began to "personal portal" in the form of active

communication, and then to mobile social media such as Facebook and Twitter that help people

to build their own social relationship network. The ability of individuals continue to be liberated,

making people no longer passive receiver of the object, but the subject of communication. At the

same time we also see that media plays an important role in social change, as well as information

exchange, so let us begin to reflect the media to bring us the value and use.

As an information bridge, media in many cases plays a very important role, especially in the

mutual understanding between the East and the West. In the 1970s when Soviet Union lived

under the shadow of the Cold War, communism and capitalism at that time were competing for

the world's hegemony. On the one hand, media from both sides constantly advocated the

superiority of their respective social systems, the welfare and enjoyment. On the one hand,

people who lived under two different social systems saw both the superiority and shortcomings

of the respective social systems. They also noticed countries of different social systems have

produced information exchange. This kind of communication is very meaningful for people to

break their own inherent ideas, so that people have the ability to get enough information to
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understand these life content. This mutual media information exchange to some extent makes the

Soviet Union finally disintegrate. In the Citizens Rising, it was media that spread news and

information of protests and revolts from one corner of the empire to another and gave people a

voice. Whatever pressures pushed Gorbachev to initiate political and economic reforms, it was

through the media that the Soviet people experienced change.(Hoffman 15) There are many

examples of these, and the exchange of information between the East and the West is becoming

more apparent. In the non-stop development, technology also continues to advance. In China, in

the past government did not like the current social software so developed, like newspapers,

television, magazines. These media are tightly controlled by the government. We can only watch

what the government want us to know. But with the rise of social media in recent years such as

Facebook and Twitter, we can acquire domestic and foreign news through these social software

including those we cant watch because of the media control by Chinese government such as

news about Tibet and political struggle in China. It helps us to look at the problem from different

angles, so we can think about the truth with critical thinking. This kind of media information

exchange is very important.

The role of the media is not only to bring news, now it is more to promote social progress.

Media has a high focus on the ability of people, making the media in recent years more and more

into a promotion of social progress and even break the national dictatorship monopoly of the

tool. In Citizens Rising, Politics and the mass media were becoming totally intertwined (

Hoffman 30). We can see that the Arab Spring through non-stop publicity of social media,

making many Middle East countries begin to overthrow their own dictatorship. The power of this

media can not be ignored. There are many similar cases in the United States because the media to
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promote the United States continue to make progress in society. For example, we are most

familiar with Amber Alert which originated in 1996 after a nine-year-old girl was abducted and

murdered. At that time all the media kept reporting the case every day, urging the police to solve

the case. But also to allow the police to see the media and the masses in the importance of these

cases, which led to the final promotion of the establishment of child protection law, also set up a

later Amber Alert. It is precisely because of media supervision, so that we now have a lot of

bills to be established, so as to promote the progress of the entire American society.

The value of the media is not only reflected in the news, but also in the media as a way for

the public to make a voice. The media needs to listen to the public views on government policies

or decisions and reflects them in the media, so that the government and parliamentarians can

listen to what the people really think. At the same time the media is also a constraint to the

government and a means of government supervision. It is easy to make a fetish of technology,

however; in the end, it is people who make the difference, individual innovators and activists

who realize the colossal power of electronic media to bring about social change (Hoffman 16). I

remember when I first came to the United States, the outbreak of theumbrella movement in Hong

Kong (dissatisfaction with the election of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special

Administrative Region) was the first sexual protest movement in Hong Kong since it returned to

mainland China in 1997. At that time through the media's non-stop publicity and reports, the

campaign lasted three months. Although it eventually ended in failure, but the media has been

promoting social change. From the beginning of several social organizations in the media call, to

the people began to gradually pay attention to this political issue through social media, and

finally to the subsequent national parade protest. Everywhere embodies the role of the media on
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social change. I have asked a friend of mine in Hong Kong why the procession, he said: "discuss

politics with friends in private, society will not have any change, and only through the social

media discussion, or let the media publish the voice of the public, this society is likely to change,

we do not want to be changed people.

We can easily find out that the freedom of the media bring our lives more and more changes,

whether it is to promote social change, or bring the exchange of information, or supervise the

government, it has played a role that can not be ignored. So that we have to pay more attention to

the freedom of media as social progress, the rise of social media, free media is also constantly

developing.
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Work Cited

Hoffman, David. Citizen Rising Independent Journalism and the Spread of Democracy. CUNY

Journalism Press, 2013.