Review Of Much Like How Greco Roman Heroes - 1207 Words

Much like how Greco-Roman heroes reflected the cultural values of the societies that produced and sustained them, comic book heroes have also continued to reflect the values of contemporary society. In particular, Marvel’s The Punisher is a vital source of insight in our society’s moral perception of criminals. This is because his acceptance to mainstream pop culture is a reflection of the social values and moral codes that have been discreetly popularized by members of our society. This popularity, which is grounded in our resonation with The Punisher and his belief system, is a product of our unfiltered individual moral desires, as well as the institutional ills that many believe characterizes our justice systems. To understand these†¦show more content†¦The perpetrators, seeking to eliminate witnesses, murdered most of the bystanders, including Castle’s family and almost Castle himself. Although upon recovery Castle was able to identify the perpetrato rs to the police, corruption in the department prevented any action from being taken. For that reason, and wanting justice for his family, Castle became the vigilante known as The Punisher. He has since waged a one-man war against crime and corruption by mercilessly hunting and killing those he consider criminals. This backstory alone provides insight into the Punisher’s moral foundations and motivations. However, further interpretation is necessary to understand the depth of his moral structure and motivation and there resonation with members of our society. In regards to his motivation, it has been made explicitly clear that revenge is the principle source of his crusade against crime. Not only does the author of his comic offer this evidence to us, but a basic psychological inquiry would make this clear as well. Nonetheless, as a result of his moral structure, Punisher is an immensely complex character that strays from the simplistic vengeful paradigm. This structure, which is maintained by his vision of making the world a better place, can be characterized as a consequentialist belief that eradicating criminals in the world is a necessary evil. This moral structure is crucial because within The Punisher’s individual rationality, the ethical frameworkShow MoreRelatedSummer Olymoics23416 Words   |  94 Pagesbehind, having closed most of the gap observed by the initial evaluation in 2004. New York and Madrid also received very positive evaluations.[28] On 1 July 2005, when asked who would win, Jacques Rogge said, I cannot predict it since I don t know how the IOC members will vote. But my gut feeling tells me that it will be very close. Perhaps it will come down to a difference of say ten votes, or maybe less.[29] On 6 July 2005, the final selection was announced at the 117th IOC Session in Singapore

Essay about Cool Careers for Girls and Career Ideas for Kinds

Computer science grads are earning $60,000,so I believe that Computer science is a very high salary job, Career Ideas for Kids Who Like Computers is the better book than Cool Careers for Girls In Computers. I speak here today to give our school the better book while saving the school some cash. I think Career Ideas for Kids Who like Computers is the better book because, it focuses on both genders, more detailed on their life and has much more links. The chosen book is much better because, it focuses on both genders. This makes the book much more useful compared to Cool Careers for Girls In Computers, which focuses on only one gender. For example there is a person named Kurt Matthews Reeves, 61 which is a guy and another person named†¦show more content†¦Career Ideas for Kids Who Like Computers is also the better book because this book contain a considerable amount of links, as you know the internet is a very big place with lots of links and my books has access to them, such as the STC website which is located at http://stc.org and at almost every single person has their own websites, which means kids could find out an enormous amount of information. This book also contains info about their job, such as the â€Å"Check it Out† Section and also the â€Å"Logo Links â€Å"(that is a computer language) Reeves,29, these links will tell you much more about each job they have. So all in all Career Ideas for Kids Who like Computers is the better book. But on the other hand, Career’s for Girls Who like Computers has its advantages too such as Telling Life and Showing major events. This book will show girls women’s’ life such as, â€Å"Silicon Valley at Telos† Pasternak,51 that shows that this event was a major part of her life and also â€Å"Marries moves to D.C. area† Pasternak 51 this also show that this woman changed jobs. This book also shows that women get married and divorced such as, â€Å"Does paralegal work has son.† Pasternak, 51 Which means she got married and had a son and sadly, â€Å"Get law degree and divorced†, Pasternak, 51. In conclusion Career Ideas for Kids Who like Computer is the better book because it focuses on both genders, much more detailedShow MoreRelatedParenthood Is The Story Of The Buckman Family1556 Words   |  7 Pagesa typical suburban setting. He works as a sales executive while his wife, Karen, is a stay-at-home mom, caring for their eldest son Kevin, daughter Taylor, and toddler son Justin. Gil is constantly struggling to find balance between his family and career. 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Let’s just face it; the world today is graced byRead MorePersonal Statement : Rolling Wheels994 Words   |  4 Pageswheels The whole industry of cars being advertized to the public by toys, games, shows and so on, have always had this target to consumers (parents) to buy these toys most specifically to their male kids and young adult. This matter gives a social idea that male children had to interact with manly like toys that gave the children there gender role of being a male begging or stating the stage of what your suppose to like as you grow up because of your sex. Respectively being a child, seeing a toyRead MoreExistential Crisis Shown in the TV series Awkward1296 Words   |  6 PagesExistential Crisis in the TV series â€Å"Awkward† We are all familiar with the lonely Charlie Brown, who wishes he was popular and courageous enough to sit with the beautiful red-head girl that he has a crush on. In the comic strip, Charlie talks down of himself numerous times such as, â€Å"I always have to eat alone because nobody likes me..† and â€Å"I’d give anything to talk with her.. She’d never like me, though.. I’m so blah and so stupid.. She’d never like me.† He then explains that if he would go overRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Son Laughs 2088 Words   |  9 Pagesare attached to an exterior railing. When I read this I could picture standing outside on an early spring day when everything is starting to thaw out after a long, cold winter. This poem is written with nothing, but simple metaphors that are the same kind of comparisons that a small child might make and that is the meaning of this poem. The father is able to look at the icicles through the eyes of his son with the wonder that only a child can experience from something new. The icicles are describedRead MoreMedia s Influence On Society Essay1250 Words   |  5 Pagesaround the country or the world. In todays media centered society it’s hard to not be influenced and manipulated. It happens to everyone. Media helps set the news agenda, frames the details of story and communicates the social desirability of certain ideas. Mass media utilizes a wide variety of advertising techniques to get their message out and change the minds of people. The increased exposure to mass media has both positive and negative effects on society. Mass media influences society in many differentRead MoreSex in Advertising1358 Words   |  6 Pagessexual images and texts in advertisements. When I was a little kid, I often surprised by ads with sexy woman. Even now, I sometimes have my eyes glued to such kinds of advertising. I wonder that there are some physiological reasons why people pay attention to sex ima ges. Also, learning about sex in advertising is useful for my career because I want to work for an advertising company in the future. I infer that sex sells has both good and bad aspects and I can use it effectively by learning itRead MoreProfessionalism: A Career Plan as a Social Worker1438 Words   |  6 PagesCareer Plans The grass blows in the cool breeze, but a chill is in the air, winter is coming. I stop and look around; the pristine white gates surround a lush green pasture still unaffected by the cold. Inside young foals dance to the winds music, playfully kicking and biting at each other, daring the other to a race. I turn toward the silhouette in the distance and spot bright eyes and pricked ears. A whinny reaches my ears and then another responds, it is breakfast time and the horses let me knowRead MoreHow Do the Ideas Espoused by Mary Wollstonecraft and Other Feminist Writers of Her Time Relate to Women Today?1302 Words   |  6 PagesHow do the ideas espoused by Mary Wollstonecraft and other feminist writers of her time relate to women today? In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft presented and developed ideas that were groundbreaking and new for her time. She believed the only way women could view their social roles objectively and differently was through education. Her ideas were â€Å"unambiguously feminist, although by modern standards, they may seem outdated† (â€Å"History of feminism†). But I believe

Floating Point Number Representation †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Floating Point Number Representation. Answer: Introduction: The IEEE-754 is a number format on the computer system that occupies 4 bytes of memory in the computer system. It is also referred to as binary32 as the representation requires only 32 bits of memory. The format of the IEEE-754 32 bit single precision format is represented below: Figure: Single precision format Source: Kumar Basha, 2016 The IEEE 754 32 bit Single precision format consists of three components: Sign bit: 1 bit Exponent bit: 8 bit Significand precision: 24 in which 23 bits are explicitly stored. The signed bit represents the sign of the integer which represents positive as well as negative values. The 8 bits represents the exponent in signed format ranging from -127 to 128 as well as unsigned format ranging from 0 to 255 (Hou et al., 2017). The true significant bit is represented in the 23 fraction bits which following the exponent bit. An example of the IEEE 754 32 bit single precision format: Let us consider a value 0.25 in decimal. The 32 bit single precision format would be represented as: (0.25)10 can be considered as (1.0)2 * 2-2 The analysis of the above equation states that the exponent is -2 which can be represented in the biased form as 127-2=125. 125 can be further represented in binary form as 0111 1101. The fraction is 0 as the numbers following the right of the binary point in 1.0 are all zeros. Thus, the 23 significand bit representation consists of 00000000000000000000000. Thus, the complete representation of the number 0.25 in the 32 bit single precision format is as follows: 0 01111101 00000000000000000000000 IEEE-754 64-bit Double-Precision Floating-Point Numbers The IEEE 64 bit double precision number incorporates the capability to store 64 bit precision number. It occupies two adjacent storage locations in the computers memory. It is most commonly used in the PCs due to its wider range of information storage precision. The single precision format lacks the actual precision of the integer format, thus double precision format is more commonly used. The IEEE-754 64-bit double precision format is represented below: According to the figure, the format consists of the following three components: Sign bit: 1 bit Exponent bit: 11 bits Significand bits: 54 in which 23 bits are explicitly stored. Example: The exact value of the 64-bit double precision is given by, (-1)sign * (1.b51b50..b0)2 * 2e-1023 Where, sign stands for sign of integer and e stands for exponent. The number 1 can be represented as: The fixed point representation of a number includes three components, sign bit, integer field, and the fractional field. The sign bit is 1 bit, integer field is 15 bit and the fractional field is 16 bit. But in the floating point representation the integer field consists of either 8 bit or 11 bits, the remaining bits are the fractional part in both the representations (Lindstrom, Lloyd Hittinger, 2018). Moreover, the fixed point representation can represent smaller numbers but the floating point representation presents wider range of numbers. Reference Fulzele, S., Ghodke, V. (2015). Novel Technique for Parallel Pipeline Double Precision IEEE-754 Floating Point Adder.International Journal Of Engineering And Computer Science,4(06). Hou, J., Zhu, Y., Shen, Y., Li, M., Wu, H., Song, H. (2017, December). Tackling Gaps in Floating-Point Arithmetic: Unum Arithmetic Implementation on FPGA. InHigh Performance Computing and Communications; IEEE 15th International Conference on Smart City; IEEE 3rd International Conference on Data Science and Systems (HPCC/SmartCity/DSS), 2017 IEEE 19th International Conference on(pp. 615-616). IEEE. Kumar, B. V. V., Basha, S. M. (2016). Design and Simulation of Single-Precision Inexact Floating-Point Adder/Subtractor.i-Manager's Journal on Electronics Engineering,6(4), 7. Lindstrom, P., Lloyd, S., Hittinger, J. (2018). Universal Coding of the Reals: Alternatives to IEEE Floating Point.

The Tensions of Susan Moller Okin’s Essay Essay Example

The Tensions of Susan Moller Okin’s Essay Essay Susan Moller Okin’s â€Å"Feminism and Multiculturalism: Some Tensions† is a well-argued paper that explores the â€Å"tensions† between feminism and multiculturalism (particularly the â€Å"group-rights† variety) from a consistent liberal perspective. The author writes as a liberal and as a feminist in putting forth a critique of the ways in which multiculturalism – as it was, and still is, being advocated by various activists and academics – poses real dangers to the rights and interests of girls and women that belong to minority groups. The way she does this is admirable: In a manner that is clear and with not-so-well-known examples, she shows how most of the major cultures of the world puts a premium on â€Å"maintaining control of women† and how the advancement of the rights and interests of women conflict and clash with particular practices within the cultures of minority groups. She is admirable in standing firm with the feminist insight that â€Å"more often than not, sex discrimination is far less overt. In many cultures, strict control of women is enforced in the private sphere by the authority of either actual or symbolic fathers, often acting through, or with the complicity of, the older women of the culture. † This, I think, is her central argument in making the case that there are â€Å"tensions,† if not contradictions, between feminism and multiculturalism. Despite my respect for Okin’s arguments and mode of argumentation, I also have a few critical remarks: (1) For a couple of times in the essay, Okin referred to â€Å"more patriarchal minority cultures exist[ing] in the context of less patriarchal majority cultures. We will write a custom essay sample on The Tensions of Susan Moller Okin’s Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Tensions of Susan Moller Okin’s Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Tensions of Susan Moller Okin’s Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer † This, I think, is one of the great assumptions of her essay – the situation that is implied to be the context of her thinking and writing. The question therefore arises: Is she talking about North America and Europe? I wish that Okin made this assumption an argument, changed it from being implicit to being explicit. This would have made her case stronger, or at least clearer, and not prone to charges of Eurocentrism in this context, or the assumption that states in North America and Europe are liberal ones that are good or even better for girls and women to grow up in. Not that I disagree with this belief completely, but I believe that this must be shown rather than merely assumed. Had Okin made this explicit, perhaps she would have posed and addressed related issues such as the degree of â€Å"liberalism† or â€Å"feminism† of these states with regard to girls and women, especially when compared with cultures of â€Å"minority groups. † (2) I also hoped that Okin presented what advocates of â€Å"group rights† are fighting for, or what they themselves say they are fighting for. I think that she will agree that these advocates are not fighting for group rights for the sole purpose of controlling or oppressing women. By not presenting the objectives of these advocates, however, we are left with the impression – one-sided, surely – that the enforcement of these group rights by the state will only lead to the tighter control and greater oppression of women. Had she presented the objectives of these advocates, we readers will probably be given the chance to weigh these against the dangers that she had posed. It is not that the rights of minority groups should take precedence over the rights and interests of girls and women within these groups. But the fact that these objectives can constitute real gains for populations of minority groups, and not just attacks on the rights and interests of girls and women suggests that the struggle for the rights and interests of women on the one hand, and of the minority group on the other, could be seen as complementing each other, part of a struggle to expand freedoms of various peoples. (3) I wish to make a few comments regarding various points of Okin’s paper. (a) Okin defends feminists (needless to say, from one culture) who criticize anti-women practices in other cultures. I agree with her on this score. Such a view, however, should be balanced by the view that real change happens only when its constituents fight for it. I agree that we can pass judgment on the tyranny of Saddam Husein but I do not agree that this gives us license to attack Iraq. Real change in Iraq should come from its people, not from other countries. (b) I have the feeling that control and oppression of women in the family sphere is too systemic a problem for it to used as a yardstick for measuring gains that group rights can actually bring a minority population. (c) One more thing that’s sorely missing in Okin’s essay is an appreciation of how changes in history take place. I think that piecemeal reforms for oppressed people are important and can lead to bigger things. What she does, from one perspective, is to pit piecemeal reforms against systemic changes – which is not, I think, how changes in history take place.

