Adonis Fryer
af414219@ohio.edu
Since the human race has existed, it has longed to learn more about its environment and the world at large. This natural curiosity is what has driven our progress from hunter gatherers to the industrial revolution and into modern tech-savvy landscape of today. The hunger to learn more, to do more, to think and consider more is what separates humanity from every other creature on Earth.
Over that long evolution, human beings have always been interested in "news". Of course, back in the stone ages, the same complex media landscape did not exist. Instead, the oral tradition was where most humans got their information. Sometimes it seemed like gossip and other times it was more serious, but what matters is that it was all news.
Today, as human beings have a seemingly infinite amount of information at their fingertips, all thanks to the internet, the ethical and effective journalist must keep the awareness instinct in mind and know what information is pertinent to not overwhelm it. Distraction is an intoxicating drug and an ethical journalist's job is to keep the reader's mind on the facts that matter, even if they don't necessarily entertain.
Currently, the industry is in a crisis because of a lack of being respectful and ethical towards the awareness instinct. Too many newspapers on the internet and in print run stories that aren't real, informative news. Instead, news networks like Fox News, TMZ and the Sun continue to run sensational headlines that get clicks but don't genuinely interact with the subjects or issues they're covering.
Consider, for instance, Fox News's irresponsible pushing of far-fetched conspiracy theories and phony treatments for COVID-19 throughout the last year. These claims which are often pushed by talking heads like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham net the network millions in viewership and revenue but are unethical abuses of man's natural instinct to know information. Of course people tune in to see their sensational claims -- they don't want to be considered fools if the absurd ends up being the truth.
Sadly, while the majority of newspapers do excellent work, a few bad actors who hoard too much attention and influence have abused the awareness instinct. This is particularly dangerous in our modern world where often times, the loudest speaker isn't the most truthful.
In order for the journalism industry to recover and to restore trust with its readers, we must stop bad actors from spewing controversial, click-bait articles that skew truth and promote misinformation. Human beings are built to seek out information and while having balanced perspectives is important, is it also important that people are finding a balance between two truths, not one truth and many lies.
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