Commonly Asked Speaking Part 3 Questions and Their Answers:
Question set 2: Two-way discussion/ Details Discussion.
Topic - "Family":
Answer: Everything is changing around us, and families are not an exception to this trend. Nuclear families have flourished across the country, and the number of such families in our country is now notable. Many large families have gradually turned into smaller units over decades, and such small families consist of a father, a mother and their kids. Apart from the size of the family, the amount of time they spend together has also decreased. I think it is due to our busy schedule, and our dependence on technology. It is often noticed that family members scroll on their mobile phones rather than having an activity together or talking to each other. Finally, the traditional role of women in a family has also shifted from taking care of household chores to working outside and contributing to the family budget.
Answer: I think that the husband and the wife, in a family, should equally share the responsibilities and duties. The traditional gender-based role is diminishing in this fast-paced modern society. My experience says that without sharing the responsibilities, a family cannot run well and consequently, the relationship turns bitter. In a sense, a family is like a vehicle where the husband and the wife are like the wheels. If the wheels do not fit, it becomes impossible to run that vehicle. All the wheels need to be equal. Thus, the husband should share roles and responsibilities with his wife and take care of household duties while a wife should also support her husband when it comes to managing the expenses.
Answer: Umm! It is a tough question to answer. To me, my family is the most important part of my life. But this does not make my friends any less important to me than what they rightfully deserve.
The family is the place where a person belongs. The members of a family play the roles of a coach and teach the most important skills and lessons to survive and succeed. Their love and support are unconditional. Friends, on the other hand, are like the reflection of our own images. We can share anything, I mean absolutely anything, with them, and they are there when we need their help and mental support.
Answer: Well, this is a thought-provoking question for me, and I will answer it honestly from my own experience.
There might arise some situations when someone has to experience a conflict between family and friends. It could be because you need to share your time with family and friends. If you are supposed to be with them both, let's say on an occasion when two birthday parties collide, the conflicts may arise. On top of that, if your parents think that you should not spend time with a certain friend whom you, on the contrary, like a lot may create unpleasant situations. Finally, when you start bringing many friends at home and start spending too much time with your friends outdoor, your family may disagree with that.
Answer: Well, parents are the best teachers in the world for their kids. So, they should play their role properly, and this role is not limited to feeding or taking care of them only. They should make sure that their children grow up in a conducive environment and learn morality. Moreover, they should teach their offspring to be patient, social and caring. Through this process, the parents will help build a sense of perseverance and cooperation among young children- which I believe will help them go ahead in their lives. Besides, the parents should also take necessary measures to educate their children as education is the most important thing that a human can gain in life.
Answer: Hmm, the children also have some sort of responsibilities to their parents. The most important issue is that they should abide by all the orders and suggestions without questioning. They have to keep in mind that the parents never want their kids to be harmed in any way. Their love and affection towards the kids are priceless and unique. So, they should also respect parents properly. In the current days, the kids are tending to disobey their parents which are entirely unwanted and the events should be changed. If the kids follow the orders of their parents, they should be able to shine in future. The blessings they will receive from the parents will help them moving ahead easily in the coming days.
Letter:
Answer: Well, letters and e-mails are different in several ways. Though both of them are used for communication, they differ in their nature. The first one is manual while the later one is electrical. To write a letter, you’ll need a pen and a paper, then you are to go for the post office to post the letter yet sometimes it remains unknown whether the letter will be delivered or not in some cases. But to compose an e-mail, you need a computer with an active internet connection. You also need to have an e-mail account to send the mail while the recipient also needs the same – an e-mail address to receive the e-mail. But sending emails have some benefits which are not found in posting letters. The important issue about e-mail is that it is much safer than sending letters. Only the intended recipient is able to read the e-mail while the letters could be read by anyone as those are sent using envelopes which are insecure. You can send e-mails to any parts of the world where there is an internet connection, but on the other side, postal service is not enriched around the world and sometimes letters go missing for several reasons. Earlier, people used to send letters and wait for months for the reply but those days are over now for the dint of e-mail. An e-mail can reach its recipient within a couple of seconds after it is sent.