Thea Musgrave, Composer

Thea Musgrave, Composer A conductor as well as a composer,  Thea Musgrave  has conducted in the United States and Britain. She has taught at London University, the University of California at Santa Barbara, New College, Cambridge, and Queens University, New York. Her later work is known for dramatic-abstract musical forms. Dates:  May 27, 1928 - Occupation:  composer Music is a human art, not a sexual one. Sex is no more important than eye color. - Thea Musgrave Thea Musgrave was born in Barton, Scotland. She studied at Moreton Hall Schook, then at Edinburgh University, with Hans  Gl and Mary Grierson, and in Paris at the Conservatoire and with Nadia Boulanger. She studied with Tanglewood Festival with Aaron Copland in 1958. Thea Musgrave was a Guest Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1970, and from 1987 to 2002 taught at Queens College, City University of New York, appointed as a Distinguished Professor.   She has honorary degrees from Old Dominion University in Virginia, Glasgow University, Smith College and Bostons New England Conservatory of Music. Her early works include  The Suite oBairnsangs, a ballet  A Tale for Thieves  and an opera  The Abbot of Drimock.  Her best known works include  The Seasons, Rainbow, Black Tambourine  (for female voices, piano and percussion) and operas  The Voice of Ariadne, A Christmas Carol, Mary Queen of Scots,  and  Harriet: The Woman Called Moses.   Her later work, especially, extends traditional boundaries, emphasizing abstract form and dramatic content. Though her operas are perhaps her best known work, she also composed for ballet and childrens theater, and published many pieces for orchestra, piano and chamber music. as well as some pieces for vocal and choral performance. She often conducted her own work at major music festivals in America and Euorpe.   She is married to Peter Mark since 1971, a violist who was the conductor and general director of the Virginia Opera Association in the 1980s. Key Operas Composed in the 1970s,  Mary, Queen of Scots  is about the period when  Mary Stuart  returned to Scotland after her years in France, through her flight to England. Her A Christmas Carol, based on the story by Charles Dickens, was first performed in Virginia in 1979. Harriet: A Woman Called Moses was first performed in Virginia in 1985.   The opera is based on the life of Harriet Tubman  and her role in the Underground Railroad. Key Orchestral Works Thea  Musgrave published Concerto for Orchestra in 1967. This piece is noted for the solos moving around through different sections of the orchestra, then the soloists playing, standing, in the climax.   Several later pieces also featured soloists highlighting different parts of the orchestra, moving the players around the stage. Night Music is a 1969 piece noted for the emotions that it evokes.   In Viola Concerto the whole viola section is to rise at a specific point.   She considered her Peripeteia a kind of opera without words or specific plot. Choral Works The texts for Musgraves choral pieces are from a variety of classical and modern sources, including Hesiod, Chaucer, Michelangelo, John Donne, Shakespeare and D.H. Lawrence. Writing Musgrave published  The Choral Music of 21st Century Women Composers  in 1997, written with Elizabeth Lutyens and Elizabeth Merconchy. About Thea Musgrave Categories: musician, composer, conductorPlaces: Edinburgh, Scotland, United StatesPeriod: 20th century Print Bibliography Musgrave, Thea, Elizabeth Maconchy and Elisabeth Lutyens.  The Choral Music of Twentieth-Century Women Composers.  1997.Hixon, Donald L.  Thea Musgrave: A Bio-Bibliography. 1984. Music Women of Note  (CD)Premiere Performances  by Boston Musica VivaTwentieth Century Settings

How to become a special education teacher

How to become a special education teacher Anyone who takes on the role of teacher is already pretty special- educating students of all ages is not for everyone, and it can be one of the most challenging and rewarding careers out there. And if you’re thinking of becoming a special education teacher, working with students with an even greater range of learning styles, academic needs, and levels of ability, the ups and downs of teaching can be even more intense. If you think this might be the teaching career for you, we have the info you need to get started on that path. What do special education teachers do?Special education teachers are educators who work specifically with students who have physical, academic, or emotional differences. Many special ed teachers focus on a particular age group (like elementary school or high school), but the range of student ages can vary, depending on how the school’s special education programs are set up. Special education teachers may work with students who have a variety of sp ecial needs conditions, including:Learning disabilitiesBehavior disordersAutism spectrum disordersPhysical disabilities (blindness, deafness, etc.)Students may range from having mild learning disabilities to severe mental and physical challenges. Special education teachers may choose to specialize in one of these areas and focus their master’s degree studies accordingly. As school employees, special education teachers typically have the same full-time work day and school year as other kinds of teachers, with summers off (unless a particular school or district offers summer courses as part of its special education curriculum). Although the school week typically involves a standard number of working hours, there may be additional time spent in the mornings, evenings, and off-hours to prepare for school and help students in extracurricular programs or other activities.These teachers have many of the same job responsibilities as other types of teachers, including:Lesson and curri culum planningManaging classroom lessons and activitiesTracking student progressMeeting with parentsAssisting students with everyday living tasksTeaching a variety of subjects (like reading, math, or science)Teaching communication skillsSpecial education teachers can be found in most types of schools: public, private, elementary, secondary, or magnet.What skills do special education teachers have?Special education teachers often need to have an extra dose of people skills, given that they’re dealing with students who may have a variety of physical, emotional, and educational needs.Teaching Skills:  This is the most important skill for any teacher, really, but special education teachers have to be especially good at teaching basic concepts to students who have different abilities to learn and understand the material.Flexibility:  Classrooms are unpredictable, and this can be even more true when a class has students with a variety of needs and abilities. The teacher should bring a certain amount of flexibility to lessons and classroom activities to help account for different students who learn in different ways. The special education classroom is rarely a one-size-fits-all educational experience, so a little flexibility in teaching can be very helpful.Patience:  This is a very important skill for a special education teacher to have. Many special needs students may require extra time or resources to learn the skills and concepts that other students may â€Å"get† faster. For the teacher, it’s crucial to understand that extra help or patience may be the best way to reach those students and help them learn.Creativity:  Again, because of the learning differences that special education students may have, standard lessons may not be the way to go. Finding ways to teach material in ways that students can relate to and understand, even if it’s a little unorthodox, can really help special education teachers in their day-to-day classroo ms.Organizational Skills:  Like in any classroom, organization can mean all the difference between chaos and success. Organization is extra important for a special needs classroom, where students have additional challenges and may need even more structure throughout the school day. There may be students with wildly different needs as well, so keeping the classroom and the students organized is essential to making sure everyone’s staying on track.What do you need to become a special education teacher?Becoming a special education teacher requires a four-year degree in education, ideally with a focus on special education. Many teachers also go on to complete a master’s degree in special education as well. Certification is typically required for special education teachers, particularly ones in public schools. Each state has its own certification requirements, so be sure to check with your state to see what’s expected.How much do special education teachers get paid ?According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for kindergarten teachers is $57,910. This can vary depending on the teacher’s experience and the type of school, as well as the types of students the teacher is working with.  What is the outlook for special education teachers?The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects that this field will grow about 8% by 2026, which is about as fast as average for all careers. Education is a rather perennial field (especially as the population continues to grow), and the demand for teachers who have the skills to work with special needs students will likely be one of the education specialties that sees the most growth within the industry.If you have the patience and skills to work with special students who have needs that go beyond many other students’, this can be an incredibly rewarding and satisfying career path. You’ll be helping students overcome their issues and learn and grow their potential . Good luck!

Health Care Delivery in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Health Care Delivery in the US - Essay Example Think of a machine whose parts are working together and running smoothly and efficiently. This is how health care delivery in the United States should be. Ludwig von Bertalanffy's Systems Theory shows there is more than just one part involved in the process. It takes all the parts involved to make the machine work properly. Getting these parts to fit, however, can be a challenge. Unfortunately, the uninsured does not always have access to good quality medical care, and/or services. Lack of education, when it comes to paperwork, multiple physicians, and understanding exactly what the disease and its treatment process becomes extremely confusing leading to errors and unneeded care. health care has had to go through many tests before being incorporated in the industry. Testing and proving the benefits of such programs, such as HomeMed or EHR, depends entirely on the ones doing the testing. If it is perceived by health consumers to provide benefits and has real time advantages, it will be accepted, if not it will be rejected. The incorporation of technology, and the acceptance of the internet, has seen many organizations implementing telemedicine. This will lead to more efficient care and access to remote areas.Conducting cardio-pulmonary resuscitation on a dummy leaves a lot to the imagination. The true sense of performing this life saving technique is lost. Roger's Diffusion of Innovation theory deals with the idea of accepting a new way of doing things.In today's health care setting, with many new

The Roman Fever Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Roman Fever - Essay Example Background Essentially, the story was about the friendship of two women, Grace Ansley and Alida Slade. They were vacationing in Rome with their daughters, Barbara Ansley and Jenny Slade. This was the second time that the two elderly women had been to the city. They had previously visited Rome and the present travel provided a conducive for the two protagonists to reflect on their lives. A good part of it came as offshoot of what transpired in Rome many years ago. As they looked back on the past, a secret was revealed by Mrs. Slade amidst the long rivalry that hounded their friendship through the years. There was some sort of love triangle between Grace, Alida and her husband Delphin Slade in the past. It turned out that Mrs. Slade wrote a fake letter to Mrs. Ansley that supposedly came from Delphin Slade. The letter invited Grace to a tryst in the Coliseum in an effort to break her heart and cease getting in the way between Alida and Delphin as a consequence. It turned out that the t ryst actually transpired with Grace and Delphin meeting each other after the former revealed that she answered the letter and Delphin actually came. Strong Competing Women The story was a convoluted affair, but typical of the experience of the women of the American upper class during the 1930s. What makes this theme remarkable is that the story was controlled throughout by female protagonists, which depicted strong female roles. Certainly, the story was dominated by the two women and, then, there were their daughters, playing minor parts. The only physically present male in the narrative was the Italian waiter and some unseen Italian suitors who, from the statements of the protagonists, can be considered as objects of the predatory desires of their children. When the husbands were finally mentioned, they were referred to in passive roles or as tools in making a make a point, introducing an argument, and issue or a narration of experience. Mr. Horace Ansley was brought up by the two women only to be referred to as dull, spineless, boring and insufferably passive character – â€Å"just a duplicate of his wife† (12). It was obvious that his wife dominated him throughout their married life. Meanwhile, Delphin Slade was only introduced when the letter was brought up. Here, he was a facilitator or a device, if you may, in order for the desired reaction in the case of the letter to be effective. They are not unlike the Italian lovers previously mentioned. They were objects of the female rivalry and female negotiations as they navigated their relationships and pursued their objectives. They were there for a reason and such reason was determined by the women who need their respective resources and ammunition to outdo each other. There are some subtle hints provided by Wharton to support the above point of view. Delphin closely resembles the word "delphic" which is synonymous to ambiguousness and obscurity. The name Delphin may also be related to the Roman Apollo, who was the god of light and represents manly beauty. So Delphin was like the trophy - the object - by which Grace and Alida and their mothers, before them, worked hard to achieve. From the very first words of the story, this tone was already established: â€Å"the women, ladies of ripe but well-cared for middle age moved across the lofty terrace of the Roman restaurant... looked first at each other, and then down on the outspread glories of the Palatine... with the same expression of vague but

