As a second major in communications, focusing mainly on the journalism aspect, it really hurts my heart to see all of this media hate. I'm not going to be providing justification for today's media, because I understand why many people have negative opinions about the media. But I'm also not going to say that the media is completely wrong in their actions, because I also understand why they do the things they do. So that's why I'm here today — to provide a better understanding for everyone about what's going on concerning the media; why most of them are wrong in their reporting styles, as well as their side of the story. Because that is exactly what the media is supposed to do: report bothsides of the story. There's no room for bias in this career, and that's not what we're taught.
We'll begin with why everyone is upset with the media. Well, for starters, today's media tends to be quite biased with their reporting. This is not saying that all reporters are like this, let me clarify. A vast majority of news broadcasters, newspaper reporters and online media have curved the teachings of yesterday's unbiased based media to one that picks a side and sticks with it. I'll get to the "whys" about that choosy behavior in the next paragraph, but for now, let's stick to the basics. This makes people angry because as a human being, we like choices, different options. We like making our own decisions. With the media basically throwing their opinions down our throats, it makes us upset and uncomfortable because they aren't allowing us to form our own opinions. Also, the media who does decide to use "both sides of the story" tend to leave out key details, which could make a huge difference with how the story is interpreted.
Look at how the political campaigns how been reported. Key details are left out to make whichever candidate that that particular media source didn't favor, look bad. Just read any news source; open up The New York Timesor The Washington Post...especially The Washington Post, because they've been very anti-Trump, because he banned their press from his rallies due to The Post not telling the whole story when reporting the campaign. But yes, this biased behavior does not inform the people what is needed to be known. This gives only one side to a bigger picture. The media's job is to inform viewers/readers/listeners of what is going on locally, nationally and globally. With only opinions being told, where are the facts? The population needs facts- cold, hard facts. We can formulate our own opinions after the facts are given. The opinions of the media are unnecessary; stop being biased and stick to the facts. This is Journalism 101. Come on reporters, stick to the basics and let's not leave any details out; tell the whole truth.
Now for the second side of the story: why today's media reports like they do. To begin, how do you feel when you read or hear something newsy, maybe it's politics related. Pretty irritated, right? Good. So you're more likely to start conversations with others pertaining to that particular topic. If you feel strongly about it enough, maybe a fight will break out, or maybe you'll begin a protest or rally...something that can potentially create more news to cover thus creating more headlines thus providing an endless cycle of news. It's a complete cycle within itself in order to create more news to gain more sales, viewers and revenue. So, in turn, this whole opinionated, biased way of reporting is a strategy in order to insure that there will always be controversy to report about. And, let's face it, we all love a good controversial story. Nice, butterfly-sweet headlines are overlooked, and the more doom and gloom types are more interesting —something that ignites the flame in someone's belly. One sided stories can yield arguments, protests, violence, debates...all of these things are newsworthy. The media isn't stupid. If there's an opportunity, they're going to take it. Even though it may seem like a savage way to do so, it works, doesn't it? I'm not saying it's morally right, but I'm also not saying that strategically it's wrong.
Like I mentioned before, I understand all of the media hate spouting from people, but I also understand why today's media wants to be different than yesterday's media. Professionally, I wouldn't want to be like today's media. They have strayed far from the path of journalism and turned it into something that people are no longer approving of...which is a problem. Journalism and the media will always play a role in society, but it should not be a hated role. Journalism plays a key role, because it is a field meant to inform the people of what is going on, based on completely factual information. Without the media, nobody would be aware of anything going on that isn't in their circle. So to those hating it, please don't. We need the media. Without it, we are in the dark. And to the media- please revert back to the roots of being double-sided and 100 percent factual; we don't need any bias clouding the minds of our readers and viewers. Let the people formulate their own opinions, we're just here to spout the facts.
