QUESTION: Do you agree or disagree: Newspapers and magazines are the best ways to learn about a foreign country.
If we wanted to learn about a foreign country a decade ago, the first thing we would do was to read something such as books, paper and magazines about this country. With the advance in technology, our world has become a global village and all of these are now able to be found on the internet. We can read an array of information in the website, and can comment on it and most importantly, it is free! So, in my perspective, internet is better to learn about a foreign country than newspapers and magazines do.
The first advantage is that internet provides more comprehensive and profound content. Cyber-media contains much more information than paper media. For example, if we want to get some information about a landscape in America from National Geography. We are only able to read an essay with the inclusion of one thousand of words and several pictures. but if we google the landscape on the internet, not only are we able to find an infinite number of articles, pictures and videos, but also the travel routes and nearby hotels information will appear in front of us. So the internet is much more dynamic, and it is able to make us know more about a foreign country.
The second advantage is that internet creates a double-symmetry commutation. For the traditional Medias, there is a unidirectional commutation which connects writer with readers. We could just read articles but could not comment on them. But cyber-media is not the case at all. We can comment on each any article we find on the internet. For example, if you decide to travel to French on July, it is possible for you to consider that Eiffel Tower is a fascinating landscape after you read an essay on the magazine. But if you read the same essay on the internet, you could then read its comments, and you will find that it is totally different. There are crowds of people there during summer holiday. At that time, you will change your schedule to fly there during fall. As I said, internet provides a symmetrical commutation.
The last but most vital advantage is that all of these services are free. Reading from Newspapers and magazines will cost you some money. If you want to know one foreign country, the best way is to buy that country's paper . Unfortunately, the price isn't low. In china, a magazine of TIME will cost you 40 Yuan. It is a little dear for our students. But you can go to their website to read the same content and furthermore, you do not need to pay a single cent.
All put in to a nutshell, earth village is the key word in our modern society and cyber-media likes the streets connecting every countries. Although paper and magazines have a splendid future behind them, internet Medias have a glorious future before them.