A Rose for Emily Essay Example for Free

A Rose for Emily Essay Beyond these two similarities the stories differ greatly. One of the most notable differences between the two stories is the tense with which they are written. Poe takes us into the mind of the main character using the first person. In this way we learn about the insults perpetrated against the main character along with the intimate reasoning he uses to justify his act of murder. On the contrary, Faulkner writes his story in the third-person omniscient voice and defines the main character through a myriad of supporting characters and dynamic imagery. This use of tense functions well and reinforces the writers plot design. The two writers create very different environments in which the action takes place. Faulkner opens his short story setting up a gloomy, dark stage by describing a derelict Victorian home in a denigrated neighborhood. In the case of Poe’s short story the first clear description of the environment comes later in the story and describes the tunnels leading to the cask of Amontillado. This cramped setting appears to reinforce the cramped space in which Fortunato is ultimately entombed. These settings work well to create a mysterious and tense plot. Faulkner uses many characters in his story where Poe restricts himself to just two. In Faulkner’s story the protagonist is defined through the eyes of many characters thus creating an air of mystery that surrounds the main character, Miss Emily. Miss Emily is known only through the minds others. Conversely, Poe restricts his story to include only the aggressor and victim. This minimal cast, combined with the first person tense, keeps the reader focused exactly where Poe intended. This diverse use of characters adds greatly to the tension prevalent in these two dynamic stories. The creative use of tense, environment and characters make these two stories stand out. The first person tense takes you deep into the mind of a killer in one story and 2 in the other a portrait is painted by a diverse group of characters. Two very different settings reinforce an air of mystery. The dynamic use of these techniques makes these two short stories stand out as industry standards. 3

Offensive Speech Should be Allowed -- Freedom of Speech

There seems to be an internal desire for freedom within the soul of every man. Men realize that freedom is something basic, and to rob a man of his freedom is to take from him the essential basis of his manhood. The words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., spoken forty-three years ago, capture the spirit of the American dream. Since its conception, the United States of America has been the universal symbol for freedom and hope. The five most fundamental freedoms cherished by every citizen are granted in the First Amendment to the Constitution. Among them, Americans treasure the right to freedom of speech above all others. Yet, as we stand here in the birth of a new millennium, this right has become endangered. College campuses across the nation are embroiled in a heated debate over what, exactly, constitutes free speech. At the heart of the debate is the issue of hate speech, or speech that "offends, threatens, or insults" a person because of some trait such as gender or race (McMasters). Incidents of hate speech include an international student shouting racial epithets from his dorm room window (Hinds 108), complaints of email harassment (Harmon 115), and fraternity rush T-shirts depicting raci ally insulting caricatures (Frammolino 112). What is the solution to this fundamental conflict? Many people strongly advocate implementing speech codes into campus legal systems in order to control such displays. However, this is an inadequate and superficial response to a much deeper issue. College campuses should not regulate hate speech because such regulations violate our constitutional rights, no practical definition of hate speech exists, and there is no way to enforce punishment. Abridging freedom of speech on college campuses banda... ...t Austin. "Sexual Harassment of Students by Faculty and Staff." Writing the World. Ed. Charles R. Cooper and Susan Peck MacDonald. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 123-124. U.S. Supreme Court. "Beauharnais v. Illinois." Writing the World. Ed. Charles R. Cooper and Susan Peck MacDonald. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 128-135. U.S. Supreme Court. "Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire." Writing the World. Ed. Charles R. Cooper and Susan Peck MacDonald. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2000. 126-128. Virginia Commonwealth University. "Rights and Prohibited Conduct." Writing the World. Ed. Charles R. Cooper and Susan Peck MacDonald. New York: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2000. 121-123. Walker, Samuel. "Hate Speech: The History of an American Controversy." Writing the World. Ed. Charles R. Cooper and Susan Peck MacDonald. New York: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2000. 135-143.

Catcher in The Rye by J. D. Salinger

In the novel Catcher in The Rye, Salinger has employed a very realistic portrayal of teenagers and how they act. There are plenty of characteristic on how he properly conveyed this to the audience and he also spread these characteristics through-out all of the characters that are used within the novel.Firstly, you have Holden; a teenager who is not always the brightest bulb in the cabinet, but he has a clear understanding on how the world works and yet he ironically does not have the brains to execute this knowledge directly into the world. Secondly, you have Stradlater; a teenager who just spends all his time going out with girls and partying. Some might say he is a ‘party animal’. Lastly, you have Ackley; a mostly grotesque teenager who does not listen to social cues, acts profoundly around people actions and his practically obnoxious about everything (not knowing, that is how he is acting though). So, Salinger’s opinion (when it comes to characteristics of a te enager) is that all teenagers are blatantly ignorant everything, that all teenagers think they can just coast their way through life and do not have any respect for the people around us.Holden does not really think about what he is going to say, he just kind of spits everything out. Maybe he is an intelligent boy and all, but how he speaks and what he says proves otherwise. Holden states â€Å"I practically got T.B†¦ I’m pretty healthy, though.† (J.D Salinger, 5) In this sentence he talks about basically having a life threatening disease and then tries to reassure to the reader that he is ‘pretty healthy’, I personally think that in a logical statement he would have said something on the lines of â€Å"I practically got T.B†¦ [I should get that checked out].† (J.D Salinger, 5)While Holden is having a conversation with Mr. Spencer he even acknowledges his own stupidity to himself/the reader through the idea of immaturity. â€Å"I was sixte en then, and I’m seventeen now, and sometimes I act like I’m about thirteen.† (Salinger, 9) It is kind of ironic if you think about it, he does not want to be known as dumb or stupid or an idiot, yet he has the  occasional time when he acts like a thirteen year old. Holden, he understands where his faults are, but he cannot come to a conclusion on how to actually fix them he just carries on with his day as if it does not matter.Holden’s roommate Stradlater thoroughly enjoys going out on Friday night, Saturday night, well every night. To do so, he has to find ways to be able to still do well in school while 0slacking off and shrugging all his work aside and his solution; anyone he can find. At one point Stradlater and Holden (because they are roommates) meet up in their room and Stradlater asks Holden is he can do a big favour for him and if he was planning on going out. Holden replies asking what the favour is and that he did not have plans of any sorts. Afterwards Stradlater asks ‘the big question’, â€Å"I got about a hundred pages to read for history†¦ How ‘bout writing a composition for me†¦?† (Salinger, 28)In this instance he had just initiated a vital opening for Holden to be a friend or to just blow him off, and Holden accepts the offer and says he will do the paper for him. Stradlater had just avoided doing his work for one reason; he wanted to go out that night with a girl.Stradlater is also a guy who knows how to be flattering enough that he can convince people to do things for him, you could look at it as he has it better than everyone else because he is ‘prettier’ than other people. He compliments Holden’s new hat with the term â€Å"sharp† and then almost instantaneously afterwards asks â€Å"Listen. Are ya gonna write that composition for me? I have to know.† (Salinger, 29) Why did he need to know you might ask? Well, if Holden has explicitly said à ¢â‚¬Å"no.† to him then Stradlater would have stayed in that night to do it, although Holden says â€Å"If I get the time, I will†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Salinger, 29) Stradlater, using Holden like a boat in the river of life, just expects Holden to float on his way through life, carrying Stradlater along while he is having a party in the boat.Finally, there is Ackley. Now, Ackley has a knack for hanging out in the wrong place for too long. In chapter three, Holden is laying down in his room reading a book and enjoying the feeling of his new hat on the top of his head when, let it be hold that his neighbour Ackley comes strolling over into his room without any true intent on why he is there.Ackley moves  friskily around the room, touching everything he can multiple times while trying to hold a conversation with Holden (who clearly does not want one). â€Å"I’ve read this same sentence about twenty times since you came in.† (Salinger, 20) After stating that Ackley was a disturbance to him, he still did not get the hint and clearly not picking up on the cue to get out of Holden’s room. Later on while Ackley is still occupying the room, Holden says to his self â€Å"I sometimes horse around to keep myself from getting bored.† (Salinger, 21) Once Holden starts to annoy Ackley, trying to make him vacate the room he STILL does not leave. So, clearly Ackley has a problem with following what people are trying to put out to him because he is just plain ignorant about other people and quite frankly himself if you were to take a look at how he manages his outer image.In conclusion, J.D Salinger has made the novel Catcher in The Rye a story that really shows how teenagers act/acted. Salinger also adds his own input on how he thinks teenagers act and/or acted in our time period and the time period at which this novel was written and/or published in through the characters he had created. Three of the main characters; Holden, Stradlater and Ackley are all extremely different which expresses a wide variety of teenager characteristic.Holden symbolizes blatant ignorance for the world around him, Stradlater shows us how un-caring and un-motivated teenagers are when it comes to working on anything and lastly, Ackley describes the lack of respect that we as teenagers have for the people around us. Salinger has made it pretty clear that he believes that teenagers need to change and used this novel to get his point across the world.

