For many people, news is a regular pan of life.

An issue in dispute is whether the massive

influence of the news media on people’s daily lives denotes a negative development. It is my view
that news media does more good than harm to the society.

The news media provides people with much of the information they need on a timely basis,
although there are claims that it reports on issues and events purposely (only selecting those
events that interest the audience). Anecdotal evidence shows that people from all walks of life
have the habit of collecting information regularly from the news media, including print, broadcast
and Internet-based media. Information assists people in decision making. For example, the Free
Trade Agreement reached by the Chinese government and its New Zealand counterpart might
open up many opportunities to both countries. For any business person, either in New Zealand or
in China, failing to recognise and capitalise on this impending change would cause a costly loss.

Meanwhile it should be recognised that the news media can sometimes save lives and reduce
casualties. There is a lot of uncertainty about the surroundings, and people are susceptible to the
damage caused by accidents, crimes and natural calamity. The news media conveys the
firsthand information to concerned audiences and enable them to take corresponding actions
right away. The authority can declare a state of emergency when it is necessary, organise
evacuation and distribute aid to the needy areas. All these efforts count on the news media as the
messenger.

Despite their significant and ongoing contribution to the society, the news media might sometimes
be harmful to society. It is a convention that the news media exaggerates the magnitude of the
real threat (for example, the potential of a terrorism attack), in order to draw the attention of the
desired audiences and in pursuit of high audience ratings. It ends up with causing panic among
the population. Meanwhile, the news media tends to emphasise some issues or events, which
virtually have little relevance to people’s daily lives, such as an occasional multiple vehicle
accident, an affair that a celebrity is involved with, and the like. It distracts the audience from
something that is much more noteworthy, for instance, poverty, environmental problems, to name
but a few.

In summary, the role of news media as an information provider should be acknowledged. In case
of emergency, it acts as a lifesaver. However, it is not to say that the news media can give people
an overall view of the problems in society all the time.
Mobile phones have become an indispensable part of our daily lives.

Mobile phones play an important role in our daily lives. But why are they so popular? Almost
everyone owns a mobile phone nowadays as they think that it is an essential tool. People
without a mobile phone are thought of as eccentric. There must be reasons why we have
become so dependent on mobile phones.

Firstly, they are portable. Therefore, it is convenient for us to carry mobile phones and keep in
contact with others at any time. We use them very often. For example, when we are outdoors,
where there are no telephones, we can use our handy mobile phone. Secondly, mobile phones
enable us to call for help during times of emergency. For instance, if you are involved in an
accident or if you witness a crime taking place, you can call the police immediately using your
mobile phone. There have been some cases in which the police made use of the victims' cell
phones' networks to locate the kidnappers.

Some people feel uncomfortable or handicapped without their mobiles as they have become a
necessity in our daily lives. This is mainly due to the convenience of mobiles and their varied
functions such as MP3 players, radios and games. Mobiles are not only a great time-saving
device, but they are a source of entertainment too.

On the other hand, there are disadvantages of using mobile phones, too. Although mobile
phones are convenient, they can belost easily since they are quite small. Talking on mobile
phones can also be expensive because we need to pay high roaming costs when we are
overseas. In addition, mobiles are believed by some people to give out radioactive waves and
some scientists believe that this radioactivity can cause brain tumors or damage our ears. There
is still no solid evidence to prove that mobile phones are safe to use. Another problem is that
people can easily become addicted to mobile phones since they are now multi-purposed with
different functions. The convenience of mobile phones can also cause a lot of problems such as
cheating in tests as it is now easy for students to access the Internet at any time. People start to
abuse mobile phones. This may affect the students at school as they may play games and send
messages during lessons. Also, there are some places where there is no signal for the mobile
phones so you can only make emergency calls, which is sometimes very inconvenient.

In conclusion, I think that mobile phones are indispensable tools that we cannot live without, but
we should avoid abusing them. Therefore, we should think carefully about the advantages and
drawbacks before purchasing a mobile phone, and ask ourselves why we need a mobile phone
and whether we will be able to use it responsibly.

http://ouressay-english.blogspot.com/2012/01/using-mobile-phones-in-presents-time.html