Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Compre Religion
Compre Religion
Compre Religion
2
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Passage A
3 And so it should be ... in a perfect worid. But the wodd we live in now is not
perfect. We are quick to judge, and we form hasty and generalised opinions
6.toru w. can get tttu tac1s. And so, the freedom of the Danish cadoonist to
represent a Mualim ptophet as a tenorist resulted in a transgression on tndh,
because, of course, tenorism is not representative of the religion as a whole. 30
Ukewise, protesters around the world storming the Danish embassies exercise
the freedom to express their view that Danes are pro-Weslem, antFlslamic
enemies, which again is an unfair generalisation. As one Dane rallying outside
the Jyllands-Posten office said, 'l don't want to live in a country that in order to
love iiself must look down on gthers", proving that not all Danes share the oftinion 35
of the cartoonist.
4 Freedom of speech is an individual right, and has its basis io the fact that people
are individuals and hence have an entitlement to individual thoughts and
opinions. Yel often, people use this right to express their opin'lon abod
generalised groups of peoples. lt is ironic that a rjght that is so fundamentally 40
groundea on individuality c3n so often become abused in making general'
;cross{he-board statements about people Freedom of speech is often
damaging when sweeping statements are made, because oftentimes they do not
'3
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apply lo the majority.
I 5 So the first step towardg lsafe spgech', is to acknoMedge that the right to an 45
individual opinion entails the right to be seen as ah individual, which comes hand
in hand w-th the nebd lo see others as individuals as well. of course, one has to
I take one's own advice and acknowledge that the issue o{ free speech is not so
simplified and cannol be distilled into a single overarchi!:rg generalisation- Many
other things must be considered, not least of i,i/hich is the trite but true statement 50
I that one person's freedom is likely to always encroach on anothefs- Free speech
insulting someone, even ifjust an individual, will always recruit retaliation, which
is merely the other person's righl to express himself. Freedom of speech is likely
to be an enigmatic concept for some time yet-
Passage B
1 I regard newspapers as more lhan iust the usual commerciai Froducts. The
media disseminates information, news, anal)lses and commentaries- lt influences
and shapes public opinion. Hence ideally, iti cor['arate interests should converge
with the core interests of its home country. The media also provides an important
I channel fqr the govqr-nment and natiojal-leaders to communicate with the
people. And by reporting key events as they occur, the media serves as an
authoritative record of a nation's significanl moments for fulure generations- The
I media, lherefore, occupies a privibged position in society. Editors and joumalists
shoulder a heavier moral and social responsibility beyond that of CEOS and
executives of other commercial companies- 10
I
,2 ln reality, of course, there is no such thing as unfettercd press freedom. Even
the most liberal-rninded person would acknowledge the nec€ssity of some form of
I . regulation.or code,to ensure responsible reporting. Theodore Roosevelt, the 26h
American Prsident, once said, "The power of the journalist is great but he is
entilled neither respect nor admiration because of that power unless it is used 15
I right." Newspaper editors musl always be mindful of the powers wielded by lheir
p€ns or nowadays, keyboards. They have a greater responsibility to society than
merely publishing a sensational story, scoopirE the news or tuming in a bigger
profit for shareholders. There are larger national and societal interests at stake. I
I suppose that is what Roosevelt meant \,vhen he said that the joumalisls should 20
use their power in a right way. Reputable intemational news otganizations also
face this consideration every day. Although their conditions may be different,
I foreign editors have also exercised restraint and censorship '/vhen necessary.
3 You would recall that about a year ago, an Al-Qaeda-linked group in lraq
I kidnapped and beheaded an American conbactor, Nick Berg. The edito.s of
several major US news agencies, including CNN, ABC and CBS, were
I
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confronted with th; stark dilemma of tlhelher to capture viewership .by
wav.
and
personal
i"p..tt"t soat. drt rL oo so
o' pol ical ageioa'
tlrcush-sensglbnal
Ofinions and analytical Fieces on safent lssues
I
-'i.-"J
;;Hil;ti%t-ft per"pectues Hon€ver'. editors- should
iji"' j''oiilt"iJ.a- ashotio ittow ttre commentary and olinion pages 55
"]1'..J!-'*'li"s ;
; #i.;:;;;;''{ ;,; renea orlv blased of parlisan vi9ws" M9q iqecf9nllv'
"iltii*,'so
:il'"J':*;"*J';;iiii
tilLrsi.
:ffi:,tft,5
o"
*t
to s€{ve a hidden agenda- The
ri *'i,JIo
is free to put
""*-"r'*rri'.oi "lanteda,irete,'t ultwp"lnts tJ encourase construclive social
'neda
panot the govemment's position' lt would
I
ffi ffi;$i,il;?'tio- ioL ft"'g*"tmerts propagandist- A discredited 60
me.lia $/ould not serve our natbnal inlerests I
ExcerDt adapted from Horv Free Shoutd A Frce Press Be?
The Straits Trnes, 1 Nov 2005
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