All characters in the novel Essay

All characters in the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ are either lonely, bored or in need of escaping from the soulless existence of the itinerant labour. It is based on a society of men leading empty lives, trapped in a lonely life, consisting mainly of hard physical work. There was not enough happiness, love and affection in their lives. The novel is set in California, the Southern states of America, in the 1930’s around the time of the ‘Great Depression’. The ranch is based in ‘Soledad’; which is the Spanish word for ‘Loneliness’. The bunkhouse that the men sleep and live in is a long and rectangular building. The walls are white washed and the floor unpainted. In three of the four walls are small, square windows. In the fourth one was a solid door with a wooden latch. There are eight bunks, all with a nailed apple box over them with the opening forward. This made two small shelves for the personal belongings of each ranch hand occupying the certain bunk. On these shelves were little articles, soap, razors, talcum powder, Western magazines, medicines, little vials, combs and a few neckties. There was also a black cast iron stove, and a big square table in the centre of the room, with scattered playing cards across it, and surrounding the table were boxes for the men to sit on. The bunkhouse also had lice and roaches in it! Carlson and the other ranch hands all dream of owning their own land and living and working from this, resulting in wealth and happiness. This was known as the ‘American Dream’, this is shown as an opportunity to all people no matter how rich or poor they are. There is a lot of government propaganda, informing people that if they work hard and push their ambitions to the limit, they can make this dream reality. However they all knew, no matter how hard they worked or how successful they were, it was very unlikely of this dream ever becoming reality. Their way of escaping this disappointment was to collect their fifty bucks at the end of the month and of a weekend spend all of it on women and alcohol, usually at the nearest ‘cat-house’. During the week they play cards games or horseshoes. Crooks is very lonely, this is due to the fact that he is coloured and everyone knows him as a nigger! He is treated completely differently to all the others, an outsider. He is also crippled, after a horse kicked him and severely damaged his back. In the 1930’s it was very racist in America and the coloured people weren’t allowed to speak up or were too scared to defend themselves in fear of what the white people would do to them. This is the situation Crooks is in. However he is the only coloured person at the ranch, so he has to accept all racial comments on his own. He has his own separate room, which isn’t even a room it is a shed that leans off the side of the barn wall. He is isolated from everyone else, therefore unable to socialise. On one occasion Lennie entered the barn to see his pup. He saw Crooks’ light shining and stood in the doorway of Crooks’ room. Crooks saw him and said sharply ‘†you got no right to come in my room. This here’s my room. Nobody got any right in here, but me. † He then followed with â€Å"I ain’t wanted in the bunkhouse and you ain’t wanted in my room†, â€Å"they play cards in there, but I can’t play because I’m black. They say I stink. Well, I tell you all of you stink to me. † Crooks reads to amuse himself when he has nothing better to do. This keeps his mind off of the atmosphere and situation he is surrounded by in his everyday life. Curley’s wife is perhaps one of the loneliest characters, trapped in her strict and original woman’s/wife’s role. Her daily routine only ever consists of her doing housework, such as cooking Curley’s dinner, washing Curley’s clothes, making Curley’s bed, cleaning Curley’s house, etc. If Curley catches her talking to the ranch hands he is always very annoyed by it, she is to stay in the house. She is known as ‘Curley’s wife’, no one knows her name so they cannot call her by it. One time when she enters the bunkhouse and begins to talk to the ranch hands, Crooks suggests † Maybe you better go along to your own house now. We don’t want no trouble. † It is this idea that she is ‘trouble’ that makes Curley’s wife so upset and angry. † Well, I ain’t giving you no trouble. Think I don’t like to talk to somebody ever’ once in a while? Think I like to stick in that house alla time? † Having a husband even makes her loneliness worse, because Curley is so strict about whom she socialises with and what she does. She calls him sarcastically a â€Å"Swell guy†, who † Spends all his time sayin’ what he’s gonna do to guy’s he don’t like, and he don’t like nobody. † Curley’s wife tries to escape her loneliness and sadness by dreaming of being an actress or a model. She had been offered the chance before â€Å"I tell you I could of went with shows† † An’ a guy tol’ me he could put me in pitchers†. Curley’s wife is also very good at flirting, this attracts male attention. Therefore just for a moment she is listened to and is the centre of attention, this moment matters so much to her because she is being paid attention to for once, that she makes a very bad habit of it. However the ranch hands have got used to her scheming ways and do not want to risk getting â€Å"canned† because of a â€Å"tart†. However Lennie and George are different to the other ranch hands, they may live a lonely existence, but they have each other. Other than the other ranch hands expressing their feelings about their hopes, dreams, lonely lives etc, George and Lennie are the only characters we really get to know. All other ranch hands haven’t got a family or anything to look forward to, but it is different with George and Lennie; they believe they have a future and as long as they have got each other, it doesn’t matter whether they have a family or not. These men love each other. They talk to each other and know that the other cares for them, because George looks after Lennie, and Lennie looks after George. However, George has a much greater job in looking after Lennie, than Lennie has in looking after George. Lennie is a bit of a dunce and is always forgetting things, but George has the brains. They both are physically well built, but Lennie does not realise his own strength sometimes, he is dangerously strong. Lennie is the physical side of the pair, whereas George is the mental. The fact that they have each other gives them more of a chance of success, than the other ranch hands. Lennie loves George to tell him what; one-day things will be like. Their dream is to one day buy a little house, with a ten acres, a â€Å"win’mill†, a kitchen, an orchard to grow â€Å"cherries, apples, peaches, ‘cots, nuts, and a few berries†, a section on the land to grow alfalfa that Lennie will use to feed the rabbits with, hutches and pens full with pigs, chickens, cows, goats, cats, pigeons, a dog and rabbits that Lennie could pet, a smoke house so they could kill the pigs and then smoke it, for smoked ham and bacon etc, and for them to literally â€Å"live off the fatta the lan'†. They would only work six or seven hours a day. Lennie likes to pet, smooth, soft, furry things, as a kind of comfort. Other than for George and animals, love and affection are withheld, not only from Lennie, but also for all the ranch hands. This is why they have their own individual comfort or way of escaping from the repetitive daily routine and loneliness. Candy is a dissimilar character from the other ranch hands. He is very lonely and sad. He has no hand, but a very old dog that he cares for very much. This dog is similar to Candy. They are both very old and when Carlson shoots the dog, because it smells, has no teeth, he cannot eat, is stiff with rheumatism, is nearly blind and Carlson thinks it will be better to put the dog out of his ageing misery. Candy wants people to treat him once he is canned like this. This is because he â€Å"won’t have no place to go, an’ he can’t get no more jobs†. The other ranch hands say that he can replace the dog with one of Lulu’s pups, but of course that wouldn’t be the same, never is anyone or anything the equivalent, everyone and everything is unique. Candy seems to think that when he is dead, people will say the same thing about him. When a new ranch hand comes and replaces him, he’ll be forgotten. For obvious reasons Candy is upset and hurt by this. It is as if the characteristics of his dog and the way the other men treat the dog, symbolises Candy. Candy wants to join George and Lennie in their ‘dream’. Candy has already got three hundred bucks and another fifty coming at the end of the month, when the men get paid. He explains that he â€Å"ain’t much good, but I could cook, tend the chickens, and hoe the garden some†. Then when George and Lennie get their fifty bucks each at the end of the month, they will have four hundred and fifty bucks, and although the woman wants six hundred bucks, George thinks she will accept their offer as a deposit and then George will get a job and start to collect the rest, while Candy and Lennie could work on the land as well as sell eggs etc, making more money. This is Candy’s route of escaping. Everything seems to be falling into place and their dream looks like it could become reality. This is everything a man wants and Candy is thrilled he is part of it. However much their dream looks real, it all ends when Curley’s wife tries her old tricks with Lennie. Curley’s wife enters the barn, as Lennie sits there mourning over his pup, he has just accidentally killed! George has already warned Lennie about Curley’s wife, says she is trouble, so Lennie refuses to talk to her, â€Å"George says I ain’t to have nothing to do with you- talk to you or nothing†. Curley’s wife says in a innocent voice, â€Å"All the guys got a horse-shoe tenement goin’ on†, so â€Å"Why can’t you talk to me? † She eventually persuades Lennie that it is safe to talk to her. They talk for ages and Lennie tells her how he â€Å"likes to pet nice things with my fingers, sof’ things†. She tells Lennie to â€Å"feel right here†, on her hair. Lennie was enjoying stroking her hair until she warned him not to â€Å"muss it up†. She then got angry because Lennie wasn’t listening to her. She went to pull away and Lennie clasped his fingers tightly in her hair and wouldn’t let go. She began to shout, â€Å"you let go†. Lennie began to get scared because he thought George would hear and go mad. He covered her mouth and nose to prevent her screaming, and continued to beg her to be quiet. She continued to struggle and he shook her. Suddenly â€Å"her body flopped like a fish†. She was dead! Lennie ran to the brush that George had told him to hide in when they first arrived in Soledad if he ever got into trouble. When Candy found Curley’s wife dead and told all the ranch hands, they all knew it was Lennie! Most of the men wanted to kill Lennie, but George got there first. George knew that Lennie would be scared if half a dozen men ran towards him shooting, but if George was to do it at the back of his head, just like Candy’s old dog it would be pain free. When George found him, Lennie asked for the story of their dream to be told to him and questioned George why he wasn’t mad at him, but obviously if this was George’s last moments with Lennie he didn’t want to be mad at him. As George told the story and paused every so often, Lennie would say â€Å"go on† or â€Å"Gonna do it soon† as if he knew what George was about to do and was encouraging George to get it over and done with. George finally shot Lennie. Lennie jarred forward and the settled peacefully as he lay on the sand. George just sat stiffly and silently n the bank, looking at his hand that had just pulled the trigger disgustedly. George knew it was for the best, where ever they were to go Lennie’s unrecognised strength would lead to trouble; it had already, both in Weed and Soledad. Lennie was trapped by his strength. Although, Lennie has now been released from pain by no longer being able to kill others and from not getting shot by half a dozen men cruelly, but peacefully by George. The upsetting thing is, that Lennie was so afraid of being alone and away from George, and now he was just that. It was all over!!! George is now free; he is no longer trapped by his want of freedom, of constantly looking after Lennie. I think the novel tries to give us the message that people try to lead their lives as successfully as possible, in order to result in the best possible outcome. However this is very hard to succeed. The ranch hands wanted the ‘American Dream’ to become reality, but is very unlikely and as shown does not happen. The novel gave a very positive view of the ‘American dream’, but this is erroneous and does not come true. The chances of finding true, lasting friendship and happiness are also very unlikely as it is always spoilt by misfortune, arguments, inconveniences and sometimes death, as in this case.

One Body, Two Bloods Essays - Derek Walcott, Eddie The Head

One Body, Two Bloods Essays - Derek Walcott, Eddie The Head One Body, Two Bloods The writer that I chose is Derek Walcott. The reason that I chose him was because we had never read his poetry in class and we did not cover many black poets in class. After reading much of his poetry I feel that Walcott and me have not only a lot in common but at times the same feelings toward are heritage. Walcott descended from a white grandmother and a black grandmother on both the paternal and maternal sides, hes a living example of divided heritage between two worlds. For Walcott his heritage is painful, but fortunately he can elevate personal crises into art. My family tree is identical to Walcotts, so this is why I can relate to what he is saying. A Far Cry from Africa A wind is ruffling the tawny pelt Of Africa. Kikuyu, quick as flies, Corpses are scattered through a paradise. Only the worm, colonel of carrion, cries: Waste no compassion on these separate dead! Statistics justify and scholars seize The salients of colonial policy. What is that to the white child hacked in bed? To savages, expendable as Jews? Threshed out by beaters, the long rushes break In a white dust of ibises whose cries Have wheeled since civilizations dawn *From the parched river or beast teeming plain. The violence of beast on beast is read As natural law, but upright man Seeks his divinity by inflicting pain. Delirious as these worried beasts, his wars Dance to the tightened carcass of a drum, While he calls courage still that native dread Of the white peace contracted by the dead. Again brutish necessity wipes its hands Upon the napkin of a dirty cause, again A waste of our compassion, as with Spain, The gorilla wrestles with superman. Where shall I turn, divided to the vein? I who have cursed The drunken officer of British rule, how choose Between this Africa and the English tongue I love? Betray them both, or give back what they give? How can I face such slaughter and be cool? How can I turn from Africa and live? This poem shows the reader how much pain Walcott has inside its about his own experiences. He is picturing Africa as a black leopard. At the beginning, he was explaining how the Mau Mau tribe is killing white children and this bothers him significantly. He is describing how the British and the Africans are both animals because they are both killing each other. He is comparing the massacres to those of the Jews. He said that they should have ignored the battle in Spain because it was useless. He was being tempted. The gorilla that he mentions in line 25 is from Darwin and the superman represents how people can become better. Walcott is saying that he is confused because he does not know where to turn. The reason he is confused is because he has both white and black blood from his parents, so he does not know what side to choose. He describes his heritage as a curse or something that he is not happy in receiving. Hes divided between Africa and his British culture that which he grew up on. He grew up on the English language, but he loves Africa, so he does not know where to turn if the two of them are on bad terms. He can not leave his homeland, but he also can not turn his back on the land of his anscestors. The question of identity is one of the most frequently recurring themes. He defines this not only as his problem but that of all men whose heritage comes from divided blood and culture. Nights in the Garden of Port of Spain Night, the black summer, simplifies her smells into a village; she assumes the impenetrable musk of the negro, grows secret as sweat, her alleys odorous with shucked oyster shells, coals of gold oranges, braziers of melon. Commerce and tambourines increase her heat. Hellfire or the whorehouse: crossing Park Street, a surf sailors faces crests, is gone with the seas phosphorescence; the boites-de nuit tinkle like fireflies in her thick hair. Blinded by headlamps, deaf to taxi klaxons, she lifts her face from the cheap, pitch of oil flare towards white stars, like cities, flashing neon, burning to be the bitch she must become. As daylight breaks the coolie turns his tumbril of hacked, beheaded coconuts towards home. This is a

