Assignment 5

What is life like at the age of eighteen years old? It is the age of making life choices, time for the realization of plans, dreams and hopes. It is the age of starting evaluating and choosing the right course to spend the leisure time, the time for making a foundation of the future.

What is life like for an eighteen year-old girl? I remembered I asked one of my friends, she said, “For a girl, it is the age of LOVE, it is the period when most of the young girls want to get married and start up a new family. It is the age when everything is just beginning and in 'blossom'.” I shocked, I stared at her sluggishly, I started thinking of the answer she gave me, I was wondering if she too desperate for the marriage as an eighteen year-old girl is totally too young for me to get into a marriage. “At the same time it is a very sensitive stage and dramatic changes can have a high impact on the further self-determination and values of a young girl,” she added.

I pasted a piece of a paper with the heading on the wall of my room, “I have a dream that” which already written across the top. I wish to gain back my own dream instead of keep asking for others about the life at the age of eighteen years old.

“Study Form Six as what your sister did as she was able to enter local University, it is such a right choice for you right now,” stated my father as he felt that I was struggling for my own future. I was standing in the middle of the road as what I studied the poem of “The Road Not Taken”, I have been out walking the woods and comes to two of the roads and I stand looking as far down each one as I could see. This is because many of my friends chose to go for the private colleges instead of STPM as they felt that it is definitely not the right choice for us who dislike buried in the books every single minute.

I cried, I screamed, I yelled, I made a phone call to everyone and I cried nonstop for few hours. I cried like a baby as all babies cry and fuss. Crying is important for babies and it is the first way of communication and such an important way to release tension, so do I. I was totally crumbled as it was such as an unacceptable fact. I admit that I am definitely not a bookworm and it is obvious to be stated as the main reason that I failed in my STPM.

“You lost something and now is the time for you to pick up another thing that you wanted,” my father reminded when he was reading newspaper in living room.

“What I lost? What will be the thing that I really wanted and wished to own actually?” muttering alone with the mind that filled with lots of question marks.

I walked into my room without my soul which already flown away since that day I cried like a baby. I looked up the wall and I saw that piece of paper which written “I have a dream that” for few minutes. A light bulb appeared in my mindset suddenly, “What is wrong with me? I should gain back my own dream!” muttering alone again. I should take action to gain back the dream which belongs to me although it might be located in that glorious land above the sky.

What is life like at the age of twenty one years old? It is the age of making life choices, time for the realization of plans, dreams and hopes. I am glad that I am not afraid to dream. I am pleased that I am not dreaming of my prince charming and how I will save him from the dragon.

People say dreams never do come true, but they are wrong, I say they do. I knew it as I smile no matter how hard is my work torture me always. I knew it as I smile because I dream of my future and marvel at my pride since the day I decided to choose mass communication.

What I feel that is I have made a wise decision on my future road although I could not get a flying color result in STPM, but at least I am able to know the actual thing that I really wanted. Therefore, I always try my best in every single task in order to remind myself not to repeat the same mistake that I did in the past. My college life get totally different if compared with the Form Six high school life as I am taking the course that I am really interested in. I have put so much efforts and always pay fully attention as well as preparations either in assignment or presentation. I used to take my past failure as the main motivation to encourage myself from times to times. I remembered my father told me that every single failure or even mistake may help in the growing process, thus take it as another chance to inspire yourself to do better in the future.

Deep inside my heart, I told myself, I have to thank my own failure in STPM, for if without the unacceptable fact, I would never ever found my future road. In other words, it became the turning point in my life as it taught me to live stronger as well as tougher although something may altered the usual routine but still we have to find an appropriate way to fix it. It is such a good thing which taught me never ever give up and having optimistic thinking but not continue blaming myself on the mistake I did in the past which brings nothing at all.