Answer: Umm! No. I do not keep diaries at all now. But when I was a teen, I used to keep a dairy and penned all the events of the day on that. Sometimes I used to read the diary in my leisure hours and remembered all the events through my imagination. I gave up keeping a diary after I got promoted to my high school; I had to be very busy with my studies and extracurricular activities and sports events. My engagement on different events increased that made me highly occupied and I hardly could manage time for keeping the diary. Earlier, when I kept the diary, I spent around one hour in a day to remember all the happened events and then wrote them in the diary. And it was night time when I wrote. But I tried to reduce the time and someday I found that I’m unwilling to keep it. The writing appeared troublesome and with a tired body, I could not write well. Since then, I gave up the habit of keeping my diary.
Answer: There are huge differences between a diary and letter. First, the difference is about purposes. A letter is written for someone to inform over any specific issues who is living far away from the letter writer, and a diary is basically the combination of all the events that someone has experienced throughout the day. There are a few similarities are found as well like the letter is sent with information while the diary is also filled with information but the uses are different. Moreover, a diary is always private while the letter may not be private always. Diaries provide pleasure to the diary-keeper while the letter could carry either good or shocking news. Diary keeping is a habit for many of the people who want to save the past events of the day on the pages while a letter is not used unless it turns necessary. A letter is written on a sheet of paper while diary is written on a small-sized book with empty pages. The letter needs to be sent using envelopes and stamps while the diaries could be kept at any place at home as those are not need to send for others. Additionally, a diary contains the thoughts and emotions and many necessary or unnecessary facts and information of an individual while the letter contains only the essential information.
Answer: Thanks for your question. Communication has experienced the greatest change and there are wide ranges of communication systems. The humankind started to progress with the invention of the wheel and since then the communication has gained many ups and downs. We can see a good number of communication modes now like telephone, telex, e-mail, letter social networking websites etc. but those underwent different upgrades from time to time and they were not in the situation as we are experiencing them now. I also have heard that a long ago people used a pigeon to send messages from one place to another, though a bit risky communication mode. After the initiation of postal service, it was a kind of relief for the people and communication became easy for them in the then context. But when the modern communication modes got invented, it becomes easier for them. The modern communication modes spread rapidly within a few decades and now people rely more on the modern modes instead of the traditional communication modes.
Answer: Umm, if I want to say the importance of letter about 20 years ago, I have to recall the memories and stories that I heard from my parents. My father once told me that letter was the only mode of communication and it worked well for the international communication. He said that people living abroad used to send letters to their near and dear ones and a letter usually took about one month to reach the destination from the country it was sent. The recipients became highly happy after receiving the letters. But the scenario is different in the current days. Letters have lost their importance almost across the globe. It has happened for the advancement of technology and the invention of modern communication modes. Letters are still being used in some parts of the world but they are being replaced with e-mail, telephones and social networks. The internet and computers are available around the world and people are tending more to communicate electronically than writing a letter and wait for that being sent to the recipients. But there is none to blame for the letters to be replaced by the modern modes. This is quite natural and if something more interesting and important is discovered, people will turn to use those as they are currently using the modern modes.
Answer: Well, letters are is unable to play important roles in the current days as they did 20 years back. In those days, letters were written for numerous purposes and even people composed letter to let their near and dear ones know about the slightest issue of their life. But now the scenario is different. People are using modern communication modes telephones, cellular phones, e-mails, social networking websites etc. to communicate and share their issues. Moreover, the modern modes are speedy and can send the messages within the shortest possible time while the letters took longer times to be delivered. But letters are still important to some of the people, especially the senior citizens who have experienced the golden age of letters. They like to get and send letters to their near and dear ones even in the modern days.
Answer: Umm, to me the meaning of creative writing is something different. I think this is beyond the usual writing genre like academic or professional writing. In fact, the definition of creative writing is not well defined. It is basically different from the academic writing and become creative when a writer comes up with the ideas and issues which are nonconventional in type and never been used before. Sometimes it is used to earn living for the writer as well. Scriptwriting could be a notable example in this case. The writing style is different and does not follow any rules. It could be connected and compared with literature. Usually, in literature, the literary pieces are few and in some cases, only a single piece is composed. So, they remain unique always. Similarly, creative writing does not produce the same thing twice. It is also different from the other types of writings for the theme of such pieces is unusual and difficult to comprehend for the people except for the targeted group.