Slavery and Identity Among the Cherokee

Slavery and Identity Among the Cherokee The institution of slavery in the United States long pre-dates the African slave trade. But by the late 1700’s the practice of slaveholding by southern Indian nations- the Cherokee in particular- had taken hold as their interactions with Euro-Americans increased. Today’s Cherokee still grapple with the troubling legacy of slavery in their nation with the Freedman dispute. Scholarship on slavery in the Cherokee nation typically focuses on analyzing the circumstances that help to explain it, often describing a less brutal form of slavery (an idea some scholars debate). Nevertheless, the practice of African slaveholding forever changed the way Cherokees view race which they continue to reconcile today. The Roots of Slavery in the Cherokee Nation The slave trade on US soil has its roots in the arrival of the first Europeans who developed an extensive transatlantic business in the trafficking of Indians. Indian slavery would last well into the mid-to-late 1700s before it was outlawed, by which time the African slave trade was well established. Until that time, the Cherokee had a long history of being subject to capture and then exported to foreign lands as slaves. But while the Cherokee, like many Indian tribes who also had histories of inter-tribal raiding which sometimes included the taking of captives who could be killed, traded, or eventually adopted into the tribe, the continual incursion of European immigrants into their lands would expose them to foreign ideas of racial hierarchies that reinforced the idea of black inferiority. In 1730 a dubious delegation of Cherokee signed a treaty with the British (the Treaty of Dover) committing them to return runaway slaves (for which they would be rewarded), the first â€Å"official† act of complicity in the African slave trade. However, an apparent sense of ambivalence toward the treaty would manifest among the Cherokee who sometimes aided runaways, kept them for themselves, or adopted them. Scholars like Tiya Miles note that Cherokees valued slaves not just for their labor, but also for their intellectual skills like their knowledge of English and Euro-American customs, and sometimes married them. Influence of Euro-American Slavery One significant influence on the Cherokee to adopt slavery came at the behest of the United States government. After the Americans’ defeat of the British (with whom the Cherokee sided), the Cherokee signed the Treaty of Holston in 1791 which called for Cherokee to adopt a sedentary farming and ranching-based life, with the US agreeing to supply them with the â€Å"implements of husbandry.† The idea was in keeping with George Washington’s desire to assimilate Indians into white culture rather than exterminate them, but inherent in this new way of life, particularly in the South, was the practice of slaveholding. In general, slaveholding in the Cherokee nation was limited to a wealthy minority of mixed-blood Euro-Cherokees (although some full blood Cherokees did own slaves). Records indicate that the proportion of Cherokee slave owners was slightly higher than white southerners, 7.4% and 5% respectively. Oral history narratives from the 1930s indicate that slaves were often treated with greater mercy by Cherokee slave owners. This is reinforced by the records of an early Indian agent of the US government who, after advising that the Cherokee take up slave owning in 1796 as part of their â€Å"civilizing† process, found them to be lacking in their ability to work their slaves hard enough. Other records, on the other hand, reveal that Cherokee slave owners could be just as brutal as their white southern counterparts. Slavery in any form was resisted, but the cruelty of Cherokee slave owners like the notorious Joseph Vann would contribute to uprisings like the Cherokee Slave Revolt of 184 2. Complicated Relations and Identities The history of Cherokee slavery points to the ways relationships between slaves and their Cherokee owners were not always clear cut relationships of domination and subjugation. The Cherokee, like the Seminole, Chickasaw, Creek and Choctaw came to be known as the â€Å"Five Civilized Tribes† because of their willingness to adopt the ways of white culture (like slavery). Motivated by the effort to protect their lands, only to be betrayed with their forced removal by the US government, removal subjected African slaves of the Cherokee to the additional trauma of yet another dislocation. Those who were the product of mixed parentage would straddle a complex and fine line between an identity of Indian or black which could mean the difference between freedom and bondage. But even freedom would mean persecution of the type experienced by Indians who were losing their lands and cultures, coupled with the social stigma of being â€Å"mulatto.† The story of the Cherokee warrior and slave owner Shoe Boots and his family exemplifies these struggles. Shoe Boots, a prosperous Cherokee landowner, acquired a slave named Dolly around the turn of the 18th century, with whom he had an intimate relationship and three children. Because the children were born to a slave and children by white law followed the condition of the mother, the children were considered slaves until Shoe Boots was able to have them emancipated by the Cherokee nation. After his death, however, they would later be captured and forced into servitude, and even after a sister was able to secure their freedom, they would experience further disruption when they along with thousands of other Cherokees would be pushed out of their country on the Trail of Tears. The descendants of Shoe Boots would find themselves at the crossroads of identity not only as Freedman denied the benefits of citizenship in the Cherokee nation, but as people who have at times denied their black ness in favor of their Indianness. Sources Miles, Tiya. Ties That Bind: The Story of an Afro-Cherokee Family in Slavery and Freedom. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.Miles, Tiya. â€Å"The Narrative of Nancy, A Cherokee Woman.† Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies. Vol. 29, Nos. 2 3., pp. 59-80.Naylor, Celia. African Cherokees in Indian Territory: From Chattel to Citizens. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE - Essay Example aller subtitles such as ‘corporate governance’ and ‘implementation of corporate governance principles and recommendations in the UK and the US’ in order to cover the topic exhaustively. The conclusion section summarizes the main issues discussed in the paper and makes inferences where appropriate. Corporate governance refers to a set of laws, policies, institutions and customs that affect the manner in which a corporation is controlled, administered, or directed1. Corporate governance also incorporates the corporation’s goals of governance and the relationships among its numerous stakeholders2. The major stakeholders in any corporation include the board of directors, management, and shareholders or members. Others include regulators, suppliers, creditors who include bond holders and banks, customers and employees or labour. For non-profit organizations as well as other membership organizations, their shareholders are their members. Corporate governance is a many-sided subject3. One of the most important themes of corporate governance is ensuring the accountability of particular individuals in the corporation. This is achieved through mechanisms aimed at reducing or eliminating altogether the problem of principal-agents. Corporate governance also helps in improving economic efficiency by emphasizing on the welfare of the shareholders. Corporate governance also has encompasses other subjects such as the view of stakeholders and corporate governance models4. Modern corporations have increasingly renewed their interest in corporate governance practices, particularly since 2001. This has been attributed to the high profile crumbling of numerous big corporations in the United States, including MCI Inc and Enron Corporation. For instance, the US federal government enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in order to restore the confidence of the public in corporate governance5. Corporate governance involves a number of parties such as the regulatory body that

Behaviour for Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Behaviour for Learning - Essay Example Autistic children also have problems in communication. These are as follows: 1. Two – way communication process. These people find it difficult to express their language to others. 2. They also have problems in receptive language. In other words, these people cannot understand what others say to them. 3. These people also have problems understanding non – verbal communication like body language and facial expressions An autistic child also has problems in dealing with social situations due to the problems faced in communication. Social situations may be extremely stressful and demanding for these children as they find it difficult to communicate with other people. Such people may not even understand the general social rules that govern the social situation. For example, they may not understand how close one needs to stand in front of another person in order to communicate. Children may find it extremely daunting especially if they are in an unfamiliar or new situation. There may be some who may avoid contact with others due to these difficulties. Participant description: A thirteen year old autistic boy is having problems in behavior and learning. He is currently working on P levels in autism. He exhibits tantrums, screams, mouths objects, non – compliance, grinds his teeth, rocks, throws objects, spits and bolts. His tantrums usually last for about 20 – 30 minutes and repeats this at least 4 – 5 times a day. The thirteen year old scored a rating of 49 on the Childhood Autism Rating Scale which puts him in the severely autistic range. This boy was sent to a special school wherein he learnt the functional use of five American Sign Language signs. However he did not learn any other communication skills including gestures. The Children Act and its aims: The Children Act 2004 (the Act) provides the legislative spine on which Every Child Matters. It aims to promote early intervention, integrate and improve children's services, prov ide strong leadership and bring together different professionals in multi-disciplinary teams in order achieve positive outcomes for children and young people and their families. Five key outcomes for children and young people are emphasized in the Act and Change programme. The act aims to attain, 'being healthy, staying safe, enjoying and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being'. (Surrey County Council, 2011). Behavioral and communication strategies: For autistic children and adolescents IQ and speech level is not questioned. However, many studies suggest that outcomes can be affected by intervention. Intensive behavioral intervention program is very effective in getting better results out of autistic people. An important component of prognosis is the type of intervention used for achieving desirable outcomes. The intervention also depends on the clinical traits and attributes of an autistic child and the best outcomes are derived from children ha ving high cognitive levels. Intervention is administered via multidisciplinary, comprehensive approaches that may include speech therapy, psychotherapy, educational sessions and psychomotor rehabilitation. Approaches are eclectic and vary considerably across individuals. Speech levels and autism severity are widely acknowledged as two of the prognosis factors irrespective of the methodology used. A predictive factor of outcomes is the presence or absence of speech in an autistic child. Higher level of autism is also responsible for

Principles and strategies that apply to the limousine business and Assignment

Principles and strategies that apply to the limousine business and that can apply to each members business - Assignment Example The Landslide Limousine Company will have to recruit knowledgeable and innovative employees and provide incentives to them. Hence, it will be significant to utilize the performance incentives to stimulate growth and remain competitive in the competitive limousine service. Limousine service entails offering the customer the best service. The employees are important in service delivery, and the employers should accord them the privileges such as rest as contained in the Federal Motor Carriers Safety. In order to avoid the high employee turnover, the Landslide Limousine Company will have to utilize merit pay to motivate employees. The company can utilize the number of referrals, as well as, customers surveys as a basis for offering the workers pay on merit package. It is noteworthy that the critical goal of merit pay entails linking the pay to the performance in a way, which is reliable with the operations of the business (2011). The compensation of the workforce will encourage the individual employee to work to attain greater performance. In essence, the pay on merit will stimulate the engagement levels of the employees, as well as, keep them satisfied with the