Assignment 4

Part a)

Descriptive lead

An ominous silence, broken only by the call of a faraway bird, hung over the battle-scarred hills when suddenly an explosion followed by the yells of charging troops smashed the stillness. (Reader’s Digest, 15 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as an effective descriptive lead as it describes the scene by using the silence of the hill which only can be broken by the call of a faraway bird. Besides, a good descriptive lead can be such a fine-tuned piece of word art that do not need a picture. In the above descriptive lead, the readers are able to predict how silence is the hill as well as the explosion which ruined the silence of the hill. The readers are able to imagine how sudden is the explosion happened around the silence hill when no one is there. By using the above descriptive lead, the scenery can be appeared in the mind of the readers although there is none of the pictures.

Narrative lead

Local resident Terry Lynn told the local NBC broadcast station: “I saw a guy walking across the field with a handgun, shooting randomly into the crowd of children. I immediately screamed, “No, no!” (New Sunday Times, 10 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as an effective narrative lead as it is such as a storytelling that narrates the exact scene in a dramatic way. The main purpose of the above lead is to put the readers on the scenes as the shooting actions occurred. The readers are able to know how was the shooting happened and who were the victims whereby the goal of the narrative lead is to build suspense or even interest among the readers.

Anecdotal lead

While international athletes are competing for medals at the Commonwealth Games here, popular South Indian superstar Rajnikanth has been quietly ranking in millions from his latest movie, which he acted with Bollywood star, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. (New Sunday Times, 10 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as an anecdotal lead but it is not efficient enough. This is because the above anecdotal lead is not intriguing since it is not a fascinating or stirring story that unable to draw the readers in and make them want to read the whole feature as some of the readers who might not familiar with Bollywood star.

Part b)

Descriptive lead

BRIGHTON, England (UPI)—Mrs. Pamela Bransden slowly counted five, snapped into a hypnotic trance, and gave birth to an eight-pound baby. It was as easy as that. (Times Magazine, 15 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a descriptive lead which describes a pregnant woman who is giving birth. The readers noticed that it is such an easy task to give birth of an eight-pound baby. This technique is able to create the curiosity among the readers on the following details about the procedures of giving eight-pound baby.

Descriptive lead

A man looking for taro(keladi) leaves to feed his ducks made a shocking discovery when he discovered the body of a baby wrapped in a white cloth diaper buried in a shallow grave at a farm in Kampung Baru Hicom’s reserved land in Section 26, near Sungai Klang here at noon yesterday. (New Sunday Times, 10 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a descriptive lead which describes discovery on the buried baby by a man. The above descriptive lead describes the every single detail which included the 5W1H questions. There is no doubt that the readers are able to understand the feature by reading the descriptive lead above as the details stated clearly enough.

Narrative lead

House owner, Michelle Ong, 31, whose house is closest to the construction site, was worried that the cracks might affect her house and pose a danger to her family.

“The cracks on the tarmac pavement by the drain have caused chunks of the soil to fall into the drain. These hairline cracks just became bigger within a day or less,” said Ong. (New Sunday Times, 10 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a narrative lead which narrates the expression of the related victim towards the cracking that nearby her house. In the quote above, the readers are able to know that the anxiety of the victim since she described that the cracks became bigger within a day or less.

Part c)

Narrative lead

He said, “I’m Lamont Woods,” in a Southern accent quickened by exposure to speech patterns elsewhere. (Reader’s Digest, 18 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a narrative lead. There are lots of question marks after I finish reading the lead as there is not much information stated and this is the main reason that I dislike the above lead. Besides, it does not rise up my interest to continue reading the following features at all.

Narrative lead

When the tall, heavy, garishly dressed stranger appeared at the door, it was clear this was trouble. (The New York Times, 13 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a narrative lead. I do not like the lead because it is too short for me as I am not fully understand the message in this lead. It made me feel like want to skip through the following features.

Question lead

Would you like to know what happened during one of the most eventful parties in Malaysia? (Reader’s Digest, 15 Oct 2010)

My View: It is known as a question lead. I do not like the lead as it uses the word “most eventful”. The readers might be confused what can be defined of the word “most eventful”. I somehow wondering that are there lots of parties which held in Malaysia and what sort of the parties can be so eventful.

