Public and Private Censorship Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Public and Private Censorship - Term Paper Example Rather, it is much more reasonable to assume that profit and market dominance will be the driving force. This brief editorial will seek to analyze the ways in which the media has recently come to be dominated by just a handful of players, what this means for journalistic integrity, and how this bodes for the future of democracy within the United States. Regardless of the individual branding that greets the reader, listener or viewer of the particular media outlet in question, the fact remains that Viacom, NBC Universal, Walt Disney, CBS Corporation, News Corp, and Time Warner ultimately are the owner and/or the fiduciary agent behind whatever firm is being represented (Taylor 1). Whereas just 20-30 years ago, the field of media firms could not be described without tracing a complicated tree of ownership back to about 40 distinct and separate firms, the field has been progressively narrowed as a mass of mergers have taken place. Just as with the banking industry, these mergers have co nsolidated power within the hands of but a few ultra-dominant market forces which have the power to mold and shape the way that Americans view the world and what particular items of interest are presented to them in any given instance. As such, the level of journalistic integrity that comes to be displayed is highly suspect as the goal and point of the controlling interests is to display their own point of view, gain further profit margins, and provide a powerful form of competition to their rivals. As can be noted from the direction that the news media has shifted within the past few years, the main drive is focused on sensationalism, high definition graphics, and other somewhat â€Å"cheap† ways of integrating with the audience (Morris 1). This can be seen as a means of compensation for the lack of journalistic expertise and excellence within the field. As a function of the fact that stories are not researched and fact-checked anywhere near the level that they used to be du ring the heyday of American journalism, poor quality and a litany of misprints and outright false information have been foisted upon the viewer, reader, and/or listener. Naturally, such a concentration of media power begs the question of to what degree the journalism is consumed is tainted by a high level of propaganda. One need look no further than the recent raucous with regards to the New York Times and the way that government â€Å"gatekeepers† give the final clearance for each and every quote that is attributed within the paper to understand the level to which a â€Å"free and impartial† media is merely a figment of the imagination. The scandal in question began when the Romney and Obama campaigns had ultimate access to the newspaper’s publications before they went to the presses (Michelson 1). The reason that these â€Å"handlers† were allowed to review the news before the rest of society did was given to ensure that the campaigns stayed â€Å"on m essage†. However, as the reader can quickly infer, the message that is being presented is only a doctored view of reality and is likely oftentimes not the truth that would otherwise be presented.  

English is seen by some as 'the global language'. Discuss with Essay

English is seen by some as 'the global language'. Discuss with reference to some of the domains in which English is gaining mos - Essay Example In order to do this, the countries force learning English through their educational system seeing to it that people master the language to decent extent. In case the countries, which adopt certain language as their ‘second language’, are influential enough in the world arena, it could be considered to be a global one. Why do we need a global language? The reason for some kind of international means of human negotiations is quite obvious: people from different countries need to have certain tool in order to communicate, understand and get on with each other concerning some mutual issues. In modern world, where exists a huge amount of languages, it is not possible to solve the problem through bilingualism and trilingualism and, thus, some commonly accepted and understood language is obviously needed. Such language is usually called lingua franca, and implies some simple rules application, so people would not meet a lot of difficulties when learning it. In these terms, a no tion of pidgin arises, which means that common language is drawn towards simplification and combines features from various languages (Todd, 1984). Furthermore, using common language is quite favorable in that sense that this practice significantly reduces costs for translation and interpretation work. Such international establishments as World Bank, UNESCO, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF spend a great part of their budget for removing all the discrepancies in their communication concerning diverse languages usage. Different business and scientific communities also favor from common language adoption as this would ease their exchange of experience essentially. Reasons why English is the global language There are a lot of factors, which forced English to be the global language and in order to analyze them we separate all the reasons into three main groups: geographical-historical, socio-cultural, and linguistic reasons. Geographical-historical reasons Geographical-historica l reasons are closely connected to English expansion through America, Asia, Africa, Australia and the whole South Pacific region, when English colonies were established in these areas. Specifically, English language came to British Isles from northern Europe in 5th century and rapidly widespread nearby areas of Scotland, Cornwall, Wales, and Cumbria. Further significant expansions of English occurred just at the end of 16th century, when English settlements were established in Virginia and New England. Active population movements within American continent led to English assimilation of new territories in the area of the Great Lakes, Texas, and California. Further, waves of immigrants moved to Canada and gradually expanded to the Caribbean islands and South Africa in 17th century, Australia and New Zealand at the end of 18th century (Kachru, 1988). Such powerful expansion led to presence of English an all parts of the world including St. Helena island in Atlantic region, Seychelles i n Indian region, the islands Hawaii and Fiji in Pacific region. Socio-cultural reasons Socio-cultural reasons are closely associated with dependence of various areas on English in terms of social and cultural development. A huge amount of world broadcasting programs are conducted in English, when you travel you always meet advertisements and signs written in English, if you