Media conversation questions

The Media

 * What do you understand by the phrase "The Media"?

News and current events

 * Do you personally feel that keeping up with current events is important?
 * What is the most important national and international story at the moment?
 * What do you feel was the biggest single news story in the past year? What is your opinion of the reporting of it?
 * Do you know anybody who has ever been on the news? Have you?  What was the story?
 * Does the media concentrate too much on "bad news" and not enough on "good news" stories?
 * What is "news"? Is "good news" really news?
 * What criteria do you think that newspapers and television use to decide on what news to present: what is really important or what sells newspapers?
 * In what ways has new technology affected the way that news is produced and brought to us? How do you normally receive news?
 * Different newspapers often have their own political ideology, they print stories which tend to support that ideology and keep their readers happy. Some people suggest that we should read newspapers with a different political ideology to our own.  What do you think of this idea?

Gossip

 * Does the media have the moral right to report on the private lives of film stars and pop stars?
 * Do you think that the private lives of these people are really news?
 * Are people really interested "celebrities'" private lives? Are you? Why?
 * Film and music celebrities are accused of using the media to advance their careers until they become famous, and afterwards complaining about media intrusion. What is your opinion?
 * Does the media have a duty to "respect" politicians?
 * Some people argue that knowing about a politician's private life helps them to make a character judgement which then helps them to decide whether or not to vote for them. What is your opinion?
 * Does the media have a duty to "respect" royalty?

Entertainment

 * Do you like to go to see live plays on the stage? If you do, when was the last time you went?
 * What is your opinion, in general, of the theatre?
 * Do you like to visit museums? How often do you visit them? When was the last time? Where did you go?
 * Do you watch the programme "Big brother"? What do you think of this programme?

Ethics

 * In 2011 it was discovered that one British Sunday newspaper had been hacking into the voicemail of various people. The groups hacked included:
 * Celebrities
 * Royalty
 * Politicians
 * The families of soldiers killed in the line of duty
 * The phones of kidnap victims and their families.
 * Is hacking into celebrities' phones OK but not those of private individuals - or is it all equally bad?
 * What punishment (if any) would be appropriate in each case?
 * What information might the newspapers have been after in each case? What stories might they have written?