Answer: No, I don’t think that post offices will disappear after 20 years. If there were even tiniest chances of the post office being disappeared, they would have been disappeared right after the invention of e-mail or the telephone. Post offices are maintained by the government and it is up to the government’s consideration to close the post offices. But I think the governments will not do so. Letters are sent through the post offices and thus the post offices are the traditional sources of communication. It has played a very important role earlier and now it is also important in some cases. The governmental documents are transferred from place to places through the postal departments. Besides, it cannot be said that the postal department is entirely inactive. Further, there are always some underprivileged people found in every society and they do not have access to the modern communication modes, and so use the services offered by postal departments. So, for all such reasons, I think post offices will survive even after next 20 years.
Answer: The computer is the greatest invention of modern science and it plays numerous roles in the society. In the current times, you cannot think of a house without a piece of computer regardless of size and shape. It has occupied the entire world randomly. The use of computers is not limited to counting or word processing only; the uses are limitless and cannot be listed as well for its vast applications. Computers are used for everything including designing needles to sketching a rocket or aeroplane. It is of great use to everyone in the society. The educative value of the computer is also great and helps spread education easily using its multimedia features. The people of the modern world cannot do without a computer for a single moment as they are habituated to rely on the computer for everything. Despite being a machine, it has occupied us like an ever-present companion. So, in a word the benefits and importance of computer are countless in the society.
Answer: Well, computers have brought revolutionary changes in the present world than ever before. This is a machine and no other machines turned as popular as the computer on the planet. Earlier, people used to analyse data or count them manually but with the invention of computers, data processing or analysis has become easier than ever. It has changed the world like a storm and almost all the changes are positive for humans. Now there are not single sectors where computers are not used for. The professors are also positive over using computers. They use the machine to spread knowledge among the students and use it as a medium to store their knowledge as well as gathered resources. So, it is also a blessing for them, I think.
Environmental Problems:
Answer: Well, the environment consists of a wide number of elements including man-made and natural. But most of the cases, the environment is troubled with the activities undertaken by the humans. Besides, there are some other natural disasters that also cause the problems. To make it clearer let’s take some real-life examples. Generally, the environment is made of air, water, soil, rocks, fire, animals, plants, humans, climate and other available elements. The natural environment is also known as the ecosystem and when there is some imbalance in the entire environment, it gets degraded. The imbalances have serious impacts on the environment. The non-environment friendly activities like rapid changes in the technological sectors, engineering, transportation, shipping industries, mills and factories, increased use of metals and plastic in home and offices, changes in the manufacturing sectors, wide use of chemicals and pesticides on food crops, indiscriminate deforestation, mining etc. are responsible for the degradation. As a direct result of the environmental problem, each of its elements is getting affected directly. The climate has started changing while the natural disasters are appearing more frequently than the past days. You know, earlier there were six seasons on the planet earth but now the seasons have been reduced. Besides, the many of the wildlife species have been extinct as they lost their space owing deforestation. Moreover, due to global warming for the increased use of chemicals and gases, the sea level is on the rise which is also a great environmental disorder and may bring a disastrous impact on the low-lying countries of the world.
Answer: A government is the sole and legal body of the country that owns the right to make decisions about any issues and thus the government can do lots of things to protect the environment inside its legal boundary. It just needs to formulate the necessary rules and regulations and implement them in the right manner. Besides, a mass awareness against the environmental degradations should be formed so that people could abide by the law. Moreover, some practical actions should also be taken like polluter pay the fine. In this way, the one who pollutes the environment should pay taxes to reduce the damages caused towards the environment. It should be kept in consideration that once the damage is done to the environment, it cannot be undone anymore but we can reduce the extent of the damage. So, the government may formulate principles and rules which comply with the situations and inspire all in protecting the environment. Raising public awareness is one of the most important factors in the protection of the environment and it should be emphasised more and more. It is not possible for the government alone to solve all the problems rather it needs assistive hands to support the initiatives. Additionally, the government could also arrange for regular monitoring of the activities if they are functioning well or needs improvement.
