The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth...?

Amanda Southern

as600718@ohio.edu

Does anyone actually tell the whole truth anymore? 

I have to say...the question has crossed my mind while reading news articles, lately. It seems these days information moves so quickly, and everybody seems to be in such a state of panic to be the first to share breaking news (journalist or not) that it doesn't seem to matter if the news they are sharing is completely true.

It also turns out that even if that news is coming from a respected journalist or news source, a story still doesn't have to be true to some readers. 

People have decided that if they don't like what they are hearing or reading, then the writer must be making it up or, at the very least, omitting the parts that make the story read the way they want it to. 

Image retrieved from https://eavi.eu/beyond-fake-news-10-types-misleading-info/3-x-2-signe-cartoon-fake-news/

Unfortunately, these people are not entirely wrong in their thinking. Over recent years, newspapers and other media outlets have had to compete with bloggers and the public to be first to press with the most attention-getting stories due to the internet. The pressure is on because these stories not only give them exposure, but also keep their businesses up and running and writers paid. 

With this sort of constant pressure, many of these media outlets have turned to reporting on outlandish entertainment news and gossipy-style stories which has led to the public feeling like their news outlets are slumming it with the rest of the tabloids by saying whatever it takes to make them money. 

Another thing that is not helping the media earn and maintain the respect of the public is the seemingly-constant whistle-blowing of journalists against other journalists for lying in their reporting. Check out this example of  Glenn Greenwald calling out CNN for what he says was "an outright lie." I

t's not to say that journalists shouldn't call one another out for false reports, but that it happens so often, now, it is hard to tell who is really telling the truth.

It also doesn't help their image when long-respected journalists are also getting caught embellishing or completely making things up, such as Brian Williams and Bill O'Reilly along with a long list of others who fabricated facts to sell a story.

What is the public supposed to do when they are constantly being shown that journalists are not to be trusted? 

It is essential that journalists find a way to maintain their ethical code even amid all of the political and societal pressures that come with the job. Anyone can be a journalist with the internet at their fingertips, but it will be the sources who come up with the most researched, and most thorough reporting time after time that will find themselves on top, in the end.