＊日本語版は、前の記事をご覧になっていただければ読むことができます。興味があればブログに記載されておりますので、読んでください！：）＊
（長いです！あくまで参考に、英語の勉強にでも使っていただくと嬉しいです
）
The Japanese version of this article was posted yesterday on this blog page. If you are interested in the Japanese version, please go to the main page to access it!
As technology develops, so does the society. But does technology develop in parallel with how us humans develop? 
I do not think so. As much as technology has allowed us to access information easily at a faster rate, we have not caught up with how we use this information, consume it and reflect it. It is worse in times of crisis. People panick, and misinformation spreads. 
But this is not only through SNS, in fact, this can also happen to news articles. We are all subjective human beings. There is no way that any article could be objective. And THAT is why, essentially, we have to be able to ask ourselves, how do we handle that piece of information? How far is it credible?
So this is a news article I picked up from New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/world/asia/jaejoong-jyj-coronavirus-prank.html
New York Times. It’s April Fools’ Day, so a K-Pop Star Pulled a Coronavirus Prank. Daniel Victor. 01.04.2020.
Well, I guess you get the idea if you read this article. 
On April Fools’ day, a Korean singer Kim Jaejoong posted on his instagram that he had coronavirus, then later deleted the message, announcing only a few minutes later that he had done it because he wanted to warn the people of how dangerous and scary the coronavirus actually was. You will be able to check his motives and reasons through his official Twitter account in Japanese, or in Korean on his official Instagram page. (Unfortunately, not in English ) These are one of the tweets on his official account @bornfreeonekiss:
You may have thought, oh, the person writing this blog is totally a Jaejoong fan / supporter. 
Well, this is not the case, sorry to disappoint you....
The reason why I even attempted to address this ‘prank’ news on my blog was because I wanted to address how major news articles (in English and Japanese) can have absence of information and subjectivity. Especially in critical situations, news articles seem to be more swayed than ever.
Firstly, let’s have a look at the title. It is written rather sarcastically, ‘It’s April Fools’ Day, So a K-Pop Start Pulled a Coronavirus Prank‘. The word ‘prank’, according to the Cambridge Dictionary, means a trick that is intended to be funny but not to cause harm of damage. 
Well, did Jaejoong really intend to be, um, funny? Of course, the day he posted the message on Instagram was on the 1st of April. However, we know he did not do this to be ‘funny’.
His reasons for his actions are clearly stated on his Twitter, or if you read Korean, on his instagram. Jaejoong simply did this to show the dangers of coronavirus, and its seriousness. He not only knew people around him who had coronavirus, but also his father who has lung cancer – thus, he wanted to warn the people and his fans. 
Can you yourself say you have coronavirus, risking your own image, in order to warn others of the dangers and severity of the virus? I do not think so. At least, more so for celebrities who want to maintain their image. However, I believe that he did this because he was a celebrity, because he knew his message could impact millions. Still, what have news articles written?
They have mainly presented his act as a 冗談 i.e. joke, or a ‘prank’ like The New York Times article indicated above. Moreover, the writer does not write Jaejoong’s full reasons or motives for his actions, just that he was ‘sorry’ and would be ‘ready to receive all punishment’.
Therefore, the content is just that he did a ‘prank’ and was sorry for it.
When Jaejoong wrote this, he was in Japan. In fact, he has remained in Japan for a few months now. The country is NOT in a state of emergency, new 300 civil workers are OBLIGED to attend training – check Asahi TV, Hatori Morning Show 03.04.2020).
It is actually very disappointing to see young people around me in Japan going out, without taking into account how dangerous the virus can be.
Nevertheless, aside from the Jaejoong incident, I believe we have to question how we handle news articles – to what extent can we believe them? It is easy to just read the information and make it our own, however it is difficult to analyse the information, i.e. ask why, compare it with other news and sources. For writers, creating a heading that is eye-catching, using words which incite others are very important because they need viewers.
Moreso, a reason to be critical and analytical when reading information.
It is because we are in a critical situation like this, that we have to think why, instead of judging whether something was good or bad. We are not robots, but humans.
We have our own reasons and emotions, and our actions are based on these factors. We should not look lightly at the coronavirus, but at the same time, not fear it to the point where we are unable to express opinions and talk freely about it
Thank you for reading this far, if you have! :3