Answer: It’s a very good question. There are a large number of steps which we could adapt to protect the environment. Usually, goods and products are produced for consumption. So, we should check before consuming if those goods or services are produced in an environment-friendly manner. If the goods are non-friendly to the environment, we should start rejecting the products. Secondly, we need to be aware of the negative consequences of environmental degradation. We are to keep in mind that if the environment is degraded or polluted, in the long run, we are to suffer the consequences. With the name of development, we are cutting down forests and marching towards a new era of modernization. But we never think that the deforestation is damaging the environment and gradually warming the planet which will raise the sea levels and after a certain time the earth will be uninhabitable for all. We are polluting the air, water and the soils. We throw our wastes here and there which pollute the soil. Oil spinning, the mixture of chemicals from industrial wastes, throwing wastes into water etc. are causing water pollution. So, we have to check the things and never act like foolish by throwing such materials in open space or in places that could damage the environment. Besides, if there is any state regulation about the environmental protection, we should abide by the directives.
Answer: Environmental protection is a large issue and it is impossible for the government’s monitoring agencies to check all the places at a time if there is the violation of environmental protection rules. So, the responsibilities are on the shoulder of the commoners. Only raising public awareness is not enough to prevent the environmental problems. I think the issue of environmental protection should be injected to the young generation and it could be done by adding the issue to their curriculum and textbooks. Besides, massive consciousness-raising campaigns should also be initiated. Sometimes there are some conferences and meetings held over the environment protection but no traces were found about the outcomes of those events. If the decisions of those events are implemented and outcomes are regularly monitored in respective regions where the events took place, then it would be nicer. Long-term social campaigns could also be initiated on mass media so that the commoners become aware of the environmental issues. Sometimes, the campaigns should be undertaken with an interval and thus it will be effective to remind people of the environmental problems.
Answer: Well, as I said before that environmental issues should be included in the texts of the kids, it will be helpful for them to know about the environment and the types of disorders it experiences. The texts will be illustrated with simple descriptions of the types of pollution, natural and man-made hazards, causes of pollution and other necessary things to make the children aware of environmental degradation. The texts should be made clear to the students by some well-trained teachers as they could entirely comprehend the meaning and velocity of the environmental issues. Gradually, when they will be aware of the issues, they will start taking responsibilities by them to prevent the environmental pollution and other associated problems.
Answer: Yes, there are some basic differences here. The young people are inexperienced with the issue of environmental protection. They did not meet with such issues before while the old or senior people have seen numerous environmental degradation issues and some of them also can testify few of the major disaster that they have experienced in their early days. Since the young generation is not familiar with the disastrous impacts of the environmental degradation, they cannot imagine the real situation while the older people can comprehend it completely. As a result, the old people are always aware of the issue and always try to protect the environment by all possible means for them. On the other side, the young people are almost reluctant over the protection issue and keep spoiling the environment by all possible means. They perform the acts frequently which cause damage the environment. They are in fact not serious over the issue as they needed to be like the experienced people.
Holidays & Celebration:
Answer: Well, generally the concept of Holiday in Vietnam is similar to the other countries. People on this day get an off from their professional activities. Currently, there are 10 public holidays available in the country.
I think you are aware that before 2007, there were eight days in a year and following the government’s directives two days have been increased and the number of days off has turned into 10. People of all class, especially who are engaged in occupational activities, get the day off. They usually spend the day with their family and friends. Sometimes, they enjoy the day by celebrating different events and festivals. But sometimes the festivals are celebrated for about a month. The aim of the festivals and events is to entertain the common people. When the Vietnamese people work, they work at a stretch for longer hours and accordingly they get tired. So, they are in great need of relaxation while the festivals and events are organised on the holidays so that they could enjoy the events completely. The festivals in my Vietnam are colourful and attract people of all ages. Mostly the holiday festivals and events are organised marking the memories of countrymen and patriots who have contributed much to the country. Those are better known as ceremonial rites. Besides, the other holiday activities are known as entertaining activities for the citizens and also the people travelling inside the country participate. The holidays in the country include the International New Year Day, Lunar Year Festival, Tet etc.