Assignment 3

Repeal PMR, Format UPSR to be changed from 2016: Muhyiddin

Beginning in the year of 2016, the UPSR students needed to follow the changes in the grade of national education system.

We are now on the track to improve education system by doing decision on repealing of PMR examination as well as revising new format of UPSR examination in order to maintain well performance among students.

“The Lower Secondary Assessment (PMR) and the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) will have a new format,” said Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, The Sun, 10 Oct 2010)

He said the PMR examination for Form Three students will be replaced with a school-based assessment.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said the UPSR examination for Year Six students, 60% of the foundation for academic achievement, while 40% of the results are attributed to extra-curricular activities.

“The discussion of the proposal will be brought to the Cabinet, the Ministry of Education will announce the related details once get approval,” he mentioned. (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, China Press, 10 Oct 2010)

The Deputy Education Minister, Wee Ka Siong said the government had made references from different point of views before doing decision on repealing of PMR start from 2016.

“The repealing of PMR did not cause much controversy as the public agreed that SPM should be the only examination in secondary school.” (Wee Ka Siong, China Press, 10 Oct 2010)

“Students might not even have chance to enhance their learning problems if both examinations are being repealed as they needed to wait for 11 years to sit for the SPM.” (Wee Ka Siong, China Press, 10 Oct 2010)

However, there was another point of view against the decision on repealing of PMR which some of them might be questioned about the improvement in academic without sitting for PMR.

The National Union of Teaching Profession secretary, General Lok Yim Pheng said it is not a rational decision on repealing of PMR since the Form One, Form Two and Form Three students are unable to identify their capability without sitting for examination.

“There should be a categorization into three categories among students who from primary school as the first category provided for those who are excellent in academic results.” (Lok Yim Pheng, Sin Chew Daily, 10 Oct 2010)

“The second category provided for higher level, technical and vocational subjects while the third category provided for basic learning skills such as car repairing, computer, cooking or sewing.” (Lok Yim Pheng, Sin Chew Daily, 10 Oct 2010)

“This can reduce the truancy rates and disciplinary problems among students; there is another learning chance provided for those students who are not interested in academic.” (Lok Yim Pheng, Sin Chew Daily, 10 Oct 2010)

Assignment 2

Date: 4-10-2010

Name: Lum Chih Feng

News agency: Oriental Daily News

This information comes from an interview with the interviewee, Lum Chih Feng who is currently working in the Oriental Daily News agency which has been done through mail on 4^th October 2010.

Senior editor, Lum Chih Feng has been a journalist since the year of 2001 and has nine years experiences in the field of journalism. He started working in the Nanyang Siang Pau (Chinese daily) as a feature writer and then switched to a journalist in the end. In the year of 2003, he joined Oriental Daily News which is known as his current news agency, he said in the interview: “There were the most choices in the field of journalism if compared to the other field of industries such as broadcasting, film and TV production or even marketing communication at that time.” This is the main reason he chose the journalism field instead of other industries.

There is undeniable that nine years experiences in the journalism field are such as an expert who is able to share his working experiences especially on interviewing techniques. We are known that to become a great journalist, a well prepared condition in order to accept any of the challenges is one of the tips to conduct an interview. “When writing a news item or anything in the form of traditional journalistic, there are no other ways except for put much more efforts on reading in order to keep an eye to the progression of the latest issue,” stated Lum.

People might be curious is that possible a journalist may make any mistake such as accidentally deleted the sound recording during the interviewing? “Interviewers should not rely solely on recorders. They should jot down important points throughout the interview or press conference so that they could refer to their notes if something goes wrong to the sound recording,” mentioned Lum.

There is getting more and more participation on the field of mass communication among youths nowadays. Therefore, Lum gave an informative advice for those who are highly interested in this field, he said: “The journalism field is definitely not an easy task at all. It deserves a lot of learning processes which the journalists needed to maintain the sense of curiosity as well as thirst of gaining knowledge from times to times.”

“As a great journalist should always adhere to the media responsibility in order to believe there is nothing but the truth especially in publishing information to all of the audiences,” said Lum in the end of the interview.