Star Newspaper Business Study

Star Newspaper Business Study COMPANY BACKGROUND Companys history The Star was first published regionally in George Town, Penang on the 9th of September, 1971. The Star went to become a national newspaper on Jan 3, 1976, when it set up an office in Kuala Lumpur. To adapt a growing staff and a new press incorporating the latest technology, it moved its headquarters from Kuala Lumpur to its present premises in Petaling Jaya in 1981. The Star created histor y on June 23, 1995 when it became the first Malaysian newspaper and the third in Asia to launch a World Wide Web edition. In addition to that, The Star also achieved a new milestone in its corporate history in the same year by being listed on the Main Board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. In the year 2000, The Star relocated in stages to its very own 17 storey premises, Menara Star in Section 16, Petaling Jaya. In January 2002, The Stars new printing plant, Star Media Hub was officially opened by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi in Shah Alam, Selangor. The Star also has a new office and printing plant, Star Northern Hub in Bayan Lepas, Penang. About The Star and Sunday Star The Star weekday paper is packaged as a 4-in-1 paper, comprising the Main Paper, StarBiz and StarTwo. The Main Paper covers the latest in regional, national and as well as international news while StarBiz offers a comprehensive coverage of local and international financial news such as market trends, financial reports and latest market updates. StarTwo features articles on lifestyle, entertainment, health, parenting, social issues and et cetera. Every Sunday, there is an additional section known as Sunday Star. For the Sunday Star, it covers current local and as well as worldwide news. Apart from that, Sunday Star also contains an educational section where careers, further education, exams tips and various comments are featured within. Board of Directors The current Executive Deputy Chairman of Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad is Dato Clement Hii Chii Kok whereas the Group Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer is Datin Linda Ngiam Pick Ngoh. There are two Executive Director in the company which is Tan Sri Datuk Seri Kamal Mohamed Hashim and Mr. Ng Beng Lye. And the Group Editorial / Education Advisor is Dato Ng Poh Tip. Groups Financial Highlights The revenue of the company as at 31 December 2008 is RM 831,040,000. Profit before tax is RM201, 463,000 whereas the profit after tax is RM138, 701,000 which show that the tax expense is RM 62,762,000. Political and Legal Environment There is one law in Malaysia that protects media freedom that is Article 10 of the Constitution. It also notes that there are limits to this freedom, and that these limits are, generally, defined by the Government. The constitution provides freedom for speech of the press. However, some important legal limitations exist. According to the government, it forced restrictions on the media to protect national security, public order, and friendly relations with other countries. The law that provides legislation in the interest of security or public order may restrict freedom of speech. Example, Sedition Act prohibits public comment on issues sensitive such as racial and religious matters. Government used Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act, criminal defamation laws, and other laws to limit and threaten political speech. As for Printing Presses and Publications Act, it requires local and foreign publications to apply annually to the government for a permit. This is to make publication of wicked news a punishable offense and authorized the minister of internal security to ban or restrict publications believed to threaten public order, morality, or national security. Besides, it also prohibits court challenges to delay or revocation of publication permits. According to the government, these conditions make sure that the media did not spread twisted news and were necessary to preserve harmony and promote peaceful in a multiracial country. Criminal defamation is punishable by a maximum of two years in jail, a fine, or both. This is along with the government power over annual license renewal and other policies inhibited independent or investigative journalism and resulted in widespread self-censorship. Government had banned some foreign newspapers and magazines and, occasionally, covered up foreign magazines or newspapers. Furthermore, you could point to the guarantees under the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) if you want to impress the crowd which covers broadcasting and Internet. The guarantees under this act are no monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves and nothing in the Act is to be regarded as censorship of the Internet. No monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves is that no group of companies should own enough of the radio and television stations to prevent listeners and viewers from having a choice of material. So far is all good but they have not seen it put into practice as yet. As for censorship of the Internet, it is a bit more of a problem. Although there is not any censorship or control of the Internet under this Act, doesnt mean there isnt any censorship of the Internet. Internet access was widely available and internet subscriptions totalled approximately 13.5 million at the end of 2006. However, criminal offence and preventive detention laws generated some self censorship from local Internet content sources. Examples are bloggers, Internet news providers and NGO campaigners. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) shut down 11 Web sites for breaking rules and regulations concerning the publication of information on the Internet. Neither the MCMC nor the government released the names of the 11 Web sites. The CMA requires certain Internet and other network service providers to obtain a license. Previously, the government stated that it did not intend to enforce controls on Internet use but that it would punish the misuse of information technology. The CMA permits punishment of the owner of a Web site or blog for allowing content of a racial, religious, or political nature that a court deems offensive. Besides that, almost all the newspaper companies are under a political control. This is where the politician uses the publications to spread their news to the public. The biggest press group was Media Prima which is owned by Malaysia Resources Corporation Berhad which has close ties with the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and government. Media Prima owns the leading English-language newspaper The New Straits Times, the second biggest Malaysia-language paper Berita Harian, Malay Mail, Harian Metro and the ShinMin Daily News. In addition, Media Prima owns four terrestrial TV channels. However, the acquirement of Nanyang from MCA two years ago which is 2005 has since setup its monopoly in Chinese media. Sin Chew Media Group was being owned by the timber tycoon, Tiong Hiew King. He already corners about 90% of the Chinese language newspaper market, with his control of Sin Chew ,which publishes Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily, and Nanyang Holdings, which has Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press. As for The Star, it was owned by MCA while MIC owned Malaysia Nanban. Economic environment 2009 will bound to be a very challenging year for Malaysia, although Malaysias economy is holding up pretty well this year. The first half of 2009 is expected to be a very tough period for Malaysia. The impact on Malaysia this year has somehow been cushioned but many are beginning to feel the economic downturn towards the year-end. Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, much has been said and published about its economic and financial impact, but relatively little has been said about the socio-economic impact. While it is not difficult to observe the direct and often immediate unpleasant social impact of the crisis, little is known about their indirect and long-term effect on the countrys human development and social capital potential which are increasingly acknowledged in developing economies as a critical factor for sustainable development. Economic pressures are becoming the primary forces determining the behaviour of Malaysian newspaper companies. It is increasingly clear that the responses of some newspaper managers are affecting journalistic quality, producing practices that reduce the social value of newspaper content and that redirect the atten ­tion of newspaper workforce from journalism to activities primarily related to the business interests of the press. This situation has promoted encouraged self-interested behaviour aimed at exploiting market potential, and there is a growing conflict between the role of newspapers as servants of readers and the exploitation of readers to seek additional com ­mercial gain. It should not be surprising that the public increasingly sees the press as just another business that is more concerned with its own economic interests than with the broader interests of those it purports to serve. This entry gives GDP growth on an annual basis adjusted for inflation and expressed as a percent. The graph above shows the overall performance of Malaysian in economy. We can see the economy started to drop from the middle for second quarter of 2008 till 2009. (Source: CIA World Fact book, September 17, 2009) The print media is already feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Newspaper adex has fallen for four consecutive months from October to January 2009. In January, newspaper adex declined 4% year on year to RM258.6 million while total adex for the media industry as a whole (TV, radio and print) inched up 2% year to year. This means that newspaper companies suffered a bigger blow than other media channels. As an open economy, Malaysia was badly affected by the global financial crisis and economic downturn. The major decline in exports, in turn, affected domestic demand. Thus, economic growth contracted 6.2% in the first quarter of 2009. However, the decline narrowed to 3.9% in the second quarter, assisted by speedy and effective operation of stimulus packages as well as monetary easing. Economic performance is expected to improve in the second half of the year, supported by counter-cyclical measures and reinforced by stabilization in the global economic environment. As such, the economy is expected to turn around in the fourth quarter, though for the year it is estimated to contract 3%. The current environment exists as the Malaysian newspaper industry faces an uncertain future because of inactive markets, increasing competition from other media for audience attention, use by progressively smaller portions of the population and changes in advertiser media choices. It is a common view that the newspaper business is elastic because people read the papers every day, regardless of the economic climate. People want to know the latest happenings in good times and bad. It is expected to see a slowing down in adex in this year, 2009, with the absence of any major events, together with the weakening economic climate. The lower economic growth forecast has an effect on the newspaper industry including advertising. Last years growth was driven by worldly TV adex (up 20%), newspaper (8%), radio (21%) and point-of- sale (28%). Malaysia Advertising Expenditure Trends Year 1997 to 2008 Circulation Generally, there is a total newspaper circulation rise since 1998. The actual figure in appendix for 2008 should have rose higher though if the data from Nanyang, Malay Mail and Weekend Mail are included. Newsprint has not dead yet and will co-exist with online media. The circulation growth has been steadily all these years which contributed by the increase of the population and the knowledge of society. There are a few online news portals which without print circulation have been gaining huge popularity since last year. This creating a strong competition in online space compared to the print circulation. In English newsprint, The Star is still far ahead of everyone. As for The Sun, it considers that it offers free controlled circulation. Competition in Malay circulation is only reserved for the big three which similar to the online scenario shown in figure 2 at appendix. Harian Metro is gaining popularity in recent years. This had posed a challenged to Utusan Malaysias top position. Another famous trend in the Malay segment is newspaper sales on weekends are generally much higher than working days. Societal About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year, according to comScore Media Metrix (digital marketing research company). While the figures quoted in May edition of OnMedia, OmicomMediaGroups industry newsletter, were based on average daily readership for the online news sites over the past year from March 2008 to February 2009. In total, the average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiakini led online English news sites with 91,943 average daily visitors over the past year. In second place was The Star Online with 74,417 readers a day. Malaysia-Today.net registered 12,948 readers daily, putting it in third place. The New Straits Times Online came in fourth with an average of 16,871 readers a day. However, in fifth place was theedgedaily.com, the website of The Edge Malaysia, which averaged 3,844 readers daily over the past year. However, according to Google Analytics which monitors online site traffic, since its relaunch in March this year as theedgemalaysia.com, the site has averaged around 14,000 readers daily. For the Malay-language online portals, Utusan Malaysia Online led with an average daily readership of 70,641 over the past year. It was followed by Berita Harian Online which averaged 55,764 readers a day for the past year. myMetro (the website of Harian Metro) averaged 51,767 readers daily, placing it third. ChinaPress dotCom was the most popular of the Chinese-language online news portals with an average of 29,950 readers a day. It was closely followed by nanyang.com which averaged 27,168 a day, and Sinchew-i which received an average of 23,779 readers a day. Key points that emerged from the study, if price were not a factor and if their choice was restricted to paper, online, e-paper and mobile devices. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of respondents would pick traditional newspapers as their first choice for news consumption. While, twenty-nine percent (29%) would make online sources their first choice, with the remaining twenty percent (2%) opting for e-paper or mobile devices first. The gap between traditional newspapers and online was, however, significantly smaller for younger respondents. Both consumers and advertisers have demonstrated a willingness to pay more for high value, topic-specific publications than they would for newspapers providing general news only, wrote authors Marieke van der Donk and Marcel Fenez in the reports executive summary. Financial readers were willing to buy financial online content for 97% as much as they would pay for a traditional paper. Meanwhile, sports fanatics would pay as much as 77% as they would for a traditional paper, for an online edition that focused on sports. The study showed newspapers are still the major sources of news and information for consumers, with survey respondents listing almost equally television, the Internet, and newspapers (free and paid) as their main source of news and information. Moreover, all 4,900 respondents were willing to pay for the general print news content. This is not to say that newspapers should not make the move online, said the report. Over 60% of respondents were willing to pay for general online news. Furthermore, based on the reports findings, a key future trend is the willingness of younger readers to pay for online content. According to the report, newspapers have been able to earn readers trust and loyalty, thus giving them the opportunity to both lead and follow audiences as they migrate online and into the use of portable electronic media like mobile devices. It also noted that although the rapid adoption of the Internet and mobile technology have created a market for mobile devices, especially for those under 35, they are low on the list of preferences for accessing information because of the difficulty of reading content on these devices. Malaysians are not giving up newspapers for the Internet. This research based on the data sourced from Nielsen Media Index from 2006 to 2008. It shows that newspaper consumption levels held steady all through 2008 despite the rise in Internet consumption. Malaysian newspaper consumption holds steady despite Internet. Its written by Emily Tan, Tuesday, 01 September 2009 at 11:24.While the average time a Malaysian spends online has increased by 24% from three hours a day in 2006 to three hours and 46 minutes a day in 2008, the average time spent reading a newspaper has held steady at 49 minutes in the same time span. There is no sign that Malaysians are shifting from newspapers to the Internet, said the report published in PHDs August newsletter — PHD Pioneering. PHD is a media service agency under the Omnicom Media Group. The PHD study found that Malaysians over the age of 30 spend more time reading newspapers and its about 50 minutes daily, while the teenagers and young adults read for about half an hour on average per day. A few online news portals that without print circulation have been gaining a huge popularity since last year, creating a stiff competition in online space compared to the print circulation. As for English newsprint, The Star is still well ahead of everyone, considering The Sun offers free controlled circulation. Newspaper readership in Peninsular Malaysia for the fourth quarter of last year (4Q08) grew about two percentage (2%) points to 55% from 52.9% in the same period in 2007, possibly in tandem with population growth of those aged 15 and above. Bahasa dailies seemed to have gained the most from the slight increase in newspaper readership, growing from 26.8% to 29.3% in the fourth quarter. English dailies saw marginal growth of 0.3 percentage point while Chinese and Tamil dailies saw a drop of 0.2 and 0.4 percentage point correspondingly. This is written by Aznita Ahmad Pharmy, Thursday, 05 March 2009, at 17:44. Technology On the other hand, the media industry is challenged by the rapidly changing environment, birth of new digital technologies and advertising money diverting to new media platforms on the internet. The local media industry has yet to capitalize on the full potential of the internet which will remain the fastest and the next powerful media platform, globally. Largely driving this change is technological development but the industry is also being affected by the impact of globalization of media ownership, the phenomenal growth of the internet, and other ambient media such as outdoor, point of sale, television, bus and taxi sites. The process of creating media strategies has become more complex and dynamic with the introduction of very highly developed software designed to optimize media selection against an unending range of criteria. There is a growing movement away from the use of simple age sex demographics for most media assumptions and an increasing appreciation of the need for a more holistic understanding of current and potential customers, including characteristics such as media usage, buyer behaviour, attitudes, lifestyles and interests. According to Nielsen Media Index, while mainstream media continues to control the Malaysian media scene, the internet is fast catching up. There was a double growth in internet penetration which reaching up to two out of ten people compared to five years ago. The executive director for Nielsen Media Research Malaysia, Andrea Douglas said that internet will become a more important part of the media mix with its continuous growth in the market. She added that Malaysians are decided to go on online news for faster and constant updates. This can be seen by the 35% growth in online newspaper readership over a year, reaching one million readers. Those who only read news online exclusive online newspaper readers, it grew from 55,000 to 70,000 in 2008. The index signified a 21% increase in internet users with almost four out of ten users spending one to two hours on the internet every day. Increasing internet penetration goes hand-in-hand with increased Internet usage. However, news seekers have not abandoned the traditional medium as nine in 10 readers still obtain their