Newspaper quality
I am writing to express my deepest concern over the newspaper industry, which is indeed part of our daily life. When I compare newspapers nowadays with those published years ago, I do find many technological improvements and more colourful contents. But one thing that makes me wondered is the fact that the newspapers’ content is deteriorating. When I was a child, my parents tended to force me into reading newspapers daily so as to improve my common knowledge and my language standard. But now, it is really not hard to find pages with large and colourful pictures of naked girls or of girls with very few clothes on. Indecent stories, advertisements for “making close friends” and all things like that can be reached easily by newspaper readers, regardless to their ages. The presentation of the pages of serious news concerning Hong Kong and the world again always shocks me. Large photos of dead people, burnt faces and bloody scenes are common in newspapers nearly every day. For the newspaper publishers, it may be a good way of attracting attention. But to me, it is a very bad way of presentation as the newspaper is a medium for educating the younger generation. A thousand years ago, ancient Chinese scholars simplified the complex Chinese words into simple forms so that even common people could read. But now, I cannot see a need to simplify the newspaper content further so as to benefit the public. Also, newspapers are valuable because of their literary value, but not of their colourful and extra-ordinarily large pictures and photos. Should the newspaper industry be aware of its own role in society? And should it only focus on the profits? Ms Chan Wing Shan Kwun Tong |
Letter 1 Letter 3
November 1997
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