Dear Media, please stop.

by Maren Machles

mm423611@ohio.edu

When Journalists Interrupt the Story to Further Their Career

One of my biggest personal pet peeves with journalists is when they interrupt a story to get the perfect angle. Journalist today are a lot more focused on furthering their career and getting the scoop than getting the story right and respecting all the major players in the story. Specifically, with the coverage of Ferguson, MO., the agendas of the reporters were more important than accurately depicting the conflict. It is almost like today, we aren't even focusing on what the story is.

In a blog post by former Al Jazeera America Contributor Ryan L. Schuessler, he references the various ways in which journalists covered the Ferguson riots. He lists journalists yelling at community leaders for being in their shots, destruction of public property and a sense of arrogance when journalists put their safety before those in the violence.

When Journalists Make the Story About Them

Schuessler notes the journalists made themselves the center of the story. We have one job as journalists, to report on a scene clearly and accurately. We are human recorders, and we do not insert ourselves into the story. It is appalling that the mainstream media focused so heavily on the burden of their own reporters, rather than the distress and rage of the people. This story is about something more than just one white cop shot an unarmed young black man and as a result people started looting and destroying their homes. This story is a civil rights story and is happening too often. A historical dialogue is beginning to take place and journalists need to record, not distract from it. Instead, CNN reported on how reporters like OU alum, Wesley Lowery were arrested for doing their job.

Explained in this video: “How were journalists targeted in Ferguson?”

“It is a complex story, no doubt. It is about race, justice, civil disobedience, and freedom to protest and the media is right in the center of it all,” Brian Stelter said, listing all the issues and then segueing into how the media is a victim of what is happening.

Good for the reporters for doing their job; please don’t make a story out of it. Get things straightened out while you send someone else out to cover what they missed. We need to stop victimizing ourselves because this is what we want and where we want to be. We want to be at the scene, with the risks involved as a result of being there, because that is what the people at the scene are facing. We are not an elite force; we are chasing the absolute truth.

We report constantly about the news and the current status of the media. It is downright narcissistic. Yes, it is important that we know about the future of our jobs, but we do not need to publish that for the rest of the world to see when there are more important things to be reported on.

So please…

Stahhhhppppp!

When It Is Time to Look At the Bigger Picture

This is why the public cannot trust us. We are too worried about getting the most reader or viewership, we aren't even paying attention to what is actually going on around us. A lot of it has to do with pressure from the industry. I can't count how many times my fellow journalism students have said to me, "Sometimes I wish I could step back, and actually live the story." I think through the evolution of journalism, we have lost that. We are so focused on keeping our jobs by being first, we haven't worried about the ethical issues of the story and of our own reporting.