Mass Media Do Not Promote Healthy Lifestyle

A Swedish sociologist and politician who won the Nobel peace prize in 1982, Alva Myrdal once said “there is a cultural factor promoting violence which nowadays undoubtedly is highly effective is the mass media. And particularly everything that enters our minds is through pictorial media.
Thank you to the house speaker, Good morning to the honourable adjudicators, worthy opponents and members of the floor. As a second speaker, I would like to firm our stand for today which is mass media do not promotes healthy lifestyle.

Now I will continue with my task by putting forward the argument. My first and foremost point is mass media brings negative idealism. Statistic shows that the advice of teachers, parents and relatives may fall on deaf ears but the mass media holds us all spellbound! With the advent of mass media, including television and more recently, video and computer games, children and teenagers are exposed to increasingly higher doses of aggressive images. In a research carried out by UNESCO (united nation educational scientific and cultural organization), in many countries, there is an average of 5-10 aggressive acts per hour of television.
Ladies and gentlemen, violence among youth is also on the rise. Most studies shows that the relation between media violence and ‘real’ violence is interactive. Media can contribute to an aggressive culture. For instance, people who are already aggressive use the media as further confirmation of their beliefs and attitudes, which in turn are reinforced through media content.
Members of the floor, viewers do not necessarily adapt what they have observed, but they measure their own behaviour in terms of distance to the perceived media models. For instance, if cruelty is common, just kicking the other seems to be innocent by comparison if the cultural environment has not established an alternative frame of reference. Not only that, kids are influenced easily by what they see on television or the internet.
Ladies and gentlemen, many violent acts are perpetrated by the "good guys," whom kids have been taught to admire. Even though kids are taught by their parents that it's not right to hit, television says it's OK to bite, hit, or kick if you're the good guy. This can lead to confusion when kids try to understand the difference between right and wrong. And the "bad guys" on TV aren't always held responsible or punished for their actions. As a result when they come across a movie which involved violent or porn scenes, their possibility of mimicking it is high. Thus, offensive language used by actors of the movie will leave a big impact on the teenagers communication with their parents, teachers and friends.
Members of the floor, Malaysia is well established with customs and traditions. For example, Malaysia is well known for her courtesy image. Unfortunately mass media influence teenagers to neglect our traditions.
Ladies and gentlemen, the alcohol and smoking ads may be banned but what I’m referring now is indirect influence which is from movies and dramas. Nowadays, every drama has alcohol and smoking scenes which can be misinterpret by youngsters as a cool act. Furthermore, these days the people seldom watch ads anymore. When the movie they are watching is paused to give way for advertisement, they will automatically change the channel to a channel that was not airing ads.
Members of the floor, next, I would like to stress out that mass media often leads to misinterpretation of information. At times, the information reported may not be authentic from every angle. Hence, there may be a misinterpretation of a situation. Advertising can jeopardize one’s idea of what beauty and health is, seeing that products which revolve around is categorize as expensive and high quality. This leads to a notation that the more expensive the product, the higher the quality of the product. Not only that, shows that portrays the real life of a celebrity more likely to influence the youths that by having this kind of life, they can gained popularity and fame. For example, the reality program Paris Hilton My New BFF shows that in other to become popular like Paris Hilton, one must be good in clubbing, fashion, drinking and partying.
Ladies and gentlemen, teenagers also tend to follow dangerous acts from what they see on TV. They thought by imitating these acts, they will be acknowledge as a cool person by their friends. But in reality, imitating those acts can endanger their life and harm other people.
Before I rest my case, put on your thinking cap and agree with me that mass media do not promote healthy lifestyle. With this, I thank you.