Answer: Great question to answer. In fact, this is a fast-paced age. Everything is moving ahead of time and we need to keep pace. At times we are to race against time to serve our purposes. Consequently, getting affected by stress, anxiety and other mental disorders has turned into a common matter for all. So, the modern people need holidays. You know, working for around 8-10 hours a day has some negative impacts on body and mind of the employees. And if they work round the week, certainly they are to suffer from the disorders and it is seen that when they are going through the situations, productivity level reduces to a great extent. They cannot provide the desired output which results in a loss for the companies or corporations they are working for. Thus, the necessity of the holiday cannot be described in words. It helps them to regain vitality. After passing one or two days without any work, they regain the energy which boosts their production level. Besides, when they are at the office, it becomes impossible to maintain the societal responsibilities and rules. Sometimes the busy people even cannot afford time for their family. When they are passing the day offs, they can reconnect with the relations they have in the society or community or can pass quality times with their family and friends. Everything is turning mechanised and similarly, the impacts are falling on the modern people. They are also being like machines and the holidays help them to get relief from the mechanised world.
Answer: Hmm! Yes, it is important to observe or follow the traditional customs. This is the root of all people and it is imperative for them to abide by all the traditional rules. In fact, it takes them back to the people and culture they belong to. The traditional cultures and customs are the identity for oneself. It creates a sense of self-respect inside. For instance, when you will follow or perform any of your native rituals, you will feel a deep satisfaction inside. Whatever the ritual or custom is, it will make you mentally stronger. It will make you believe that you are not alone in the world. You are with your community. Your community is always there to be with you in every situation. It helps to strengthen the bond between you and your community. But if you do not follow the traditional rituals or customs, it should be considered as a bad luck for you. It points that you do not have a good linkage with your community and thereby you are unaware of the traditional customs. In some cases in Vietnam, the matter is considered as shameful for people if they cannot perform traditional customs. It is also marked as a specimen of their weak linkage with the society. So, I think it is necessary to perform the traditional rituals or at least people should be least familiar with the activities so that they do not get embarrassed before the community during the performance if they are asked to.
Answer: Well, there are lots of changes in the trends of celebrating festivals. Earlier, people used to celebrate the holidays with their friends and almost all the activities were out of the home. But currently, the celebrations have involved the family members as well in line with the friends. Besides, the celebrations are taking place in indoor spaces too. When it was about the national rituals or traditional celebration in the past, people used to gather in open spaces and still they do the same for such large events like observing the International New Years Day, or the celebration of the Lunar Year etc. Small-scale celebrations did not take place in the past decades but now they have covered a notable space in the lives of the people. The majority of the people like to celebrate small-scale events at their homes like birthday or marriage day celebration etc. But when it is a national issue, the celebrations are made in large scale and people of all strata participate in those events. In the past decades, the concept of private parties was absent but now they have emerged as an influential element to pass holiday. Many of the modern citizens arrange for private parties at different times, especially on the holidays.
Answer: Umm! In fact, there are some differences found regarding the celebrations. But those differences are not too much important to consider and they are not harmful actually. Usually, the differences take place for regional cultures but all the other primary methods remain the same. The theme of the celebrations cannot be changed rather the celebration systems slightly differ from place to place in Vietnam. Besides, some of the festivals take place in some of the parts of the country while those are not found in other parts. Take an example- the parts of Vietnam that grow paddy or other crops usually celebrate the Autumn Festival of harvest festival while the other parts do not celebrate as the regions do not grow the crops. Usually, the activities of any festival include social gathering, taking meals together, praying and thanksgiving to each other. It is evident that all the things are same but the food menu may get changed based on regions which may seem unusual or the indicator of difference. So, neither the differences are huge nor those are made in such manners that may alter the celebration meaning to others. The slight differences could be adjusted and already people have adapted them to their lifestyle.
