issue108 转播政府行为的，流连，互拍（sally)

abobibbyUID: 2174676

TOPIC: ISSUE108 - "In many countries it is now possible to turn on the television and view government at work. Watching these proceedings can help people understand the issues that affect their lives. The more kinds of government proceedings-trials, debates, meetings, etc-that are televised, the more society will benefit."
WORDS: 440          TIME: 0:45:00          DATE: 2006-2-19

提纲：
观点：尽管存在着一定的不利之处，转播更多的政府行为有益于社会
1.转播有利于更好的保证居民的知情权
2.有助于大众更好的参与政治。
3.并不是越多越好

Basically I agree with the arguer in asserting that more government proceeding televised may benefit our society. And to make the argument clear, I still have to point out some potential flaws if this is over emphasized.

First, televising such government proceedings can better secure people's right to know. Before the age of television, people's knowledge about such proceedings was mainly acquired through other media such as newspapers or radio broadcasting or simply by auditioning. Televising such proceedings will undoubtedly bring people more first-handed information about the issues that affect their lives and prevent people from being firstly influenced by views that newspaper editors may take. By watching programs about such proceedings people can comprehensive knowledge about how the public resources are distributed and how the issues that are relevant to their lives are discussed, and what measures would be taken. People can also find out whether the politicians are carrying their promise during election and investigate their real ability in dealing with such affairs. In addition, such programs can also to some extent prevent the abuse of government power. The improvement of clarity in government proceedings may actually avoid political misconduct such as President Nixon's water gate scandal.

Second, televising such government procedures could also promote the public participation in public affairs. By reading newspaper or books people who are interested in politics can hardly achieve a comprehensive acquaintance with government affairs. Just like every practical fields, there is no better education for beginners to observe what their predecessors do in their jobs. However, one can hardly gain any experience of being a councillor until he or she is elected as one. Programs about such government procedures actually benefit these beginners a lot and accelerate their accumulation of professional knowledge. By analyzing how the government officers analyze, talk and behave, people who would like to be politicians in the future actually start their first step by watching these programs.

Third, however, we should note the potential danger of too much exposure of such governmental proceedings. On the one hand, since most of television stations are private property and wish to be profitable. Such proceedings may be particular chosen to serve interests of a particular party or a group of people who could exert their influence on the television stations. On the other hand, while a few government proceedings are redundant and sometimes evolve into shouting matches, programs about such government proceedings may actually lead to a waste of public resources as well as people's time and energy.

Generally speaking, televising government proceedings will undoubtedly benefit our society by better promoting people's right to know and help future politicians accumulate more experiences than they used to do. Meanwhile, the imparity of media should be secured to promote this progress.