What is Telling the Truth?

Samantha Skvarek

ss062718@ohio.edu

The act of journalism is hard. Most people do not understand what it takes to be a journalist. I feel as if journalists have gotten away from telling the truth and remaining unbiased. While I understand that our Bill of Rights allows us to speak freely, and journalists have freedom of the press. Opinions need to be left out. The writing needs to stick to the facts. Not just random facts, but facts the truth as well. Partially I feel that with the generation we live in, journalism may be on its way out.

The readers and/or citizens have the right to have the whole truth about any story being written. We can take a look at an article written earlier this year by Jill Lepore. What I loved about this specific article is it ties in how much journalism is changing. “Good reporting is expensive, and readers don’t want to pay for it”. 

This could not be anymore true. With the internet at our fingertips, people want everything for free. Unfortunately I think people would pay for newspapers, but only on one condition. The number one thing that readers want and is an obligation to journalists is to tell the truth.

What is the truth anymore? I really think that if readers believed what they were reading, they would actually pay for what it is they are reading. If I am reading something that is believed to be false, or the content may not completely be true, why would I keep reading? I look for my news outlets to tell me the truth, not spin what it is they are reporting. I guess that truly is the problem. Our news outlets have a tendency to spin the stories to gain ratings.

Telling the truth not only benefits the readers, but the writers and the business itself. An article from the Harvard Business Review really puts into perspective how telling the truth matters. It really explains that we have a tendency to make excuses for our mistakes which in turn only is part of the truth we are reporting. What I really liked most in this article is how telling the truth can benefit others. 

Pointing fingers is exactly the one thing I hate reading in articles. It serves no purpose to point fingers and I feel like that there becomes a sense of hate. All pointing fingers does is create hostility and make people feel bad about themselves.