News & Media:
Answer: Well, I think the information available on the internet is not always believable. Usually, all the information on the internet are provided free of cost and they are useful for the common users. But sometimes there are some false or twisted information has also been found which are of no use at all and even if the internet users believe them, they will invite disaster in their life. For instance, once I saw a speech on internet quoting Abraham Lincoln saying, “Everything posted on the internet should not be believed as true”. How true he was! He was right actually. He was right indeed in the sense that during his presidency in the USA, there was no internet and even the invention of the computer was not done I think. So, how he could deliver such statements? That is the question of the day. The answer is very simple. In fact, Abraham Lincoln did not say such speeches and the statements have been made for confusing people and make fun only. Most of such information is posted on the internet to fool people or to gain some illegal interests. Sometimes people see different attractive information on the internet and work accordingly by believing them as true which leads them to a financial or some other types of damages. There are some online miscreants who post such deceptive and fake information to mislead the common internet users. Such miscreants aim to gain their own interest and the internet users should be careful of the issue.
• What is the most effective way of getting news?
Answer: Yes, there are several ways to get news around you. The first and most important source of getting news is the mass media and television channels. But I prefer the television channels more than the newspapers for several reasons. Firstly, the events sometimes are telecasted live on the channels while the newspapers publish the issues on the next day. Besides, many of the newspapers provide fabricated news and work as an agent for the illegal authorities (and they also take benefits in return from the illegal authorities for the publicising). As a result, the newspapers readers get twisted information. The good people are made bad while the miscreants are altered from their actual position and a positive image is created for them. But in television channels, there are no such issues and the sometimes the events are live telecast. So, when one represents the misinformation the others present there to impede the attempts. Moreover, being the age of technology, the emergence of online news websites is another important source for getting the latest updates. They instantly provide the news and event happening around us and the facts and information are reliable as well. So, in the current days, the demand for published newspapers is slightly decreased. However, people now rely on all forms of media to have the latest news and updates.
• How do reporters gather information?
Answer: Well, this is a very good question. The reporters have to struggle a lot to collect information from different issues. They need to move from place to places to collect the information and also has to justify the news merit. Besides, they also have to justify the exact information as if the data they receive is misleading or not related to the issue they are dealing with, they cannot publish the news. If they publish such reports which are misleading or incomplete, the newspaper or the news agency will start losing its credibility. Consequently, the newspaper or agency will lose its business as well. When an incident happens, usually the reporters rush to the spots and try to collect information on the issue. They ask questions to the people related to the incidents and events and thus collect information. Sometimes they need to cross-check the information if those are viable or not. After the justification of the information in several stages, they write the reports and publish on their respective media. During the information collection, they are to undergo different ‘situations’ and most of the time they are to take risks of different levels. You know, sometimes they are even to sacrifice their lives during the information collection process. The scenarios turn worst in the war-torn areas and they travel in such areas risking their lives. But in the cities and urban areas, information collection is not that much difficult. Whatever the collection process is, they actually try to get the right thing and expose the issue before the public.
• What do you think of the importance of privacy?
Answer: Uhh! Privacy is one of the topmost important things in one’s life. If there were no privacy, the situations would have turned awkward for us. There are some activities that we cannot perform before everyone and in those cases we need privacy. We cannot do everything in public. It looks indecent in the civil society. If we perform the things we ought to do in private, people will have a negative impact on their mind about us. Sometimes, they may also think that we do not have the personality or do not care for others and so. As a result, we may not be able to communicate effectively with them later or in our needs. In a word, we have to lose our respect in the society. For instance, bathing is the work to be done in a bathroom, not in a public place. But if you show no respect to the standard rules of bathing (inside of a bathroom), you would be neglected and may also turn into a laughing stock to all. You have to keep in mind that privacy is the thing that is a kind of cover for you to protect you from the evil things and evil doers. Consider yourself as a woman and you are bathing outside of the bathroom, then people will capture the moments in their cell phone cameras which will be embarrassing indeed for you. But you do want that happen. So, you have to follow the standards of privacy.
• How do journalists entertain their customers?
Answer: The journalists try to entertain the readers of their newspapers with different news, reports or articles. Most of the time they try to collect the exclusive issues so that the readers or customers could get entertained and the newspaper or the television could have a good business as well. The customers are tending to go through the exclusive reports and it has been found that the reports of crime and entertainment are the most preferred by the customers. So, the journalists try to collect the information over the matters which are preferable to the readers. They travel to different places to collect the exact information and sometimes they spend more times in preparing the reports. The actual time frame is not set for such reports but when they are published or aired in the media, they create a sense of great satisfaction among the readers.
