Holly Friedel
hf004717@ohio.edu
Will We Ever Know the Truth?
As a person with a journalism degree, we learn in every course that journalism is about discovering the truth, having facts to support that truth and revealing that truth to the public no matter how ugly the truth is. Today, it is hard to believe anything we see on television, read in magazines/the paper, or even hear by word of mouth.
The question is, will anyone ever know the full truth to anything ever again? When reading the chapters of The Elements of Journalism, it is sad to take in the impact technology has had on journalism. Journalists can take weeks, months and even years to develop a story completely unbiased, but with technology, as stated in the reading, "anything can be seen as journalism because of technology."
Anyone can throw something on the internet that is completely opinion based, but because of a few stats or quotes, people believe it, and in some sense, it is because it is what they want to believe. The place I see, and I think most of us can agree we see some biased journalism.
In today's society, people purposely turn on the news they want to hear. I am sure it is not new to anyone that surveys show Republicans watch FOX News, and Democrats watch CNN. When diving into this more, in the last year the "share of Republicans who trust and watch FOX News has jumped from 60 to 70 percent." Check out this article to find more statistics on FOX News' Democratic and Republican ratings. Fox News Republican credibility That being said, it's hard to know the truth, and furthermore, if journalism is a field that considers truth anymore.
What Even is Journalism Anymore?
As stated above, to me, and to everyone I know who studied journalism, it was always about having zero bias, and providing the public with stories that were truthful and meaningful. As I get older and observe articles released each day, I wonder, what even is journalism. Can it be defined now as just sharing a story with opinions you agree with?
Even in the reading it stated, "technology has expanded the definition of journalism." It makes me ask, what does that mean? Can journalism really be anything we want it to be and is there any way we can return to the definition we learned it as, or has technology completely corrupted journalism as a whole?
It is almost sad, to see what I define as true journalist with breathtaking stories to be overshadowed by the corruption of lies and opinions. I even wonder, do I have an underlying bias writing this article? I feel like it is almost hard to tell yourself as a journalist in modern day society, and finding what journalism is today is harder than it ever has been. When looking this article, Journalism Today, I wonder if I agree with each point, or if to me there is so much more to it.
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