It appears that gone are the days of true journalistic integrity when a reporter would not only risk their career to ‘scoop’ the story but at times also risk their lives to ensure the truth was reported in an unbiased and fact telling way. It is becoming more difficult with each passing day to find a story that does not have an opinion, and this makes our work as reporters feel less reliable causing the public to no longer know ‘who’ to believe.
Our job as reporters is to report the truth. We are the eyes and ears for the general public on stories from around the world and it is our duty to report the facts...and only the facts. We must strive to uncover all sides of a story in order to be able to report on it in a manner that does not sway the public but informs them.
So why in today’s world does every newspaper, TV channel, online forum and radio broadcast seem to lean one way or the other?
I love the news, love reading blogs and opinion articles on a multitude of subjects. When I initially see or hear a ‘breaking story’ being reported in the news, I will view and read several media postings on the subject in order to be able to get the full picture of what the story is actually trying to say.
I feel this method of research has allowed me to remain informed without being forced into following someone else’s opinion. This, however, is not the case for most citizens.
Many people, like my mother, have their ‘favorite’ TV channels and newspapers they rely on for all their news coverage. I did not realize the effect this had on my mom until I had a conversation with her regarding President Trump. To my shock, she was only aware of the ‘bad’ actions of the president. She was full of anger and hate towards him and justified these emotions by stating “he has not done a thing for America”.
This sparked my journalistic side as I was curious to know how much she actually knew about Trump’s term as president. I proceeded to ask her some questions in order to dig deeper into her mindset. Was she aware he secured the release of 17 Americans from foreign captivity in 2018 alone; that his goal to expand the domestic energy production led the United States to surpass both Russia and Saudi Arabia in oil production; he has created a stronger economy which in turn reflects in the US unemployment rate which stood at 3.5% in September, a rate that has not been seen since December 1969; that he worked with both the Democrats and the Republicans on several changes to legislation such as the “Right to Try” law which allows terminally ill Americans the opportunity to try experimental drugs.
These and several other ‘good’ things President Trump has done during his term were things my mother had never even heard of. Yes, she was aware of the impeachment trial, his indiscretions with women, his tendency to hit tweet on his Twitter account before thinking it through, but in all actuality, she was completely uninformed when it came to any good actions the President had taken.
Is this my mother’s fault for being misinformed? Should she be forced to scroll through hundreds of news stories to find the truth? Should she not be able to rely on her favorite news channel to deliver all the facts?
It appears the channel my mother chooses to rely on for all her news is pro-Democrat, which in turn leads to an exasperating amount of information being purposely ‘left out’ of their news coverage. Now don’t get me wrong in thinking I blame the Democrats for this behavior as there are several pro-Republican channels that also conveniently leave out information in order to sway the viewer. That is the problem with journalism today.
For news stations and channels to leave out some news in order to give the public a view they want us to see is not journalistic integrity, as it is leaving out information that would allow the viewer the opportunity to make up their own mind.
If every news platform gave the public all the information, and not just the information needed to push an agenda, the public would not follow blindly. Citizens would be able to make their own choices as they would have ALL the facts.
I know there are other journalists, like myself, who want to find the truth. To report the facts no matter which side they fall on. To give the public a wealth of knowledge, good and bad, so they are informed, educated, and are able to clearly make up their own mind.
Journalism integrity is out there, let’s all strive to achieve it, and stop creating a society that is uninformed and biased due to our lack of reporting the truth.
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