• What role do media play in people’s life?
Answer: Ummm! Media plays a great role in the life of people. In fact, the people are highly influenced by the media role. Media tries to expose different issues to the people and they accept the issues and become aware of them. For instance, media is publicising over a murder and people are getting aware of that. They come to know about the murder and consequently become aware of the killing and the killer(s). Now if they see or meet the killer(s) accidentally, either they will try to protect themselves from the killer or they will help the law enforcers in nabbing the killer. It raises a sense of awareness among the common people about the right and wrong. They learn to do the right things for their betterment. Besides, different advertisements are also aired or published in the media which also plays a great role in people’s life. If I ask you to name a car, I can bet your reply will match with some sort of advertisements that you experienced earlier over car selling. The advertisements influence our minds subconsciously. Media exposes the advertisements to us. Further, we are informed about different happenings through the media. So, the importance of media in our life cannot be ignored. Rather media is influencing our lives from many aspects gradually.
• How do people in your country gather information?
Answer: Actually, there are no direct sources of information in India to gather information for the common people except reading the newspaper and watching television. The newspaper has access almost everywhere inside the country and they serve with the reliable news. Besides, the satellite television channels also provide news and information of great interest. Sometimes, the young people are seen using the internet to gain information from different websites and they also rely on the online news agencies for information. But the trend is not that much appreciated by the adult people as they are in fact not attracted to the internet. The use of social networking site like twitter, facebook etc. also play a great role in gathering information and in those websites, the information spreads rapidly than imagination.
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of different media?
Answer: There is nothing in the world without demerits and in line with the theory; the media also has some demerits too. Media at times provides fabricated information to create misconception in the society and thus increases the chances of anarchy. But not all the media should be blamed for the twisting information. Some of the media play the role of protector of the unscrupulous people and to save them from troubles, they publicise the modified news. As a direct result, the commoners get the wrong information and the principles of distributing free and fair information are hampered. But considering the benefits, the demerits are few. Media has a wide number of benefits. It always remains alert to spread news and information over different issues and help us become aware as well.
• Do you think it necessary to control the news coverage?
Answer: Umm, great question. I think sometimes it is necessary to control the news coverage and it should be done in the sensational issues. People usually turn eager to learn about the sensational issues like crime or entertainment. So, in that case, if the information is not the exact one, it would lead the audience into a wrong way. Thereby, in those cases, the reports should be monitored properly.
• What kind of news do you think should be controlled?
Answer: Usually, crime reports like killings etc. are highly preferred by the audience and thus those reports should be controlled in a proper way. Sometimes due to misrepresentation of the information, the audience might turn agitated and it happens mostly in the communal issues. Communal riots can be fueled by the reports or some other cases a section of the society could also be made violent over any issues. Sometimes there is some news about the film industry and media spreads rumours which are not true in fact. Those issues should also be brought under strict monitoring.
Answer: Earlier, people used to be less aware of the media but now the scenario has changed. I guess, 20 years ago people had less freedom to get information from different media. Newspapers, radio and TV were their main source of information. People were restricted to the local media and getting international media coverage was a dream.
The scenario is quite different these days. The Internet has opened the opportunity for people to get any news from any country, except in few countries. The freedom of speech is no longer a dream and people with their smartphone, satellite connection, and computers can read any news or get any information they like. They are actively participating in sharing a news and forming opinion online which was not possible in the past. However, fabricated news on social media and less reliable online newspapers is a concerning issue. Though people these days have many options, they have to judge an information before believing it.
• Should we trust the journalists? Why/why not?
Answer: Well, this is a difficult question to answer. Generally, they work to inform us and work really hard to make us informed. However, not all journalists are trustworthy. It is wise not to trust every news source and journalist as sometimes they report and publish baseless and politically motivated news.
• What do you think a good journalist should be like?
Answer: Uhh… to me the idea of a good journalist is to be neutral while representing news and other information. In fact, a newspaper is considered as the mirror of the society and when there is twisted news in the media, the common people may get misguided. An honest journalist always maintains integrity, professional ethics and work for the betterment of the society.