news through a hard copy. Apart from more common features such as email, surfing and information gathering, the popular activities for citizen are online TV/music/games (47%), followed by message/chat/blogging (45%) and reading newspaper/magazines (35%). Within the Top 10 categories, nine categories advertised online but the spending only between less than 1% and 3% of the total budget online. Newspaper industry players have to constantly evolve themselves to stay ahead by improving technology and addressing readers preferences. The second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop urged the industry to play actively its role by involving themselves in developing the digital medium instead of ignoring it. He said it in his keynote address at the Malaysian Newspaper Publishers Association forum. Nor Mohamed said that with the online global reach, publish news about the countrys development became faster and easier. He added that to promote Malaysia as a developing and stable nation to potential foreign investors, information reported must be accurate. This image would be able to attract more foreign investments and visitors in Malaysia. As for Group M chief executive officer, Henry Tan said that as technology drove change, consumers, media, media agencies and clients were changing as well. New generation was created by new technology while new media structure and ownership will strengthen competition. The role of media agencies has expanded to more than just planning and buying media spots. Agencies also have to recognize changes in clients and deal with each one differently. Dow Jones Asia-Pacific sales director, Mark Hollands said change was not uncommon in the print media which comprised it to be better and more efficient. Potential new revenue stream and the branding improvement from a strong online presence in the combination of global trend, these have seen that local traditional news organizations begin to put more resources on the online platform. Besides, they also hired people who recognize the benefits of Web 2.0 applications such as social networking site Facebook, and Twitter, the so-called SMS of the Internet. The growing popularity of online news sites where readers can read for free is one reason decision-makers at traditional news organizations find it very hard to raise cover prices for their printing product. A drop in circulation numbers directly impacts the advertising rate which a publication commands. According to the On Media newsletter, the circulation numbers from Nielsen Media Research signified online news portals have not affected print newspaper that much though online readership has increased rapidly over the past year. At present, online news sites still do not enjoy the level of loyalty and commitment shown by readers to newsprint. Online readership tends to change based on economic, political and social events, said the newsletter. Based on Nielsen Media Research and Com Score, the newsletter concluded that readers spend less time reading online news than print. About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year according to ComScore Media Metrix, a digital marketing research company. The average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiankini led online English news sites average daily visitors over the past year. As for The Star Online was placing second. Utusan Malaysia Online led Malay-language online followed by Berita Harian Online. As for the Chinese-language online news portals, ChinaPress dotcom was the most popular. There are more on societal changes. Managing director of Omnicom Media Group, Andreas Vogiatzakis said that newsprint have little to fear from online news portals. He said that newspapers must learn to pull on their online portals to add value and enhance their offerings to the consumer. The industry has seen a decline in newspaper adex over the past three years, from 58% in 2006 to 54% 2008 said the Nielsen Co Malaysia executive director Andrea Douglas. She said that the reasons for these changes are difficult to said but some categories have changed their spending patterns. There has been a decline in residential ad spending due to the economic downturn and this category is almost fully print advertising. The web has introduced new advertising potential and new media that could be eroding the traditional print share. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 65 per cent below 40 and 35 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 62 per cent below 40 and 38 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. The readership of age above 55 years old in 2006 increases 3.5% compared with the readership of age 55 years old in 2005. The old generation between the age of 55 and above are still enthusiastic supporters of newspapers while the younger generation appear to be much in tune with computers and the internet. The newspapers are not only challenged by online websites but also the electronic media having regular updates in the news bulletin. Many youngsters enjoyed reading serious news on the internet rather than from the newspapers. Hence, newspaper publisher should focus on public from the age of 55 and above. According to a statistic from Department of Statistics, Malaysia, the population of Malaysia is increasing. The population of age 15 and below is decreasing every year. The decreasing rate of year 2002 to 2004 is 0.3% whereas the decreasing rate of year 2005 to 2008 is 0.2%. The population of age 64 and above is increasing every year by 0.1 % except for the year 2005 and 2006 which remain same at 4.3%. The same pattern of readership frequency could also be observed among the respondents with different educational backgrounds. According to The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000, the frequency of newspaper readership continued to be the highest among those with tertiary education where 60.0% of them read the newspaper daily. This was followed by those with secondary education (44.1%) with the lowest frequency (28.1%) among those with primary or lower education. In terms of locality, The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000 also revealed that 49.3% of the urban respondents read the newspaper daily compared to those in rural areas (39.8%). On the frequency of readership, the opposite situation could also be observed in the other categories (a few times a week, once a week, or seldom). For example, about one-third (32.1%) of the rural respondents and similarly about 34.4% of the urban respondents read newspapers only a few times a week. Identify the rivalry currently exists in the industry in which the company is operating. Are there many competitor or just a few competitor or no competitor? There are many competitors around Star Publication. For instance, Berita Harian, Guang Ming Daily, Sin Chew Jit Poh, The Sun Daily, Utusan Malaysia, and also New Straits Times. The largest Star Publication newspaper competitor is the New straits Times. The sell recommendation of analysts on Star Publications (M) Bhd are the countrys largest and most profitable print media group and as well as other media stocks, such as Media Chinese International Ltd and The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, shows the current negativity on the industrys earnings prospects in the coming quarters, if not years. The Nielsen Media Report shows that Stars gross adex dived 20.6% y-o-y in January. Citi Investment Researchs analyst Alyson Shin has noticed that the page count for classified advertisements, which make up 25% of Stars advertising revenue, has fallen 33% to 40 pages from 60 pages in better times. Alyson Shin mention that Star has raised its advertising rates by an average 4% for both classified and display advertisements for the heavier days which is Wednesday to Saturdays. However, this is unlikely to be sufficient to offset the drop in adex in FY (Financial Year) 2009. Factoring in the 4% ad rate hike, we still forecast adex to contract 12% in FY2009, Alyson Shin comments in a February research report. Over the past two decades, Star has grown by shooting up and bounds in terms of earnings as well as manpower, after its English daily, The Star, overtook its main rival New Straits Times. The groups fixed operating costs have blown up. Its total operating costs that inclusive of printing and the newsprint have been above RM600 million in the past three years. This ascend to RM651.2 million in FY (financial year) 2008 versus revenue of RM831 million and net profit of RM138.9 million. The high fixed cost structure is a blessing for the group when advertisers are fighting for space in the newspaper because of the profit margin is getting bigger as the advertisement relative amount rises. Star has been the case this for over the past 10 years. It is the countrys most profitable newspaper with a handsome pre-tax profit margin of 24.2%, compared with its rival NST (New Strait Times) which manages only 9.5%. NSTP lost much of its thump over the past 25 years, especially on two separate occasions. During Operasi Lalang in October 1987, Star Publications (M) Bhds licence was revoked under a plan to crack down on the opposition leaders and social activists. After Star got back its licence, its readership and circulation surged. According to Nielsen Media Research, as at end-2008, NSTPs flagship newspaper New Straits Times had a readership of 308,000 while New Sunday Times readership stood at 263,000. As at end-June last year, New Straits Times circulation, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, stood at 136,530 while that of New Sunday Times was 156,910. These figures cannot rival that of its main competitor, Star Publications, which had a readership of more than one million for both its daily and Sunday paper. Stars circulation was over 300,000 daily. Are the products/ services offered by company very much different from its competitors in terms of price/feature/others. KUNTUM An educational monthly in Bahasa Malaysia for children ages 6 to 12. In keeping with its Learning is Fun motto, the Kuntum Club organises many fun activities and ho Star Newspaper Business Study Star Newspaper Business Study COMPANY BACKGROUND Companys history The Star was first published regionally in George Town, Penang on the 9th of September, 1971. The Star went to become a national newspaper on Jan 3, 1976, when it set up an office in Kuala Lumpur. To adapt a growing staff and a new press incorporating the latest technology, it moved its headquarters from Kuala Lumpur to its present premises in Petaling Jaya in 1981. The Star created histor y on June 23, 1995 when it became the first Malaysian newspaper and the third in Asia to launch a World Wide Web edition. In addition to that, The Star also achieved a new milestone in its corporate history in the same year by being listed on the Main Board of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. In the year 2000, The Star relocated in stages to its very own 17 storey premises, Menara Star in Section 16, Petaling Jaya. In January 2002, The Stars new printing plant, Star Media Hub was officially opened by the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, YAB Dato Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi in Shah Alam, Selangor. The Star also has a new office and printing plant, Star Northern Hub in Bayan Lepas, Penang. About The Star and Sunday Star The Star weekday paper is packaged as a 4-in-1 paper, comprising the Main Paper, StarBiz and StarTwo. The Main Paper covers the latest in regional, national and as well as international news while StarBiz offers a comprehensive coverage of local and international financial news such as market trends, financial reports and latest market updates. StarTwo features articles on lifestyle, entertainment, health, parenting, social issues and et cetera. Every Sunday, there is an additional section known as Sunday Star. For the Sunday Star, it covers current local and as well as worldwide news. Apart from that, Sunday Star also contains an educational section where careers, further education, exams tips and various comments are featured within. Board of Directors The current Executive Deputy Chairman of Star Publications (Malaysia) Berhad is Dato Clement Hii Chii Kok whereas the Group Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer is Datin Linda Ngiam Pick Ngoh. There are two Executive Director in the company which is Tan Sri Datuk Seri Kamal Mohamed Hashim and Mr. Ng Beng Lye. And the Group Editorial / Education Advisor is Dato Ng Poh Tip. Groups Financial Highlights The revenue of the company as at 31 December 2008 is RM 831,040,000. Profit before tax is RM201, 463,000 whereas the profit after tax is RM138, 701,000 which show that the tax expense is RM 62,762,000. Political and Legal Environment There is one law in Malaysia that protects media freedom that is Article 10 of the Constitution. It also notes that there are limits to this freedom, and that these limits are, generally, defined by the Government. The constitution provides freedom for speech of the press. However, some important legal limitations exist. According to the government, it forced restrictions on the media to protect national security, public order, and friendly relations with other countries. The law that provides legislation in the interest of security or public order may restrict freedom of speech. Example, Sedition Act prohibits public comment on issues sensitive such as racial and religious matters. Government used Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act, Printing Presses and Publications Act, criminal defamation laws, and other laws to limit and threaten political speech. As for Printing Presses and Publications Act, it requires local and foreign publications to apply annually to the government for a permit. This is to make publication of wicked news a punishable offense and authorized the minister of internal security to ban or restrict publications believed to threaten public order, morality, or national security. Besides, it also prohibits court challenges to delay or revocation of publication permits. According to the government, these conditions make sure that the media did not spread twisted news and were necessary to preserve harmony and promote peaceful in a multiracial country. Criminal defamation is punishable by a maximum of two years in jail, a fine, or both. This is along with the government power over annual license renewal and other policies inhibited independent or investigative journalism and resulted in widespread self-censorship. Government had banned some foreign newspapers and magazines and, occasionally, covered up foreign magazines or newspapers. Furthermore, you could point to the guarantees under the Communications and Multimedia Act (CMA) if you want to impress the crowd which covers broadcasting and Internet. The guarantees under this act are no monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves and nothing in the Act is to be regarded as censorship of the Internet. No monopoly or oligopoly control of the airwaves is that no group of companies should own enough of the radio and television stations to prevent listeners and viewers from having a choice of material. So far is all good but they have not seen it put into practice as yet. As for censorship of the Internet, it is a bit more of a problem. Although there is not any censorship or control of the Internet under this Act, doesnt mean there isnt any censorship of the Internet. Internet access was widely available and internet subscriptions totalled approximately 13.5 million at the end of 2006. However, criminal offence and preventive detention laws generated some self censorship from local Internet content sources. Examples are bloggers, Internet news providers and NGO campaigners. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) shut down 11 Web sites for breaking rules and regulations concerning the publication of information on the Internet. Neither the MCMC nor the government released the names of the 11 Web sites. The CMA requires certain Internet and other network service providers to obtain a license. Previously, the government stated that it did not intend to enforce controls on Internet use but that it would punish the misuse of information technology. The CMA permits punishment of the owner of a Web site or blog for allowing content of a racial, religious, or political nature that a court deems offensive. Besides that, almost all the newspaper companies are under a political control. This is where the politician uses the publications to spread their news to the public. The biggest press group was Media Prima which is owned by Malaysia Resources Corporation Berhad which has close ties with the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and government. Media Prima owns the leading English-language newspaper The New Straits Times, the second biggest Malaysia-language paper Berita Harian, Malay Mail, Harian Metro and the ShinMin Daily News. In addition, Media Prima owns four terrestrial TV channels. However, the acquirement of Nanyang from MCA two years ago which is 2005 has since setup its monopoly in Chinese media. Sin Chew Media Group was being owned by the timber tycoon, Tiong Hiew King. He already corners about 90% of the Chinese language newspaper market, with his control of Sin Chew ,which publishes Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily, and Nanyang Holdings, which has Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press. As for The Star, it was owned by MCA while MIC owned Malaysia Nanban. Economic environment 2009 will bound to be a very challenging year for Malaysia, although Malaysias economy is holding up pretty well this year. The first half of 2009 is expected to be a very tough period for Malaysia. The impact on Malaysia this year has somehow been cushioned but many are beginning to feel the economic downturn towards the year-end. Since the beginning of the global economic crisis, much has been said and published about its economic and financial impact, but relatively little has been said about the socio-economic impact. While it is not difficult to observe the direct and often immediate unpleasant social impact of the crisis, little is known about their indirect and long-term effect on the countrys human development and social capital potential which are increasingly acknowledged in developing economies as a critical factor for sustainable development. Economic pressures are becoming the primary forces determining the behaviour of Malaysian newspaper companies. It is increasingly clear that the responses of some newspaper managers are affecting journalistic quality, producing practices that reduce the social value of newspaper content and that redirect the atten ­tion of newspaper workforce from journalism to activities primarily related to the business interests of the press. This situation has promoted encouraged self-interested behaviour aimed at exploiting market potential, and there is a growing conflict between the role of newspapers as servants of readers and the exploitation of readers to seek additional com ­mercial gain. It should not be surprising that the public increasingly sees the press as just another business that is more concerned with its own economic interests than with the broader interests of those it purports to serve. This entry gives GDP growth on an annual basis adjusted for inflation and expressed as a percent. The graph above shows the overall performance of Malaysian in economy. We can see the economy started to drop from the middle for second quarter of 2008 till 2009. (Source: CIA World Fact book, September 17, 2009) The print media is already feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Newspaper adex has fallen for four consecutive months from October to January 2009. In January, newspaper adex declined 4% year on year to RM258.6 million while total adex for the media industry as a whole (TV, radio and print) inched up 2% year to year. This means that newspaper companies suffered a bigger blow than other media channels. As an open economy, Malaysia was badly affected by the global financial crisis and economic downturn. The major decline in exports, in turn, affected domestic demand. Thus, economic growth contracted 6.2% in the first quarter of 2009. However, the decline narrowed to 3.9% in the second quarter, assisted by speedy and effective operation of stimulus packages as well as monetary easing. Economic performance is expected to improve in the second half of the year, supported by counter-cyclical measures and reinforced by stabilization in the global economic environment. As