Madison Linville
What would life be like in a world without news? Would it be
better, maybe worse? Everyone will have their own opinion on the question. For
example, in John McCain’s case, he knows what it’s like to be separated from
the outside world, shut off from all flow of news. He was held as a prisoner of
war for five and a half years in Hanoi. He said the thing that he missed most
was the flow of abundant information.
Yes, it may be nice to put the phone down when violence erupts in our world, especially in the recent years. But, would you really want to not receive any information about the world around you? You would never know the weather. You would never hear recent law reforms in your state or country. You would be left completely in the dark.
The criticism of journalism began in the 1980s. Journalists began to switch the way they reported on topics. They started reporting on entertainment instead of news, in hopes to bring back the audience members that were so turned off by them. Journalists’ morals were focused on profit rather than content. This is a very negative cycle.
In the age of digital journalism, journalists looked to the internet as a competitor, instead of looking at it as a new marketing platform. When journalism was on the downward spiral in the late 1990s, a committee referred to as “The Committee of Concerned Journalists” took it upon themselves to figure out what the values of journalists were, in order to inform the public about what journalism should have been.
Now, let’s look at journalism from the public’s point of view. The public has expected for journalists to be professionals. A journalist should be considered anyone who contributes to the news. This could include students who are studying to be journalists. If we look at just the professionals to give us our news, where does this leave the students?
As journalists, we need to have more clarity as to what journalism is and what it should be. The public and the journalists should have the same idea of how the news should be portrayed to them and what its content should be.
The most important thing a journalist should keep in mind is to tell the truth. This is the number one characteristic that the audience wants. If we keep telling the truth, we can keep ruling out the word “fake news” and finally put an end to that word. There is truly no such thing as “fake news” because if it’s fake, it’s not the truth, and that’s not the news.
The news' second priority is the citizens, their audience. Journalists want to give the audience what they’re asking for, and it’s time that we start breaking the barrier and talking to each other about what news really is, and what is expected of journalists. Journalists risk their lives every day, reporting news in some of the most dangerous places. A world without news is not much of a world at all, is it?
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