Reflection on “Social Welfare and People Living under Poverty”

By LI Ka Yi Angela, Po Leung Kuk Ngan Po Ling College

I attended the lecture offered by the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong and I benefited a lot from the informative and interesting lecture.

Media plays an indispensable role in the society nowadays and it provides large amount of information and entertainment for us. Social media, in particular, provides a lot of advantages and convenience to our everyday life; meanwhile, we have to acknowledge the negative effects of social media. Today, media leads and gathers people from all around the world, enabling us to discuss and express our opinions on political, cultural, economic, social aspects etc. I can’t even imagine a world without modern media.

In this lecture, I did not only learn about the media’s effects on the society, but also realized that we are very much engaged in it. What impressed me most is the media leader effect. On social media, influencers, youtubers, celebrities, political leaders etc., they are the leaders who may affect our decisions such as in elections or voting. As Aaldering et al (2018) pointed out that “Most voters actually never meet party leaders in real life, and therefore, they form their judgments about them mainly on the basis of their representation in the media ”. i

Another case is that people’s decisions can be affected by the celebrities they support or follow; they might follow them by supporting their stances. As explained by Dr. Kim, I realized that my decisions are often affected by the YouTubers I like, especially those of my age. When I learnt from social media that Kim Nam Jun from BTS delivered a speech at the United Nations, I listened to his full speech and agree to his opinion on #ENDviolence program to protect children and young people all over the world from violence.

Apart from the lecture, I also enjoyed the visit around the Department of Media and Communication. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about this field. The settings and facilities were really fascinating and interesting, I can feel the passion of the students there. It was an enjoyable experience listening to the lecture and exploring the department.


i Aaldering et al (2018). Mediated Leader Effects: The Impact of Newspapers’ Portrayal of Party Leadership on Electoral Support. Int J Press Polit. Jan; 23(1): 70–94. Published online 2017 Nov 28. doi: 10.1177/1940161217740696