such, the economy is expected to turn around in the fourth quarter, though for the year it is estimated to contract 3%. The current environment exists as the Malaysian newspaper industry faces an uncertain future because of inactive markets, increasing competition from other media for audience attention, use by progressively smaller portions of the population and changes in advertiser media choices. It is a common view that the newspaper business is elastic because people read the papers every day, regardless of the economic climate. People want to know the latest happenings in good times and bad. It is expected to see a slowing down in adex in this year, 2009, with the absence of any major events, together with the weakening economic climate. The lower economic growth forecast has an effect on the newspaper industry including advertising. Last years growth was driven by worldly TV adex (up 20%), newspaper (8%), radio (21%) and point-of- sale (28%). Malaysia Advertising Expenditure Trends Year 1997 to 2008 Circulation Generally, there is a total newspaper circulation rise since 1998. The actual figure in appendix for 2008 should have rose higher though if the data from Nanyang, Malay Mail and Weekend Mail are included. Newsprint has not dead yet and will co-exist with online media. The circulation growth has been steadily all these years which contributed by the increase of the population and the knowledge of society. There are a few online news portals which without print circulation have been gaining huge popularity since last year. This creating a strong competition in online space compared to the print circulation. In English newsprint, The Star is still far ahead of everyone. As for The Sun, it considers that it offers free controlled circulation. Competition in Malay circulation is only reserved for the big three which similar to the online scenario shown in figure 2 at appendix. Harian Metro is gaining popularity in recent years. This had posed a challenged to Utusan Malaysias top position. Another famous trend in the Malay segment is newspaper sales on weekends are generally much higher than working days. Societal About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year, according to comScore Media Metrix (digital marketing research company). While the figures quoted in May edition of OnMedia, OmicomMediaGroups industry newsletter, were based on average daily readership for the online news sites over the past year from March 2008 to February 2009. In total, the average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiakini led online English news sites with 91,943 average daily visitors over the past year. In second place was The Star Online with 74,417 readers a day. Malaysia-Today.net registered 12,948 readers daily, putting it in third place. The New Straits Times Online came in fourth with an average of 16,871 readers a day. However, in fifth place was theedgedaily.com, the website of The Edge Malaysia, which averaged 3,844 readers daily over the past year. However, according to Google Analytics which monitors online site traffic, since its relaunch in March this year as theedgemalaysia.com, the site has averaged around 14,000 readers daily. For the Malay-language online portals, Utusan Malaysia Online led with an average daily readership of 70,641 over the past year. It was followed by Berita Harian Online which averaged 55,764 readers a day for the past year. myMetro (the website of Harian Metro) averaged 51,767 readers daily, placing it third. ChinaPress dotCom was the most popular of the Chinese-language online news portals with an average of 29,950 readers a day. It was closely followed by nanyang.com which averaged 27,168 a day, and Sinchew-i which received an average of 23,779 readers a day. Key points that emerged from the study, if price were not a factor and if their choice was restricted to paper, online, e-paper and mobile devices. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of respondents would pick traditional newspapers as their first choice for news consumption. While, twenty-nine percent (29%) would make online sources their first choice, with the remaining twenty percent (2%) opting for e-paper or mobile devices first. The gap between traditional newspapers and online was, however, significantly smaller for younger respondents. Both consumers and advertisers have demonstrated a willingness to pay more for high value, topic-specific publications than they would for newspapers providing general news only, wrote authors Marieke van der Donk and Marcel Fenez in the reports executive summary. Financial readers were willing to buy financial online content for 97% as much as they would pay for a traditional paper. Meanwhile, sports fanatics would pay as much as 77% as they would for a traditional paper, for an online edition that focused on sports. The study showed newspapers are still the major sources of news and information for consumers, with survey respondents listing almost equally television, the Internet, and newspapers (free and paid) as their main source of news and information. Moreover, all 4,900 respondents were willing to pay for the general print news content. This is not to say that newspapers should not make the move online, said the report. Over 60% of respondents were willing to pay for general online news. Furthermore, based on the reports findings, a key future trend is the willingness of younger readers to pay for online content. According to the report, newspapers have been able to earn readers trust and loyalty, thus giving them the opportunity to both lead and follow audiences as they migrate online and into the use of portable electronic media like mobile devices. It also noted that although the rapid adoption of the Internet and mobile technology have created a market for mobile devices, especially for those under 35, they are low on the list of preferences for accessing information because of the difficulty of reading content on these devices. Malaysians are not giving up newspapers for the Internet. This research based on the data sourced from Nielsen Media Index from 2006 to 2008. It shows that newspaper consumption levels held steady all through 2008 despite the rise in Internet consumption. Malaysian newspaper consumption holds steady despite Internet. Its written by Emily Tan, Tuesday, 01 September 2009 at 11:24.While the average time a Malaysian spends online has increased by 24% from three hours a day in 2006 to three hours and 46 minutes a day in 2008, the average time spent reading a newspaper has held steady at 49 minutes in the same time span. There is no sign that Malaysians are shifting from newspapers to the Internet, said the report published in PHDs August newsletter — PHD Pioneering. PHD is a media service agency under the Omnicom Media Group. The PHD study found that Malaysians over the age of 30 spend more time reading newspapers and its about 50 minutes daily, while the teenagers and young adults read for about half an hour on average per day. A few online news portals that without print circulation have been gaining a huge popularity since last year, creating a stiff competition in online space compared to the print circulation. As for English newsprint, The Star is still well ahead of everyone, considering The Sun offers free controlled circulation. Newspaper readership in Peninsular Malaysia for the fourth quarter of last year (4Q08) grew about two percentage (2%) points to 55% from 52.9% in the same period in 2007, possibly in tandem with population growth of those aged 15 and above. Bahasa dailies seemed to have gained the most from the slight increase in newspaper readership, growing from 26.8% to 29.3% in the fourth quarter. English dailies saw marginal growth of 0.3 percentage point while Chinese and Tamil dailies saw a drop of 0.2 and 0.4 percentage point correspondingly. This is written by Aznita Ahmad Pharmy, Thursday, 05 March 2009, at 17:44. Technology On the other hand, the media industry is challenged by the rapidly changing environment, birth of new digital technologies and advertising money diverting to new media platforms on the internet. The local media industry has yet to capitalize on the full potential of the internet which will remain the fastest and the next powerful media platform, globally. Largely driving this change is technological development but the industry is also being affected by the impact of globalization of media ownership, the phenomenal growth of the internet, and other ambient media such as outdoor, point of sale, television, bus and taxi sites. The process of creating media strategies has become more complex and dynamic with the introduction of very highly developed software designed to optimize media selection against an unending range of criteria. There is a growing movement away from the use of simple age sex demographics for most media assumptions and an increasing appreciation of the need for a more holistic understanding of current and potential customers, including characteristics such as media usage, buyer behaviour, attitudes, lifestyles and interests. According to Nielsen Media Index, while mainstream media continues to control the Malaysian media scene, the internet is fast catching up. There was a double growth in internet penetration which reaching up to two out of ten people compared to five years ago. The executive director for Nielsen Media Research Malaysia, Andrea Douglas said that internet will become a more important part of the media mix with its continuous growth in the market. She added that Malaysians are decided to go on online news for faster and constant updates. This can be seen by the 35% growth in online newspaper readership over a year, reaching one million readers. Those who only read news online exclusive online newspaper readers, it grew from 55,000 to 70,000 in 2008. The index signified a 21% increase in internet users with almost four out of ten users spending one to two hours on the internet every day. Increasing internet penetration goes hand-in-hand with increased Internet usage. However, news seekers have not abandoned the traditional medium as nine in 10 readers still obtain their news through a hard copy. Apart from more common features such as email, surfing and information gathering, the popular activities for citizen are online TV/music/games (47%), followed by message/chat/blogging (45%) and reading newspaper/magazines (35%). Within the Top 10 categories, nine categories advertised online but the spending only between less than 1% and 3% of the total budget online. Newspaper industry players have to constantly evolve themselves to stay ahead by improving technology and addressing readers preferences. The second Finance Minister, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop urged the industry to play actively its role by involving themselves in developing the digital medium instead of ignoring it. He said it in his keynote address at the Malaysian Newspaper Publishers Association forum. Nor Mohamed said that with the online global reach, publish news about the countrys development became faster and easier. He added that to promote Malaysia as a developing and stable nation to potential foreign investors, information reported must be accurate. This image would be able to attract more foreign investments and visitors in Malaysia. As for Group M chief executive officer, Henry Tan said that as technology drove change, consumers, media, media agencies and clients were changing as well. New generation was created by new technology while new media structure and ownership will strengthen competition. The role of media agencies has expanded to more than just planning and buying media spots. Agencies also have to recognize changes in clients and deal with each one differently. Dow Jones Asia-Pacific sales director, Mark Hollands said change was not uncommon in the print media which comprised it to be better and more efficient. Potential new revenue stream and the branding improvement from a strong online presence in the combination of global trend, these have seen that local traditional news organizations begin to put more resources on the online platform. Besides, they also hired people who recognize the benefits of Web 2.0 applications such as social networking site Facebook, and Twitter, the so-called SMS of the Internet. The growing popularity of online news sites where readers can read for free is one reason decision-makers at traditional news organizations find it very hard to raise cover prices for their printing product. A drop in circulation numbers directly impacts the advertising rate which a publication commands. According to the On Media newsletter, the circulation numbers from Nielsen Media Research signified online news portals have not affected print newspaper that much though online readership has increased rapidly over the past year. At present, online news sites still do not enjoy the level of loyalty and commitment shown by readers to newsprint. Online readership tends to change based on economic, political and social events, said the newsletter. Based on Nielsen Media Research and Com Score, the newsletter concluded that readers spend less time reading online news than print. About three million Malaysians visited local online news portals daily in March this year, compared with 2.5 million in the same month last year according to ComScore Media Metrix, a digital marketing research company. The average daily readership for local news portals for that period was about 2.8 million. Malaysiankini led online English news sites average daily visitors over the past year. As for The Star Online was placing second. Utusan Malaysia Online led Malay-language online followed by Berita Harian Online. As for the Chinese-language online news portals, ChinaPress dotcom was the most popular. There are more on societal changes. Managing director of Omnicom Media Group, Andreas Vogiatzakis said that newsprint have little to fear from online news portals. He said that newspapers must learn to pull on their online portals to add value and enhance their offerings to the consumer. The industry has seen a decline in newspaper adex over the past three years, from 58% in 2006 to 54% 2008 said the Nielsen Co Malaysia executive director Andrea Douglas. She said that the reasons for these changes are difficult to said but some categories have changed their spending patterns. There has been a decline in residential ad spending due to the economic downturn and this category is almost fully print advertising. The web has introduced new advertising potential and new media that could be eroding the traditional print share. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 65 per cent below 40 and 35 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. According to Nielsen Media Research, newspaper in Malaysia has a mainly younger readership, with 62 per cent below 40 and 38 per cent of its readers are above 40 years. Percentage of newspaper readership between 20-29 age is the highest while the age between 50-54 is the lowest percentage of newspaper readership. The readership of age above 55 years old in 2006 increases 3.5% compared with the readership of age 55 years old in 2005. The old generation between the age of 55 and above are still enthusiastic supporters of newspapers while the younger generation appear to be much in tune with computers and the internet. The newspapers are not only challenged by online websites but also the electronic media having regular updates in the news bulletin. Many youngsters enjoyed reading serious news on the internet rather than from the newspapers. Hence, newspaper publisher should focus on public from the age of 55 and above. According to a statistic from Department of Statistics, Malaysia, the population of Malaysia is increasing. The population of age 15 and below is decreasing every year. The decreasing rate of year 2002 to 2004 is 0.3% whereas the decreasing rate of year 2005 to 2008 is 0.2%. The population of age 64 and above is increasing every year by 0.1 % except for the year 2005 and 2006 which remain same at 4.3%. The same pattern of readership frequency could also be observed among the respondents with different educational backgrounds. According to The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000, the frequency of newspaper readership continued to be the highest among those with tertiary education where 60.0% of them read the newspaper daily. This was followed by those with secondary education (44.1%) with the lowest frequency (28.1%) among those with primary or lower education. In terms of locality, The Public Awareness of Science and Technology Malaysia 2000 also revealed that 49.3% of the urban respondents read the newspaper daily compared to those in rural areas (39.8%). On the frequency of readership, the opposite situation could also be observed in the other categories (a few times a week, once a week, or seldom). For example, about one-third (32.1%) of the rural respondents and similarly about 34.4% of the urban respondents read newspapers only a few times a week. Identify the rivalry currently exists in the industry in which the company is operating. Are there many competitor or just a few competitor or no competitor? There are many competitors around Star Publication. For instance, Berita Harian, Guang Ming Daily, Sin Chew Jit Poh, The Sun Daily, Utusan Malaysia, and also New Straits Times. The largest Star Publication newspaper competitor is the New straits Times. The sell recommendation of analysts on Star Publications (M) Bhd are the countrys largest and most profitable print media group and as well as other media stocks, such as Media Chinese International Ltd and The New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd, shows the current negativity on the industrys earnings prospects in the coming quarters, if not years. The Nielsen Media Report shows that Stars gross adex dived 20.6% y-o-y in January. Citi Investment Researchs analyst Alyson Shin has noticed that the page count for classified advertisements, which make up 25% of Stars advertising revenue, has fallen 33% to 40 pages from 60 pages in better times. Alyson Shin mention that Star has raised its advertising rates by an average 4% for both classified and display advertisements for the heavier days which is Wednesday to Saturdays. However, this is unlikely to be sufficient to offset the drop in adex in FY (Financial Year) 2009. Factoring in the 4% ad rate hike, we still forecast adex to contract 12% in FY2009, Alyson Shin comments in a February research report. Over the past two decades, Star has grown by shooting up and bounds in terms of earnings as well as manpower, after its English daily, The Star, overtook its main rival New Straits Times. The groups fixed operating costs have blown up. Its total operating costs that inclusive of printing and the newsprint have been above RM600 million in the past three years. This ascend to RM651.2 million in FY (financial year) 2008 versus revenue of RM831 million and net profit of RM138.9 million. The high fixed cost structure is a blessing for the group when advertisers are fighting for space in the newspaper because of the profit margin is getting bigger as the advertisement relative amount rises. Star has been the case this for over the past 10 years. It is the countrys most profitable newspaper with a handsome pre-tax profit margin of 24.2%, compared with its rival NST (New Strait Times) which manages only 9.5%. NSTP lost much of its thump over the past 25 years, especially on two separate occasions. During Operasi Lalang in October 1987, Star Publications (M) Bhds licence was revoked under a plan to crack down on the opposition leaders and social activists. After Star got back its licence, its readership and circulation surged. According to Nielsen Media Research, as at end-2008, NSTPs flagship newspaper New Straits Times had a readership of 308,000 while New Sunday Times readership stood at 263,000. As at end-June last year, New Straits Times circulation, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, stood at 136,530 while that of New Sunday Times was 156,910. These figures cannot rival that of its main competitor, Star Publications, which had a readership of more than one million for both its daily and Sunday paper. Stars circulation was over 300,000 daily. Are the products/ services offered by company very much different from its competitors in terms of price/feature/others. KUNTUM An educational monthly in Bahasa Malaysia for children ages 6 to 12. In keeping with its Learning is Fun motto, the Kuntum Club organises many fun activities and ho